Book Description

This is the first book-length study of the legacy and memory of the main military orders in Britain, the Templars and Knights of St. John. It provides a survey from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries using hitherto neglected sources and identifies areas for further research and analysis. The volume first examines the historiography of the Orders, delving past the standard histories to examine their authors, readership, accessibility, advertisements. and reviews. It then discusses the material memory of the Orders, from the Temple Church in London and St. John’s Gate at Clerkenwell to archaeological discoveries and romanticised stained-glass depictions. Turning next to the revival and reinvention of the Order of St John after the loss of Malta in 1798 and the foundation of the British Order based at Clerkenwell, it unravels fact from fiction in the claims of continuity with the medieval knights made by the Masonic Knights Templars. For many, memory was shaped by popular fiction as well as history, so the final part considers various literary interpretations of the Orders’ history. This book will interest scholars and students of the Military Orders and Crusades, as well as general readers of the history of memory and reception.