Steve's latest book on the Assassins and Templars
About 'Assassins and Templars: A Battle in Myth and Blood'
The story of the medieval world's most extraordinary organisations, the Assassins and the Templars.
The Assassins and the Templars are two of history's most legendary groups. One was a Shi'ite religious sect, the other a Christian military order created to defend the Holy Land. Violently opposed, they had vastly different reputations, followings, and ambitions. Yet they developed strikingly similar strategies–and their intertwined stories have, oddly enough, uncanny parallels.
In this engaging account, Steve Tibble traces the history of these two groups from their origins to their ultimate destruction. He shows how, outnumbered and surrounded, they survived only by perfecting "the promise of death," either in the form of a Templar charge or an Assassin's dagger. Death, for themselves or their enemies, was at the core of these extraordinary organisations.
Their fanaticism changed the medieval world–and, even up to the present day, in video games and countless conspiracy theories, they have become endlessly conjoined in myth and memory.
Latest reviews
"An explosive, fast-paced journey into complex politics that brings together two of history's greatest legends. Here is the real story of the Assassins and Templars, carefully researched and engagingly told." --Matt Lewis, author of Richard III
"What happens when groups dedicated to martyrdom come into conflict? Assassins and Templars shows how two corporate and cult-like groups divided by faith and methodology were united in their attempts to survive and their demise at the hands of the Mamluks and Mongols."--Jessalynn Bird, editor of Papacy, Crusade, and Christian-Muslim Relations
"Yes - truth is stranger than fiction! We have here a significant work of scholarship: bold, innovative, well written and thoroughly persuasive."--Peter W. Edbury, author of The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade
"A gripping tale not just of ideological fanatics but also of the politicians who used them to do the slaughter then ruthlessly eliminated them when their usefulness was at an end."--Jonathan Harris, author of The Lost World of Byzantium
"An extremely readable narrative on an incredibly complex and ill understood relationship between a Muslim and a Christian group - filled with original insights and new interpretations."--Farhad Daftary, author of The Assassin Legends
Order here
Order your copy of Assassins and Templars here:
Crusader Armies has a new look!
Crusader Armies: The Battle for the Middle East
Steve's book, 'Crusader Armies: The Battle for the Middle East' is getting a brand new cover!
First published in 2018, 'Crusader Armies' illuminates the strength and spectacular sophistication of the armies clashing in the Middle East.
It is the first comprehensive account of the subject in sixty years. Steve takes a fresh approach to Templars, Hospitallers, and other key Orders and makes the controversial proposition that the Crusades were driven as much by sedentary versus nomadic tribal concerns as by religious conflict.
Find out more about Steve's book and pre-order yours here:
BBC History Magazine
'Crusader Criminals: The Knights Who Went Rogue in the Holy Land' in the August 2024 edition of BBC
The wonderful BBC History Magazine featured another of Steve's books on the front cover this year. It also gave it the lead article in the August 2024 issue.
BBC History Magazine
'Templars: The Knights Who Made Britain' in the October 2023 edition of BBC History Magazine
BBC History Magazine featured 'Templars: The Knights Who Made Britian' on the front cover of their October 2023 issue, and gave it the lead (six-page) article inside. Watch out between now and Christmas for a series of podcasts Steve has contributed to with BBC History about the First Crusade and the Templar mythologies.
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