Axar.az presents an article “Tattoos And Templars” by John Samuel Tieman.

I am a historian. Say what you will about my reservoir of obscure information. But, when you need one, it's good to have a medievalist in the squad. I took only a passing interest in the Senate confirmation hearings of Pete Hegseth to be the Secretary Of Defense for Donald Trump. Then I saw photos of his hidden tattoos. This medievalist knows white nationalism when he sees it.

Mr. Hegseth hides his tattoos not only under his clothes but under a veil of deniability. But the photos are circulating. Among the religious symbols is the Cross Of Jerusalem tattooed on his chest. It is medieval and is associated with the Crusades. It today is also associated with white nationalists. But Hegseth has deniability. Franciscans also use it. The same is true of other tattoos of crosses and such, in that they have various uses. But "Deus vult", "God wills it" – not so much. Mr. Hegseth has “Deus vult” tattooed on his left arm. The battle cry is medieval, that's true, and is associated with the First Crusade and later with the Knights Templar. Then the slogan fell into disuse until revived in the 1800s by nostalgia types, by King Arthur fans and such. Today it is used almost exclusively by white nationalists. The far-right and the neo-Nazis use it to refer to "liberation at the end of the sword". Taken as a whole, Mr. Hegseth's tattoos are those of a white Christian nationalist who is Islamophobic and anti-Semitic. He's sadly not that unusual in his misuse of medieval history. For the moment, let's think about one subject. The Knights Templar.

Those white nationalists who invoke the Knights Templar, they put a lot of emphasis on the “warrior” part of “warrior-monk”, and little emphasis on the “monk” part. Anders Behring Breivik claimed to be a Knight Templar. He killed 77 people and wounded over 300 in Sweden during 2011. He is not notably religious. A real Knight Templar was pious.

Let's pause and get some sense of that real Knight Templar. There has always been a tension between the reality of the Templar and the fantasy. Ridley Scott's “Kingdom Of Heaven” didn't begin it. Nor did the TV series “Knightfall” But here's the reality. I don't think Anders Breivik prays eight times a day. I doubt if Pete Hegseth does either. But that Knight Templar did. Matins before dawn, Lauds at daybreak, Prime around 6 AM, Terce around 9 AM, Sext at noon, None around 3 PM, Vespers at sunset, Compline at the end of the day. He also attended Mass.

In any Catholic order, the primary purpose is sanctification. The job is a calling, yes. The Lasallian Christian Brothers are teachers, for example. But the call to holiness makes possible the call to teaching. For the Templars, the job began as the defense of pilgrims. But their life was primarily one of prayer. If we take a time machine back to say 1150, the daily cycle of prayer at the London Temple is largely indistinguishable from that of the Benedictines at nearby Westminster Abbey. There's not a single canonized saint from the roughly 200 history of the order. But to ignore their piety is to ignore the “monk” part of “warrior-monk”. The best-known habit of the order, the white one with the red cross, was in imitation of the Cistercians upon whom the Templars were modeled by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian abbot.

Lest we forget, the chief victims of the Crusades were Muslims and Jews. For example, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. A massacre followed. It's hard to say how many Jews and Muslims were slaughtered. Estimates range from 3,000 to 70,000. But a slaughter there was. Those are facts. But – about today. The Knights Templar have been used by racist organizations for decades. It's not hard to see why. Pseudo-history in the service of hate. Strip away the medieval piety, strip away the medieval monasticism, strip away the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and who do you have left today? A violent racist guided by a violent fantasy of history.

One last fact. That Knight Templar, the real one, he didn't look for deniability. He didn't hide his crosses beneath his clothing. He wore them on his habit, on his shield, on his banner. And "Deus vult"? He'd say it to your face.