Mysteries of The Knights Templar | Satan & the Hashashin Assassins (Ft @MysteriousMiddleEast)

Powerful secret orders with supernatural links, vengeful kings, and the worship of the devil himself. The medieval period was a dark and violent chapter that saw the rise and fall of two powerful occult organizations that helped shape the modern world during the crusades. These organizations went by the name of the Hashashin Order of the Assassins Hello, this is the Occult Documentary Channel, the Mysterious Middle East, taking over the History Profiles YouTube channel just for today as part of a mini-series of episodes looking at medieval secret societies. Previously, we looked at the rise and fall of the Nizari Ismaili's Order of the Assassins, more popularly known as the Assassins' Creed, and was then joined by the History Profiles channel to look at their Christian equivalent, the Knights Templar, and their preoccupation with finding powerful ancient supernatural Middle Eastern artifacts, in addition to examining their strained relationship with the Catholic Church. In this episode, we're now going to look at how both orders are connected to each other, and how from this, the Knights Templar's escapades across the Middle East eventually led to sordid claims of sex, bizarre satanic rituals, and the worship of an entity called Baphomet. The medieval period was a traumatic time for much of Europe, North Africa, and the Levant, where two powerful ideological forces that were both birthed from the Abrahamic tradition, namely Islam and Christianity, fought each other for control of the Middle East. However, as you'll see, the foot soldiers of these religious ideologies were probably as far from the orthodox beliefs of these faiths as you can possibly get, as both the Knights Templars on one side, and the Hashashin Order on the other, were more rooted in the occult and Gnosticism than in the mainstream Christianity and Islam. Yet, while the Hashashin Order has always been on the outer fringes of the Islamic faith, with many mainstream Muslims from that time to today calling them heretics, the Knights Templar were initially viewed with respect and honor, before accusations of dark and bizarre occult practices helped lead to their collapse. The Templars have always been associated with the Crusades from their inception, but when the Holy Land was lost in the 14th century, their public support dwindled. With this, their secretive nature became a source of public suspicion, and by 1307, Philip IV of France, who incidentally was heavily in debt to them, took advantage of the growing public mistrust of the Order, and had their leaders in France arrested, tortured, and burned at their stake. It was during this period where references to a demonic deity, the Templars, allegedly worshipped called Baphomet emerged. With this, accusations of the practice of same-sex relations amongst the knight and wild claims of ritualized edification on religious objects also emerged. These rumors fed into the idea that this once-righteous group of Christian fighters were now indulged in ritual satanic worship. But how legitimate were any of these claims given that it was the machine behind Philip IV helping to push the anti-Catholic narrative about the Order? Putting aside the sexuality of some of the Knights Templars, modern-day historians question the legitimacy of the bulk of these 14th-century claims of heresy, including the worst one of all, the worshipping of the entity called Baphomet. According to many sources, this supernatural being's name first appeared in a letter written in 1098 by the French Count Anselm of Vervibon, before dying in the First Crusade during the 1090s. He had written about a clash with Muslim soldiers when he heard the name Baphomet being called. Historians say that the context of the name here, along with other evidence from the First Crusade, strongly suggests, almost without a doubt, that Baphomet was not a reference to an anomalous entity, but was merely a corrupted version of Mahomet, an old French word referring to the Conversely, Joseph von Hammerbergstahl, a 19th-century historian and expert on Middle Eastern literature, believed that the word Baphomet derived not from Mahomet, but from a combination of Greek words meaning baptism of the spirit, which he says was a reference to the Gnostic rituals of secret knowledge. He also pointed out evidence such as medieval medals, vases, figurines emblazoned with Gnostic symbols, which he claimed was proof the Templars were indeed Gnostics. Similarly, their Arab and Persian equivalent, the Hashashin order, went through a similar evolution from a quote-unquote traditional Islamic belief to a form of Gnosticism. In 1163, one of the principal leaders of the order, Hassan II, told his followers that it was revealed to him via supernatural means that they were no longer bounded by the rules of Islam and that they can indulge in any practice they wish. From this point on, he encouraged a form of occult esotericism among them called Batin, which is also a type of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is underpinned by the belief that an individual is responsible for his or her own spiritual development and that anybody can approach the divine through their own endeavors without religion. The famous phrase, nothing is true, everything is permitted, that is believed to have been first spoken by Hassan II, not only lends itself to Gnostic principles, but directly contradicted a core premise in Islam that emphasizes the oneness and importance of God. However, despite the popularity of the order across the Middle East, they were still only a fringe Islamic group that was clearly separate from mainstream Islam. The same could not be said for the Knights Templar, who at their height were seen as an important part of the Christian mission to conquer the Holy Lands. So if their number one warriors were secret Gnostics, then their very existence was a threat to the church's authority, which was based on the assertion that salvation was only possible within the church. Yet, outside of their Gnostic beliefs, it has also been argued that there may be a strong element of truth to Philip's accusations, with some historians saying that the Templars may have indeed engaged in acts that went against the church. According to the historian Michael Haag, the Templars may have been ordered to indulge in some of the practices they were accused of, like renouncing Christ, idol worshipping, and pledging allegiance to Muhammad as a kind of prisoner of war training, in order to simulate the ordeals they might have to endure if they were ever captured by the enemy. So if Baphomet, the entity, never existed and was merely a Gnostic concept in the medieval period, what about the winged goat creature that is now often associated with it and the Templars? Well, this is a relatively recent invention historians say was created in the mid-19th century by a French oculist named Éliphale Lévy. However, Middle Eastern historians have also drawn links between human-animal hybrids and ancient god-like deities going back tens of thousands of years to pre-Islamic Arabia. This was a time Muslims call the Age of Ignorance, a dark age before a strict monotheism was brought back to the Arabian Peninsula via Islam. From this period, archaeologists and historians have recently identified ancient Yemeni artifacts that depict humanoid goat-headed idols, amongst other hybrids that were believed to be worshipped as deities. These ancient idols were completely irrelevant to the Arabs of the medieval period, since by then we had already either adopted the Islamic belief system or were already Christian. Anyway, regardless of how true or to what degree the Knights Templar were involved in the heretical act against the Church, Philip IV had assembled enough ammunition to level against them to take them down. Legends say that an actual supernatural curse was placed on Philip by the Order as they were burned at the stake, a curse that saw him die a short while after his victory against them was achieved. Even if this is true, the damage he enacted on them was already done and by the 21st century, all that remains of the Order is a blurred line between historic fact, heroic and demonic fantasy, and a relatively new and dark apocalyptic conspiracy. But on that final point, well, that's a topic for another time. Thanks to History Profile's channel for this collaboration. After you have thumbed up, commented and subscribed to them, be sure to come across to our channel, The Mysterious Middle East, to see part one of this collaboration, in addition to our deep dive into the real-life lore and history of Hassan II and the Assassin's Creed.