Читать книгу Templar Knight, Forbidden Bride - Lynna Banning, Lynna Banning - Страница 3

AUTHOR NOTE

In the late twelfth century southern France, or Languedoc as it was known then—long a breeding ground for heretics such as the Cathars—was sought by the Templars as a foothold for establishing a Templar presence. They owed allegiance to the Pope, not to the King of France; the kingdom of France wished not only to gain control of lands in southern France but to promote a crusade against Moorish Spain and drive out the Muslims who had ruled there since the eighth century.

Twelfth-century society in Moorish Spain was a rich mixture of Muslims, Arabised Christians known as Mozarabs, and Jews. The Knights of Solomon’s Temple, or Knights Templar, founded in 1118 AD, was the most respected military order of the time, trusted and admired by both crusaders and Saracens. The rival Order of St John, or Hospitallers, never gained either the reputation or the enormous treasury garnered by the Templars, who served as bankers as well as diplomatic emissaries for both Muslims and Christians.

Southern France exhibited all the panache of the high Middle Ages: troubadours and the concept of courtly love; knights and ladies; tournaments and the code of chivalry; literary and cultural traditions that would be passed on into the Renaissance. Immortalised in songs and stories, it is an age we still relish.