A - Z of the Knights Templar reissued.

My A - Z of the Knights Templar is being reissued by Spellmount in Pocket Gide format, which merits dusting off this blog to mention...

Here it is on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Pocket-A-Z-Knights-Templar/dp/0752498673/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1395844788&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=a+-+z+knights+templar

I was very pleased to hear that Spellmount were printing a new, pocket edition of my work 'A to Z of the Knights Templar', especially as this enabled me to make a few tweaks and additions during the editing process. Authors, like artists, I suspect, are often glad of a chance to revise their creations with the befit of a little hindsight.

I first conceived of an encyclopaedia or dictionary format work on the Knights Templar to address a need I perceived. Although many books are printed on the Templars and the Crusades, some may contain references and terms that may mystify the general reader. The story of the Templars takes place over two centuries, and covers a substantial geographical area, from Scotland to Spain to Syria (and possibly beyond.) There are a lot of names of place and people - various illustrious Raymonds, Bohemonds and Baldwins that crop up. I thought a reference work would come in handy, to help readers keep track of them all, and to say how they were connected to the Military Order. I wrote 'A to Z of the Knights Templar' concurrently with doing an MA in Crusader Studies, so many of these individuals and themes were fresh in my mind.

Books concerning the Knights Templar broadly fall into two types - speculative, mystical and conspiratorial works of alternative history, one the one hand, and perhaps somewhat forbidding academic works on the other. I hope my 'A to Z' may enable readers of the former to ground themselves in real, established history - concerning the Templars, who they were, what they did, what they believed, and what happened to them - and to probe the origin of various myths. At the same time, the book may serve to clarify things mentioned in the more weighty books on the topic (as well as in original sources) that might pass without explanation. The book can be used in conjunction with other books, or else be dipped into for general browsing.

The entries give facts about kings, queens, popes, preceptors, sultans, barons and brigands, and about many of the individual Templars themselves, whose names, stories and sometimes words have come down to us. As well as alphabetical entries, cross-referenced, including many named individuals, locations, objects, battles, events and themes, the work contains an overview account of the history of the Order, and  select chronology of Templar history.

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I have mostly been concentrating on art for the past few years, much of it however reflecting my historical interests.

On the subject of the Templars, I designed some Templar-themed jewellery for Eastgate Resource, which I may not have mentioned hitherto hereabouts....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2tPH4FRzWU

http://www.eastgateresource.co.uk/pages/talis_knights.html