The Knights Templar and its history in England began not long after the end of the First Crusade, a war waged on the Muslim world to protect the Holy Sites and the Christian East. What emerged proved to be a long and arduous tale of conflict fought by medieval warriors who combined their religious devotion with knightly impulses which came to characterise this period of European history.

The Knights Templar was a military order founded in 1119 which would become one of the strongest, well-known and lucrative of the orders. With its headquarters at Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the lifespan of this military order was almost two centuries, in which time, its members would become skilled warriors and participants in the continuing escalation of fighting known as the Crusades.

In 1099AD Jerusalem had been captured from the Fatimid Caliphate and had fallen into the hands of the Franks, thus ensuring that the Crusaders were in control of the Holy City. This win however was not enough to secure the remaining land surrounding the site and thus Christian pilgrims found themselves in vulnerable positions whilst on their way to Jerusalem.

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