The Order of the Templars. The History of the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Temple and the London Temple

The book by Charles G. Addison – a scholar and legal expert, connoisseur of the history of the order – is dedicated to the legendary brotherhood of the Poor Knights of the Jerusalem Temple. The author narrates the emergence of the most powerful military-religious order of its time, the peculiarities of its charter, hierarchy, and the Templars' possessions in the East and West. Addison reports on the exploits of the Templars in defense of the Holy Land, the participation of the Knights of the Temple in the military campaigns of Richard the Lionheart and other Christian kings, recounts their confrontation with Saladin, the siege of Jerusalem and the tragic loss of Acre, the last bastion of the Templars in the Holy Land, as well as sheds light on the trial of the Templars in England. In the last chapters of his book, Charles Addison, Esquire of Inner Temple, describes the main residence of the Templars in England and the magnificent temple of their order, as well as outlines the history of the London Temple after the dissolution of the order and the transition of its possessions into the ownership of legal scholars, who revived a number of customs of the Knights of the Temple and restored the traditions of former hospitality.