As an organisation they're very wealthy, which means they've got castles and access to the best kit. They are not afraid of dying; they're comfortable with the idea of martyrdom. But also from the rule, we know that they are highly, in theory, highly disciplined. So in a battle they will break into squadrons of ten. You don't go until you're told to go. And when you go onto the field of battle, you try and stay in these squadrons. That happens to be easier said than done. It's the coherence of the Templars that makes them dangerous.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the military order founded around 1119, twenty years after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem. For almost 200 years the Knights Templar were a notable fighting force and financial power in the Crusader States and Western Europe. Their mission was to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land, and they became extremely wealthy yet, as the crusader grip on Jerusalem slipped, their political fortune declined steeply. They were to be persecuted out of existence, with their last grand master burned at the stake in Paris in 1314, and that sudden end has contributed to the strength of the legends that have grown up around them.
With
Helen Nicholson
Professor of Medieval History at Cardiff University
Mike Carr
Lecturer in Late Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh
And
Jonathan Phillips
Professor of Crusading History at Royal Holloway, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson