The Knights Templar - these are battle-hardened knights and lords of mighty castles, skilled businessmen of legendary wealth. After the fall of Acre in 1291, the new center of power is in Paris: the fortified Temple with its treasures. This is a thorn in the side of the King of France. Philip the Fair and his advisors devise a treacherous plan. Betrayed by the fickle Pope Clement V, the Templars now face an enemy whose weapons are treachery, extortion, and torture, driven by greed and a total lust for power. Soon, Templars become "heretics," and Grand Master Jacques de Molay and his followers are headed for a disastrous fate. The Templars have captivated generations of writers, from Lessing, Walter Scott, Henryk Sienkiewicz, and Franz Spunda to Pierre Klossowski, Zbigniew Herbert, Umberto Eco, and Wolfgang Hohlbein. Ernst Sommer's historical novel stands out among their works, providing a meticulously researched and still relevant portrayal of the era. Furthermore, his book was published in 1935 in light of the National Socialism, which employed similar ruthless instruments of power as the opponents of the Templars once did. The cold-blooded evil and the demagogic unleashing of the masses fascinated the PhD lawyer just as much as the staging of the judicial murder of the Templars. Thus, Ernst Sommer's novel remains an impressive and thrilling work about the Middle Ages - as well as a book of resistance against totalitarianism.