The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades - Couverture souple

In 1099, the city of Jerusalem, a possession of the Islamic Caliphate for over four hundred years, fell to an army of European knights intent on restoring the Cross to the Holy Lands. From the ranks of these holy warriors emerged an order of monks trained in both scripture and the military arts: The Knights of the Temple of Solomon, called the Templars. In this engrossing and authoritative chronicle spanning three centuries, Piers Paul Read explores the Templars' rise to political and financial power, their catastrophic fall, and their far-reaching legacy. Drawing on the most recent scholarship, discrediting the legends and myths that have long surrounded the order, he has written a remarkable history of these vaunted and feared warriors.

Piers Paul Read studied history at Cambridge University and has written twelve acclaimed novels and three works of nonfiction. His novels have won the Hawthornden Prize and the Geoffrey Faber, Somerset Maugham, and James Tait Black awards. He lives in London.