The Knights Templar, a legendary monastic military order forged in the fires of the Crusades, continue to enthrall 21st-century audiences.
From the time of their founding in 1119 C.E. to their dissolution in 1312 C.E., the Templars’ mission was to defend Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land against the various Muslim powers that sought to return the region to Islamic rule. In service of this mission, the order fused two defining institutions of the early Middle Ages: the mounted knight and the pious monk.
At the time, this made the Templars something of a puzzle. How could someone be both a pious monk and a ferocious warrior? The Templars themselves tried to address this question in their symbology, which proved as puzzling as the order itself.
