Reliable Books

TemplarsNow™ is always looking to identify, promote and (re)distribute sources of reliable information on the Knights Templar and their time. This page presents Reliable Books on the Knights Templar and the Crusades in general.

Reliable Books on the Knights Templar

Books on the Knights Templar are quite common. Reliable books, without sensation and fantastic myths that show sound historical background are much less so. TemplarsNow™ is collecting titles that merit the qualification “reliable”. Simply because they are based on proper scientific research.  This library will be ever expanding when reliable books are added. Sound scientific sources are most relevant for being selected, as are our own preferences based on experience. The following list is arranged following year of publication, most recent being first. This list will keep growing. Suggestions are welcome.

• Alain Demurger, The Persecution of the Knights Templar: Scandal, Torture, Trial (to be published June 2020) 
• Helen J. Nicholson, The Everyday Life of the Templars: The Knights Templar at Home (2017)
• Jochen Schenk, Templar Families (2015) 
• Helen J. Nicholson,  A Brief History of the Knights Templar (2010) 
• Alain Demurger, Moines et guerriers. Les ordres religieux-militaires au Moyen Âge (2010)
• Regine Pernoud, The Templars: Knights of Christ (2009)
• J.M. Upton-Ward, The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar (2008)
• Sharan Newman, The Real History Behind the Templars (2007) (internet)
  
• Karan Ralls, Knights Templar Encyclopedia (2007)
• Helen J. Nicholson, The Knights Templar: a new history (2004)
• Sean Martin, The Knights Templar: The History and Myths of the Legendary Military Order (2004)
• Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate, The Templars: Selected sources translated and annotated (2002)
• Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusaders 1095-1131 (1997)
• Stephen Howarth, The Knights Templar – Christian Chivalry and the Cursades: 1095-1314 (1995)
• Malcolm Barber, The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple (1995) 
• Malcolm Barber, The Trial of the Templars (1993)
• Alan Forey, The Military Orders: From the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries (1992)

Reliable Books on the Crusades

Dr Andrew Holt reported on his project to identify the “most important” books on the Crusades. He asked 34 leading medieval historians to provide their own preferential list. Their replies resulted in a list of some 150 titles. Analyzing this as to the number of times each title had been mentioned by the scolars, Dr Holt identified “the 15 most important Books on the Crusades“. The titles are shown below, including the number of times each title was mentioned.

Carol Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (Islamic Surveys) (1999). (13 mentions) Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading (1986). (13 mentions) Carl Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade (1977) (11 mentions) Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades. 3 vols. (1951-1954). (11 mentions) Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusaders, 1095-1131 (1997). (7 mentions) R.C. Smail, Crusading Warfare 1097-1193 (1956, 2nd edition 1995). (7 mentions) Kenneth M. Setton, ed., A History of the Crusades, 2nd ed., 6 vols. (1969-89). (7 mentions) John France, Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade (1994) (7 mentions) Norman Housley, The Later Crusades, 1274-1580: From Lyons to Alcazar (1992). (6 mentions) Christopher Tyerman, God’s War: A New History of the Crusades (2006). (6 mentions) Paul Alphandéry & Alphonse Dupront, La Chrétienté et l’idée de croisade (1954, 1959). (5 mentions) Benjamin Z. Kedar, Crusade and Mission: European Approaches towards the Muslims (1984). (5 mentions) Denys Pringle, The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Corpus (1993- 2009). (5 mentions) Joshua Prawer, Histoire du Royaume Latin de Jérusalem (1969-71). (5 mentions) Paul Cobb, The Race for Paradise: an Islamic History of the Crusades (2014). (4 mentions) Susan B. Edgington and Sarah Lambert, eds. Gendering the Crusades (2002). (4 mentions) Norman Housley, Contesting the Crusades (2006). (4 mentions) Christopher MacEvitt, The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance (2007). (4 mentions) Hans Eberhard Mayer ed. In collaboration with Jean Richard, Die Urkunden der lateinischen Könige von Jerusalem (2010). (4 mentions) Joseph Michaud, Histoire des croisades, 4 vol. (1862). (4 mentions) James M. Powell, Anatomy of a Crusade, 1213-1221 (1986). (4 mentions) Queller, Donald E., and Thomas F. Madden. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. 2d ed. (1997). (4 mentions) Raymond d’Aguiliers, Historia francorum qui ceperint Jerusalem (ca 1105)

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