One thinks of The Crusades as being a very macho affair full of swinging swords and the clash of steel – and indeed it was for over two hundred years. During that period, some of the leading warriors provoked gossip over their preference for men between the sheets. Being gay didn’t in any way diminish…
Did the Knights Templar engage in secret initiation rites that were discovered by the Catholic church leading to their downfall?
Several medieval kings of England are believed to have been LGBT. Tony McMahon investigates.
Most mainstream historians – blushing as they write – dismiss entirely the allegations of sodomy levelled at the Knights Templar in 1307 by the King of France, Philip IV. Tony McMahon wonders if it could have been true.
Sodomy was a standard smear against your enemies in the Middle Ages. And one person prepared to do the smearing was a bishop called Adam of Orleton.
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