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The Last of the Templars
Following the fall of Acre in 1291 and the reconquest of the Holy Land by the Moslems, the last survivors of the Order of the Temple flee the Middle East for Europe. Among the refugees is Beltran, a native of the Holy Land, who struggles to keep the faith as his companions loyalties waver.
(This book has an alternate title of Beltran in Exile.)
(This book has an alternate title of Beltran in Exile.)
286 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
William Watson
4 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
William Watson was a Scottish author, playwright and newspaper editor. He was initially Literary and then Features editor of the Scotsman newspaper. Born in Edinburgh he attended Edinburgh Academy and then entered Edinburgh and Oxford universities but did not complete either course.
He commenced writing novels in 1969 with Better than One and then two historical novels entitled Beltran in Exile (1979) [also known as The Last of the Templars:] about the Crusaders and The Knight on the Bridge (1982) about the Cathars. These two latter books are generally regarded as his best works.
Between 1970 and 1972 he wrote two plays dealing with cannibalism and the mystery surrounding Roslyn Chapel. He wrote six spy thrillers under the nom-de-plume of J.K. Mayo between 1986 and 1997 using a middle-aged, irritable, Gauloise-smoking ex-army Colonel named Harry Seddell as his hero for these popular books. An interesting aside is his apparent enjoyment of using little-known and obscure words to enhance his excellent descriptions of places and intelligent conversations throughout the books.
(source: wikipedia)
William Watson was a Scottish author, playwright and newspaper editor. He was initially Literary and then Features editor of the Scotsman newspaper. Born in Edinburgh he attended Edinburgh Academy and then entered Edinburgh and Oxford universities but did not complete either course.
He commenced writing novels in 1969 with Better than One and then two historical novels entitled Beltran in Exile (1979) [also known as The Last of the Templars:] about the Crusaders and The Knight on the Bridge (1982) about the Cathars. These two latter books are generally regarded as his best works.
Between 1970 and 1972 he wrote two plays dealing with cannibalism and the mystery surrounding Roslyn Chapel. He wrote six spy thrillers under the nom-de-plume of J.K. Mayo between 1986 and 1997 using a middle-aged, irritable, Gauloise-smoking ex-army Colonel named Harry Seddell as his hero for these popular books. An interesting aside is his apparent enjoyment of using little-known and obscure words to enhance his excellent descriptions of places and intelligent conversations throughout the books.
(source: wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 5, 2017
Enjoyed this perhaps the most of medieval novels I've read. After the final defeat of the Crusaders at Acre in 1291, Beltran, a Templar, Treasurer of the Order and Keeper of the Rule, brings their treasure out of the Holy Land and keeps it with him. He and other faithful Templars journey to several islands in the Mediterranean [Cyprus, Crete, Ruad] for years, then arrive in France, travelling up the Rhône to give it over to headquarters. The Templar Order is condemned as heretical, destroyed through efforts of the French king and the Pope, its members burnt at the stake. Now an old man, after years of living as a hermit, Beltran makes his way to the wilds of Scotland to keep a promise made years before....
Drenched in melancholy, the passing of a way of life. Gorgeous writing.
Highly recommended. Variant title: Beltran in Exile.
Drenched in melancholy, the passing of a way of life. Gorgeous writing.
Highly recommended. Variant title: Beltran in Exile.
June 6, 2017
[Update: read a second time in May/June 2017. Superlative!]
Superb. If more historical fiction had such flawless literary sensibility, I'd be a true fan of the genre. The story begins in 1291 as the last remnant of Templar knights are retreating from the Holy Land. In a moment of crisis, a new Grand Master is elected who has dreams of rescuing the Order's treasury and mounting a new Crusade. But this is nothing more than a dream, and Europe itself is no longer a safe place for the Templars. The book moves quickly through various vibrant but deadly settings--attacks on walled cities, religious and secular political councils, sea voyages, assassination attempts and kidnappings. The activity here never lets up, yet the focus is always on characters, motivation, dialogue, and a convincing atmosphere of historical authenticity. The two times that I've read Umberto Eco novels, I was hoping for something like this, something that would strike a balance between the Literary Novel and historical adventure. The Last of the Templars is, at the very least, a minor masterpiece. I don't know of any better book of its kind.
Superb. If more historical fiction had such flawless literary sensibility, I'd be a true fan of the genre. The story begins in 1291 as the last remnant of Templar knights are retreating from the Holy Land. In a moment of crisis, a new Grand Master is elected who has dreams of rescuing the Order's treasury and mounting a new Crusade. But this is nothing more than a dream, and Europe itself is no longer a safe place for the Templars. The book moves quickly through various vibrant but deadly settings--attacks on walled cities, religious and secular political councils, sea voyages, assassination attempts and kidnappings. The activity here never lets up, yet the focus is always on characters, motivation, dialogue, and a convincing atmosphere of historical authenticity. The two times that I've read Umberto Eco novels, I was hoping for something like this, something that would strike a balance between the Literary Novel and historical adventure. The Last of the Templars is, at the very least, a minor masterpiece. I don't know of any better book of its kind.
May 25, 2017
Reading this the second time, I am even more impressed by what the author has done here and found the story deeply moving. I had just finished the non-fiction "God's Armies" that covered the entire history of the crusades, which gave me even more context for the story and its devout but suffering protagonist. As I said in my first review, "I have rarely read something that is able to get inside the head of someone whose views of life and the world are so completely different from most of us today."
I am glad that I read it this time under its original title, and think that they did a disservice to it by renaming it "The Last Templar" in an effort to boost sales. The Knights Templar have appeared in all sorts of fiction and pseudo-history, most of which is total b.s. in the style of Dan Brown. This book is nothing like that; for the most part, it could have happened as written and takes a long look at what the events that followed the loss of the Holy Land meant to those who had religiously devoted their lives to keeping it.
Good luck finding it, however. After seeing it referenced somewhere, I used my public library's site to do a statewide search; "The Last Templar" was in only one library in the state and I was able to have it sent to my local library. I later bought my own copy under the original name -- "Beltran in Exile" -- by searching on Abebooks.
I am glad that I read it this time under its original title, and think that they did a disservice to it by renaming it "The Last Templar" in an effort to boost sales. The Knights Templar have appeared in all sorts of fiction and pseudo-history, most of which is total b.s. in the style of Dan Brown. This book is nothing like that; for the most part, it could have happened as written and takes a long look at what the events that followed the loss of the Holy Land meant to those who had religiously devoted their lives to keeping it.
Good luck finding it, however. After seeing it referenced somewhere, I used my public library's site to do a statewide search; "The Last Templar" was in only one library in the state and I was able to have it sent to my local library. I later bought my own copy under the original name -- "Beltran in Exile" -- by searching on Abebooks.
February 8, 2013
Perhaps nobody has written on the Crusades like this since Tasso. And if Tasso is known for a gallows poetry, if he wallows in the terror and the pity, in his footsteps W.W.
December 5, 2009
One of my all-time favorite historical novels. I can't really say why. It just is. Sorry.
October 26, 2016
A beautiful, ethereal novel. The best written on this organisation.
May 6, 2023
Si bien no me disgusto no es el mejor libro que he leído en lo que va del año. Casi tuve ganas de dejarlo ya que la primera parte (que abarca 200 de las 300 paginas) es muy lenta y muy introductoria así que eso ralentiza mucho la lectura o por lo menos conmigo fue así, además que sentí que toda esta primera mitad hubo un tanto de relleno y no hubo trama alguna o un fin a donde llegar, aunque si hubo momentos y un capitulo que me gustaron mucho. Si bien no le doi menos puntaje a la novela es por su segunda parte ya que a diferencia de la primera está ya tiene una trama o una historia fija y no sólo son cosas ocurriendo por que si, tiene mejores momentos y la dinámica de la historia crece y su final fue muy "aventuresco" por así decirlo lo cual me gustó y lo hace un buen cierre. En cuanto a los personajes me gustaron algunos como fue shirin, oliverio, corberan y el rey Felipe (me gustó mucho como lo retrato el autor). En cuanto a su protagonista no considero que sean un mal personaje ni nada por el estilo pero no pude conectar en la mayoría con él, no se por que solo no pude, aunque en las últimas páginas si admito que le tuve estima a beltran. Algo que me gustó mucho de la novela son sus escasas escenas de acción, pues el autor no escatima la violencia y crueldad en ellas, haciendo que se sientan reales en cuanto al contexto de lo que fue la época de los templarios y la edad media y aparte del gore el autor sabe construir bien esas escenas belicas. La pluma de autor me agrado bastante aunque así como leía pasajes que me parecían magníficos en otros sentí que hubo algunas redundancias y que se complicaba o hacia de la narración "confusa" sin sentido. Lo que sí me gustó mucho es su manera de describir las ambientaciones y tiempos.
No es el mejor libro que he leído pero tampoco el peor y en conclusión fue un tanto aburrido sin ser tedioso pero hubo sus momentos amenos aunque sin ser magníficos
No es el mejor libro que he leído pero tampoco el peor y en conclusión fue un tanto aburrido sin ser tedioso pero hubo sus momentos amenos aunque sin ser magníficos
February 20, 2024
Watson asks more from his readers than many are willing to offer, I think. He is a fine writer and he has a good story to tell, but his way of telling it presents difficulties. His chapters have an episodic quality; they are finely crafted vignettes, but they don’t often run consecutively one to another; they leap forward chronologically by inconsistent or ill-defined increments. You’re never quite sure where he’s landed you. Watson also likes to drop you into the midst of intense or complex actions and emotions. It can take a while, and some re-reading, to get your bearings and properly see what he’s trying to show you, or to sympathize with his characters in their predicaments.
That said, if you invest some effort into your reading, there are rewards. Watson offers a convincing presentation of the high Middle Ages and the twilight of the Crusader kingdoms without pandering or indulging in too much cliché. His descriptions of violence can evoke a fight-or-flight response in the reader (literary adrenaline) and do a good job of communicating the special horror of injury and death in the pre-gunpowder era. Beltran is a memorable and appealing character. And beyond the pleasures of above-average prose, there are some passages of wisdom and real beauty in The Last of the Templars.
That said, if you invest some effort into your reading, there are rewards. Watson offers a convincing presentation of the high Middle Ages and the twilight of the Crusader kingdoms without pandering or indulging in too much cliché. His descriptions of violence can evoke a fight-or-flight response in the reader (literary adrenaline) and do a good job of communicating the special horror of injury and death in the pre-gunpowder era. Beltran is a memorable and appealing character. And beyond the pleasures of above-average prose, there are some passages of wisdom and real beauty in The Last of the Templars.
February 13, 2021
Totally true to the attitudes and beliefs of the late-13th-early-14th centuries, this is a brutal, compelling account focused on Beltran who becomes the last of the Templar Knights, expelled from the Holy Land by the Marmalukes and destroyed by Philip the Fair. A succession of knights and ancillary characters face forces of which they understand little, with no heroes and villains but with God ever-present and fighting and praying all they know. Politics, battle, exile, wounds, the fragility of existence; all brilliantly expounded. This is a superb medieval novel.
May 24, 2019
This book takes 286 pages to say what could be said in half the number. The prose went to extreme measures......multi descriptions of items where far less were needed. “As if” and “like” have surely rarely been used in such abundance. This potentially decent book might have had more a expanded story-line rather than so many ways to describe (for example) clouds. Flowery would be a fitting expression. The finale would rate one star at best.
July 24, 2020
This is a truly great historical novel because it fully inhabits the mindset of its main character, and acknowledges him as human, complex, moral and profoundly idealistic – while at the same time depicting him as believing his order has a divine mission to conquer the Holy Land. The problem is that this mission has, at the start of the book, utterly failed. And it's the main purpose of the book to explore the bafflement and anguish of the protagonist in the face of that failure. What does keeping faith with one's vocation mean in such circumstances?
It's not, of course, a book that a Templar at the turn of the fourteenth century could ever have conceived or written, but nor does it feature time travellers in disguise, as most historical novels do.
When it ventures outside the pov of its protagonist into the minds of those who brought about the downfall of the Templars (Philip IV of France and his minister Nogaret) it's far less subtle and nuanced – but then the persecution of the Templars wasn't exactly a subtle process.
Obviously the portrait of the Order here has nothing whatsoever to do with the charlatanry of Dan Brown.
It's not, of course, a book that a Templar at the turn of the fourteenth century could ever have conceived or written, but nor does it feature time travellers in disguise, as most historical novels do.
When it ventures outside the pov of its protagonist into the minds of those who brought about the downfall of the Templars (Philip IV of France and his minister Nogaret) it's far less subtle and nuanced – but then the persecution of the Templars wasn't exactly a subtle process.
Obviously the portrait of the Order here has nothing whatsoever to do with the charlatanry of Dan Brown.
June 29, 2023
They do not write books like this anymore.
Read this book and you will realize what it means, in full scope of phrase, to 'get immersed in book'. This is one of those rare examples when book drags you in, painting the world inside so masterly vivid that it makes outside reality melt away at first sentance. Remember me by David Stacton is one of those too, but where that one aims for that unhealed wound deep inside of you that you patched up as good as you knew just to stop the bleeding until you find bandages and right remedies, only for book to tore it open and make you feel every last lie you tell your soul in order to survive in a world that doesnt care about your truth; The Last of Templars is written in way that makes your soul sign in exposure to such a beauty of the craft that makes you say 'damn this is what literature should look like.'
This book deserves more stars than this scale allows.
p.s. william, why did you die and left us with that ending?
Read this book and you will realize what it means, in full scope of phrase, to 'get immersed in book'. This is one of those rare examples when book drags you in, painting the world inside so masterly vivid that it makes outside reality melt away at first sentance. Remember me by David Stacton is one of those too, but where that one aims for that unhealed wound deep inside of you that you patched up as good as you knew just to stop the bleeding until you find bandages and right remedies, only for book to tore it open and make you feel every last lie you tell your soul in order to survive in a world that doesnt care about your truth; The Last of Templars is written in way that makes your soul sign in exposure to such a beauty of the craft that makes you say 'damn this is what literature should look like.'
This book deserves more stars than this scale allows.
p.s. william, why did you die and left us with that ending?
August 12, 2019
Enjoyed that more than I anticipated.
November 15, 2019
Historische roman over de ondergang van de Tempeliers en in het bijzonder over een van de Tempeliers en zijn eigen gevecht. Mooi gevoelig geschreven.
June 12, 2013
De lo mejor que se pueda leer bajo el tema del Temple
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews