The Knights Templar and the Depositors Haircut in Cyprus

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• published: 26 Mar 2013
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Footage captured on Cyprus tv the last 24 hours shows it's Germany versus Russia again. The fate of Cyprus might seem a small matter but it is bringing on another round in that age-old struggle between the giants of the continent of Europe that has brought so much death and destruction. Prior to World War 1, the alliance between Germany, Austria, and Italy was known as the Triple Alliance, which formed into an alliance between Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. Prior to World War 2, Austria and Germany unified into a single German state in a process known as Anschluß, or unification. Germany and Russia have a long and storied history of conflict. Within the last 100 years, WWI and WWII showed the depth that the hostility between these two powerful rival countries can take. We may be seeing the rekindling of tensions between the old rivals, Germany and Russia, with the tiny island of Cyprus being the tinderbox. Should Russia back a bailout for Cyprus that involves Cyprus exiting the euro, it would be a significant move, which may indicate that Russia is indeed interested in reducing Germany's power by diminishing the scope of the euro. Cyprus was virtually the last stronghold of the Knights Templars. Do you think there's a connection between that fact and what's happening to its people? http://tinyurl.com/chcauu8 On Saturday Pawel Morski titled his first Cyprus post "Cyprus: A Brutal Lesson in RealPolitik". http://tinyurl.com/cpbcm5x That got me thinking about force of arms, the Templars and Easter 1192. From CypNet: Sallying into the streets at dawn, they took the Cypriots unawares and slaughtered great numbers, sparing neither age nor sex. The rebellion was crushed, but the Templars felt unable to hold Cyprus by force and they therefore asked Richard to take back their purchase.... - The Military Orders in Cyprus in the Light of Recent Scholarship http://tinyurl.com/ct6m675 The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is now racked by a financial crisis. Demonstrators have taken to the streets in their thousands as savers have been forced to hand up to as much as 10% of their savings to bail out the bankers. Little wonder that bankers are extremely unpopular. But it won't be the first time that Cypriots have raged against bankers on the island. Back in 1192, the Knights Templar were in control of Cyprus having bought it a year earlier from Richard the Lionheart. He in turn had taken it from the Byzantine empire, the eastern Christian remnant of the Roman empire that was notionally, though not always, on the crusader side against the Muslim Saracens. King Richard was busy trying to defend the mainland crusader states and so when the Templars offered to buy it off him, he seized the chance. And of course the Templars had the money to make good on the deal. They were not only first class soldiers -- but also first class bankers. It may have been a primitive form of finance that they operated, but it was advanced for the age. The Templars issued an early form of travellers' cheque to their customers allowing them to go on crusade without having to take all their bullion around with them. Templar preceptories operated a bit like high street banks where nobles could pop in and cash a cheque to keep them going far from home. But bankers have never been loved. And the locals soon got weary of these warrior monks -- cum -- bankers running their island. There weren't many Templars present, as few as twenty according to some accounts. The islanders had spent centuries staving off Saracen attacks plus they were religiously and culturally more affiliated to Constantinople than Rome. Add to that the Templars would have been trying to recoup their investment quite aggressively by extracting whatever wealth they could from Cyprus. Templar books needed to be balanced in order to pay for crusading in outremer. Needless to say, these Latin Christian crusaders soon outstayed their welcome. Concerned at rumblings of revolt, the Templars retreated within their garrison. There were reports that the Cypriots were planning to massacre the knights on Easter Day, 1192. So, after regaining their courage, the Templars stormed out of their castle and embarked on a wholesale massacre of anybody they met. This isn't exactly the finest hour in the history of the Knights Templar -- but it happened. The killing quelled the rebellion and an uneasy peace returned. But shortly afterwards, the Templars sold Cyprus on to Guy de Lusignan -- who you will recall from the movie Kingdom of Heaven -- had just lost the kingdom of Jerusalem to Saladin and his Saracen armies. So he needed somewhere to rule. http://tinyurl.com/crwc2ek