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Knights Templar were the first pan-European force since the Roman Legions
On Friday, October 13, 1307, men-at-arms fanned out across France, and in one swoop arrested thousands of knights on the orders of King Philip IV, known as "Philip the Fair." The knights were members of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici in Latin), known to history as the Knights Templar. Soon after their arrests the Templars were subjected to the not-so-tender mercies of inquisitors, who wrung out of them forced confessions of heresy that were later used as evidence to burn many of them, including their leaders, to death at the stake.
The arrest of the Knights Templar is believed by some folklorists to be the origin of the "Friday the 13th" superstition, and adds to the aura of mystery surrounding this order.
The Knights Templar were the first pan-European army since the Roman Legions. Formed after the First Crusade, their mission was to wrest Palestine from the hands of the Muslims, and they fought numerous Crusades in defense of their faith. In those days, the Christian religions was the ideological mainstay of our foreparents, and the Crusades were necessary if Whites were to contain Islamic expansion. In 1096, at the point of the First Crusade, Islam still occupied much of Spain and threatened the greatly weakened Byzantine Greeks.
The Templars were both knights and monks: sworn to uphold both the code of chivalric honor and the monastic obligations of chastity and poverty. When they were founded in 1118 by Hughes de Payens, no less than Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the leading intellectual of his day, agreed to be their patron. Their mission was to protect pilgrims in Palestine, who had been repeatedly attacked and abused by the Muslims. They took their name from their Jerusalem headquarters within the precincts of Solomon's Temple.
Despite the harsh conditions of their service, competition was fierce among nobles to join the order, and, as the "special forces" of their day they were renowned for their fearlessness in battle. The Saracens killed them if they were taken prisoner.
The Templars gained the enmity of Philip IV because of a variety of reasons linked to the feudal system. There were no "nations" as we understand them today, but coalitions of property-owning lords owing allegiance to various overlords in complex balances of power based on intermarriage and custom. A "multinational" group like the Templars, who as a "corporation" had become rich, were seen as a threat by Philip, who also craved their wealth. The church was the only counterbalancing power source against temporal rulers, and, since the Templars were technically under the sponsorship of the Pope, charges of heresy were necessary for Philip to crush the order.
The Templars were charged with blasphemy against Christ and with worshipping "Baphomet," an entity that had various descriptions. While it seems ludicrous that the Templars, whose whole point was to protect the church, would deny Christ, there is some evidence that the Templars has adopted some Gnostic and Platonic ideas while in the East; the word Baphomet itself may mean "baptism of wisdom." They are also understood to have practiced grades of initiation, another link to Gnostic and pre-Christian practices and beliefs. The recent Da Vinci Code phenomenon, which itself is fuelled by the desire of growing numbers of Whites to reconnect with their history, has spawned a whole genre linking the Templars to the Holy Grail and other esoteric subjects.
However, the main point of Philip's charges was clearly political, and they were not accepted elsewhere in Europe. England's Edward I protected the Templars, who also thrived in Scotland, Portugal and elsewhere. However, Pope Clement V formally disbanded the order in 1312.
The Knights Templar have retained a high level of interest in the European consciousness. They are made into sinister, anti-Jewish figures by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe, while Ridley Scott’s filmic insult Kingdom of Heaven shows them as evil fanatics.
Other people see their suffering at the hands of the state, as well as their commitment to the defense of European values, as inspiring.
On Friday, October 13, 1307, men-at-arms fanned out across France, and in one swoop arrested thousands of knights on the orders of King Philip IV, known as "Philip the Fair." The knights were members of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici in Latin), known to history as the Knights Templar. Soon after their arrests the Templars were subjected to the not-so-tender mercies of inquisitors, who wrung out of them forced confessions of heresy that were later used as evidence to burn many of them, including their leaders, to death at the stake.
The arrest of the Knights Templar is believed by some folklorists to be the origin of the "Friday the 13th" superstition, and adds to the aura of mystery surrounding this order.
The Knights Templar were the first pan-European army since the Roman Legions. Formed after the First Crusade, their mission was to wrest Palestine from the hands of the Muslims, and they fought numerous Crusades in defense of their faith. In those days, the Christian religions was the ideological mainstay of our foreparents, and the Crusades were necessary if Whites were to contain Islamic expansion. In 1096, at the point of the First Crusade, Islam still occupied much of Spain and threatened the greatly weakened Byzantine Greeks.
The Templars were both knights and monks: sworn to uphold both the code of chivalric honor and the monastic obligations of chastity and poverty. When they were founded in 1118 by Hughes de Payens, no less than Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the leading intellectual of his day, agreed to be their patron. Their mission was to protect pilgrims in Palestine, who had been repeatedly attacked and abused by the Muslims. They took their name from their Jerusalem headquarters within the precincts of Solomon's Temple.
Despite the harsh conditions of their service, competition was fierce among nobles to join the order, and, as the "special forces" of their day they were renowned for their fearlessness in battle. The Saracens killed them if they were taken prisoner.
The Templars gained the enmity of Philip IV because of a variety of reasons linked to the feudal system. There were no "nations" as we understand them today, but coalitions of property-owning lords owing allegiance to various overlords in complex balances of power based on intermarriage and custom. A "multinational" group like the Templars, who as a "corporation" had become rich, were seen as a threat by Philip, who also craved their wealth. The church was the only counterbalancing power source against temporal rulers, and, since the Templars were technically under the sponsorship of the Pope, charges of heresy were necessary for Philip to crush the order.
The Templars were charged with blasphemy against Christ and with worshipping "Baphomet," an entity that had various descriptions. While it seems ludicrous that the Templars, whose whole point was to protect the church, would deny Christ, there is some evidence that the Templars has adopted some Gnostic and Platonic ideas while in the East; the word Baphomet itself may mean "baptism of wisdom." They are also understood to have practiced grades of initiation, another link to Gnostic and pre-Christian practices and beliefs. The recent Da Vinci Code phenomenon, which itself is fuelled by the desire of growing numbers of Whites to reconnect with their history, has spawned a whole genre linking the Templars to the Holy Grail and other esoteric subjects.
However, the main point of Philip's charges was clearly political, and they were not accepted elsewhere in Europe. England's Edward I protected the Templars, who also thrived in Scotland, Portugal and elsewhere. However, Pope Clement V formally disbanded the order in 1312.
The Knights Templar have retained a high level of interest in the European consciousness. They are made into sinister, anti-Jewish figures by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe, while Ridley Scott’s filmic insult Kingdom of Heaven shows them as evil fanatics.
Other people see their suffering at the hands of the state, as well as their commitment to the defense of European values, as inspiring.
