SECRET SOCIETIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES

This is Thomas Keightley's history of three secret societies of the Middle Ages: the Assassins, the Templars and the Fehmgerichte.

The Assassins, a shadowy group based in a remote stateless area, practicing a radical variant of Islam, and promising their followers a reward in the hereafter if they died in battle, has obvious modern parallels.

Of interest to contemporary readers will be Keightley's treatment of the Templars, an organization of crusaders who at their height controlled huge wealth and influence from the British Isles to the Holy Land. Although some Masonic scholars consider the Templars to be the forerunners of Freemasonry, they were a qualitatively different kind of organization. The Templars had an internal class system, based on the medieval social hierarchy. However a member's role in the organization remained fixed, unlike the progressive grades of Freemasonry. There was little of the symbolism and regalia of Masonry. Initiations served primarily to indoctrinate the new Templar on the harsh realities of membership: a life of obedience, chastity and poverty.