The facts behind the fiction of the Knights Templar
In this comprehensive and accessible introduction, Helen Nicholson, leading specialist in the history of this legendary medieval order, gives a full account of the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Salomon, bringing the latest findings to a general audience. The Order was funded in the twelfth century, in Jerusalem,at the height of the Crusades as a fighting force. It soon became powerful throughout Europe ; eventually so rich and influential that it challenged the might of kings.
In a terrible wave of violence the Order was persecuted into extinction. Since then numerous theories have emerged, from tales of the Holy Grail to Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and other novels. Putting many of the myths to rest, Nicholson's vibrant history of these storm troopers of the papacy proves even more revelatory than the legend.
Helen J. Nicholson was born in Northern Ireland in 1960, and educated in Belfast, in Oadby and at St Hilda's College, University of Oxford. She holds a doctorate from the University of Leicester (1990). Her thesis was the basis of her first book (1993), which studied medieval views of the Templars, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic knights. Since then she has written books on the crusades, the Templars, the Hospitallers and medieval warfare, and most recently on the trial of the Templars. She works at Cardiff University, occasionally appears on the TV or radio, and also maintains a 'Frequently Answered Questions' page on the Crusades and on the Templars.
