Last weekend I finished The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades (talk about a long title). For those of you who were there when I bought this book know that I’ve been reading it for about 8 months, in the process have read probably another 3 or 4 books. In any case, the book was very well written and carried itself as an interesting chronology of the crusades. When I had purchaced the book I was hoping for a history of the Templars themselves but the book was largly a a history of the various groups (Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc) that were involved in the crusades and how the dynamics and wars between them all played out. Had the book been titled, “The Crusades, Sprinked With The Templars” I might not have bought it, but I can now say I’m much more versed in the history and reasons behind the crusades against the Holy Land. Ultra-quick summary: the Templars began as a warrior-monk society created by the Vatican to protect travelers on their way to Jerusalem and evolved over time into a large, multi-national corporation that funded kings and barrons, that served as warriors in crusades, and in the end were destroyed by the King of France.