Pages

▼

The Fall of Ruad (Arwad) Island on 29 September 1302: The Last Templar Bridgehead Lost

›
By 1302 the Crusader enterprise in the Levant had reached its terminal phase. The Fall of Ruad (Arwad) on 29 September 1302 represented not ...

Crusading Before the Crusades - Rewriting Medieval History

›
For over a century, historians have pointed to Pope Urban II's dramatic call at Clermont in 1095 as the moment when crusading was born, ...

From Novice to Abbot: Bernard de Clairvaux’s Formative Years at Cîteaux

›
Bernard de Clairvaux underwent his formative monastic training at Cîteaux under Abbot Stephen Harding between 1112 (the year of him entering...

Noble Seals: Cistercian and Templar Devotion Through Heraldic Imagery

›
Medieval nobility in southern France adopted religious symbolism in their personal seals. How did two prominent families, who embraced diffe...

The Monastic Legacy of La Brenne: How Medieval Monks Created France's Lake District

›
In the heart of central France lies one of Europe's most remarkable landscapes - a mosaic of over 2,500 shimmering ponds and lakes sca...

Medieval Monasteries in the Netherlands

›
The Netherlands had hundreds of medieval monasteries, but very few houses of the Templars. Popular lists name dozens of Templar sites. Why ...

Sacred Power: The Relics of the Knights Templar Chapel in Acre

›
In the heart of the Crusader stronghold of Acre, the Knights Templar established more than just a military base. They also founded the Knigh...

A Possible Templar Site at Westervelde Near Norg, the Netherlands

›
Near Norg in Drenthe lie two farms called De Grote Tempel and De Kleine Tempel, with meadows named the Tempelstukken. The names suggest the ...

Bernard de Clairvaux' youth - from squire to monk

›
Bernard de Clairvaux (1090/1091 - 1153), Cistercian abbot and theologian, is renowned for his sermons and letters that eloquently blend Chri...