The Knights Templar Encyclopaedia and the Grail
The essential Guide to the people, places, events, and symbols of the Order of the Temple
By Dr Karen Ralls
This encyclopaedia is subtitled “The
essential Guide to the people, places, events, and symbols of the Order of the
Temple.” That is pretty much what it is – and to coin a phrase “it does
exactly what it says” on the cover. My
only departure from whole-hearted support is that I am not sure that it will be
“essential” to all of us that read Templar related material.
It is just a little thing I know but the word has an essential
interpretation, which implies that there is an element of indispensability
attached to the book.
So is it indispensable?
Well maybe - it depends on who you are and how far the pilgrimage has
taken you. If you have been
a-hunting and a-tracking through sun filled holidays over a period of time then
your experience may substitute for some of the information in the book.
If on the other hand you are one of the new generations looking and
finding for the first time there are excerpts that can help.
The sections on Gothic architecture, cathedral building and Bernard of
Clairvaux are woven together in a way that the history is told almost
seamlessly. But, that is invaluable
not indispensable.
If you are devoted (or obsessional) enough to save up you can go to Sedlec / Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic you can see how Cistercian Monasteries, cathedrals and skulls all come together without the benefit of an encyclopaedia to inform your historic researches.
If you are of the Dan Brown generation
looking for more, or if your tendons hurt from too much mouse work on the
internet, then a couple of days with this book (away from repetitive strain
injury) may not be a bad thing either.
The book is not donnish and so in that
respect it should be popular. It is
an easier read than, say, Christopher Tyerman’s “God’s War”… which is
daunting in its excellence. God’s
War is so exhaustive in its detail, research and degree of completeness that I
may never finish it. It is a work
of reference – you might use it when you need to substantiate a point or
revise for, lets say, the Mastermind Chair – Karen’s book will have broader
appeal and offer the possibility to research for the “Who wants to be a
Millionaire” chair.
That is the difference for me. I have been able to read the Encyclopaedia like a book, which means perhaps that it is not really an encyclopaedia! But it is still worthwhile.
I guess what I am saying is that this is an accessible piece of writing that brings together a disparate number of related issues that might otherwise have not gone in between the same dust jacket. It does work together well and the bibliography is excellent – any bibliography that mentions “The Piebald Standard” my first lure to the tales is fine with me! As a general reader, or to get you under way, it has much to commend it.
Reviewed by Stephen Andrews, May 2007
Published April 2007
New Page Books, US
Paperback ISBN 978-1564149268