The Templars - Bias Revealed

The Templars: the secret history revealed by Barbara Frale.
New York : Arcade Pub., 2009.
xiv, 232 p. ; 22 cm.

I was hugely disappointed in this "history" of the Templars. Given the popularity of Dan Brown's books, I was hoping for a well-written, informative narrative of the Templars. Booklist reviewer Ray Olson called it "the first-choice primer on its legend-laden subject" and Library Journal's Daniel Harms praises the book as "the work is a solid contribution on a topic where misinformation is rife." I couldn't disagree more. The book begins with a great deal of religious legend dressed up as history, and much of the early narrative appears as little more than an apologia for the misdeeds of Christianity/Catholicism - with a generous helping of anti-Muslim cant thrown in for good measure. Her point of view is very positive toward the Crusaders of the late llth and early 12th century and simplifies and distorts their motives and behaviors to the point where one has to doubt everything that follows.

The book opens by dressing up theological wishful thinking as historical fact:

• "Jesus, son of Mary, died in Jerusalem on April 7 in the year 790 after the founding of Rome...his disciples....soon resumed their religious activities with renewed enthusiasm, because they were certain that their master had risen from the dead..."
• "the disciples who remained in and around Jerusalem gathered up all the evidence of Christ's earthly passage and began preparing a well-ordered record of the events of his life...in accounts that bore the auspicious title that Jesus himself had suggested..."
• "In the fourth century...The empress mother Helen....conducted what amounted to an archaeological expedition...The result was the discovery of the the wood of the True Cross..."

I honestly don't see how you can take such a historian seriously. As for her comments on Muslims:

• (in 1071) "Pilgrimages became extremely dangerous because the roads were infested with Muslim brigands..."
• (describing the horrendous slaughter of Jerusalem by crusaders in 1099) "the crusaders finally recaptured Jerusalem...but not without some committing heinous crimes at the expense of the Muslim population, despite orders from their leaders to protect..." (the rotten apple excuse).
• "the crusaders were unable to exercise complete control over the territory, and they were constantly exposed to to the risk of Muslim aggression."

With such dishonesty, I found it impossible to finish the book, and would definitely not recommend it.

Interestingly, I did a brief bit of searching on Professor Frale, and found that she recently weighed in on the Shroud of Turin, declaring that it had the imprint of a "death certificate" for Jesus. Curious to say the least.