If you want to understand the Knights Templar – what are the best history books to grab and read? Having just finished my own book – The Knights Templar – History & Mystery – published by Pen & Sword, I thought I’d share the books I used to inform my research. Because there’s some amazing accounts out there that together will give you a full view.
Let’s start with Professor Helen Nicholson and her excellent book: A Brief History of the Knights Templar.
I had the pleasure of sharing a stage at the Bradford Literature Festival a few years ago with Professor Nicholson when we did a double act on the Templars. Her knowledge is encyclopaedic. For a comprehensive, no-nonsense download on the order, Helen is hard to beat. She covers some issues that are neglected by other historians such as the role of women and – being half-Portuguese myself – I’m pleased she discusses the Templars in the Iberian Peninsula.
This next book – simply titled The Templars – by Piers Paul Read is a much denser work, packed with names, facts, and crusading details.
If you want to skim read the topic, then this is not the book for you. There’s enormous detail on both the Templars and the various Crusades to the Holy Land. I would see it as a reference work to dip in and out of as opposed to ploughing through it cover to cover.
A lighter approach comes from Michael Haag with his breezy tome – The Templars: History & Myth. This book mixes the mainstream history with some of the esoteric/conspiracy theories about the Templars – though Haag cordons off the non-mainstream stuff in boxes. University level history students will find the book simplistic, but it’s very accessible for a non-academic audience.
If you want to know how many oxen, sheep, and church vestments were owned by Templar preceptories in England, then Evelyn Lord has crunched the numbers in her book, The Knights Templar in Britain. This is a million miles away from stories about the Holy Grail or gory details of battles in the Holy Land. Evelyn is giving us statistics from inventories made when the Templar order was being crushed in England. We get a snapshot of Templar wealth in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire and other counties – and it’s fascinating.
If you’ve ever wondered what the Saracens thought about the Knights Templar, then get a copy of Amin Maalouf’s astonishing book: The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. He draws on the writings of contemporary Arab and Islamic chroniclers living amongst the Seljuks, Fatimids, and Ayyubids, who give us a very different perspective. When writing about key battles during the crusades, it’s very useful to contrast the Christian and Muslim versions of events. I recommend this book as an essential read.
When it comes to understanding the trials of the Knights Templar – their arrest, imprisonment, and torture between 1307 and 1312 – then The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber must be your next purchase. He has worked his way through trial documents and sifted out the key stories and facts. It’s the very best, comprehensive overviews of the destruction of the Templar order.
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!
The list should grow each year these were all good novels. I like Tonys as well.
Many thanks! Let’s hope this list does grow.
Next year, Tony!
The upcoming sequel!