The Templars

The Templars were the wealthiest, most powerful and most secretive of the Christian military orders that flourished in the crusading era. Founded in 1119 by a French knight and his eight companions, they began with humble origins as a roadside rescue team for pilgrims to the Holy Land, and went on to fight in the greatest international conflicts of the Middle Ages in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor. The order became dazzlingly wealthy and financially sophisticated: they built castles, owned land, ran cities, bankrolled wars and helped make popes and kings. Their downfall in 1307, engineered by the French king Philip IV, was spectacular and extreme, ending in total elimination. Dan Jones takes these phenomenal ingredients and turns them into exciting, page-turning history.