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The Templars: Selected Sources UK ed. Edition
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- ISBN-10071905110X
- ISBN-13978-0719051104
- EditionUK ed.
- PublisherManchester University Press
- Publication dateOctober 11, 2002
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions5.48 x 1.12 x 8.56 inches
- Print length368 pages
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About the Author
Malcolm Barber is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading
Simon MacLean is Lecturer in History at the University of St Andrews
Keith Bate was Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Reading
Product details
- Publisher : Manchester University Press; UK ed. edition (October 11, 2002)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 071905110X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0719051104
- Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.48 x 1.12 x 8.56 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #901,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #675 in Christian Institutions & Organizations (Books)
- #2,296 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #4,915 in Christian Church History (Books)
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The sourcebook is divided into easy sections- the foundation of the order, warfare and politics, religious and charitable functions, human and material resources, attitudes towards the Templars and, of course, the trial. I found this division to be really convenient. In all the sourcebook translates 79 sources. It shows the development of the Templars from a small group to an international organisation. My pick is source 63, the Poem of Ricaut Bonomel from 1265. I also found the various rules to be interesting.
The biggest complaint is the lack of non Latin/ French sources. The only non Western sources is a brief extract from Michael the Syrian on the origins of the Templars. Where are the Muslim sources? Where are the Greek sources? Where are the sources from the native Christians of the Middle East? You can hardly write on the attitudes to the Templars without these!
I was also disappointed that none of the sources referred to the 'War of Saint Sabas' fought between Venice and Genoa between 1256 to 1270 over territory in Tyre. The Templars sided with Venice and the Hospitallers sided with Genoa. This war put to rest the myth of chivalry surroundings the Templars. They were quite happy to fight their fellow Christians and quite happy to employ Muslim mercenaries against their enemies. Sources for this conflict are hard to find and I thought this sourcebook might help but, alas, no!
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This book is a useful correction to the fantasies. It is a collection of translations of original French and Latin documents about the Templars. Many of them were written by officials of the organisation.
It is useful for students of history to read these documents, which tell us what is actually known about the Templars, as opposed to the fantasies that so many authors feel happy to write, presumably without having read them.
For example, some of the fantasists feel quite happy to state that the Templars were a subversive, non-Catholic organisation with secret beliefs. The actual documents provide no evidence at all that they believed anything other than the ordinary Catholic theology, nor that their ceremonies were anything other than the customary rites of the Church.
Their real history is quite spectacular enough without making them the "fathers" of Freemasonry or other weird religions, something for which there isn't any evidence. In the case of Freemasonry there is nothing to connect the Templars after their suppression in 1312 to the emergence of Masons in the 17th century - 300 years of absence of evidence.
There are 85 pages on the trial of the Templars at the instigation of the King of France, Philip the fourth. Interestingly, the documents about their Trial, when they were suppressed because the French king wanted their money, remind the reader of the accusations made during the Show Trials during Stalin's Terror in the 1930s. The accusations against them are obviously entirely fabricated. No modern jury could possibly find them guilty, there being no evidence other than confessions forced from the accused by torture.
Did the king, or anyone else seriously think they were "heretics"? The documents presented at their trial do not provide hard evidence. A possible speculation about them might be that their experience of living in the Middle East among people of different religions and cultures may actually have made them more tolerant. This is hinted at by the well-known document (not in this book) of the Muslim physician Osama Ibn Munqidh who describes a Templar ordering a Christian fanatic not to impede a Muslim wanting to pray in the Mosque which the Templars were using as their headquarters in Jerusalem. If they had learned tolerance - or ordinary human decency - this in itself may have made them suspect in the fanatical and ignorant west where people hated the Muslims without ever having met any. (That's very modern.) Thus there was an organisation with great wealth partly from generous donations and partly from successful business, practicing honest banking (if only we had something like that today) and staffed by people with knowledge of the real world. Religious fanatics were bound to hate it.
Far from being the holders of secret philosophies these monkish-knights were hard-headed practical men who may well have refounded the European economy simply by conveying produce under armed guard, buying in one area and selling in another for a higher price. What they should be famous for is the revival of the European economy, making possible the end of feudalism by giving rulers something to tax - trading and urban life.
The Editor of these documents is a world renowned specialist in Medieval history, Malcolm Barber.








