• The Templars

  • The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons
  • By: Michael Haag
  • Narrated by: Guy Bethell
  • Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (238 ratings)

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The Templars  By  cover art

The Templars

By: Michael Haag
Narrated by: Guy Bethell
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Publisher's summary

Arguably one of the most provocative, puzzling, and misunderstood organizations of medieval times, the legendary Knights Templar have always been shrouded in a veil of mystery, while inspiring popular culture from Indiana Jones to Dan Brown. In The Templars, author Michael Haag offers a definitive history of these loyal Christian soldiers of the Crusades - sworn to defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but ultimately damned and destroyed by the Pope and his church.

A best seller in the United Kingdom - the first history of the enigmatic warriors to include findings from the Chinon Parchment, the long-lost Vatican document absolving the Knights of heresy - The Templars by Michael Haag is a fascinating, must-listen book.

©2011 Michael Haag (P)2017 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Haag sifts through the history and the legends to illuminate these mysterious Holy Warriors.... [Fans] of The Da Vinci Code and other fictions relating to the Templars will enjoy this well-written […] and solidly researched book. Highly recommended." ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about The Templars

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Narrator ruined it

After a few hours, I had to stop listening because the narrator is terrible. I listen in my car making the audio quality key. He buries the end of his words which makes names incomprehensible. Very disappointed.

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13 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Solid but not perfect

The author distorts some of his early facts in the gospels and their dating thus showing his scope is grand but stretches himself too thin. He also rightly accuses previous authors to exaggerating their claims on the Templars without good evidence (which he is quite right); but then he does the same thing by dismissing 100% of all these “myths” with a hand wave instead of evidence why all of them are false? So overall a good introduction but the author should have ranked for example that Templar’s discovered America perhaps a “2” on possibility and then the Masonic link a “5” possibly instead of continuing to laugh and hand wave these all as “just silly” but not refuting or ranking based on plausibility, explanatory scope/power, etc.
The voice over is PERFECT for this book though and that bring my rank from a 3 star to 4 star. (I have an MA in classical history so though I am no expert neither am I a novice)

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8 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible and distracting. Choose another

This reader interrupts the reading extremely frequently with attributions and footnotes. It is so distracting that one cannot glean any knowledge. The book would probably be half the length if the footnotes and attributions were omitted. I am returning this book.

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6 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

historical info

I am a history buff and wanted to learn more about the templers good listening to

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

full but brief history

this book should be looked at as more of a reference guide or outline to the complete history of the Templars how late does touch on every single aspect whether it is written play Scream written Unwritten or even video games in conclusion if you are looking for a brief but absolutely full history than this is the absolute look for you if you are looking for an outline then this is the book for you but if you were looking for something more. Book as an outline to help you narrow your search

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very good information, but a tad rambling

I really did enjoy hearing the informative history and myths separated, but the information was presented in a way that just seemed to ramble on at times.

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4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

The narrator is great but the rest is a waste.

I couldn't make it past 2 or 3 chapters. The author discounts the Exodus and guesses the Israelites were nomad bandits who took over Canna. Then he dismisses the size of Solomon's temple but gives credit to the account of the Quran claiming Salomon had power over demons. If you like the Davinci Code, this is for you. If you want a historical account then look elsewhere.

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4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

not about Templars

this is more about religious history and the migration of the religions in the middle East and Europe. Very little information. about the history of the Templars at all. Very disappointed. My grandfather's bloodline goes back the Robert DeCaron the 2nd Grand Master of the knights templar. Wanted some good facts about the starting of the Templars, etc but just got a bunch of crap on God, Jesus and Muslims and wars.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Templars history

A very comprehensive thorough coverage of the Knights Templar through history up to modern day.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Rather bad narration

This work is full of historical detail, and it is probably a great read in print. The narrator, however, has a sloppy, lazy, British accent which gets worse when quoting sources used in the work. If I read it again it will be in book form or with a different narrator.

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1 person found this helpful