The Knights Templar: Rise and Fall

This is about Jacques deMolay and the Knights Templar, a romantic tale with a certain mystique, but mostly a story of bad luck, of being in the wrong place and wrong time, with the wrong people owing you money. It begins with the First Crusade. The Crusade was a boondoggle, but a successful boondoggle. After killing nearly everyone in the city, Jew, Muslim and Coptic Christian alike, the Crusaders won control of Jerusalem for about 88 years, from 1099 to … Read on…

Cromwell’s Head

Oliver Cromwell came from ambitious stock, which brought him to a bad end—two ends, in fact—and quite a long journey. His great-great granduncle, Thomas Cromwell, was chief advisor to old King Henry VIII, the one with the wives. When Henry broke with the Roman Church (1534), Thomas egged him on, even inciting the arrest and execution of his old friend Sir Thomas More, who remained loyal to Pope Clement. See “A Man for All Seasons,” a wonderful movie, for that … Read on…