Lord Evelyn

The first authoritative account of the Hell-Fire Clubs, who joined them, and which notorious legends about them are true The Hell-Fire Clubs scandalized eighteenth-century English society. Rumors of their orgies, recruitment of prostitutes, extensive libraries of erotica, extreme rituals, and initiation ceremonies circulated widely at the time, only to become more sensational as generations passed. This thoroughly researched book sets aside the exaggerated gossip about the secret Hell-Fire Clubs and brings to light the first accurate portrait of their membership (including John Wilkes, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Prince of Wales), beliefs, activities, and the reasons for their proliferation, first in the British Isles and later in America, possibly under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin.Hell-Fire Clubs operated under a variety of titles, but all attracted similar members—mainly upper-class men with abundant leisure and the desire to shock society. The book explores the social and economic context in which the clubs emerged and flourished; their various phases, which first involved violence as an assertion of masculinity, then religious blasphemy, and later sexual indulgence; and the countermovement that eventually suppressed them. Uncovering the facts behind the Hell-Fire legends, this book also opens a window on the rich contradictions of the Enlightenment period.

On the 18th March 1314, in Paris, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and Geoffroi de Charney, preceptor of the Knights Templar in Normandy, are led to the stake. Before the pyre at their feet is set alight, Jacques de Molay speaks to the watching crowd, proclaiming a curse on those who had wrongly condemned them. A month later Pope Clement V, who had helped to condemn the Knights Templar, died. Their chief persecutor, Phlip IV of France, followed him to the grave a few months later. And famine, plague and revolt were to follow. Was the Templar’s curse coming home to roost? The Templar’s Curse shows the Knights Templar under arrest, torture and trial, followed by penance for life. Chronicling the dissolution of the order after the trial in 1307, this fascinating new book investigates the consequences of the Templar’s persecution and their mysterious legacy. Curses, cruelty, political intrigue, revenge…the true story of the Knights Templar is better than fiction!

The Knights Templar In Britain examines exactly who became knights, what rituals sustained them, where the power bases were, and how their tentacles spread through the political and economic worlds of Britain before their defeat at the hands of the Inquisition some two hundred years later.Founded in the early twelfth century, the mysterious Knights Templar rose to be the most powerful military order of the Middle Ages. While their campaign in the Middle East and travels are well-known, their huge influence across the British isles remains virtually uncharted. For readers interested in Medieval History.

This book is unique in bringing together all strands of English Jacobism in an accessible chronological framework, highlighting key individuals, providing a biographical dictionary of less well known English Jacobites, an account of the major primary source material, and a gazetteer of places to visit. It will appeal to any member of the general public who is interested in the Stuart cause and the Jacobite rebellions as well as those who would like to know more about 18th century society in the great house and the tavern.