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What was the Knights Templar? Find out at Allen Public Library

What was the Knights Templar? What is its legacy? Learn more about this order from the Middle Ages from Kevin Main at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 31, at the Allen Public Library.
Knights Templar, Allen Public Library


What was the Knights Templar? What is its legacy? Learn more about this order from the Middle Ages from Kevin Main at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 31, at the Allen Public Library.

A military order that began circa 1129, the Knights Templar remained active until the first part of the fourteenth century. Templar knights wore pristine white mantles that sported a bright red cross. Known for military prowess, these highly skilled fighting units reached prominence during the Crusades. A major financial institution, the Knights Templar managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Europe. At dawn on Friday, Oct. 13, 1307 (possibly the origin the Friday the thirteenth superstition), French King Philip IV ordered the arrest and execution of the Knights Templar Grand Master Jacque de Molay and scores of other leading knights.

Main observes, “Between their incomparable rise to social, political, and financial power, and their swift, dramatic, and unequivocal fall from that power, the history of the Knights Templar is replete with mystery, controversy, and conspiracy. Their legacy has shaped our understanding of chivalry, fueled the causes of revolution and liberty, inspired both heretics and those who oppose heresy, and even influenced the methods of modern banking. Everyone who encounters the story of the Knights Templar is affected by that story, and the success of recent novels and films demonstrates that their mystique lives on in the popular imagination.”

Kevin K. Main is an author and lecturer on the subjects of history, philosophy, and religious symbolism, particularly that of Ancient Greece and Europe during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment period. He has been a student of the history of the Knights Templar and early Christianity for over 20 years.

Founder of the Conference of the Middle Chamber, a quarterly conference of Masonic Education hosted by the North Texas Masonic Historical Museum and Library, Main currently serves as a principal instructor for the Dallas Scottish Rite University Symposium.

Working professionally as an electrical and computer engineer for 20 years, Main also has additional educational background in both physics and mathematics.

Sponsored by Bach to Books, this program is free. The library is located at 300 N. Allen Dr. Call 214.509.4911.