The French attack on the Templars that began in 1307 was one of the most shocking events in the history of the late medieval west. As we saw in chapter 8, the Templars were famous across the Christian world and beyond. For nearly two centuries, Templar brothers had played a distinguished part in some of the most dramatic battles and sieges in the near east. They had taken on Saladin at Hattin in 1187, slogged through the flooded Nile delta during the disastrous Egyptian crusades of 1217–21 and 1249–50, and been the last men standing when the Mamluks overran Acre in 1291. The Templars had also
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