The Knights Templar rose from humble beginnings to become the most powerful military religious order of the Middle Ages. Formed to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land, they participated in the Crusades and rapidly gained wealth, lands, and influence. Seemingly untouchable for nearly two centuries, they fell from grace spectacularly after the loss of the Holy Land. In the ensuing centuries the Templars have exerted a unique influence over European history; orthodox historians see them as nothing more than soldier-monks whose arrogance was their ultimate undoing, while others see them as occultists of the first order.
Introduction: The Temple and the Myth
Chapter 1. The Rise of the Order of the Temple (1119–45)
Chapter 2. A Church within a Church, a State within a State (1145–1291)
Chapter 3. Fall and Trial (1291–1314)
Chapter 5. The Templars after 1314
Chapter 6. A Fable Agreed Upon
Appendix II: Grand Masters of the Temple
Appendix III: The Charges Against the Templars