Review: The Knights Templar by Michael Kerrigan

Synopsis: The Templars, the Knights Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights – the chivalric orders founded during the Crusades evoke romantic images of warrior monks who were fierce but spiritual, chaste and pious yet battle-ready. But what were they really like? How did their organisations form, rise and decline? And how much of what we think about them is myth?

The Knights Templar tells the stories of the major and minor military orders from the 11th century to – in the case of the surviving orders – the present day. Organised chronologically, the book follows the fates of orders, from the foundation of the Knights of St Peter in 1053 to the major crusading era in the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries, from the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic to the Reconquista in Iberia and on to the Hospitallers’ later ventures in the Mediterranean and even in the Caribbean.

Full of surprising details, the book not only explores how the military and religious aspects of the orders were reconciled, but also looks more broadly at the orders’ work, from the Templars’ role in the development of modern banking to hospital, castle and cathedral building, from the Teutonic Knights’ treatment of non-believers to the Hospitallers’ battles against Barbary pirates. Illustrated with 180 colour and black-&-white photographs, artworks and maps, The Knights Templar is a fascinating history of about some of Europe’s most often misunderstood organisations.

Definitely aimed at the "commercial" market and the younger reader, and certainly not the advanced reader looking for a more scholarly tome.

Introduction is on the early knights, courtly love, Arthurian mythos, with a side tour to the world of the Benedictine monks. The focus is not just the Templars, but also the Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights, and other European knightly orders in both the Holy Land and Europe as centered mainly around the Mediterranean. Kerrigan also covers off the basics, and the usual myths and allegations.

There are plenty of maps, images, side text boxes and catchy headings which reminded me of the presentation style of the current popular "History" magazines (which I do buy myself - for the articles of course!).

Well below my reading level - and quite frankly, nothing new has been presented here.