ABSTRACT
The Knights of St. John and the Templars were portrayed in novels, poems, plays and operas and these literary representations, often illustrated by contemporary artists, were another factor in shaping the memory of the Military Orders. The most famous fictional knight was probably the Templar Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert in Scott’s Ivanhoe, but key events such as the sieges of Rhodes and Malta and the trial of the Templars also inspired a range of professional and amateur writers, of varying quality and intended for different audiences. British readers would also have access to works published in France and Germany, either directly or indirectly through periodical reviews.
