Dungeon Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades

Rating:
Summary: Ignorance as History
Review: A completely worthless volume. The author obviously has only a superficial knowledge of either the Crusades or the Templars. While not as "nutty" as much of the myth filled literature that surrounds the Templars, the book is replete with factual errors and poorly written. There is also a strong anti-Catholic bias throughout the text. A book to be avoided by any serious scholar of this period.

Rating:
Summary: Ignorance as History
Review: A completely worthless volume. The author obviously has only a superficial knowledge of either the Crusades or the Templars. While not as "nutty" as much of the myth filled literature that surrounds the Templars, the book is replete with factual errors and poorly written. There is also a strong anti-Catholic bias throughout the text. A book to be avoided by any serious scholar of this period.

Rating:
Summary: Robinson is a Masterful Storyteller
Review: After reading several reviews of this book already posted, and after reviewing Robinson's Born in Blood myself, I have begun to think that perhaps I am a bit too harsh on Mr. Robinson. If one reads this work as an historical reference, then you are cheating yourself of the actual strength that this book holds for many of the more positive reviewers. Robinson isn't writing this book as a historical masterpiece, but as a concise tale of the Temple.

Dungeon, Fire, and Sword spins the tale of the Knights Templar from the perspective of a defender. From it's earliest origins, to the battlefields of the Holy Land, and on up to the charges laid against the order and the persecution of the membership up to the execution of Grand Master Jacques de Moley, Robinson is not trying to beset us with facts (indeed he doesn't use footnotes, and he only takes the side of the facts that pleases him) but is trying to get us to take the journey that the Templar took.

I admit that this book would not be one to base any serious research on, but that doesn't stop it from being a fine work. Robinson lays out the story in a compelling manor, draws our attention to some of the backroom goings on of high political figures of the time, and illustrates the magnificence of being a member of the Templar during their existence. So what if he doesn't include the minutiae or the other sides of the story? I think he did the right thing by leaving that to the professionals, and this book would serve any layman's library as a good foundation for the Crusader period.

Rating:
Summary: A unique approach to history
Review: Although I have always been an avid reader of both fictional and non-fictional works, there has always been an easily discernable difference in the writing approach. This difference is especially evident in historical works. Fictional works are usually more apt to place the reader into a "you are there" state of mind. Reading a non-fictional historical account is most often "drier" reading, and the reader is constantly reminded of the chasm of time that stands between he and the time-frame of the subject.(sometimes, inadvertantly, by such things as footnotes). John J. Robinson's book on the crusades is no such work. Mr. Robinson made the decision to not include any footnotes. This lets one enjoy the work witout having his eys torn from one portion of a page and diverted to another. (Any further scholarly interest can be served by the endnotes and appendix.) Read the book as a novel, because it is a good read. Knights, champions, treachery, good and evil. All aspects of the period are covered. One of the best books I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: HISTORY AT ITS HARSHEST
Review: Anyone who thinks the world is a crazy and dangerous place now please read this and thank your lucky stars to be alive today. This stuff is better than any soap opera, mystery movie, heck it's even more entertaining than the "Old Testament". The plots, sub-plots, overthrows, racism, slaughter,& warfare are endless. At least endless till they burn the leaders of the Knights Templer at the stake. OUCH! I haven't even mentioned the wealth, pious monks trained to kill, fratricide, blood flowing through the streets like a river. Jerusalem is the most conquered city in history yet all wish to control it. Even to this day.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good overview for the lay person
Review: but adds nothing that hasn't been said 1000 other times if you've read one historical book on the Templars. Nevertheless, a lot better written than most of the books on the templars. Bottom line, very basic stuff, but at least it is well written

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good overview for the lay person
Review: but adds nothing that hasn't been said 1000 other times if you've read one historical book on the Templars. Nevertheless, a lot better written than most of the books on the templars. Bottom line, very basic stuff, but at least it is well written

Rating:
Summary: Un-learn and revise bad history Hollywood has taught me.
Review: Contrary to the "Robin Hood" version, Richard I was a blood-thirsty villain who did not speak English and ritually murdered just about anybody he could get his hands on. I also unlearned that Christian-Europeans are as vicious, deceitful, and blood-thirsty as any other culture. That in the name of God, the christian church unleashed unbrideled butchery and rapine on moslems, jews, and other christians of incredible magnitude. That the ultimate effect of the crusades was the solidify the roman-christian church as the dominant christian church, killing of in the name of god other christian sects such as the Albeginsians, the Greek Orthodox, and the Armenians. This book will tell you why those were "the dark ages."

Rating:
Summary: Spell-binding and comprehensive
Review: Dungeon, Fire & Sword is one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. Reading it was pure joy. I became interested in the Knights Templar after one of my visits to the South of France and to the castle fortress of Carcasonne. John J. Robinson paints a spell-binding, comprehensive picture of the middle ages and its impact on today. Mr. Robinson takes us through the origin, the exploits and the ultimate demise of the Knights Templar - OR did the Knights Templar simply disperse and go underground? This is but one of the mysteries addressed in the book.
Mr. Robinson ties in the "holy" alliance in the formation of the crusades with the medieval catholic church hierarchy and the politics and royalty of Europe. He draws in famous figures and their role during this time period including St. Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas and Marco Polo. As if this were insufficient, Mr. Robinson provides a parallel history of the Middle East, Asia Minor and even Asia with Genghis Kahn. The result is a neatly wrapped history of the known world during the reign of the Knights Templar.
There are many side stories including the meaning of words. I found myself writing notes in the page margins. For example the word "slaves" was an outgrowth of the word "slavs" who upon defeat were cast into bondage. There are a number of church and state issues which I somehow missed while attending parochial school as a youth. Priests were married until a papal decree in the year 1000. King John of Magna Carta fame imposed a "sin" tax on priests who still maintained mistresses during the 1200s. The underlying strategy and politics occasionally delayed papal elections for years.
This book is very even-handed in its approach to the events (and the corresponding personalities) which took place while the Knights Templar were in vogue. Mr. Robinson does not favor, detract from or otherwise reveal a bias that I could detect toward any one group, religion or political entity. Dungeon, Fire & Sword is simply a well written and interesting history of a lesser known time period. The battles for Europe, Byzantium, the Middle East and the merchant trade alliances are intertwined with the economies of war over the Holy Land. It is a book worth reading a second time and indispensable for any family library.
Lane J. Biviano
Rutherford, NJ

Rating:
Summary: Spell-binding and comprehensive
Review: Dungeon, Fire & Sword is one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. Reading it was pure joy. I became interested in the Knights Templar after one of my visits to the South of France and to the castle fortress of Carcasonne. John J. Robinson paints a spell-binding, comprehensive picture of the middle ages and its impact on today. Mr. Robinson takes us through the origin, the exploits and the ultimate demise of the Knights Templar - OR did the Knights Templar simply disperse and go underground? This is but one of the mysteries addressed in the book.
Mr. Robinson ties in the "holy" alliance in the formation of the crusades with the medieval catholic church hierarchy and the politics and royalty of Europe. He draws in famous figures and their role during this time period including St. Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas and Marco Polo. As if this were insufficient, Mr. Robinson provides a parallel history of the Middle East, Asia Minor and even Asia with Genghis Kahn. The result is a neatly wrapped history of the known world during the reign of the Knights Templar.
There are many side stories including the meaning of words. I found myself writing notes in the page margins. For example the word "slaves" was an outgrowth of the word "slavs" who upon defeat were cast into bondage. There are a number of church and state issues which I somehow missed while attending parochial school as a youth. Priests were married until a papal decree in the year 1000. King John of Magna Carta fame imposed a "sin" tax on priests who still maintained mistresses during the 1200s. The underlying strategy and politics occasionally delayed papal elections for years.
This book is very even-handed in its approach to the events (and the corresponding personalities) which took place while the Knights Templar were in vogue. Mr. Robinson does not favor, detract from or otherwise reveal a bias that I could detect toward any one group, religion or political entity. Dungeon, Fire & Sword is simply a well written and interesting history of a lesser known time period. The battles for Europe, Byzantium, the Middle East and the merchant trade alliances are intertwined with the economies of war over the Holy Land. It is a book worth reading a second time and indispensable for any family library.
Lane J. Biviano
Rutherford, NJ