Popularised in the book and film series The Da Vinci Code, the Knights Templar were a mysterious holy militia that sprang up in the 12th century.

The medieval order, which had chapters across Europe, including in Britain, were known for their role in the Crusades and as one of the Middle Ages’ most powerful and wealthy religious organisations. 

Now, in what has been described as one of the ‘most nationally important discoveries’ of its kind, a historian has uncovered graves belonging to members of the Knights Templar at an English village church. 

Edward Spencer Dyas had already found the resting place of three members of the ancient order at St Mary’s Church in Enville, Staffordshire, but has now discovered five more 800-year-old graves.

He believes the medieval structure could be one of the most nationally important Templar churches in the country because of its links to ‘England’s greatest knight’ of the Middle Ages. 

In Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, and the film of the same name starring Tom Hanks, Professor Robert Langdon delves beneath Rosslyn Chapel, in Scotland, in the hunt for Knights Templar treasure. 

William Marshal, the 1st Earl of Pembroke, was a jouster, warrior, diplomat and even twice de facto king who was the inspiration for Lancelot in medieval Arthurian tales and also drafted the Magna Carta. 

Marshal died aged 73 in 1219 and was buried in Temple Church in London after being invested into the order of the Knights Templar on his deathbed.

At St Mary’s, the stained glass windows depict an array of coats of arms including that of the Clare family.

Marshal was married to Isabel de Clare in in a marriage arranged by King Richard I.

Another coat of arms belonged to Hugh Mortimer of Chelmarsh, who married Marshal’s granddaughter.

There is little other explanation why there would be so many Templar graves at the quaint village church, although members of the group are believed to have attached themselves to churches dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. 

The church on the outskirts of the Black Country was built in the early 12th century at a time when the Templars were creating Preceptories – a type of monastery – around Britain.

Each of the graves he has uncovered features a Templar cross within double circles in a standard Templar design. 

One also includes a Crusader cross, suggesting the knight was both a Templar and a Crusader of the ancient military order.

At the foot of the same grave there’s also a Templar Cross – a variation of the Jerusalem Cross – revealing the unknown knight had once been part of the Templar Order at Temple Mount, Jerusalem. 

‘I believe these discoveries make Enville one of the most nationally important churches in the country,’ Mr Dyas said.

‘That’s due to its close links with William Marshall, who is considered of the greatest warriors England ever produced.

‘But there is a mystery of why an European Templar is buried at Enville and why they were secretly so prominent there.’  

Mr Dyas’ research led him to establish that St Mary’s was built by Roger de Bermingham – a priest whose family owned all Enville land including Morfe, a medieval royal forest in neighbouring Shropshire.

‘Although records are missing it is clear the de Bermingham family built the Norman church at Enville, using Templar financing,’ he added.

‘Henry de Morfe, who held land owned by the de Berminghams, sold part of Morfe Forest to the Templars at this time, and the de Berminghams instated Roger de Bermingham as the first priest of St Mary’s Church, Enville.’

It is for this reason that Mr Dyas believes the church was ‘under the patronage of the Templars’.

As part of his research, the historian was given permission to look inside the crypt beneath the church for further clues as to its Templar origins. 

However, despite the crypt never having been sketched or photographed before, the inspection did not reveal any further evidence, Mr Dyas added.

A unique combination of knight and monk, the wealthy medieval organisation was made up of devout Christians tasked with providing safety to pilgrims to Jerusalem. 

In 1129, the Knights were officially recognised by the Pope and by 1180 there were some 600 of them in Jerusalem, Tripoli and Antioch. 

By the end of the 12th century there were thousands of Knights Templar, who accumulated considerable land, castles and spoils taken in battle.

They even bankrolled Henry II on his crusades.

. . . are you reading now?

Peter Frankopan’s extraordinary volume, The Earth Transformed: An Untold Story. It follows his earlier masterpiece, The Silk Roads, as a work of vast scholarship, yet it is even more ground-breaking in approach.

This is the first wide-ranging account of humanity’s relationship with the natural world — both climate and environment.

Old-fashioned, top-down, Eurocentric history has been replaced by a global overview to include ancient civilisations and cultures in Africa, Asia, Australasia and South America, of which we were far too ignorant. But, most important of all, Frankopan — without preaching — shows us the devastating consequences of previous climate changes, none of which matched what we are going through now.

If this book does not make us think, then nothing will. The Earth Transformed could hardly be more timely.

. . . would you take to a desert island?

I was on Desert Island Discs and you are automatically allowed to take a copy of the Bible, presumably to stop everyone choosing it for themselves. It makes sense, of course, to go for a very long book, with lots of characters and intriguing sub-plots.

For my luxury, I considered Marcel Proust’s In Search Of Lost Time, as it ticks all those boxes — but in the event I went for a fishing rod instead, to provide both amusement and nourishment.

Proust would still be my choice today, because of his brilliant observation of character and social interaction, as well as for the luxuriant beauty of his prose.

This, I must admit, can put me to sleep in no time, so I have to go back to the beginning of the chapter or page on waking, wasting even more of the time that I need to while away in our mythical paradise.

. . . first gave you the reading bug?

I think I was about 11 when I first read C. S. Forester’s The Happy Return, the first published Hornblower novel, even though it became the sixth in chronological terms as it turned into such a successful series.

I suppose I was drawn to Horatio Hornblower as he, too, suffered the same lack of confidence (as well as sea-sickness) as me. Yet he still triumphed, despite all the setbacks. In The Happy Return, Hornblower is in command of HMS Lydia, a frigate sent to the Pacific during the Napoleonic Wars to fight the Spanish.

Forester’s great talents were his ability to write characters and the way he could bring to life the realities of being at sea then — this was more than a generation before Patrick O’Brian’s Master And Commander.

. . . left you cold?

I have tried, Emily Bronte, I have tried, but Wuthering Heights does not just leave me cold, it irritates me, as people of incontinent emotions just scream at each other.

Russia: Revolution And Civil War 1917-1921 by Antony Beevor (W&N, £10.99) is out now.