To begin your research on the Templars and Cathars you could do a lot worse than looking here.
Templars
Cathars
Id try and stay away from the Kookier sites until you have an understanding of both subjects as both the Templars and the Cathars seem to play a large
part in this particular legend.
And its easy to get carried away by the romance of it all.
Also the Priory of Sion is a bit of a contentious subject as, imo, its nothing but an elaborate hoax. But i believe there was supposed to be a
Monastic Order in the Holy land called Ordre de Sion that some say morphed into the Priory of Sion, who knows. There are a lot of false leads and
red herrings in this particular story. If you cut away the Myth there is a lot of History that can be leaned and that cant be a bad thing.
[edit on 12-12-2004 by Janus]