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The New Knighthood A History of the Order of the Temple by Malcolm Barber The Order of the Temple, founded in A.D. 1119 to protect pilgrims around Jerusalem, developed into one of the most influential corporations of the medieval world. It has retained its hold on the modern imagination thanks to the dramatic events of the Templars' trial and abolition two hundred years later, and has been invoked in historical mysteries from Masonic conspiracy to the survival of the Turin shroud. Malcolm Barber's lucid narrative separates myth from history in this full and detailed account of the Order, from its origins, flourishing and suppression to the Templars' historical afterlife. "Established twenty years after the First Crusade's capture of Jerusalem from the Muslims, the Templars evolved into one of the most powerful military orders of the Middle Ages. The story of their rise and sensational fall is the subject of this splendid book." The Observer Click on Book Image	Teutonic Knights A Military History    by William Urban This major new book surveys the gripping history of the Teutonic knights and their order and relates their rise to power; their struggles against Prussian pagans; the series of wars against Poland and Lithuania; the clash with Alexander Nevsky's Russia; and the gradual stagnation of the order in the fourteenth century. The book is replete with dramatic episodes--such as the battle on frozen Lake Peipus in 1242, or the disaster of Tannenberg--but focuses primarily on the year-after-year struggle to maintain power, fend off incursions and raiding bands, and launch crusades against unbelieving foes. A major new history of this military order that defines the lives, deeds and actions of medieval German crusaders—covers 500 years of European history. “I promise the Chastity of my body, and Poverty, and Obedience to GOD, Holy Mary, and You, To the Master of the Teutonic Order, and Your Successors, according to the Rules and Practices of the Order. OBEDIENCE UNTO DEATH.” Oath sworn upon admission into the Teutonic Order Click on Book Image
The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber On 18 March 1314, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, was burned at the stake. For almost two centuries the knights of the Order of the Temple had flourished during the Crusades in Palestine and , and in the West. But in 1307, the Templars in were arrested by King Philip IV’s officials in the name of the Inquisition, their property seized and the men charged with serious heresies, including the denial of Christ, homosexuality, and idol worship. Confessions, extracted under torture, were brought before royal and papal tribunals, but in 1310 a number of Templar brothers mounted a defense of their Order, refueling the controversies which continued for a further four years before the final executions. Malcolm Barber’s fascinating account, assessing the charges brought against the Order, once again puts the Templars on trial. “Thorough, intelligent and well written…a book to enjoy as well as admire.” The Times Higher Education supplement   Click on Book Image	The Northern Crusades by Eric Christiansen Inspired by the Pope’s call for a Holy war, Scandinavian rulers and German military monks, The Teutonic Knights, conquered and settled Finland, Estonia and Prussia, before turning on the eastern empires of Orthodox Novgorod and pagan Lithuania. These “Northern Crusades” are less celebrated than those in the Middle East, but they were also far more successful. Vast new territories became and remain Christian, while the central institutions of medieval Western Europe - churches, castles, manors, guilds, parliaments and feudal law codes - were introduces into a dark and inhospitable outer world. Now newly revised in the light of the recent developments in Baltic and Northern medieval research, this authoritative overview provides a balanced and compelling account of a tumultuous era. “A fine study of the Baltic conquest” The English Historical Review “Independent, erudite, lucid and witty …a narrative that never flags” Christopher Tyerman Click on Book Image
The Rule of the Templars The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar by J.M. Upton-Ward The Order of the Knights Templar, whose original purpose was to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, was first given its own Rule in 1129, formalizing the exceptional combination of soldier and monk. This translation of Henri de Curzon's 1886 edition of the French Rule is derived from the three extant medieval manuscripts. Both monastic rule and military manual, the Rule is a unique document and an important historical source. It comprises the Primitive Rule, Hierarchical Statutes, Penances, Conventual Life, the Holding of Ordinary Chapters, Further Details on Penances, and Reception into the Order. There are details of clothing, armour and equipment; instructions on conduct while on campaign; information on the daily life of members of the order and on the discipline which made it a formidable fighting force. The Rule evolved over almost 150 years of the Order's history, and is thus a dynamic piece of work, showing how the Templars adapted to political change and formulated their disciplinary code. Click on Book Image	The Knights Hospitaller by Helen Nicholson This study of the history of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, is intended for academics as well as the interested general reader. Beginning with a consideration of the origins of the Order as a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem in the eleventh century, it traces the Hospitaller's development into a military order during the first part of the twelfth century, and its military activities on the frontiers of Christendom in the eastern Mediterranean, Spain and eastern Europe during the middle ages and into early modern period: its role in crusades and in wars against non-Christians on land and at sea, as well as its role in building and maintaining fortresses. It also considers the Order's activities away from the frontiers of Christendom: its economic activities and its relations with patrons and rulers throughout Europe, as well as its hospitaller work and its religious life. The focus of the study is on the medieval period down to the loss of Rhodes in 1522, but the final chapters of the book consider the Order's history on Malta from the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century, and from the loss of Malta in 1798 to the present day. Click on Book Image
The Knights Templar and Their Myth by Peter Partner Bound by religious vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, the Knights Templar were a Military Crusading Order engaged in religious war in the Holy Land. At the end of the thirteenth century, after their withdrawal from Syria, they became the apparently innocent victims of a campaign of slander and persecution mounted against them by the French government. The ruthless dissolution of the Knights Templar was only the beginning of a new and strange chapter in their history. They soon became the focus of numerous beliefs about their presumed occult powers, and by the eighteenth century their history had undergone a mythical metamorphosis--they figured highly in occult fantasies of magical practices and hidden knowledge as well as in the romance of the Gothic novel, with its frequent tales of monastic impropriety. Here is a book to help you Distinguish Truth from Falsehod! Click on Book Image	The Knights Templar A New History by Helen Nicholson Along with Malcolm Barber's classic "The New Knighthood", "The Knights Templar: A New History" is probably the best scholarly treatment of the Knights available to the general reader. She does a very admirable job of tracing the development of the Knights Templar from their founding in about 1119 to their end in 1314. Nicholson an expert on the medieval military orders, and her book is based on the best of scholarship. "DaVinci Code", "The Templar Revelations", and "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" fans will probably be disappointed. This work is based on historical facts about the Knights Templar and dispenses with the utter nonsense of linking the order to the Freemasons and other esoteric traditions. The fact is that the true history of the Knights Templar is fascinating and exciting enough without the ridiculous fiction that has so recently saturated the market. Click on Book Image

The Restored Order of the Knights Templar