The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors

This author does not disappoint - a great discovery for me based on a terrific recommendation! The author Dan Jones placed a fact-based History to the telling of the Knights Templars. When I ordered this book in early August prior to its September 2017 release, I had no idea that the book would also be a backdrop for “Knightfall” on the History Channel beginning 6 December. I have seen enough commercials and watched Dan Jones hosting 2-minute infomercials on the series on my History Channel App on my iPhone. This was more of a pleasurable shock than anything else. The focus on this work by Dan Jones however, is sincere. Facts to History is what the author sticks too with an acceptable level of intelligence and he takes nothing for granted; however, in my opinion it also not only a story worth telling – it is a story that needs to be told. Far too many myths exist, some started centuries ago – some are myths based on Hollywood movies. Sad matter here is that some people only get their History from movies, whether they are factually based or not. (I am still looking for my money back from that lousy movie “Pearl Harbor” starring Ben Affleck btw.) As with “The Plantagenet’s”, this book was tough to put down – I found myself waking up at night with the book as I lay in bed with the book folded open to where I dozed off to sleep. This is always the telltale sign of a book worth reading. In its History, the Knight Templars would have a total of 23 Masters of The Order of The Temple. Beginning with Hugh of Payns (1119-1136), to Arnold of Torrolla (1180-1184), to Gerard of Ridefort (1184-1189), to the last Master James of Molay (1292-1314). The order was fully disbanded thanks to King Philip IV of France. We now know where bad luck “Friday the 13th” began – it begins Friday 13 October 1307 with the mass arrest of Templars throughout France. James of Molay would be put to the flame in 1315 in a time where “due process” existed only in name and not in any sense of royal court. Magna Carta or no Magna Carta in British realm – King Philip IV was the self-proclaimed “Christ King.” The Muslims, Mamluks, Mongols – all who fought the Templars were formidable foes to say the least. Saladin was certainly a thorn in the side – however one cannot overlook his ability to fight, defend, thwart, and/or otherwise upset plans established by an honorable Knighthood whose original intentions were to protect pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The Temple of Solomon, Al-Aqsa Mosque – the Dome of the Rock was once the home to Templar Knights and Hospitallers. The Mosque stands today where it is in Jerusalem though there is a West Wall for believers of another faith. Many interesting persons of History throughout this book – the most interesting to me were King Louis IX of France and King Richard I “Coeur de Lion.” Both equally effective leaders of their time, both quality representatives of what being on the Throne of a Kingdom meant. The author encapsulated their existence with exquisite poetic detail and equally managed to not linger beyond the information needed for the interested reader. Interested readers of this time frame will not be disappointed with Dan Jones – he comes through here “swimmingly” in educating the 21st century reader. As an American and with the sort of work I do it was of additional interest to me that the author references modern day uses of “The Knights Templar.” Particularly that of drug cartels south of the American border. One in particular that has been gaining strength not only in Mexico but in El Salvador is Los Caballeros Templarios – simply put they are nothing more than another group of drug runners, extortionists, human traffickers, and other deeds of ill repute. It was refreshing to see the misuse of modern times to the cause that was once so just and unjustly removed from existence. After having read “The Plantagenet’s”, “The Magna-Carta”, and now this book – I am forever glad I took a detour before tackling “The War of the Roses.” It has helped to formulate the background in real Historical terms – terms that are descriptive without being phony.

This is a review of the Kindle version of this book. I read a lot of medieval history and in this pursuit I've also read my fair share of books by Dan Jones. I have generally enjoyed the books written by Dan Jones and wouldn't have bought this one if I hadn't. The Templars were an order of knights formed in 1118 and disbanded in 1214 when the last master was executed. In this book Dan JOnes attempts to cover the whole sweep of this history across Europe and the middle east. Given the huge sweep of this book the narrative style used by Dan Jones should have made this a very readable book. Unfortunalely given the scope of the subject I don't think a single book, however well written would work perfectly. Inevitably the book gets bogged down in the history of the crusades and it becomes a list of people and batlles. The sweep of the history doesn't come through and the European events are rather downplayed until the very end. This is meticulously researched and perhaps the fact that the research shatters one's preconceptions is part of why I'm not giving this five stars. It did become a bit of a slog to read through though. Never tedious but the style and content didn't quite match. The final chapter (epilogue) on the Templar's legacy in popular culture was also brief and uninspiring. I did enjoy this book and learned a lot about the crusades and fall of the Templars. You have to really want to read this book though unlike Jones's other works on the Plantagenets (for example). So this was an interesting book but not one I'd recommend for the casual reader. If you want a gateway to Templar history this is a great start but it's not for everyone.

Purchased for my husband who loves to read about the Crusades. He's very happy with it and I will see if the author has additional ones for purchase!

Embarrassing confession: before this book, my most vivid connection to the Templars was the Indiana Jones movie, In Search of the Holy Grail. Dan Jones remedied this ignorance with this very readable, very informative history of the Knights Templar, whose name derives from protectors of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. I learned that the Templars were the original soldiers for Christ—an order of warrior monks created at the dawn of the 12th Century whose mission was to serve as bodyguard escorts for Christian pilgrims to the holy land. I learned that Templars were disciplined, well-train warriors and serves as the military vanguard in successive crusades of the 12th. and 13th centuries. They manned a string of castles and checkpoints from what is now Lebanon down the Mediterranean cost to Gaza as well as castles inlands and in Jerusalem itself. I learned that to support their military brethren in "the East", the Templars grew to a sophisticated international order in Europe. As a reward for their piety and mission, Popes and princes waived taxes and fees. Over time, the Knight Templar grew wealthy and powerful and owned estates, vineyards, farms, castles, houses and fleets commercial and military vessels. Royalty kept their wealth and documents in Templar houses and castles for safe keeping. Templars became trusted financial advisers to Kings across Christian Europe. Templar loans helped prop up some European monarchies and partially bankroll the Crusades themselves. Alas, I also learned that their limited battlefield successes were overshadowed by spectacular defeats that doomed each of the Crusades over about 150 years. Eventually, disenchanted European monarchs turned from crusading in the holy lands to consolidating power closer to home. This effectively left the Templars without their core mission—liberating the holy land from Islamic rule—but with a lot of wealth that became an attractive target for perpetually money-strapped King Louis IV of France. The author charts all of this complex history clearly and cogently. He maps out the rapid, spectacular fall of the Templars by the same powers that fostered their creation and growth 190 year earlier -- the Pope and the monarch. Finally, I learned that their story has virtually nothing to do with the Holy Grail.

I enjoyed the author’s book The Plantagenets, but this book on the Templars dragged on and on. I am not quite half way through and am unable to continue. The Templars seemed to have a gift for destroying themselves in battle. The excessive details were tedious. A broader view would be easier to assimilate.

I'm in my 80s now. But when I was a teenager more than 60 years ago I was a member of the Order of DeMolay. There was some ritual, but I really don't suppose any of my fellow teenage boys understood much about who Demolay was. The books is a fascinating history of a religious military order fighting in the Holy Land for two centuries during the Crusades. As a military order they were quite successful. But crusading armies need money to keep fighting. One branch of the Templars fought--and died. Other branches of the Templars in England, Spain and especially France organized the financing of those armies. Since Europe was full of the Crusading Spirt, the European Templars became wealthy. Jacques DeMolay (the American version of his name--used by the Order of DeMolay) was the last Grand Master of the Templars. The profligate king of France was essentially broke. He had devalued the French currency several times. When he was essentially down to his last sou he looked at the Templars in France. He orchestrated the imprisonment of the entire order--tortured many of them, and ultimately burned the three highest members at the stake. Of course he also seized all the Templar's assets. A good way to replenish the royal treasury. For what it's worth the Order of DeMolay (for teenagers and young men) was organized in the United States some 600 years after the death of DeMolay.

Dan Jones gives the reader a clear account of the rise and fall of the storied Templars, from their origin to their ghastly fall at the hands of Philip IV (The Fair) and his Machiavellian henchman Guillaume de Nogaret. Jones takes us through the various crusades of the Christian West to set up and maintain the various polities of the fervid believers in hegemony over the bemused and underappreciating residents who had already endured the Romans, Byzantines, and their Muslim successors. The Templars were important in the various campaigns to ‘reclaim’ the Holy Land for the Christians, which leads to what could be a tedious account of the inability of the crusaders to learn from their military and political mistakes over the years. It is Jones’ gift to keep this dismal tale interesting and illuminating, all along describing how the Templars handled the often idiotic parade of Western kings, counts, and other notables, and there is a sense that they got a little tired of campaigning with these same people who never seemed to learn anything from their failures, let alone the character and fervor of their Muslim opponents who, on the other hand, often seemed more interested in betraying their coreligionists. After being expelled from Palestine once and for all, the sudden demise of the order under the utterly inimical French king almost comes as an anticlimax. This last part of the book is dismal, but clear, and Jones makes it plain that King Philip’s impecuniousnous, abetted by the French Pope Clement V was the immediate reason for the fall of the Templars in France. It is telling that the kings of England and Aragon refused to follow the French example, at least at first. As an aside, Jones gives a concise description of Clement’s role in all this and his subsequent moving of the papacy to Avignon which eventually led to the ‘Babylonian Captivity’ of the papacy for decades. All in all a good book with just a few nitpicking objections: whatever happened to editing and proofreading in the publishing industry? There are occurences of mangled syntax, florid sentences that cry out for editing, and the somewhat insulting practice of talking down to the reader, as in the usage of ‘of’ for ‘de’ in French names. Thus Jacques de Molay is changed to James of Molay, and just about every French name is similarly bowdlerized. Having read Maurice Druon’s series of novels, Les Rois Maudits, it was jolting to read William of Nogaret, instead of Guillaume de Nogaret over and over again, as the French ‘de’ has connotations of prestige. Four stars for this book as it could easily have been given greater depth, especially the reasons that Philip’s motives were more than a lack of money. This begs the question: why were the French so eager to collude in the fall of the Templars and how did the rise of the Italian bankers affect the fiscal management services of the Templars? Five stars, however, for readability, and the peppering of the narrative with arch and humorous mots.

Enjoyable read. Lots of info, facts.

Beaucoup de sérieux sur cette histoire des templiers . Bonne vue sur les croisades.

When I purchased this book, I intended to read it not in order of chapters but in order of information in wanted to delve deeper into for my own reaserch. Reading Dan Jones does not work out that way! I sat down at 1:30pm on a bank Holiday Monday and ended up reading this book until 5:30! Strait without stopping. It is impossible to skip chapters or stop reading! True to the reviews Dan's prose is the best non fiction writing I have ever read! never in my life have. I read nonfiction as easily or effortlessly as I have read this man's work! Even as a student i often read and had to make notes to ensure I retained what I read. When you read a Dan Jones novel one finds themselves retaining the information effortlessly, because the read is just enjoyable! This is a fantastic scholarly look at the templars from beginning to end!! the amount of research in here is mind-blowing!! So so well done! I will definitely be coming back to this as my work continues and will definitely read more from Dan!! legit obsessed with you Sir!!

Me ha gustado porque cuenta la historia tal y como sucedió. Yo tenía una idea más “fantástica “ y me alegro de conocer la verdad. Lo recomiendo. No pongo 5 estrellas porque el papel es simple, reciclado y la letra un poco pequeña . Pero se lee bien yasí he podido subrayar, añadir notas etc…

I found this to be an interesting read. Dan Jones has written an incredible tale of the origins to the destruction of the Knights of the Temple. I found the history to be incredibly fascinating though rather content heavy and it took quite a considerable amount of mind power to understand all that he was talking about. I found that they had a great cause of origin and an interesting history though their demise confused me as it seemed to go against everything they stood for, though not to say it was not interesting in how they disappeared into the history books. Would definitely recommend this to anyone fascinated with history and religion.

Had my doubts about both the author (being a well-known media figure) and the content - with the Templars being a chewed-out topic by, as the writer calls it, a coterie of Templar and conspiracy theorists. But I was not disappointed. Dan Jones actually has a very captivating writing style, a not overly academic prose that is quite accessible. He has risen very high in my regard as an historian - still I struggle watching him as a tv-personality. The story is very well structured and presented from original, appealing angles. The crusades, fascinating stories in themselves, are mostly put aside to focus in the formation and rise of the order. Outside of a chapter in Templar in pop culture, there is no room for the popular myths of the Templars, which is just as well as the Templars as an institute were already a spectacular story worthy of being told as it was. Most was illustrated by very clear maps. However with books as these I can’t stress my desire enough to have more graphs of timelines, dress and military manoeuvres ect. as often a picture tells more than a couple of pages of text (and not just grouped in a few middle pages of the book). But it seems to remain a academic taboo to illustrate books and to make them more accessible.