I decided that since I didn’t know anything about the Templars, this book was a decent place to begin. Dan Jones’ The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors was a good overview of how the Templars came to be, what their purpose originally was, and how they became a target of a cynical plot that eventually brought their downfall.

The Templars are steeped in legend and myth, and part of the reason for this is that they weren’t accountable to any government at the time. They were their own organization with their own vast resources, were expert at channeling those resources across borders, and didn’t answer to king or country. Only to God. Their main mission as Christian warriors was to escort Christian pilgrims safely to the Holy Land after the First Crusade. They built a vast banking system and led private wars against those who threatened their own interests (frequently financial).

This level of power and money would become problematic later on, as they met their nemesis in Saladin who vowed to drive Christians from the lands of Islam, and who dealt a series of military setbacks. Ultimately, the greedy and vindictive King of France set his eyes on their fortune and arrested and tortured the knights into hiding and submission until ultimately they were tried by the Pope, convicted, and the last leader of the Templars tortured and burned at the stake.

In any narrative non-fiction book, you’re hoping to learn something. I went in with no real knowledge of the Templars except all the legends and myths about the Holy Grail and the Arc of the Covenant. Jones uses and interprets first hand sources, and strings together a narrative of a mysterious organization that were mysterious because they were wealthy, powerful, and secretive (like most mysterious organizations). I came out of it with a pretty good base of information on the Templars, who in the end got a pretty raw deal.

Tagged: authors: dan jones, books: the templars, genre: history, genre: non-fiction, genre: religious history