•An examination of the interactions of the Christian Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins, and of the profound changes in Western society that resulted.

•Restores the reputation of the secret Muslim order of the Assassins, disparaged as the world's first terrorist group.

•Dispels many myths about the Knights Templar and provides the most incisive portrait of them to date.

A thousand years ago Christian battled Muslim for possession of a strip of land upon which both their religions were founded. These Crusades changed the course of Western history, but less known is the fact that they also were the meeting ground for two legendary secret societies: The Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins.

In The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven, occult scholar and secret society member James Wasserman provides compelling evidence that the interaction of the Knights Templar and the Assassins in the Holy Land transformed the Templars from the Pope's private army into a true occult society, from which they would sow the seeds of the Renaissance and the Western Mystery Tradition. Both orders were destroyed as heretical some seven hundred years ago, but Templar survivors are believed to have carried the secret teachings of the East into an occult underground, from which sprang both Rosicrucianism and Masonry. Assassin survivors, known as Nizari Ismailis, flourish to this day under the spiritual leadership of the Aga Khan. Wasserman strips the myths from both groups and penetrates to the heart of their enlightened beliefs and rigorous practices, delivering the most probing picture yet of these holy warriors.

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The Militia of Heaven

Preface

1. An Introduction to Secret Societies

Part One: Setting the Stage

2. Historical Background of the Crusades

Part Two: The Order of Assassins

3. The Assassin Myth

4. Islamic Roots

5. Teachings of Ismailism

6. Enter Hasan

7. An Overview of Hasan's Assassins

8. After Hasan

9. The Syrian Assassins

10. The Nizari Ismailis Today

11. Reflections on the Assassin Order

Part Three: The Knights Templar

12. The First Crusade

13. An Overview of the Order

14. The Early Years

15. The Second Crusade

16. Saladin and the Battle of Hattin

17. The Third Crusade

18. The Fourth Crusade

19. The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade

20. The Fifth Crusade

21. The Sixth Crusade and the Battle of La Forbie

22. The Seventh Crusade and the Rise of Baybars

23. The Eighth Crusade and Final Defeat

24. The Last Years of the Knights Templar

25. The End of the Order

26. Reflections on the Templar Order

Part Four: Afterword

The Path of the Mysteries

Appendix One

Appendix Two

Endnotes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Maps