The Knight in Medieval England; & The Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple

• The Knight in Medieval England, 1000-1400
  Peter Coss - Alan Sutton, 1993 - xiv + 191 pp.- £16.99
• The Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple
  Malcolm Barber - Cambridge University Press, 1994 - xxii + 441 pp. - £35

The subjects of these books are of great popular interest, although most popular knowledge of them is highly romanticised. These two experts in their fields write from the basis of factual research rather than the imaginative speculation which has plagued serious study of their subjects. Peter Coss traces the history of knighthood in England from its beginnings to its decline, while Malcolm Barber deals with the entire history of a medieval religious order. The connection between the two is that the religious order in question, the Order of the Temple, was founded as a 'new knighthood', for knights who wished to serve Christ as knights, as well as monks.