Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars

Burnes, James, 1801-1862Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
204K words
Chapters
21

Tags

English Originals World HistoryReligion Historical ReappraisalRise and FallPower GameWestern ThoughtHistorical CommentaryAcademic StudyMedieval HistoryReligion and Power

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars by James BurnesAuthor: Burnes, James, 1801-1862,Language: English, Class: HS: Social sciences: Societies: secret, benevolent, etc., Release Date: Jul 5, 2014

Editor's review

Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars is a brief history of the Knights Templar by James Burnes (1801–1862), released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook and classified under social sciences, associations and secret societies. The word “Sketch” in the title signals a short history, suitable as an introductory work for understanding the Knights Templar from beginning to end. Its value lies in outlining the history of this famous order in relatively few pages, helping readers quickly build a basic framework before deciding whether to read more detailed monographs. This is the original English edition, written in a 19th-century style whose narrative pace differs from contemporary popular history; readers should slow down. Maps and a chronology can be used alongside the text to clarify the timeline and geographical context; readers interested in associations and medieval history may also note the author’s perspective on institutions and events.

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Reading tips

  1. Before reading, look up a chronology of major Knights Templar events and refer to the timeline as you read.
  2. Prepare a map and mark the places mentioned to help understand the geographical context.
  3. Treat the book as an introductory overview; after finishing, choose more detailed works to extend your reading according to interest.
  4. When encountering 19th-century English expressions, first grasp the general meaning of the paragraph rather than puzzling over every word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
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  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21

FAQ

Is this book suitable for beginners in historical research? It works well as an introductory overview. The title identifies it as a "short history," and its length and scope are geared toward sketching the outlines, helping beginners quickly build a basic framework. However, the materials do not indicate the scale of its notes and textual research; for in-depth study, more detailed specialized works should also be consulted.
Is this book in English or Chinese, and is it easy to read? This is the original English edition, and the author was a 19th-century figure, so the language carries the writing style of that period and differs from contemporary popular works. Readers with some English reading ability can slow down and read it through without scrutinizing every word, grasping the overall narrative thread first.
Who published the electronic edition, and what category does it belong to? This book was published by Project Gutenberg, and the electronic edition went online in July 2014. The materials classify it under social sciences, in the category of associations and secret societies, so it is closer to a historical and institutional overview than to literary fiction.

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About the author

Burnes, James, 1801-1862 Author · British · 1801–1862

James Burnes (1801–1862) was a Scottish surgeon and colonial official in British service who spent many years stationed on the northwest frontier of India. Public information about his early education, family background, and specific postings is limited, and his surviving work offers only a glimpse of his scholarly interests. One work by him is held in the collection, Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars, which deals with the history of the medieval Knights Templars. The book is mainly a concise outline of historical events, clearly organized and typical of nineteenth-century British popular historical writing, which recast distant subjects into a narrative framework accessible to general readers. Burnes writes in a plain, restrained style that emphasizes factual arrangement over literary embellishment, an approach consistent with his practical background as a surgeon and colonial official. The book has received little attention in the Chinese-speaking world, but it occupies a modest place among early English popular accounts of the Templars and offers some reference value for understanding how nineteenth-century British readers viewed that medieval order.