Templar History

The Templars and the Assassins really did meet — and the Templars taxed them. The true story behind the rivalry Assassin’s Creed turned into fiction.

Meat three times a week, two men to a dish, and silence at table. The Templar Rule governed every meal — here is what the brothers actually ate.

The medieval Order was dissolved in 1312, so nobody can join it. Here are the real modern organisations, what each requires, and how to spot a fake.

The Templar reception ceremony was held behind locked doors at dawn — and that secrecy destroyed the Order. Here is what the rite actually involved.

Both his judges died within a year of the fire. Here is what the last Grand Master actually said from the pyre — and where the famous curse came from.

Eighteen galleys sailed from La Rochelle and vanished — or so the story goes. Here is what the Templar fleet actually was, and what the records show.

No women took Templar knight vows — but the charters show sisters, consorores and patrons. What the records actually prove.

Hugues de Payens founded the Knights Templar around 1119. His life, the Council of Troyes, and what the sources really record.

Saladin spared kings but executed every captured Templar. Montgisard, Cresson, Hattin and the reason the orders got no mercy.