Dungeon, fire, and sword - John J Robinson

Over the last 1000 years the bloodiest game of king-of-the-hill has been for supremacy on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This book recounts the stirring saga of the Knights Templar, the Christian warrior-monks who occupied the sacred Mount in the aftermath of the butchery of the First Crusade. Recruited to a life intended to lead only to martyrdom, they were totally dedicated to the pious paradox that the wholesale slaughter of non-believers would earn the eternal gratitude of the Prince of Peace. The Templars amassed great wealth, which they used to finance their 200 years of war against Moslems on the desert battlefields. The Templar's reward for those two centuries of military martyrdom was to be arrested by Pope and King, tortured and finally decreed out of existence. But their legend and legacy just would not die.;In telling the incredible story of the Knights Templar, the author's clear explanation of the cultural and religious differences among the Templars' enemies and friends in the Middle East gives fresh understanding of why people who hated each other 900 years ago still do so today.