Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel discuss the NBC mini-series “The Last Templars” which starts tonight. It is based on the book of the same name and is in the mode of Da Vinci Code tripe. Their discussion focuses on the actual history and the abrupt end of the Templars. As always with these two authors it is an excellent and informative conversation. [Go here to download MP3 file]
Chance that I will watch this mini-series is zero.
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Thanks, Jeff!
Hopefully the majority of the viewers will turn the dial, like my husband and I did, solely based on the quality of the show.
Well, if you want the real story of the last templars, you would have to come to my birthplace, Tomar, Portugal.
When the end of the Templar order took place, the portuguese King of the time did not want to wipe out the order in his Kingdom, even pressed by the pope to do so, therefore he did something very portuguese: he had things his own way, while apparently obeying.
He created a new order called the order of the Knights of Christ, and transferred all the possessions of the templars to that new order. Of course all the knight who were templars became knights of Christ, with the structure of the portuguese province intact. Their headquarters was Tomar, the city where I was born, and templar knights fleeing from their countries came there from all over the world.
So the last chapter in the history of the templars was here in Portugal, as far as I know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Christ_(Portugal)
I’m too involved with Desperate Housewives to watch this. ; )
John Robinson’s book: Dungeons, Fire and Sword is a fine (I’m no intellectual!) history of the Crusades, the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and their demise.
Gee, if this is playing now, I wonder what they have reserved for Lent? Seems to me that there’s always some new juicy bit of confusion to confuse the general public about things Catholic during Lent and Advent.
well you never know, there might be a gospel of Caspar, or an Acts of Lucius… who knows that else they might find that was hidden to us for THOUSANDS of years lol
Aliocha, that’s fascinating. I remember a Spaniard telling me that a cathedral in Spain has the cup of Christ, which is why the Holy Grail legend from France never really affected Spain.
aliocha…Not every Templar went to Portugal. Many of the order made their way to Scotland and were under the protection of Robert the Bruce. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all “Davinci Code” on you. The Bruce simply double cloaked the Templars with the Hospitallers of St. John.
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