templar books

Forey, Alan J. The Military Orders from the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1992.

Covering the military orders in the 12th and 13th centuries, this is written by one of their leading historians and has an interesting section on military affairs, together with a good bibliography.

Luttrell, Anthony T. “The Military Orders, 1312–1798.” In The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. Edited by Jonathan Riley-Smith, 326–364. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

An important chapter by a leading scholar on the orders’ history from the 14th century to the end of the 18th, including some discussion of naval warfare.

Prutz, Hans. Die geistlichen Ritterorden: Ihre Stellung zur kirchlichen, politischen, gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen des Mittelalters. Berlin: Haude & Spener, 1968.

The classic introduction to the history of the military orders up to the fall of the Templars in the early 14th century. Prutz was a great historian, but he was more interested in ecclesiastical, social, and economic topics than in warfare. First published Berlin: E.S.Mittler und Sohn, 1908.

Sainty, Guy Stair, and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, eds. World Orders of Knighthood and Merit. 2 vols. Wilmington, DE: Burke’s Peerage & Gentry, 2006.
DOI: 10.5118/wokm.2006
At first sight this glossy production looks more like something for a coffee table than a library, but it is a scholarly survey of all known orders of knighthood and merit. It also contains an extensive bibliography.

Barber, Malcolm. The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994a.

Malcolm Barber provides a comprehensive and reliable overview of the Knights Templar from their origins in the Holy Land around 1119 to their expansion as an international order and finally their suppression and dissolution in 1312. Barber’s work is one of the most popular and readable scholarly accounts on the subject.

Barber, Malcolm. The Trial of the Templars. 2d ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Malcolm Barber provides the definitive account of the suppression of the Knights Templar from 1307 to 1314. Barber considers the charges of heresy against the Templars, including the denial of Christ, homosexuality, and worship of idols, all extracted under torture by agents of King Philip IV, and the Templar effort to mount a defense of their order. Originally published in 1978. The second edition takes account of new scholarship since its original publication.

Barber, Malcolm, ed. The Military Orders. Vol. 1, Fighting for the Faith and Caring for the Sick. Aldershot, UK: Variorum, 1994b.

This surprisingly coherent volume contains no less than forty-one conference papers. Fourteen of the essays consider various issues related to the Hospitallers, eight consider the Knights Templar, seven consider the Teutonic Knights, and four consider the Spanish orders, while the remaining eight deal with more general topics. The essays are prefaced by an excellent introduction by Jean Richard.

Forey, Alan. “The Military Orders and the Conversion of Muslims in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.” Journal of Medieval History 28 (2002): 1–22.
DOI: 10.1016/S0304-4181(01)00014-8
This article considers how the military orders were never really tasked with the goal of the conversion of Muslims, nor did they seem concerned with this goal. Yet as Christian leaders began to emphasize missionary efforts, some criticized the crusading orders for hindering peaceful missionary efforts, while others argued the orders should be used to convert Muslims by force as well as preaching.

Mallia-Milanes, Victor, ed. The Military Orders. Vol. 3, History and Heritage. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2008.

This volume’s essays consider topics including Hospitaller and Spanish historiography as well as issues related to the liturgy and heraldry of the Hospitallers. The third section considers various issues regarding the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights, including the trial of the Templars and the use of indulgences by the Teutonic order. The final section presents a wide-ranging collection of essays on the Hospitallers.

Nicholson, Helen J., ed. The Military Orders. Vol. 2, Welfare and Warfare. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.

The thirty-three essays in this volume focus on the origins of the crusading orders and their efforts in the Holy Land but also consider the various efforts of the knightly orders in Europe as late as the 18th century. The essays are organized into four sections: “Welfare,” “Warfare,” “Life within the Military Orders,” and “Relations with the Outside World.”

Upton-Ward, Judi, ed. The Military Orders. Vol. 4, On Land and by Sea. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2008.

This volume of twenty-seven essays deals with a wide range of topics beyond just military and naval matters, such as the architecture, archaeology, and spiritual lives of the orders. The focus of these essays is on the Hospitallers, but the book also includes essays on Portuguese military orders as well as the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights.
Constable, Giles. “The Military Orders.” In Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century. By Giles Constable, 165–182. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2008.

A leading authority on 12th-century religious life discusses the attitude of churchmen to the role of the military orders.

Licence, Thomas. “The Templars and the Hospitallers, Christ and the Saints.” Crusades 4 (2005): 39–57.

See also Thomas Licence, “The Military Orders as Monastic Orders,” Crusades 5 (2006): 39–53. Two articles on the religious dispositions of the Templars and the Hospitallers.

Purkis, William J. Crusading Spirituality in the Holy Land and Iberia c. 1095–c. 1187. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2008.

This contains (pp. 98–111) the most intelligent interpretation so far of the attitude toward the military orders of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, an early apologist for the Templars.

Riley-Smith, Jonathan, Templars and Hospitallers as Professed Religious in the Holy Land. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.

A study of the brothers of the Temple and the Hospital on active service in the Levant, stressing their condition as professed religious.
The Order of the Temple (Templars)

Founded during the winter of 1119–1120 to defend to the pilgrim roads in Palestine and then the western settlements in the Levant, the order was granted a rule in 1129 and was privileged by the papacy ten years later. By the middle of the 12th century it was one of the richest and most highly privileged religious orders in Latin Christendom. It came to share the chief burden of the defense of the western settlements in the Levant with the Hospital of St. John. The Muslim advance in the later 13th century and the loss of the last beachheads in Palestine and Syria in 1291 exposed it to severe criticism. In 1307 all of the Templars resident in or visiting France were arrested on charges of blasphemy, and the order was suppressed in 1312. Most of its European properties were granted to the Hospital of St. John.

Histories

More ink has been spilled on the Knights Templar than on any other medieval group. The general standard of the books about them is appalling. Barber 1994 and Demurger 2005 are efficient and trustworthy and consider the history of the order and its roles, including its function as a fighting machine, in the Levant and in Europe.

Barber, Malcolm. The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

A scholarly account of the Templars’ history from their foundation to their dissolution in 1312.

Demurger, Alain. Les Templiers: Une chevalerie chrétienne au Moyen  ge. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2005.

This covers much the same ground as Barber 1994, but it is differently organized, with an emphasis on the order’s inner life.

The Fall of the Templars

The dissolution of the Temple in the early 14th century was a cause célèbre, generating an enormous amount of source material, including the reports of enquiries on behalf of the church into the brothers and their order. The reason for the Templars’ demise is still debated, with Barber 1978 and Forey 2011 holding to the majority opinion and Riley-Smith 2004 challenging it.

Barber, Malcolm. The Trial of the Templars. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1978.

The most commonly held opinion—that the Templars were falsely accused for political and financial reasons—is argued for at length.

Forey, A. J. “Were the Templars Guilty, Even If They Were Not Heretics or Apostates?” Viator 42 (2011): 115–141.

A forceful defense of the consensus.

Riley-Smith, Jonathan. “Were the Templars Guilty?” In The Medieval Crusade. Edited by Susan J. Ridyard, 107–124. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2004.

This paper questions the consensus, suggesting that in some instances the Templars could have been guilty of blasphemy. A subsequent paper, “The Structures of the Orders of the Temple and the Hospital in c.1291.” In The Medieval Crusade. Edited by Susan J. Ridyard, 125–143. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2004, argues that the order was anyway in a chaotic state.

Fonseca, Luís Adão da. “The Portuguese Military Orders and the Oceanic Navigations: From Piracy to Empire (Fifteenth to Early Sixteenth Centuries).” In The Military Orders. Vol. 4, On Land and by Sea. Edited by Judi Upton-Ward, 63–76. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2008.

A short introduction in English making the subject available to non-Portuguese speakers.

Edwards, R. W. “Bağras and Armenian Cilicia: A Reassessment.” Revue des Études Armeniennes 17 (1983): 415–455.

An authoritative treatment of one of the largest and most important Templar castles, Gaston (Bağras), which controlled the Syrian Gates, the pass through the Amanus Mountains from Cilicia into Syria. Edwards argues that most of the surviving structures are Templar.

Ellenblum, Ronnie. Crusader Castles and Modern Histories. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511497247
Valuable for its treatment of the archaeological excavations at Vadum Jacob, a Templar castle taken by the Muslims while in the course of construction.



Barber, Malcolm. “Frontier Warfare in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Campaign of Jacob’s Ford 1178–9.” In The Crusades and Their Sources: Essays Presented to Bernard Hamilton. Edited by John France and William G. Zajac, 9–22. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.

The building and loss of the castle of Jacob’s Ford, held by the Templars, is a dramatic episode in the history of the Latin Kingdom, told here with great scholarship and clarity.

Barber, Malcolm. The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

This is the most authoritative account of the Templar Order, though it has relatively little to say about military matters.

Bennett, Matthew. “La Règle du Temple as a Military Manual, or How to Deliver a Cavalry Charge.” In Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown. Edited by Christopher Harper Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, and Janet L. Nelson, 7–20. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1989.

The Old French Templar Rule has survived, and in this article Bennett uses its instructions to reconstruct how a cavalry charge might have been delivered.

Nicholson, Helen. Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128–1291. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press, 1993.

This study deals, among other things, with the military reputation of the orders.

Schein, Sylvia. “The Templars: The Regular Army of the Holy Land and the Spearhead of the Army of Reconquest.” In I Templari: Mito e Storia. Edited by G. Minucci and F. Sardi, 15–25. Siena, Italy: A. G. Viti-Riccucci, 1989.

This is one of the few attempts to evaluate the military usefulness of the order, in this case for the 13th century.

Luttrell, Anthony, and Helen J. Nicholson, eds. Hospitaller Women in the Middle Ages. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.

This anthology gives a wonderful account of the gender notions and changes in care practices of the High Middle Ages, which is very useful for graduate courses on the history of military medicine as well as on gender relations in the medieval period.

Barber, Malcolm. “Supplying the Crusader States: The Role of the Templars.” In The Horns of Ḥaṭṭīn: Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, Jerusalem and Haifa, 2–6 July 1987. Edited by Benjamin Z. Kedar, 314–326. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 1992.

Barber shows one of the many important facets of the Templar contribution to the survival of the Frankish East.

Barber, Malcolm. The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Comfortably the best overview of the order, covering its origins, rise, landholdings, castles, and military engagement in the Levant, as well as its structure and demise.

Barber, Malcolm, and Keith Bate, eds. The Templars: Selected Sources Translated and Annotated. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002.

An excellent selection of primary sources on the Templars that includes a significant section on warfare and politics.

Bennett, Malcolm. “La Règle du Temple as a Military Manual, or: How to Deliver a Cavalry Charge.” In Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown. Edited by Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher Holdsworth, and Janet Nelson, 7–19. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1989.

A thoughtful analysis of the practical and theoretical aspects of Templar military practice. Can also be found in Upton-Ward 1992 (pp. 175–188).

Pringle, Denys. “Templar Castles on the Road to the Jordan.” In The Military Orders: Fighting for the Faith, Caring for the Sick. Edited by Malcolm Barber, 148–166. Aldershot, UK: Variourm, 1994.

An outline of the castles constructed and used by the Templars as part of their vital role in protecting pilgrims to the Jordan.

Pringle, Denys. “Templar Castles between Jaffa and Jerusalem.” In The Military Orders. Vol. 2, Welfare and Warfare. Edited by Helen Nicholson, 89–109. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.

A continuation of the theme in Pringle 1994, this time dealing with the safety of pilgrims traveling between Jaffa and Jerusalem.

Upton-Ward, Judith, trans. The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1992.

A complete translation of this text, giving real insight into the structure, discipline, and way of life—and warfare—of the Templars.