The murdered magicians
The ruthless dissolution of the Knights Templars was only the beginning of a new and strange chapter in their history. In due course they became the focus of numerous beliefs based on their supposed occult powers, and by the eighteenth century the influence of the Templar myth was felt not only in the fantasies of occultists but even in the Gothic novel, with its frequent tales of monastic impropriety. In this widely-praised study Dr. Partner, as well as providing a succinct account of the rise and fall of the Templars, examines the fabrications and illusions about the history of the Order, from the Renaissance magicians to varieties of Templarism in our own time, and shows how a medieval act of political injustice grew into a modern fantasy. -- publisher description.