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Tag: the Knights Templar

  • Norway killer: who were the Knights Templar?

    Norway killer: who were the Knights Templar?

    Anders Behring Breivik’s rambling 1,500 page manifesto is replete with reference to the Knights Templar, a medieval Christian military order.

    knightstemplarcross
    Breivik used Templar imagery in his European Declaration of Independence

    By Raf Sanchez

    The Templar were founded around 1119 and swore to protect Christian pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land.

    From its two founders, Hugues de Payens and Godfrey de Saint-Omer, the order grew rapidly and soon came to be seen as among the most skilled of the European forces struggling to reclaim Jerusalem from the Arabs.

    The Templar were instantly recognisable from the blood red crosses that adorned their white tunics, a symbol Breivik adopted and put on the front page of his “2083: A European Declaration of Independence”.

    The cross also appears on several of the apparently home-made uniforms he was pictured in on his Facebook page.

    The knights took part in several major victories against Saladin, the leader of the Muslim forces, but by the mid-13th century the Crusades were beginning to turn decisively against the Europeans.

    By 1303, the Templar had been forced out of the Holy Land and most returned to western Europe.

    Many congregated in France, where there presence was seen as a growing threat to King Philip the Fair, both because of their arms and the deep debts the king owed the order after his expensive wars with England.

    In 1307, the king struck and dozens of Templar were rounded up, tortured and executed.

    He was aided by Pope Clement who issued a papal bull instructing all of Christendom’s monarchs to move against the order and by 1312 it was officially disbanded.

    Rumours of surviving Templar have abounded, often accompanied by claims that the knights were holding a secret that could destory the Catholic church if it were ever revealed.

    Today, the Templar are a potent symbol for far-right extremists of a pure and holy group of warriors who were betrayed by the corrupt order they fought to defend.

    www.telegraph.co.uk, 25 Jul 2011

  • Knights Templar: Norway ‘crusader’s’ group explained

    Knights Templar: Norway ‘crusader’s’ group explained

    knightstemplar
    This image of Anders Behring Breivik from a manifesto attributed to him shows Breivik in a uniform with a white and red cross of the Knights Templar. (AP)

    By Elizabeth Flock

    In a detailed diary kept by Anders Behring Breivik — the Norwegian man charged with killing at least 94 people in a bombing in Oslo and shooting on a nearby island Friday — the suspect details months of preparations that led up to the attacks.

    Breivik also exhaustively references the Knights Templar, which he calls an “international Christian military order,” that “fights” against “Islamic suppression.”

    Monday, it was reported that a Mexican drug ring also invoked the obscure Knights Templar.

    Who are they?

    The Knights Templar’s earliest function in around 1119 was to protect Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. The armed group soon became known as the most skilled in the battles to reclaim Jerusalem from the Arabs and racked up several successive victories over Muslim forces.

    But by 1303, the knights had been forced out of the Holy Land and returned to western Europe. They fled to France, where they were seen as an armed threat by King Philip the Fair, who had many of them tortured and executed. The king had the support of Pope Clement V, who issued a papal bull that made sure the group was disbanded by 1312.

    Since then, rumors of the surviving knights have come and gone, including one rumor that the knights could destroy the Catholic church with a single secret they held.

    Breivik says the Christian military order was refounded in 2002 in London under the name PCCTS as an armed “anti-Jihad crusader-organization.”

    The Templar are recognizable by white tunics with red crosses, a symbol Breivik put on the front page of his “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” and emblazoned on homemade uniforms featured on his Facebook page.

    In his diary, Breivik wrote of his plan of attack: “If you for some reason survive the operation you will be apprehended and arrested. This is the point where most heroic Knights would call it a day. However, this is not the case for a Justiciar Knight. Your arrest will mark the initiation of the propaganda phase.”

    Breivik gave himself the ranking of the Justiciar Knight, and said there were up to 80 such “knights” around western Europe, all “completely unknown to our enemies.”

    Breivik’s actual membership in the organization has yet to be established.

    www.washingtonpost.com, 25 07 2011