Includes bibliographical references and index.

Jerusalem 1119. A small band of knights seeking a purpose in the violent aftermath of the First Crusade decides to set up a new order. These are the first Knights Templar: a group of elite warriors prepared to give their lives to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Over the next two hundred years, the Templars would become the most powerful religious order of the middle ages - until they were rounded up an accused of heinous crimes. But who were they really, and what actually happened? In this groundbreaking narrative history, the bestselling author of The Plantagenets tells for the first time in a generation the true story of the Templars, drawing on extensive original sources to build a compelling account of a group of Christian holy warriors whose heroism and alleged depravity have so often been shrouded in myth. The Templars were protected by the pope and sworn to strict vows of celibacy. They fought the forces of Islam in Spain and on the sunbaked hills where Jesus lived and died, finding their nemesis in Saladin, who vowed to drive all Christians from the Middle East. They established the medieval world's first global bank, financed the war against Islam and challenged anyone foolish enough to threaten their interests. Then in 1307, they fell afoul of a vindictive King of France, whose lawyers built a meticulous case against them. On Friday, October 13, hundred of brothers were arrested, imprisoned and tortured, while the order was disbanded amid lurid accusations of sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the pope in secret proceedings and publicly humiliated. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state? Dan Jones goes back to the sources to tell their dramatic tale, so relevant to our own times, in a book that is at once authoritative and compulsively readable. --,From dust jacket.

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