Knights Templar in the Crown of Aragon, 1196–1213

By the late twelfth century the Knights Templar were established landholders and military actors within the Crown of Aragon. Their commanderies managed estates, protected routes and supplied men and resources for frontier warfare as well as for wider crusading enterprises.

During the reign of Peter II, Templars operated within a complex political landscape linking Catalonia, Aragon, Occitania and Muslim Iberia. Their vows did not remove them from disputes over noble rights, royal policy, inheritance and local justice.

This setting allows historical fiction to portray the order beyond the Holy Land, as a network of fortresses, administrators, diplomats and fighting men. Simon Turney’s Knights Templar novels follow Arnau de Vallbona through this western Mediterranean world.