
Funeral of Godfrey of Bouillon (c.1060-1100) in Jerusalem, 23rd July 1100, 1838 (oil on canvas)/Art Images via Getty Images
Thanks to the widespread popularity of the American writer Dan Brown’s books, the Knights Templar, also known as the Templars, have firmly made their way into twenty-first-century pop culture. However, this isn’t the first we’ve heard of them. Even before Dan Brown, numerous secret societies and Masonic lodges traced their history back to the Templars, who were said to possess magical relics and secret knowledge. Professor Irina Varyash unravels the mysteries surrounding the Templars’ history, skillfully distinguishing between fact and fiction.