The Knights of the Black and White

The Knights of the Black and White is the first volume of a trilogy on the history of the Knights Templar. In this first volume the author, Jack Whyte, poses some very interesting propositions such as that the mediaeval aristocracy of Southern France was descended from Jewish refugees from the destruction of Jerusalem by General, later Emporer, Titus in AD70. The people settled in Gaul and converted to Christianity under Emporer Constantine. Known to one another as the Friendly Famillies they keep alive their heritage by means of a secret Order that sounds something like the Masons. Every generation the senior members of the Order choose one young knight from each familly to be inducted and the Order is so secret that even other members of their familly do not know of it's existance. Not even the females! Well, it is a novel. Members of the Order are taught a very different story of the life of Jesus Christ than that which is preached by the Church and they accuse St. Paul of re-writing Christ's history and message for his own ends. When the Pope calls for a war against the Turks to free the Holy City of Jerusalem the Order sends some of it's knights along in the hope of recovering an ancient treasure, which may or may not consist of valuable objects, which was hidden by the priests beneath the Temple of Herod before it was destroyed. Mr Whyte goes into the alternative history of the founding of Christianity in some detail but whether this comes from his research or his immagination I do not have the knowledge to judge but what I can say is that he tells a most entertaining story and I look forward eagerly to the second volume.