Book
The Templars
by Dan Jones
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The Templars traces the military order from its origins protecting pilgrims in the crusader states to its development into an international religious, financial and military institution. Dan Jones explains how vows of poverty coexisted with extensive property, political influence and sophisticated systems for moving money, while Templar castles and fighting forces became central to the defence of Latin Christian territory in the eastern Mediterranean.
The loss of the Holy Land weakened the order’s purpose and exposed it to royal hostility. Philip IV of France arrested the Templars, extracted confessions through coercion and pressed the papacy towards suppression, while the last grand master, Jacques de Molay, was executed. The United States edition was published as The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors. The book separates the documented history of the order from the conspiracy legends that later surrounded it.