The Templars and the Assassins by James Wasserman

Author:James Wasserman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Knights Templar/Occult History
ISBN: 9781594778735
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Company
Published: 2010-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

IN PRAISE OF THE NEW KNIGHTHOOD

Bernard made another contribution of such vast importance to the Order’s recruiting efforts and subsequent myth that an English translation of the most relevant portion has been included as an appendix (see p. 277). Bernard wrote a long letter to Hughes in which he expounded in detail on his views of the code of chivalry and his concept of the ideal of the holy knight. The treatise was entitled Liber ad milites Templi: De laude novae militae, “The Book of the Knights of the Temple: In Praise of the New Knighthood,” and is believed to have been written in 1135.

The letter was designed to be a guide for current and future members of the Order; to encourage prospective members to apply for admission; and to provide a rationale for the Order within the context of Christianity. It was also an answer to those critics who believed Christianity had no place for an armed brotherhood of warrior-monks whose dual goals of salvation and soldiering were said to be mutually exclusive.

Bernard harshly criticized the vanity and pompousness of secular knights with their flowing hair, silks and jewels, plumed armor, and painted shields, calling them “the trinkets of a woman.” He laid out the Christian equivalent of the Islamic jihad in words that could as easily have been spoken by Hasan-i-Sabah to his fidais. The new knighthood is described as one that “ceaselessly wages a twofold war both against flesh and blood and against a spiritual army of evil in the heavens.” The knight-monk is a soldier of Christ. “Neither does he bear the sword in vain, for he is God’s minister for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of the good. If he kills an evildoer, he is not a mankiller, but, if I may so put it, a killer of evil.” The essential religious justification for the slaying of the enemies of Christ by so respected a theologian as Bernard established the concept above the reach of further criticism.

The primary quality for which the Templars were long to be known, in addition to their discipline, was their courage. The Muslims respected them for this as much as the Europeans did. Despite frequent losses over the next two hundred years, Templar courage was rarely questioned. Roots of this may certainly be traced to Bernard’s exhortations in De laude: “Truly, he is a fearless knight and completely secure. While his body is properly armed for these circumstances, his soul is also clothed with the armor of faith. On all sides surely he is well armed; he fears neither demons, nor men.... When readying for imminent battle, their inner faith is their protection. On the exterior, steel, not gold, is their security — since they are to strike fear in the enemy, not provoke his avariciousness. They need to have horses that are swift and strong, not pompous and decorated. Their purpose is fighting, not parades. They seek victory, not glory. They would rather strike terror than impress.

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