Publisher's Synopsis
The Knights Templars began as a nine-man team of well-intentioned noblemen who became warrior monks which were dedicated to escorting pilgrims to the Holy land. For sustenance, they relied on alms from the pilgrims. Follow the monk warriors as they became a multitude, the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, and went on the Crusades to battle the Moslems for the hold sites of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. See them battle the Moslems as they lay siege to strongholds and cities of Acra, Antioch, Haifa, and others on their march to Jerusalem. Relive the scenes of bloody battles and massacres, some, which they won, and others they lost. You will meet the heroic figures of Bohemund I, King Baldwin of Jerusalem, Robert of Normandy, Stephen of Blois, Richard the Lion Heart, and Saladin as they conduct war. Within two centuries they could defy all but the Papal throne. They were immune from any authority, and were destroyed because of their enormous wealth and seemingly unlimited power. When they returned home to their Chapters after their defeat in the Holy land, they invented the banking system and became money lenders to the monarchs of Europe. Learn how the secret meetings and rituals of the knights eventually caused their down fall. King Philip IV of France turned his greedy eyes to their wealth to fill his coffers. He had all the Templars arrested on a charge of heresy, since this was the only charge that would allow the seizing of money and assets. The Templars were tortured to obtain false confessions of homosexuality, sodomy, trampling and spitting on the cross, and worshiping an idol. The Last Master Templar, Jacques De Molay, was burned at the stake. Some historians believe the remnants of the order went underground and has survived.
