In Ridley Scott’s 2005 epic Kingdom of Heaven, The Knights Templar are portrayed as violent extremists. The film is about a crusader, Balian of Ibelin, who is fighting to defend the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin.
The Knights Templar were formed on Christmas Day 1119, as a revolutionary type of knighthood in which knights lived as monks, taking vows of poverty and piety. Their mission was to protect travellers on the dangerous roads of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. So it struck me as interesting that in Scott’s crusades film they would be portrayed as antagonists of the Crusader Kingdom.
Their singling out in Kingdom of Heaven was the spark that led to my book The Knights Templar: Crusade, Myth and Hollywood. What I found was that villainising the order was fairly common in films that include them. However, rather than being a modern trope, their vilification can be traced back to 700 years ago.
