Publisher's Synopsis
KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE is a new Templar study in two books. Book 1, WARFARE AND EARTHLY GLORY, considers the spiritual and political ideals involved in the founding of the Order of the Temple in 1128, and broadly journeys through the history of the Order, following its growth and its developing influence. It looks at the policies, the military triumphs and the tragedies of the Order, and it considers events in the lives of some of the key figures in the story, through to the time Jacques of Molay almost two centuries later. This presentation provides the historical and cultural background to the confluence of traditions explored in Book 2. Book 2, CONSPIRACY AND THE ECLIPSE OF TRUTH, considers events during the time of Jacques of Molay, looking at the accusations of blasphemy brought against the Order, and the arrest and trial of the Templars. Based on the evidence of the trial, mediaeval traditions and the writings of mediaeval luminaries, it sets forth a philosophic and religious basis for the ritual practices of the Order of the Temple, and provides an analysis and reconstruction of the scheme of the Templar initiation ceremony. This entirely new approach to the subject of the Knights Templar shows the accusations in a fresh light and defines a solidly Christian-Byzantine-Hebraic basis for the matter 'honourable to Christ and to the Church' that Jacques of Molay offered to tell to Clement V.
