Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Knights Templar: A Secret History
    Knights Templar: A Secret History
    Knights Templar: A Secret History
    Ebook157 pages2 hours

    Knights Templar: A Secret History

    By Graeme Davis and Darren Tan

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Born in the dark days of the great crusades, the warrior monks of the Knights Templar vowed to defend pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Yet strangely, there are few historical records of the Templars ever fulfilling this task. Instead, their history is one of bloodshed and conquest, wealth and power, dark secrets and conspiracies. Today, the story of the Knights Templar is intimately linked with the story of the Holy Grail. But what exactly is this ancient artifact, and how has it been used to manipulate history for the last one thousand years? This book, based on the notes of the recently deceased historian, Dr. Emile Fouchet, attempts to unlock the secrets of the Knights Templar. It begins with an examination of their historical origins, their growth in the early middle-ages, and their supposed destruction under the charges of heresy. From there, it uses the clues left by the Templars themselves to reconstruct their secret journeys as they moved the Holy Grail from Europe to the New World and back. It also charts the secret, three-way war that is still being fought between the Templars, the Freemasons, and the Catholic Church. Finally, the book reveals the greatest of all Templar conspiracies, the attempt to found a new world order under the auspices of the European Union.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateOct 20, 2013
    ISBN9781472806475
    Knights Templar: A Secret History
    Author

    Graeme Davis

    Graeme Davis is a specialist in the mediaeval world, its language, literature and culture. Recent books include studies of the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon, Old High German and Old Icelandic cultures. He is a lecturer in the History of the English Language with the Open University, previously a British Academy funded researcher at the University of Iceland, and an enthusiast for the North Atlantic region, where he has travelled extensively.

    Read more from Graeme Davis

    Related to Knights Templar

    Related ebooks

    Table Top Roleplaying For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Betrayal Of The Knights Templar

      Jan 31, 2024

      Betrayal Of The Knights Templar
      11 min read

    • Article

      Templar Myths

      Oct 1, 2021

      Templar Myths
      5 min read

    • Article

      Templars On Trial

      Aug 31, 2023

      They arrived with no warning, striking swiftly as a guillotine blade. As dawn broke over France on Friday 13 October 1307, hundreds of royal troops stormed the residences of Templar knights, rounded up the brethren and put them in chains. The knights

      9 min read

    • Article

      End Of The Order

      Oct 1, 2021

      End Of The Order
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Alchemist Of Austria

      Feb 28, 2020

      The Alchemist Of Austria
      10 min read

    • Article

      Women In The Military Orders

      Oct 1, 2022

      Women In The Military Orders
      9 min read

    • Article

      Rise Of The Knights Templar

      Nov 4, 2021

      Rise Of The Knights Templar
      12 min read

    • Article

      Henry II: The Muslim Monarch?

      Jan 23, 2020

      Henry II: The Muslim Monarch?
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Byzantine Emperor In Europe

      Nov 11, 2023

      Perhaps Manuel gazed upon the fading silhouette of Constantinople from the ship's deck, wondering when—if ever—he would return to his capital. Constantinople was besieged by the Ottomans and likely to fall without military assistance. Indeed, this wa

      6 min read

    • Article

      Going Dutch

      Dec 8, 2021

      THIS work covers a period neatly book-ended by two sea journeys: those of Matilda, William the Conqueror’s Flemish-speaking wife, and the Dutch William of Orange in 1688. Between the two dates, the fortunes of Anglo-Dutch literary relations, like tho

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Age Of Transformation

      Jan 19, 2023

      The Age Of Transformation
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Devil’s Taxi

      Oct 6, 2022

      The Devil’s Taxi
      26 min read

    • Article

      New Light On The Dark Ages

      Jun 9, 2022

      New Light On The Dark Ages
      8 min read

    • Article

      Worst Pope of All Time?

      Oct 17, 2018

      Worst Pope of All Time?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Who Were The Black Tudors?

      Oct 8, 2020

      Who Were The Black Tudors?
      8 min read

    • Article

      Becoming Anne Boleyn

      May 13, 2021

      Becoming Anne Boleyn
      7 min read

    • Article

      “We Have Believed The Normans’ View Of Themselves For Too Long”

      Feb 17, 2022

      David Musgrove: To quote from your introduction, “This book is concerned chiefly with the Normans’ explosive rise to power, their establishment in Normandy, and their 11th-century conquests.” Can you briefly chart that story for us? Judith Green: The

      9 min read

    • Article

      Anniversaries

      Apr 11, 2024

      Anniversaries
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Trauma Of War

      Jul 14, 2021

      The Trauma Of War
      8 min read

    • Article

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

      Sep 29, 2022

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Clash Of Civilisations?

      May 14, 2020

      A Clash Of Civilisations?
      7 min read

    • Article

      When The Spooks Were Spooked

      Mar 23, 2023

      When The Spooks Were Spooked
      10 min read

    • Article

      They Made History

      Jul 13, 2022

      They Made History
      8 min read

    • Article

      Un Masked

      Aug 5, 2021

      Un Masked
      8 min read

    • Article

      Michael Wood On… Why Mythology Prevails Over Reality

      Mar 17, 2022

      I took the train to Oxford the other day, to walk some old haunts. Down an alley just by the station, are the scant ruins of Osney Abbey. Founded in 1129, it was demolished after the Reformation and plundered for building materials. All that remains

      3 min read

    • Article

      Downfall Of A Duchess

      Jan 31, 2024

      Downfall Of A Duchess
      7 min read

    • Article

      Becket’s Miracle Windows

      Jan 7, 2022

      Becket’s Miracle Windows
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Knights Templar

    4/5

    7 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      My son, who is a third generation bibliophile (like his grandfather was and his father is), often pulls my leg. I am a sucker for the books of the so called conspiracy theories – and so the Knight Templars, Freemasons and others are my staple diet.

      I've been a sucker for the Templars since I first discovered them as a teen. I've read numerous books about them, non-fiction and fiction, so anytime I find a new book I'll pounce.

      I picked up the e-book edition hoping to resolve some of the intriguing mysteries since it was a modern scholar Dr.Emile Fouchet’s research notes and till a few years back. However, I am disappointed and still in the dark, in spite of Graeme Davis’s excellent presentation and writing.

      In spite of reading a good number of books, I still am not sure “What the heck is THE HOLY GRAIL?” Yeah, Yeah, I know it is the cup or bowl which either contained the blood of Jesus Christ and / or was used by him at various times, etc., etc.

      The Grail has been seen by the Templars and Freemasons, maybe by some of the Vatican officials, but what is its size, shape / form? Of what material was it made? No pictures, no images, no anything whatsoever – leading to the question “Does the Grail exist at all in the form we are made to believe?” The answer probably is a loud resounding “NO”.

      In “The Messianic Legacy” sequel to “Holy Blood Holy Grail” there is a new take on the Grail. It is stated that the entire Grail Story is an allegory. The Grail is a chalice, a container, but not in the sense we assume. The reference to blood of Jesus, is his bloodline and not his blood. The chalice is the womb that carried this blood that of Mary Magdalene – Sacrilege Heresy and what not – should a Papal Bull be issued for yet another crusade?

      And in The Knights Templar there is a hint by which the reader can conclude the Grail is actually a document from Solomon’s library which confers almost magical powers on the user.

      But coming back to the book, per se, The Knights Templar: A Secret History sets out to give a brief history of the Templars. Starting with history and moving into theory, the book mostly succeeds, but the latter half seems to rely mainly on one scholar.

      Drawing mainly on the work of Dr. Emile Fouchet, the origins and timeline of the Templars are traced from 1119 AD to the present. Also discussed is their rise and fall in popularity, mainly by defying the Catholic church. The Holy Grail is discussed as well as the theories about where it might be. As the Templars were driven into hiding in Europe, the book moves into the shadowy history, with the Templars coming to America to help the colonies. Then back to Europe where their machinations seem to be behind the scenes until the present day.

      There are some great conspiracy theories in here and there would seem to be a grand war happening between the Templars and the Masons. The unification of parts of Europe seems to fit in with the Templar goals. It's all a bit spooky and I did end up enjoying the book. There is a timeline of Templar history and a bibliography. Intriguing and concise.

      The book reveals a mixture of real and imagined history of the Knights Templar from their inception to the present. The work is cleverly presented as the work of a fictional scholar that happened to fall into Davis' lap after the scholar died mysteriously while wrapping up his investigations.

      At the end of it all, the book leaves us with a conundrum. If the Knights Templar were so brilliant and devious, to have kept their presence hidden for 700 years, if they were politically savvy, good soldiers, how come in the peak of Imperial Europa they could not unite and form their Templar State during the 16th. 17th and 18th centuries. How come in the latter half of 19th century this was not achieved since all the royal families of Europe from Iberia to Russia, Scandinavia to Italy were extended family of Regina Victoria.

      Great pictures, illustrations, timeline, and selected bibliography make this book a must-have for any new Templars enthusiast. Also suggested for history lovers.
    • 4/5
      An interesting Yarn and a good point for a modern "secret war". What I liked most is it doesn't fall into the false and fantastical and while engagingly spun doesn't fabricate events etc.
    • 4/5
      A brief but intelligent history of the Knights Templar. The work also includes some info on other groups that have been associated with the Templars. Great pictures, illustrations, timeline, and selected bibliography make this book a must-have for any new Templars enthusiast. Also suggested for young history lovers.Net Galley Feedback[author:Graeme Davis|73831][book:Knights Templar: A Secret History|17288805]

    Book preview

    Knights Templar - Graeme Davis

    Introduction

    The death of Dr Émile Fouchet in the spring of 2012, in an automobile accident outside Troyes, excited little comment. The police report concluded that Dr Fouchet had been drinking but was not drunk, and that darkness and rain contributed to the crash. The question of suicide, prompted by the recent and unexpected loss of his teaching post at the University of Toulouse, was raised and quickly dismissed.

    I had met Dr Fouchet briefly at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in 2007. He gave a paper tracing the history of what he called the Plantard conspiracy¹ which lay behind The Da Vinci Code – wildly popular at that time – and the 1982 bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. The topic seemed too lightweight for an academic conference, but Fouchet’s presentation posed several intriguing questions. In particular, while dismissing the books and film as blatant fiction, he wondered who would spend so much effort to obfuscate historical facts, and why.

    After his presentation I took the opportunity to request Dr Fouchet’s help for one of my graduate students who was researching links between the Templars and the Teutonic Knights. I also made some politely noncommittal remarks about his choice of topic and his courage in broaching it before an academic audience. He complimented me on my French and promised to read my student’s abstract.

    Nothing in our conversation made me think Dr Fouchet would remember me once he was out of the room. His letter in response to the abstract was polite but distant. He listed some archives and the names of a few librarians, but regretted that he was extremely busy with his own research.

    Shortly after Fouchet’s death I received a package. Inside was a mass of papers and a letter dated three days before the crash. Fouchet had apparently kept up with my work and seemed impressed by my publication record, for his letter begged me to have his research translated and published as quickly as possible if anything should happen to him. He sounded very afraid – almost paranoid – and hinted that his recent research had cost him his job and somehow placed him in danger.

    In 2006, construction work on a new Metro station in Toulouse uncovered part of the ruined Château Narbonnaise. Also found, though not reported, was a cache of documents dating from the siege of the castle in 1217-18 during the Albigensian Crusade.

    Jacques de Molay, last official Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In the absence of convincing contemporary likenesses, this later image has become the most influential depiction. (Mary Evans Picture Library / Alamy)

    The documents were mostly religious and philosophical texts relating to the Cathar heresy, and Fouchet was an expert on Cathar history. As he studied the documents he found some relating to the Knights Templar, who survived the Albigensian Crusade but were disbanded about a century later.

    I spent the whole of that night poring over Fouchet’s notes. At first I suspected Fouchet had fallen prey to the kind of conspiracy theories that have always dogged serious Templar scholarship. To my surprise I found Fouchet’s facts unassailable, his arguments sound, and his tone manifestly sane. I decided to do as he asked, and you hold the first results of that process in your hands. It is hoped that deeper and more detailed coverage of Fouchet’s research will appear over the next few years in peer-reviewed journals.

    One sentence in Fouchet’s letter still puzzles me. You must publish, he said, before they can cover the old fiction with a new one. If they are the Templars, or some group claiming the inheritance of their legacy, then it seems the Plantard conspiracy – and other Templar myths – were deliberate and well-constructed fictions.

    For now, readers must come to their own conclusions and hope, as I do, that someone with the necessary expertise and resources will take up the research that Émile Fouchet can no longer finish.

    1. Although it dates back to the 1950s, the Plantard conspiracy came to worldwide prominence following the publication of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail in 1982. It is covered in more detail on pp. 61-62.

    Origins and Growth

    The history of the Knights Templar, from their founding in 1119 to the execution of the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, in 1314, is sufficiently well known that it need only be covered here in outline. More details can be found in many excellent sources, some of which are listed in the bibliography.

    In addition to the generally accepted history of the Order, the following pages also discuss various points raised in Fouchet’s notes, and the startling conclusions he drew from his research.

    The Founding

    In July of 1099 the armies of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem, bringing the Holy Lands of the Middle East under Christian control after more than 450 years of Muslim domination. Around 1119 nine French knights, including Hugues de Payens, André de Montbard, and Godfrey de Saint-Omer, approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem with a proposal to establish an order of knights on monastic lines, whose duty would be to protect pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem.

    The knights were accommodated in the captured al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, close to the site of Solomon’s Temple. They named themselves the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, which soon became abbreviated to Knights of the Temple or Knights Templar.

    Pope Honorius II presides over the Order’s official foundation at the Council of Troyes. (INTERFOTO / Alamy)

    Their fame spread to Europe, where they returned in 1127 to a heroes’ welcome. Leading churchman Bernard (later Saint Bernard) of Clairvaux became their champion, writing De Laude Novae Militae (In Praise of the New Knighthood) and playing a leading role in the 1128 (1129 according to some sources) Council of Troyes at which Pope Honorius II gave their order official status. Hugues de Payens was established as the Templars’ first Grand Master.

    Bernard was given the Abbey of Clairvaux by Count Hugh of Champagne, the head of the Troyes cabal. (INTERFOTO / Alamy)

    After this official recognition gifts of money and lands poured in, along with a flood of eager recruits. The Order was further strengthened in 1139 by a bull of Pope Innocent II titled Omne Datum Optimum (Every Perfect Gift), which exempted members of the Order from the laws of the kingdoms in which they operated. They could pass freely across borders, were exempt from taxation, and answered only to the pope. No king could command the Templars.

    Contemporary Records

    Guillaume de Tyre, our main source for the Templars’ early history, was born more than a decade after the Order was allegedly founded. When he was writing, between 1170 and 1184, the Templars were already well established and influential.

    King Baldwin’s own chronicler was his chaplain Fulk, or Fulcher, de Chartres. Fulk himself does not even mention Hugues de Payens. This is curious, as Fulk would surely have witnessed his master’s meeting with the nine poor knights.

    In fact, nowhere in the records of the time is there any mention of de Payens and his knights being active in the Holy Land. Even the later accounts fail to record any action in which they protected pilgrims. One must wonder how nine impoverished knights could hope to protect so many travelers in such a large area; so far no one has been able to answer this question.

    According to Fouchet, the story of the nine poor knights seems less like history and more like a post facto origin story fabricated for an organization that already existed.

    King Baldwin grants accommodations in the Temple to Hugues de Payens and Geoffrey de Saint-Omer. From a 13th-century copy of Guillaume

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1