Preface to the Second Edition

Summary

Although the first edition of this book was published in 1978, it was effectively completed by 1975, so that, in terms of secondary reading at least, it is based on publications no later than the early 1970s. Since that time there has been a tremendous growth of interest in the history of the crusades and the military orders, as well as in the Order of the Temple and its dramatic demise. Some of this interest has been generated by a sub-industry of conspiracy theorists, satirised by Umberto Eco in his novel, Foucault's Pendulum, but at the same time there has been important research, especially in the publication and analysis of relevant texts. It seems, therefore, appropriate to try to bring the book up-to-date and to correct mistakes of judgement and fact in the first edition. I have been greatly helped by Simon Barton, Paul Crawford, Alain Demurger, Peter Edbury, Barbara Frale, Luis Garcia-Guijarro Ramos, Anne Gilmour-Bryson, Christian Guzzo, Piers Mitchell, Helen Nicholson, Jonathan Riley-Smith, and Joseph Maria Sans i Trave, all of whom generously made their research available to me, often before publication.