The Knights Templar Revealed

by Alan Butler, Stephen Dafoe

The authors, Butler and Dafoe offer a detailed account of the rise of a specific group indentified as the Troyes "fraternity" Behind the Knights Templar lay a belief patern almost as old as humanity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion

233 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Alan Butler is an established author, historian, and researcher with a career spanning several decades. His work primarily focuses on uncovering historical mysteries, especially those related to ancient civilizations, astronomy, astrology, and comparative religion. Early in his career, Butler worked as an engineer, a background he credits with shaping his meticulous approach to historical inquiry. Over time, he transitioned to writing and researching full-time, exploring topics such as the Knights Templar, goddess worship, Freemasonry, and the role of astronomy in ancient societies.
Butler has co-authored several influential books with Christopher Knight, including Civilization One, which examines ancient measuring systems, and Who Built the Moon?, which delves into the Moon's unique characteristics and its connection to Earth's history. His solo works include The Knights Templar: Their History and Myths Revealed, The Virgin and the Pentacle, and Sheep, a unique exploration of the cultural significance of sheep throughout history.
Apart from writing, Butler has written plays for BBC Radio and participated in television documentaries. He lives in Northern England with his wife, where he continues his research and writing on historical enigmas. Butler is also a noted speaker at seminars and events focused on ancient studies and esoteric topics.

Reviews

[Bernard Grisoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very informative regarding both the Cistercian Order and the Knights Templar order, their similarities, their phenomenal expansion across the whole Europe in during the 12th century.

[Cosmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ei bine,se pare că după multă vreme am revenit,cu o recenzie scrisă de data asta aici. După o lungă perioadă în care m-am aflat în Reading Slump,am revenit cu "Cavalerii Templieri-Misterul Dezvăluit",o carte care am terminat-o destul de greu,care ar fi trebuit să o termin în 2 zile,nu 5. Cartea nu m-a dat pe spate,nu m-a cucerit la fiecare capitol dar mi-a plăcut să aflu despre templieri și cistercieni și despre linile de sare și multe altele.
Cartea nu începe în forță cu descrierea vieții Templierilor și cum au fost masacrați de Filip al IV lea ,datorită că ajunsese vorba cum nu mai erau "creștinii apărători trimiși de Domnul". Pentru că tot am ajuns la partea asta de început care e mai mult băgată la sfârșit în seamă,o să vă povestesc despre ea. După cum ați auzit sunt torturați până la ultimul deși cu ceva vreme în urmă aveau niște reguli foarte stricte și nu li se îngăduiea un lux anume(ca și cistercineilor de altfel,dar ei nu erau călugări-soldați). Dar cum răzbunarea asta pusă în plan de Filip al IV lea, Regele Angliei și actualul Papă(din vremea aceea),a luat ființă "boomerangul dreptății" s-a întors înapoi iar cei trei "măcelări" au decedat și ei destul de suspect. Despre templieri se spune că aveau cunoștințe vaste,despre alchimie, matematică, astronomie și chiar despre cele două Americii,datorită că erau bunii navigatori și datorită excapadei lor petrecute în Asia(mai degrabă Arabia Saudită),au putut împrumuta mici șireticluri de la arabii. O enigmă foarte dezbătută este :"Ce-au făcut primii 9 Templieri în primii lor an de când s-au format ca și gang ?",unii spun că au găsit o grămadă de pergamente sau chiar capul lui Iisus,dar poate nu o să aflăm niciodată adevărul cum nu știm nici multe amănunte concrete despre discul găsit în Creta ce are inscripționat pe el o grămadă de hieroglife nedescifrate și mai poartă și numele de "liniile de sare",care unii cercetători vorbesc despre micenienii din respectiva perioadă și dezvoltarea lor.
Este o carte istorică,care te pune cu gândul la multe întrebări dar pe mine nu m-a surprins așa cum credeam cum o să facă, deși au fost unele subiecte "fierbinți" care mi-au stârnit mult curiozitatea. Recomand totuși citirea ei,dacă vreți să vă ancorați în realitatea mult pierdută a Evului Mediu.

[Stephen Redwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a book for the writing, sometimes for the content, and occasionally you get lucky by having both in one text. Unfortunately, this book doesn't achieve either. The writers favorite phrase is some version of 'about which will we have more to say later on' making it hard to track points they are making and very disjointed. The syntax and structure is clunky and the flow is full of non-sequiturs. On the content side, the authors are obsessed with the significance of Salt Lines and, to a lesser extent, curiosities about European and Middle Eastern history. Putting aside the academic scepticism that exists on the topic of Salt Lines , they never really show how it is relevant to the Templar movement, other than suggesting that communities formed along them. Strangely, the Templars themselves don't really appear as a topic until about half way through the book - with much of the earlier sections devoted to the development of Cistercians, the Troyes Fraternity and Megalithic peoples. There's a lot of waffle in getting to the Templar part, but with sources that seem to favor conjecture over facts. Even when we get to the Templars, there is a lot about prayers and rituals, but nothing about their role or training as fighters - strange given they are knights and involved in various conflicts. Having said that, I did come away knowing more about early 14th century history and influences that led to it, than I started with. In summary though, potentially dubious substance and hard to read.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alan a descoperit că ciclurile matematice, deduse din „numărul” de hieroglife de pe fiecare față a discului Phaistos, sugerează o metodă prin care un calendar ritualic de 366 de zile să corespundă anului solar real. În acest caz procedura presupune urmărirea unui al doilea calendar bazat pe cicluri de 123 de zile. După 4 asemenea cicluri (492 de zile), o zi va fi scoasă din calendarul ritualic de 366 de zile. În acest mod, calendarul ritualic va rămâne aliniat cu anul solar pentru o perioadă de aproximativ 3700 de ani înainte de a se impune o altă compensare. În cele din urmă, s-a dovedit că discul Phaistos reprezenta un al doilea calendar, dar unul mult prea precis și care sugera un sistem numeric mult mai sofisticat decât ar fi fost necesar pentru armonizarea anului ritualic cu cel solar. Era evident că metodele de compensare oferite de discul Phaistos erau derivate dintr-o geometrie sacră în care cercul cuprindea 366 de grade, spre deosebire de cel modern, utilizat acum, de 360 grade.

[Ivan Kvesic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book that connects the order of the Cistercians created by Bernard of Clairvaux and the Templar Knights.
I would recommend reading the "Warriors & Bankers" book written by the same authors, because they make many references to it.
It makes valid suggestions connecting the Knights Templar to an ancient Jewish sect knows as the Essenes from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I am interested in reading their second book where the authors hope to explain what happened to the Templars after their persecution by Charles IV.

[Tiberiu Baranyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It may be an interesting book ... what I can say that personally is that I liked the mixture of historical facts and personal opinions ( opinions that no necessarily have support in historical evidence) of the authors.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please note: I read and reviewed this book in May of 2007 - please keep that in mind.

This is a thorough and interesting work (although only book one of a two book group) that details the rise of the Templars and their fall. While hinting at the fact that they do not believe the Templars died out altogether, this issue is not thoroughly explored - it is promised to those who continue on to the next book.

The authors purport that the Templars arose out of the Cistercian monks - or at the very least were strongly influenced by them - and were the controlling arm of a group they call the "Troyes fraternity" for their location in Troyes in modern-day France. They create a conspiracy out of the fact that many of the towns from around which influential Cistercians and later Templars arose were on what they call "Salt Lines," which follow a specific geographical pattern of latitude and longitude and along which are many ancient cities with similar place names.

It is impossible to be overly specific with this book without ruining the reading of it. I would strongly recommend this to those who are interested in the history of monastic movements in general, the Templars in specific, the history of the chivalric period and/or simply an alternative look at history.

[Luciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting through this book is like trying to run a marathon through a sea of molasses. It's very slow going.

Trying to keep track of all the different off shoots that lay the foundation for how the Templar's developed their vast organization is like trying to keep track of the "Smith" family tree. It's a lot of work.

(Yes, I know I'm using a lot similes...)

Anyway, this is a frequently dry and very academic leaning book that will test your patience. However, if you are a student of history this is probably a book you will enjoy.

I read it mainly because I was duped by the title. I mean who doesn't enjoy getting in on a secret, huh?

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating reading. The authors offer a number of suppositions to support their conclusions, but their arguments are clearly and persuasively presented. If you're intereted in either the Cistercian Order of the more famous Knights Templar, this one is a must.