Mostly good basic background on who the Knight Templars were and how they started and ended. I still want to learn more. I'm pretty sure there is no real connection to modern groups who use the name and the ancient one that started with the Crusades and ended about 1312. There are a lot of crazy legends out there! ( )

Not a literary classic but you never know whether to blame translator, the author, or both. However, this is the first Templar book without any mystical Dan Brown sort of conspiracy theory through the ages bullshit. It’s just the facts. Frale has a bias towards the Vatican side of things but she doesn’t gloss over the blemishes in the Military Orders. The Templars are revealed for what they are, a holy military order. They were the best of a rotten lot of Crusaders. If you were a woman or child you would much rather face a Templar or Hospitaler than the average Frankish Crusader, if you know what I mean.

In short a good book if you want the basic facts and no fantasy.

Before I go, Frale points out that many modern “societies” claim descent from the Templars, who’s first vows were celibacy and poverty. When was the last time you saw a Shriner or Mason that was celibate and destitute? ( )

It’s hard for me to decide what I think about this book. For virtually my entire life, I’ve heard and read rumors, stories, and myths about the mysterious Knights Templar, and most people know about the Holy Grail and have heard stories that the organization continues to secretly exist to the present day. When I got this book, I wasn’t exactly looking for or expecting to find these stories were justified. However, while I admittedly did enjoy learning about how the Templars were founded, and for what reasons, and the qualities one had to have and the sacrifices one had to make in order to become one, this book then quickly turned into basically a dry textbook of history, places, several events, politics, culminating in a very disappointing (for me) end to what had been an admirable organization, complete with confessions tortured out of the Templars who had been arrested due to political BS between the King of France and the Pope. It was further disappointing to learn that at least some of the confessions were true, as in the Templars’ secret initiation rites, which I cannot believe were original, had degraded into something undeserving of the name and purpose of the organization, and personal requirements and standards had been lowered to recruit new members, thus making for a lack of morals in some that would have probably gotten an original Templar killed by his fellows. It was also disappointing to learn of such a once-splendid organization’s demise, and as the primary author was granted access to the “secret” Vatican files, it’s highly likely that the reports of its termination as an organization are and were indeed true, thus destroying my youthful fantasies of a super-secret organization existing over the centuries to the present, exercising power in all sorts of areas. Like I originally stated, I knew that was essentially a myth, but it was still disappointing to read the historical truth.

This is a well-researched, and professionally written history of a fascinating organization that was quite powerful for several hundred years and which still interests numerous people til this day. The writing gets fairly dry at times, even boring, but there’s enough good details and history in it to make it worth reading. I’d give this book a solid four stars and state that it’s recommended. ( )

This book was disappointing. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. With this subtitle: "The Secret History Revealed," you thought it was going to more squarely address the whole spate of Templar myths that have cropped up in the wake of Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the literary abortions of Dan Brown and his ilk. Thing is, aside from some oblique references by Eco in the forward (another reason I bought it), and parts of the last chapter, it was just a beefed-up Wikipediaesque recap of Templar history. Again, not bad, but not what I was expecting. Also, for the woman who discovered the Chinon parchment, you'd expect her to mention it more than just the few references in the last chapter. Eh. Enlightening, however, was her analysis of the controversial initiation ceremonies, which was actually quite sparkling. Also, it'd be nice to have a chronology, or a list of Grand Masters, or the like. One bright spot was the extensive bibliography that was almost a bibliographic essay, though it was lean on English-language works. Could have been brilliant, instead it serves an accessible primer, good, but not great. ( )

Nato dall'iniziativa di alcuni cavalieri che si erano votati al Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme, quello dei Templari divenne in pochi decenni l'ordine religioso-militare più potente della cristianità. Professionisti della guerra e uomini di religione, protettori dei pellegrini in Terra Santa, i cavalieri del Tempio divennero, grazie al favore dei papi e dei re cristiani, un organismo sovranazionale attivo in tutto il Mediterraneo. L'accusa di eresia rivolta da Filippo il Bello per impadronirsi dei beni dell'ordine, indusse Clemente V a sciogliere il Tempio per evitare uno scisma della chiesa francese da Roma. Questo studio ricostruisce la storia dei Templari avvalendosi di ricerche originali che hanno condotto anche a clamorose scoperte. ( )