Cancer Quick Facts

The 2nd amendment is an upgraded version of David’s slingshot.

Because there are no defined endings to this mess-The shot doesn’t do the job they are claiming it does either. Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States | SpringerLink   I live in Finland. This Saturday I got to go to a bar full of people, without being asked for a vaccine passport and without a face mask. It was AMAZING. It felt just like life before COVID.

So why the big difference in all countries?

Norway has a population lower than the city of Rome. Italy has a density of 200/sq km while Norway’s is 14/sq km. Do I need to add all the other factors you must take into account, along with vaccination rate, in order to decide how to deal with a pandemic?   At last a sensible answer.

Italy has the pandemic under control unlike other countries with similar populations e.g. the UK. Because Italy is still a very old country and got decimated early on. It makes sense to tread lightly . Nonsense. Japan has an average of older people and they had a fraction of Italy’s casualties. Japan also has a very disciplined society who doesn’t complain about wearing masks.

If masks were protected we would not need vaccines. It is a disciplined society, yes, but that is not the answer. Their clinical approach has not been the one of “wait until they die with ventilators” as Italy did. The Italian Government basically killed many people with that.  
I live in Japan and people never stopped going to ramen shops and slurping down them noodles.
But wearing masks won’t protect you from a virus transmitted through aerosol. Compare the data of states who had mask Mandates Vs. No mandates.  

Masks can slow down the spread in certain circumstances, where people stay a short time, but not good for places like classrooms where kids sit for hours. And no one shall bully people into covid vaccine. Everyone has different health conditions. You mean they’re not fat.

You still believe a mask can stop a virus?!

It’s right on the side of the box “doesn’t stop the spread of virus”

yet those blue ones are what they are wearing.

This will not prevent us from continuing with the caution, research, and treatment of COVID19, of course.  We must not allow governments to decide our lives, our lifestyles, our habits and inclinations. We must demand the removal of all restrictions and return to exercising the same rights we had before the #pandemic.
We need to get back to our lives!
Cristina Dragani@CristinaDragani

In Italy it is being tested for new ways of social control. If they succeed then these measures will be applied worldwide. Because in Italy we have a health system that sucks, because of the cuts that have been made for years, as in the instructions .. Then it is normal we are in Italy .. Remember Italy and it is a beautiful country .. But to go on vacation. There are many points of view inside Italy: 20 regions and 7 ways of lifestyle and ethnic groups. Now People demand to be in Power and “Palaces” change something in order to not change First Economic chapters, that really help People.

Because we are human guinea pigs, from a social, medical, economic point of view. They are experimenting with us to then export that to other parts of Europe. So we are the example not to follow by anyone . Draghi / Macron/ Trudeau = Klaus Schwaab Great Reset because Italy is a part of the alliance with the US, Australia, Canada, and others that are in cahoots with this vaccine passport.
The worldwide Covid plandemic & the various countries’ response to the manufactured virus has been nothing to do with sufferers healthcare/improvement but everything to do with control & to be jabbed with the immune system destroying depopulation jab, why else force the jab.   Hard to make sense of any decisions governments are making these days. There’s definitely some kind of agenda here, and we’re probably only in phase 1. Not sure I wanna see phase 2 or 3. Italy is a market wider than Norway, they still have to improve yield with pharma business ,Depends on which government was bought and bribed by big pharma… in Italy there is a dictatorship while Norway is a free country.

Here in Italy we say about ourselves “italiani brava gente”, meaning something like “we are good people, we don’t want problems”.

Someone must have thought we were perfect for testing.

They were wrong. They will see it.  
I don’t know the government has turned the green pass from a normal vaccination certificate into a political symbol and in Italy we have had dozens of mandatory vaccines for years. Norway’s a big county with a smaller population etc.

Covid deaths in Italy 2,176/1 mil population. Norway 159/1 mil

Because of a high rate of incompetency? Bit of a delay in transforming thoughts into action? Commissions and Government are working hard… They might be tired… In the meantime let workers and people have “croissants”… #Fascism that’s why…

Pretty simple: they want to vaccinate 100% of the population multiple times, 3,4,5… probably forever. So that their friends of Big Pharma will earn a lot of $$ I don’t believe in the data, but remember that the vaccine is the tool thanks to which the Davos ( @wef  ) elites want to impose the Green Pass, which will then become a tool that regulates your consumption, your credit, your life. We must oppose with all our strength now!

Because in Italy Kalergi’s plan is ongoing. – Bing video

Alchemist on Twitter: “@PeterSweden7 It’s because… https://t.co/ElsadMVz3i” / Twitter
Mussolini’s descendants are in charge. in Italy Covid-19 has mutated into a dystopian dictatorship.

Highest probability for this is Italians would be much more resistant to the upcoming shift from vaxx passports to national digital ID databases as social access checkpoints to goods and services. Perhaps because the duration of vaccine immune protection rapidly decays after the 4th month, so at least half of the vaccinated are no longer protected? Somebody in America made a phone call in the UK, then made another call in Rome and ordered it. This is how this country has been run since the end of WW2.

Because every country that has vaccine mandates is going for a full 100% vaccination rate. This means a fast road to totalitarianism with hate, violence and atrocities along the way.  

Because Norway has been already used by Tavistock as a social studies laboratory. Now it is time for others to step up. Canada has a fairly high % vaccinated. There are areas with vaccination rates much higher than average and other areas, very low. A country’s average vaccination % does not tell the whole story. Many other factors are involved including lifestyle, overall health, average age. Would be fun looking at dif. democratic traditions; long/short, strong/weak..trust/mistrust and c.restrictions

Norway 5.390.000 population 385207 sq. km Italy 59.257.000 population 302068 sq km Please find the difference and tell me why we don’t remove restrictions (if you understand)  

Numbers versus percentages?

It’s easy to make a story out of nothing. Because we are a rotten and corrupted state by puppet politics, led by a banker who destroyed Greece and a trusted man from Germany and Holland. In practice, a bankruptcy trustee from Northern Europe.

 Italy to lead world vaccination strategy – English – ANSA.it 

They are testing out different strategies in different countries.

The agenda is the same throughout it western countries however, it’s just how they get there.  The World Economic Forum is one group  that watches our responses, and then tries different tactics elsewhere.  Italy has more debt problems

Have you ever been to Italy? The level of social interaction is not comparable to Nordic countries. People won’t even share an elevator before the pandemic when I was in Sweden. Because we have Draghi – Bing

We have Draghi the freemason – Bing video

A few differences that I can think of are * Population density * In 54% of the Swedish homes only one person lives * Weaker health infrastructure * They got hammered before and don’t want to go there again.

Why does Germany have the same restrictions without using the word Green Pass and no one is using that Country as an example?
Asking Slovenia, how do they feel with restrictions? Please, be intellectually correct and ask any other Countries why they have the same or worse restrictions.  

“About COVID-19 certificate in Norway –

http://helsenorge.no” https://helsenorge.no/en/covid-19-ce
This video explains the situation in Israel, while detailing misconduct by the Israeli MoH – How Israeli Ministry of Health, deleted thousands of testimonies

Eyal Kattan on Twitter:  

Video is in English with English and Hebrew subtitles.
On September 30, the Ministry of Health posted a Facebook post about the “rare” side effects as a result of Pfizer’s corona vaccines. Tens of thousands of people responded and testified there about severe side effects they and their relatives experienced. That night the Ministry of Health deleted more than 5000 responses. This is the sequence of events and my take on the matter. This time in English.
Unfortunately, the establishment press in Israel is dead and completely owned by the state and the tycoons and therefore will not (or hardly) report. The independent press is afraid of its own shadow and does not want to approach such an explosive issue, so anyone left to report and raise the magnitude of corruption and decay? This is us citizens. The gatekeepers of democracy. You, each and every one of them.
Watch to the end and share in every way possible, there is no one else to do it for us. Share Share Share!

Link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/xr4iLa-QOQg
Download: https://we.tl/t-H5L8oFU0H8
Telegram: https://t.me/avibarak1/24
Twitter: https://twitter.com/avi_bd/status/1447262367004385283?s=20
Probably because Italy is inside the Eurozone, whereas Norway is outside. The QR-code is not about your health, but about your money. #TheGreatReset     Siamo in dittatura. Aiutateci… 

( We Are A Dictatorship.)   Mario Draghi.

It’s called EU and ECB Because in Italy we have muscular men in government, muscular above all against the population, an authoritarian drift veiled in democracy … with press and media enslaved ..

IT’s Simple: it isn’t about Covid-19.

Clearly your government didn’t sign up for the “ great reset “ aka totalitarian regime headed by WEF. And didn’t take back handers from Big Pharma’s. Because Italy and its citizens were sold in 2014 to http://GA.VI, Big Pharma and #WHO as guinea pigs.  Because we have the unelected Draghi, servant of WEF.

The Dossier | Video | Goldman Sachs: The bank that rules the world  Because Italy is a dictatorship. The world needs to know that freedom is ending in Italy. Going Back to Facism!!!

The only possible explanation is that the Italian government believes that higher rates of fully vaccinated people allow savings for the national health system.
Because the Italian government is so bankrupt that they can’t afford to pay people’s future pensions anymore so they want to depopulate everyone asap.
The Italian government has been compromised by globalists that are helping the great reset agenda. The pope is also compromised.  Because Italy as we know it must be destroyed in order to fit in the European (=Bruxelles) matrix.

Roberto Speranza is paranoid and completely unaware of data.

It seems he wants to achieve an impossible 100%of Vax.

What will the world look like after the Corona crisis?
Because we have to demonstrate our compliance with the new global order to be achieved.  

The Green Pass is a social control instrument:

our government is going to put everything under gp to impose Communism and become like China. That’s their aim. That’s their aim is it?

In Italy they’ve lost many people to Covid and they want to avoid that happening again by taking sensible precautions. I feel safer in Italy than in laissez-faire U.K. where, to be honest, the government doesn’t really give a shit about how many ppl die. Search for Agenda 21, this is what you get

Agenda 21 is an action plan for increased efforts on environmental and development issues, adopted at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Now if you researched what Agenda 21 stood for before 1990`s, it was about depopulating the world by wars, pandemics, hunger…Agenda 21 was a huge conspiracy way back, they had to remove the name from the UN agenda plan. Now it’s back with a prettier wrapping.

The world has gone crazy. 

It’s all about the new world order and social credit system Because Italy is not at the northern border of Europe, far from all immigration, travel and logistics. This should be no brainer. Cmon. Check all tourist countries first.

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐍𝐄̨𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 was a set of proposed economic reforms for the United States suggested during the 1990s by Harvey Francis Barnard. Barnard claimed that the proposals, which included replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, abolishing compound interest on secured loans, and returning to a bimetallic currency, would result in 0% inflation and a more stable economy.

The proposals were never introduced before Congress.

Where are Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Biden as shelves are emptying and ships are sitting offshore waiting to be unloaded at ports around the country? What is going on? Americans are beginning to wonder why there are so many ships sitting offshore while shelves in stores are empty?

History lesson from the Nazis.

As reminder, Nazi Germany happened because the citizens never spoke up until it was too late. If you don’t speak up when something wrong is occurring because it isn’t directly impacting you in the moment, Realize there will be no one to speak up for you when it does directly impact you. #VoterFraudisBadForEveryone. #AuditTheVote.’ #CountEveryLegalVote.  

Actual Video footage of Pelosi and the Pope The Holy Meeting.

Rattle! [Live] Elevation Worship is a contemporary worship music band from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The band’s main vocalists are Chris Brown, Jonsal Barrientes, Jenna Barrientes, Jane Williams, and Anna Sailors, as well as many other contributing musicians and vocalists. This is the sound of dry bones rattling. This is the praise. make a dead man walk again. Open the grave, I’m coming out. I’m gonna live, gonna live again.  RATTLE! | Official Lyric Video | Elevation Worship

Grace Like A Wave | Live | Elevation Worship

We have reached the point of no return…we must stand up & be counted… The only thing necessary for the triumph of Evil is for Good Men to do nothing.  I believe in faith, family and the American dream. Always dream bigger!!!

Be informed. Stay informed. Raise your voices against the lunatic fringe who wish to dismantle the Constitution.

The Science Behind Beautiful Fall Foliage

For years, scientists have worked to understand the changes that occur in trees and shrubs during autumn. Although we don’t know all the details, we do know enough to explain the basics to help you enjoy nature’s multicolored display. Three factors influence autumn leaf color:

– leaf pigments

– length of night

– weather

The timing of color changes and the onset of falling leaves is primarily regulated by the calendar as nights become longer. None of the other environmental influences – such as temperature, rainfall, food supply – are as unvarying as the steadily increasing length of night during autumn. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with Nature’s autumn palette.

Check out NASA images from space

Leaf Pigments

A color palette needs pigments, and there are three types that are involved in autumn color:

– Carotenoids: Produces yellow, orange, and brown colors in such things as corn, carrots, and daffodils, as well as rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas.

– Anthocyanin: Gives color to such familiar things as cranberries, red apples, concord grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. They are water soluble and appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells.

– Chlorophyll: Gives leaves a basic green color. It is necessary for photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that enables plants to use sunlight to manufacture sugars for food.

 Trees in the temperate zones store these sugars for the winter dormant period.

Both chlorophyll and carotenoids are present in the chloroplasts of leaf cells throughout the growing season. Most anthocyanins are produced in the autumn, in response to bright light and excess plant sugars within leaf cells.

During the growing season, chlorophyll is continually being produced and broken down and leaves appear green. As night length increases in the autumn, chlorophyll production slows down and then stops and eventually all the chlorophyll is destroyed. The carotenoids and anthocyanin that are present in the leaf are then unmasked and show their colors.

Brilliant Fall Leaves On The Superior National Forest. (Forest Service Photo)

Certain colors are characteristic of particular species:

– Oaks: red, brown, or russet

– Hickories: golden bronze

– Aspen and yellow-poplar: golden yellow

– Dogwood: purplish red

– Beech: light tan

– Sourwood and black tupelo: crimson

The color of maples leaves differ species by species:

– Red maple: brilliant scarlet

– Sugar maple: orange-red

– Black maple: glowing yellow

– Striped maple: almost colorless

Some leaves of some species, such as the elms simply shrivel up and fall, exhibiting little color other than drab brown.

The timing of the color change also varies by species. For example, sourwood in southern forests can become vividly colorful in late summer while all other species are still vigorously green. Oaks put on their colors long after other species have already shed their leaves.

These differences in timing among species seem to be genetically inherited, for a particular species at the same latitude will show the same coloration in the cool temperatures of high mountain elevations at about the same time as it does in warmer lowlands.

Length of Night

In early autumn, in response to the shortening days and declining intensity of sunlight, leaves begin the processes leading up to their fall. The veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf gradually close off as a layer of cells forms at the base of each leaf. These clogged veins trap sugars in the leaf and promote production of anthocyanin. Once this separation layer is complete and the connecting tissues are sealed off, the leaf is ready to fall.

How does weather affect autumn color?

The amount and brilliance of the colors that develop in any particular autumn season are related to weather conditions that occur before and during the time the chlorophyll in the leaves is dwindling. Temperature and moisture are the main influences.

A succession of warm, sunny days and cool, crisp but not freezing nights seems to bring about the most spectacular color displays. During these days, lots of sugars are produced in the leaf but the cool nights and the gradual closing of veins going into the leaf prevent these sugars from moving out. These conditions – lots of sugar and light – spur production of the brilliant anthocyanin pigments, which tint reds, purples, and crimson. Because carotenoids are always present in leaves, the yellow and gold colors remain fairly constant from year to year.

The amount of moisture in the soil also affects autumn colors. Like the weather, soil moisture varies greatly from year to year. The countless combinations of these two highly variable factors assure that no two autumns can be exactly alike. A late spring, or a severe summer drought, can delay the onset of fall color by a few weeks. A warm period during fall will also lower the intensity of autumn colors. A warm wet spring, favorable summer weather, and warm sunny fall days with cool nights should produce the most brilliant autumn colors.

What does all this do for the tree?

Fall Showing At The Norway Beach Recreation Area On The Chippewa National Forest. (Forest Service Photo)

Winter is a certainty that all vegetation in the temperate zones must face each year. Perennial plants, including trees, must have some sort of protection to survive freezing temperatures and other harsh wintertime influences. Stems, twigs, and buds are equipped to survive extreme cold so that they can reawaken when spring heralds the start of another growing season. Tender leaf tissues, however, would freeze in winter, so plants must either toughen up and protect their leaves or dispose of them.

Evergreens: pines, spruces, cedars, firs, and so on are able to survive winter because they have toughened up. Their needle-like or scale-like foliage is covered with a heavy wax coating and the fluid inside their cells contains substances that resist freezing. Thus the foliage of evergreens can safely withstand all but the severest winter conditions, such as those in the Arctic. Evergreen needles survive for some years but eventually fall because of old age.

Broad-leaved trees: These are trees that do not have needles or scale-like leaves. They are tender and vulnerable to damage, are typically broad and thin and are not protected by any thick coverings. The fluid in the cells of these leaves is usually a thin, watery sap that freezes readily, which makes them vulnerable in the winter when temperatures fall below freezing. Tissues unable to overwinter must be sealed off and shed to ensure the plant’s continued survival.

What happens to all those fallen leaves?

Needles and leaves that fall are not wasted. They decompose and restock the soil with nutrients and make up part of the spongy humus layer of the forest floor that absorbs and holds rainfall. Fallen leaves also become food for numerous soil organisms vital to the forest ecosystem.

It is quite easy to see the benefit to the tree of its annual leaf fall, but the advantage to the entire forest is more subtle. It could well be that the forest could no more survive without its annual replenishment from leaves than the individual tree could survive without shedding these leaves. The many beautiful interrelationships in the forest community leave us with myriad fascinating puzzles still to solve.

Where can I see autumn color in the United States?

You can find autumn color in parks and woodlands, in the cities, countryside, and mountains – anywhere you find deciduous broadleaved trees, the ones that drop their leaves in the autumn. New England is rightly famous for the spectacular autumn colors painted on the trees of its mountains and countryside, but the Adirondack, Appalachian, Smoky, and Rocky Mountains are also clad with colorful displays. In the East, we can see the reds, oranges, golds, and bronzes of the mixed deciduous woodlands; in the West, we see the bright yellows of aspen stands and larches contrasting with the dark greens of the evergreen conifers.

Many of the Forest Service’s 100 plus National Scenic Byways were planned with autumn color in mind. Almost every one of them offers a beautiful, colorful drive sometime in the autumn.

When is the best time to see autumn colors?

Unfortunately, autumn color is not very predictable, especially in the long term. Half the fun is trying to outguess nature! But it generally starts in late September in New England and moves southward, reaching the Smoky Mountains by early November. It also appears about this time in the high-elevation mountains of the West. Remember that cooler high elevations will color up before the valleys.Table of Contents

• How Do Leaves Get Their Color?
• Why Do Leaves Change Their Colors?

The Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the most famous drives in the US. Last fall, I had the good fortune of driving through it at the perfect time. It was undoubtedly the most beautiful ride of my life. I had no destination and I never wanted the drive to end. Surrounded by a wonderland of yellow and orange leaves, it felt like I was driving through a garden, not on a public road. The sight of all that fall foliage was simply breathtaking.

When autumn arrives, life suddenly becomes more enjoyable. When you see all those beautiful yellow and orange leaves on the road, all your worries about traffic and work stress just vanish. People around you seem happier, eager to soak up the natural beauty of the world around them.

However, have you ever wondered how all those leaves magically change their green color to yellow, orange and red when autumn finally arrives?

How Do Leaves Get Their Color?

During summer vacations, when you are playing outside, the trees are working hard to provide you with oxygen for all of your activities. Then, when you get tired and are sweating from the summer sun, these trees provide you with shade beneath their green leaves.

Photosynthesis

Trees take water from the ground through their roots and carbon dioxide from the air. They use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. Glucose is a type of sugar that trees use as food. This process is known as photosynthesis, and a vital chemical called  chlorophyll helps in photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll is a green color pigment that is abundantly found in leaves; therefore, it is chlorophyll that gives leaves their green color.

Why Do Leaves Change Their Colors?

Yellow and Orange

Other than chlorophyll, leaves contain two other pigments: carotene (orange color) and xanthophyll (yellow color).

During the summer, chlorophyll is the busiest pigment, as it is required for photosynthesis. The abundance of chlorophyll masks the orange and yellow color pigment that lie beneath.

Trees work hard in the summer season to produce food, which they can store for the autumn and winter season. Autumn is the time for the trees to finally take a rest after all that hard summer work.

In some parts of the world, during autumn and winter, days become shorter and nights become longer. Therefore, the amount of sunlight decreases significantly, and as a result, plants are not able to perform photosynthesis. As the amount of sunlight reduces, the amount of chlorophyll also reduces and becomes less dominant. Due to this, the carotene (orange) and xanthophyll (yellow) pigments that were already present in the leaves begin to show.

Red Color

Leaves look even more beautiful when they are red in color. This red color is the result of the anthocyanin (red color) pigment. Anthocyanins, unlike carotene and xanthophyll, are not present in leaves all the time. The tree synthesizes anthocyanins only after the chlorophyll content reduces significantly. Anthocyanins are produced as a form of protection for the leaves; they allow the tree to recover nutrients in the leaves before they fall off.

In short, leaves do not actually change their color. They simply lose their green color during the autumn.

We should be very thankful for trees , as they let us enjoy the beauty of nature in every season. Autumn is like a second spring, when every leaf is a flower.

References:

1. Environmental Science and Forestry
2. US Forest Service
3. Why do we celebrate Halloween, go trick or treating and carve pumpkins? (goodto.com)
4. Impossible – Nat King Cole

Holy Grail UNEARTHED in Jerusalem | Buried: Knights Templar and the Holy Grail (S1, E1) | History

History of the Knights Templar – Wikipedia

Templar protectors of Jesus. We must not tolerate an elite class of such people as we have in Congress, elected as public servants and putting themselves above the law. Govt produces nothing but inflation, misery, poverty & slavery.

Were Crusader Knights Really Protecting the Cup of Christ?
By Dan Jones

The Knights Templar: The Holy Grail
Between 1200 and 1210 the German writer Wolfram von Eschenbach composed an epic romantic poem, tens of thousands of lines long, called Parzival : Wolfram von Eschenbach : Free Download, Borrow, Streaming : Internet Archive

It drew on the hugely popular legends of King Arthur, which had for decades delighted aristocratic audiences with tales of chivalry and questing, love and betrayal, magic and combat.
Eschenbachs patron was one Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, but the readership his work eventually found was enormous and its influence immense. More than 80 medieval manuscripts of the poem still survive.
In Parzival, the eponymous young hero appears at Arthur’s court and quickly becomes embroiled in a dispute with a “red knight,” whom he kills in a fight.

After going away to learn to be more chivalrous, Parzival embarks on a search for something called the Grail: both a literal hunt for a mysterious, life-giving stone and a spiritual journey toward enlightenment in God. The Grail is initially guarded in a magical castle by a character called the Fisher King, who is in constant pain from a wound to his leg, divine punishment for his failure to remain chaste.

Parzival meets the Fisher King, then becomes sidetracked by other escapades. Eventually, after fighting a knight who turns out to be his own brother, he learns that he himself has become the new king destined to guard the Grail, and the story eventually draws to a close.
Much of Parzival, as written by Eschenbach, was unoriginal. Earlier writers such as Geoffrey of Monmouth and Chrétien de Troyes had already established the world he described and provided many of the plots.

Eschenbach was essentially updating: expanding the characters’ adventures and giving the tales a flavor that he thought his own readers (and listeners, for many would have heard the poems read aloud in their lords’ halls) would enjoy.
One of the ingredients he added was the appearance of a military order called the Templeise, warriors sworn to chastity who help the Fisher King keep watch in their “temple” over the Holy Grail. These men were not identical to Templars: Their symbol was a turtledove rather than the crusaders’ cross, and they did not appear to have a developed rule.

All the same, the resemblance was striking and the story proved to be enduring. The Templars had been transformed for the first time from a crusader militia into the guardians of the mythical Grail.
During the later Middle Ages the legend of the Grail became ever-more developed and fanciful. In the stories by Chrétien de Troyes and Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Grail was a somewhat indistinct object—a plate, a stone, a bleeding lance or a goblet—all of which served ultimately as a metaphor for Jerusalem and for the kingdom of Heaven itself.

But as time went on, writers began to imagine the Grail to be something quite specific. Robert of Boron, writing shortly after Eschenbach, concocted a backstory for the Grail, in which it was both the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and the vessel used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect drops of Jesus’s blood as he hung dying on the cross. It was now a Holy Grail. In this telling, the Holy Grail was then transported by Joseph from the Holy Land to Avalon, which came to be identified with a specific location: Glastonbury, in the southwest of the British Isles.

All of this was high fantasy, which people in the Middle Ages would have recognized as such: The Holy Grail was no more real than Spectre in today’s James Bond films. Yet as time went on, Robert of Boron’s entertaining but bogus pseudo-history became confused with the real history of Christianity, and of crusading.
Today, writers of fiction—and even of history—often assume that the Holy Grail was a real object, and combine its supposed presence in Jerusalem with the story of the Templars, speculating that one of the order’s first purposes in the Holy Land was to protect the cup of Christ. From this exciting but illusory point of departure, it’s possible to speculate that the “real” reason the Templars were destroyed by Philip IV of France was connected to some conspiracy to strip the brothers of their most holy secrets.
Ironically, some modern writers, beginning from the false assumption that the Holy Grail was a real object, have gone on to argue that in fact the Grail was actually a metaphor! Much play has been made of the pun in medieval French on san graal (holy grail) and sang real (royal blood). Perhaps, runs this argument, the grail was not a mystical vessel after all, but code for a secret line of descent from Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

This is all great fun, but it belongs to the realm of fantasy. As we have seen, the Grail was never a real physical object. It began as a literary motif and an allegory, both for crusading in general and for the individual quest for salvation. Philip IV, for his part, had far better reasons for destroying the order of the Temple than retrieving from them an imaginary goblet.
But the Holy Grail myth is a brilliant starting point for fiction, whether that means re-telling the Arthurian legends, or inventing stories about the deeds of the Templars—or a fusion of the two. Many historians become irritated by the conflation of fantasy and fact, but there is a huge popular appetite for tales of the Grail, particularly when the Templars, endlessly fascinating, are included.

That was undoubtedly the case in the early 13th century when Wolfram von Eschenbach and Robert of Boron were writing their epic romances. Today, around 800 years on, it is as true as ever.
From THE TEMPLARS: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors by Dan Jones, to be published September 19, 2017 by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2017 by Dan Jones.
DAN JONES is an acclaimed medieval historian and lead consultant on HISTORY’s forthcoming ‘Knightfall’ series.

The Knights Templar: Fathers of Modern Banking

By Jefferson P Webb.

While the Knights Templar are famed for their courage and valor in combat against Islam in the Crusades, these famed and even legendary knights are responsible for more than just the protection of pilgrims to the holy land, or for facing off with Saladin’s forces from Syria. While there are many books and articles composed and published about the Templar Knights, some of which are quite fantastical to the point of science fiction, there are certain contributions that these knights made that have positively influenced western civilization to modern times that need due attention.

“The Order of the Temple was founded as the Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ by a French nobleman named Hugues de Payen in 1119 in Jerusalem. Hugues de Payen led the original order of nine knights by the names of Godfrey of Saint-Omer from Picardy, Payen de Montdidier, Andre de Montbard, Archambaud de Saint. Aignon, Geoffrey Bisol, Roland, Gondemar, and yet a ninth knight whose name is not known. All of these knights took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Order was founded to protect pilgrims from robbers and bandits who attacked, robbed, and often murdered pilgrims to the Holy Land.”1

The pilgrims, “came in their droves, unaware of the dangers that lay ahead – the roads around Jerusalem were notorious for the bands of robbers that haunted them, preying on the travelers to the Holy Places. Sometimes these robbers were Saracens; sometimes they were lapsed crusaders. To counter this threat, Hugues de Payen gathered together a group of nine knights to protect the pilgrims.”2

“Together these nine knights took on the roll as protectors of the pilgrims in 1119, but the order was not officially established until 1129. “The Knights of the Temple of Solomon of Jerusalem ( Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ) were established as a religious Order of the Latin Church in 1129, when they were officially accepted at the Council of Troyes in Champagne. They were granted Rule which urged all secular knights to hasten to associate themselves with those ‘who God has chosen from the mass of perdition.’”3

Clearly the Templars filled the role of protectors of Christian travelers and did indeed begin to draw the attraction of secular knights as well as noblemen to their ranks for service to the Church in the Holy Lands and in Europe as well. While the Templars did see combat actions in the Middle East as line fighters for Christian armies, flying their black and white battle flag called a Beauseant and shouting their battle cry, “In Hoc Signo Vinces!” meaning, “In this sign conquer,” in reference to a vision in a dream by Emperor Constantine prior to the Battle of Milvian Bridge, there were many Templars who never saw combat. They filled entirely different roles within the Order. One of those many roles was the role of banking.
Many of the Templar knights were used to record and safeguard the items and monies placed within their care within the walls of their monasteries and banks/keeps. In fact, there were many more brother knights that oversaw the recording of transactions of loans, ceded estates and lands, and other financial matters for the Order than their were brother knights serving in combat functions for the Church. Simply put, there were more of these famed “warrior monks” that actually filled the function of “banker monks.” “The great majority were administrators of the more than 9,000 manors that had been given to the Order by pious benefactors.”4

Much of the wealth that the Order accumulated came from knights and noblemen donations of lands, monies, and other forms of wealth when they joined the Knights Templar for service to the Church. In spite of the fact that the monks themselves took vows of poverty among other vows, the Order itself became extremely wealthy in assets. They became so wealthy that they maintained their own fleets for the transportation of soldiers, pilgrims, goods and valuables, and many other items bound for the Middle East and other areas. The earliest record of the Templars’ wealth beginning to blossom was recorded as taking place even before the Order was established officially with the Church. “It appears to have begun with a meeting of Hugues de Payen and Fulk V, Count of Anjou, while Fulk was on his pilgrimage in 1120 to Outremer. After this meeting, Fulk committed to the Order an annual income of 30 livres angevines. Fulk was also able to inspire other French noblemen to make pledges to Hugues de Payens Templars as well. The Order’s economical means began to build, and as its wealth grew so too did its influence on the European and Middle Eastern stages.”5

The Knights Templar had become one of the richest entities in the world over just a few years, and with well established banks within their monasteries, and arguably the best security in the world for those assets, the brother knights found themselves serving in yet another capacity. Nobles and Royals alike began to entrust the brother knights with securing their valuables within the safety of the Monastery walls under the guard of the Templar Knights. What took place was the establishment of the safe deposit box.
A person turned in their valuables to the monastery for safekeeping and was then able to retrieve them at their pleasure, just as is the case today with a safe deposit box at your local bank. An example of such a transaction along with the language of the documentation and agreement of the withdrawal transaction is found in a quotation from a primary source document. It was a transaction to retrieve jewels by James I, King of Aragon from the Temple of Mozon.

“Be it known to all that we, James, by the grace of God King of Aragon, Majorca, and Valencia, Count of Barcelona and Urgel and Lord of Montpellier and we, Yolanda, Queen, Countess, and Lady of the said places, acknowledge that we have received and possess all and every jewel that we had deposited and put in the safe keeping in the house of the Temple of Monzon. Wherefore we declare the houses of the Temple and all brothers freed from all chains from us and ours concerning all the said jewels. Henceforth neither we nor ours can make further demands for any or all the said jewels. Henceforth, neither we nor ours can make further demands for any or all of the said jewels nor incriminate, attack, or even harass the brothers of any house nor any possessions of the Temple in respect to said jewels. Given at Calatayud, ten days before the kalends of March, 1240. Sign of James, by the grace of God, King of Aragon, Majorca, and Valencia, Count of Barcelona, and Urgel, and Lord of Montpellier.”6

Evidenced in that primary source is a prime example of the types of items the brother knights were entrusted with protecting, but also brings to light insight into the language used in such legal documentation of the transactions. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the language of the document and transaction is not unlike that which we see today in such agreements. Without question the Knights Templar were well trusted by the upper crust of European aristocracy and indeed can be credited with the establishment, officially, of the modern safety deposit system.
It is not surprising given the Templar wealth that they too were sought for loans. Here too another function of modern banking was well established with the Templar. It is safe to say that they are not the first to issue loans, but what the Templars did do was issue loans on a much larger, and much better documented scale than most other organizations during their period or since. One such example can be seen here of such a loan made by Robert II, Count of Artois, who was count from 1250-1302, and was the first cousin of the King of France, Philip III.

“I, Robert, Count of Artios, declare to all who peruse this present document, that I owe the monk Brother John of Tour, Treasurer of the house of the Knights Templar in Paris, 1,578 livres parisis in respect of a legal loan in cash the said treasury made me for the furtherance of my affairs, of which we have full satisfaction, renouncing the receipt of non-cash property and moneys not yet received. In satisfaction and full payment of this said loan to the said treasurer, free of debts and having full legal rights, I assign specifically and in the name of a special attribution, and herewith ascribe to said treasurer, all and every one of my rents, proceeds and income from my castlery and townships of Domfront – en – Passais, and all their apprentices, i.e. reeveship, woods, waters, pannage, ovens, mills, pastures, hay, hens, capons, wheat and whatever else exists, pertaining to me in any matter in those said places…they shall be had, received, and enjoyed by the said treasurer or his representative annually from now on without break, in full, without any loss or opposition, quit and free, in payment and discharge to said debt, until by the continuous payment of the rents, proceeds, and income, full and complete satisfaction for the whole of the said debt shall have been made to the said treasurer.”7

Pilgrims, Warriors, Heretics: Who Were the Knights Templar? | HISTORY Channel

Again we see a magnificent example of the language used in the transaction, but too this shows us the enormity of the loan transaction itself and the level of wealth involved. The Knights Templar were involved in some of the largest loans of their time and even made loans to royal houses to finance the endeavors of nations. With such as a trustworthy reputation established, the Templars also began to be used for transferring monies from one place to another. In doing this, the Templars issued a note to a person for the amount deposited in one place that was good for the person to collect such an amount from the Templars in another place or region. The Templars were effectively issuing travelers checks to people upon deposit of monies. This was of great benefit to people traveling abroad and specifically to the Holy Lands where bandits and robbers made their livelihoods.

While the Templars are well-known for bravery in combat, here it is clearly shown that their function and influence was on a much broader scale than what they are generally given credit for. Nevertheless, their wealth would end up being one of the prime reasons for their demise as France’s King Philip found himself and his country in serious economic peril. Furthermore, King Philip influences Pope Clement V to dissolve the Order in accusations of heretical behavior to claim their assets for France and for redistribution to other monastic knightly orders, in particular the Knights Hospitaller. The Knights Templar were effectively dissolved in 1314 by Clement V and their wealth taken from the Order. But, their contributions to the modern system of banking is profound in spite of the fact that it is predominantly overlooked. It is true that the Knights Templar were heroes of the Crusades, and can be looked upon in many ways as inspirational examples of courage and bravery, and dedication to the Christian Faith under extremely difficult circumstances. But there should be much more attention paid than there is to their influence on the modern system of banking. The Knights Templar set the bar for the use of safety deposit boxes, loans of great magnitude and travelers checks and bank notes and the efficiency with which these things were accomplished.

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Sources:
1. Webb, Jefferson P. The Order of the Temple: Influences on Modern Banking. Waco, TX: Webb Publishing. 2009.1
2. Martin, Sean. The Knights Templars. NY: Thundermouth Press. 2004.1
3. Barber, Malcolm and Bate, Keith. The Templars: Selected Sources. NY: Manchester. 2002.1
4. Read, Pier. The Templars. NY: Saint Martins. 1999. 181
5. Webb, Jefferson. The Order. 3
6. Barber and Bate: The Templars: Selected Sources. 208
7. Barber and Bate. 209

Bibliography
Andrew Jotischky and Caroline Hull. Historical Atlas of the Medieval World. New York: Penguin. 2005
Frank Sanello. The Knights Templar: God’s Warriors, the Devil’s Banker. New York: Taylor Trade Publishing. 2003
Gordon Napier. The Rise and Fall of the Knights Templar: The Order of the Temple, 1118-1314: A True History of Faith, Glory, Betrayal, and Tragedy. UK: Spellmount. 2003
Jefferson P. Webb. The Order of the Temple: Influences on Modern Banking. Waco, TX: Webb Publishing. 2009
Helen Nichols. The Knights Templar: A New History. UK: Sutton Publishing. 2002
Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate. The Templars: Selected Sources. New York: Manchester United Press. 2002
Martin, Sean. The Knights Templar. New York: Thundermouth Press. 2004
Norman Cantor. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. New York: Harper Collins. 1993 … Piers Read.

http://www.the-games-blog.com/knights-templar-want-ban-on-negative-games/ Accessed 08-14-2011. The Games Blog.com. April 29, 2011. GabrielVandervort.

Templar on Horse: http://www.ancientresource.com/lots/medieval_crusades/knights_templar_coins.html Accessed 08-14-2011. Ancient Resources 2011.
Crystalinks.com.Templar Seal. http://www.crystalinks.com/templars.html

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