Title: Gisors and the Enigma of the Templars - Jean Markale - book
Summary :
The mystery of the destruction of the Order of the Temple, ordered by Philip the Fair nearly seven centuries ago, has never ceased to obsess people's minds. But for the past twenty years, the problem raised by its annihilation has resurfaced and given rise to various interpretations, sometimes sensational, particularly regarding Gisors and its strange castle. What exactly is the situation? What role did the Templars play in Gisors? Do secrets still lie dormant in the underground passages of the ancient fortress? Jean Markale answers all these questions very objectively. Acting as a historian, but not neglecting any source of information, he is thus led to ask fundamental questions concerning the Templars themselves: who were these "poor knights of Christ"? What goals did they pursue? Did they have a mysterious mission, and if so, what was it? What was the shameful secret for which they died? The result of this investigation may be surprising, because the Templars, most often considered victims of a dark plot, were they not rather the docile executors of a papal policy of world domination? Did they not thus attract upon their heads the wrath of the King of France, the latter, in his fierce struggle against the papacy for European hegemony, being unable to tolerate any longer the growing threat to their omnipotence? An absolute enigma remains, however: the Templars, while claiming to be Christians, denied Jesus. What unexplained reason then justified this incredible oath? With the utmost respect for historical sources, Jean Markale strives to shed light on this nagging mystery by isolating the irrefutable facts from the hypotheses too often put forward without foundation.
