Gentle Reader, what follows is a combination of my own notes from various research books, mixed in with how they relate to the Parasolverse world and my thoughts on how the history might be twisted in my universe.
All About the Knights Templar (or Should I Say Night’s Templars?)
As they appear in Blameless, of course.
I thought you might enjoy seeing which bits made it into Blameless and which were left out or changed.
All quoted and page numbered material is from the book Knights Templar: The Essential History by Stephen Howarth.
- Instead of being killed in the Parasolverse world, Templars were expelled from France 1314 and fled to Italy
- Named the Pope the new Grand Master and took up the supernatural crusade over the expulsion of the Moors
- Leaders in all the major Roman cities – called Preceptor of [city name]
- Thought of as the Holy Knights (Originally established by 9 men to defend travelers)
- Assisted in bringing the Pope back to Rome (Pope = Pontiff in Rome)
- Short hair & beards, modest clothing, wear white (purity)
- Monastic order – no family, no personal property, pray regularly (chapel for matins), strict daily routine, no meat, no contact with the excommunicated, only accepted mature men who joined of their own free will
- Called the Brotherhood, dual discipline of monks & warriors
- The Rule = absolute obedience to the Order
- Silence during meals, knights eat first then servant brothers, one brother priest reading from the Bible throughout
- Behavior towards one another should be gracious, avoid loud laughter, minimal conversation in soft voices, compassionate to the ill & elderly“And your belief in this?” “Is stronger then Castle Pilgrim.”
- Gnosis = spiritual knowledge
- Hospitallers = long time and long term opposition to the Templars. Originally another religious fighting order that accepts immortals?
- Jenchiz Khan = Prester John = first Potentate (vampire) and ruler of the Golden Horde
- Description of an insane werewolf pack AKA Khwarismian Turks (see Raqqa excavation notes) – a mercenary pack with soldier clavigers were brought up by the sultan of Cairo to fight the Templars and take Jerusalem from them for good.“Thirsting for and drinking blood, they butcher bodies of dogs and humans, and eat them. They wear bulls horns, they are armed with iron; they are short and squat, with compact bodies; they are invincible in war, and blood to them is a delicious drink.” (Howarth 2006, 212)
- Templars always bitterly anti-werewolf as a result.
- In the end only 43 of 300 Templars survived the Khwarismian scourge of the Holy Lands.
- 1540 Henry the Eighth treaty with supernatural saw all fighting monks ejected from England (Templars and Hospitallers).
- Queen Mary rescinded this edict, but Queen Elizabeth supported the supernaturals and by 1559 fighting monks were all gone.
- Undercover Templars and French Hospitallers helped win American Independence.
- Phillip III decided Templars has too much political and financial clout and undermined their military authority. They retreated to Italy and went underground and commenced their “Final Great Crusade” for the Catholic Church against the supernatural.
Here’s a fascinating podcast on the subject: In Our Time: The Knights Templar
BOOK DE JOUR!
Blameless: Parasol Protectorate Book 3
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Quitting her husband’s house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Alexia Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season. Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town.
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