The Knights Templar have been depicted as both heroic protagonists and evil antagonists. In the early 19th century, the Scottish romantic author Walter Scott (1771-1832) decided that a Templar knight was always a villain. Untrustworthy, venal, and French. What was Scott’s problem with the Templars?
Scott was a writer of historical fiction, and in his novels Ivanhoe and The Talisman, he vilified the Knights Templar. In these stories, the Templars are portrayed as fanatical and corrupt, totally divorced from Christian values as well as being implacable foes of English freedom. Scott gave his readers the wicked and scheming Templar knight, Brian de Bois-Guilbert – one of the oppressive Normans now running England.
England under the ‘Norman Yoke’
Scott perpetuated the idea of England being a Saxon country, imbued with the ideals of freedom, being subdued by dictatorial Normans in the year 1066 – after the Battle of Hastings – when William of Normandy conquered the country. The English were forced to live under the so-called ‘Norman Yoke’.
While William the Conqueror, as he came to be known, was undoubtedly ruthless, and slaughtered thousands who opposed him, the idea of a Norman Yoke came much later. Six hundred years after the death of William, supporters of a politician, Oliver Cromwell, conjured up the concept. They were fighting King Charles I who was claiming a “divine right” to rule without parliament or accountability. It led to Civil War, Charles being beheaded, and England briefly becoming a republic with Cromwell in charge. Charles, in the eyes of his opponents, was the direct descendant of William, the invading Norman.
Fast forward nearly two centuries and Walter Scott tapped into the idea of the Norman Yoke. After 1066, Saxon England was invaded by Normans who strangled the country’s liberties. Or as Scott wrote in poem: Norman saw on English oak/ On English neck a Norman yoke. Papal influence became too strong and with Rome’s growing interference came the pope’s knights: the Templars.
DISCOVER: Waltham Abbey – history of a medieval church
Ivanhoe versus evil Templar
Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight, returns from the Crusades, where he fought alongside King Richard the Lionheart. His father, Cedric, has disinherited him because Ivanhoe is loyal to King Richard, while the love of his life, Rowena, has been betrothed by his father to another Saxon noble, Athelstane of Coningsburgh.
As if that isn’t bad enough, Ivanhoe has to contend with a devious Templar, Brian de Bois-Guilbert. He is described as “valiant as the bravest of his order; but stained with their usual vices – pride, arrogance, cruelty, and voluptuousness; a hard-hearted man, who knows neither fear of earth nor awe of Heaven”.
Ivanhoe participates in a tournament to reclaim his honour and jousts against Bois-Guilbert, and is injured. He is nursed back to health by Rebecca, the daughter of Isaac – a Jewish moneylender – who Ivanhoe has rescued from an attack. As the novel reaches its climax, Bois-Guilbert kidnaps Ivanhoe, Rowena, Cedric, Isaac, and Rebecca.
Rebecca is accused of witchcraft by the Templars and faces a trial by combat, where Ivanhoe challenges her accusers and wins, saving her life. King Richard the Lionheart returns to England, and the conflict between the Saxons and Normans begins to subside. Ivanhoe and Rowena are finally united, and Rebecca and her father leave England for the Muslim-controlled emirate of Granada, seeking a more tolerant society.
In short, everybody oppressed by the Normans – Saxons and Jews, even Muslims in Granada – are positively portrayed. While the Normans, and their allies the Templars, are the devil incarnate. But what Scott presents, as a happy ending, is a unity of Normans and Saxons in England under a benevolent king.
If you would like to know more about the Knights Templar, then get your hands on a copy of my book: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. Published by Pen & Sword and available on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. Don’t miss out on your copy!
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