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🇷🇴 The Legion of Archangel Michael: The last "Knightly Order"

The Legion was an organization with many facets, it struck with the sword against the internal enemies of Romania and stretched the hand for the people in need, resembling the long forgotten knightly orders

The Legion of Archangel Michael was founded in 1927 in Romania by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, and was the largest political movement of interwar Romania

The Legion was deeply rooted in Orthodox Christianity, from which all its values and principles arose

The Romanian state attempted to ban the Legion in 1933 due to its growing popularity among the population

Before the ban, the state killed 18 Legionaries and arrested thousands more in an act of political persecution

Previously, in 1930, the Iron Guard was founded as the paramilitary arm of the Legion

Its goal was to protect the members of the organization and fight internal enemies who sought to destroy Romania, including political movements like the communist bolsheviks

One of the Legionaries killed by the authorities for his political activism was Virgil Teodorescu, a student who was shot by the police while attaching posters of the Legion on the street

Another case was Constantin Nița, who was shot while attempting to throw a loaf of bread over a fence to feed Legionaries in a house which had been besieged by the police, who attempted to arrest them for their political work

In 1933, the Iron Guard fought back for the first time and killed the Prime Minister of Romania, who had ordered the murder and arrest of thousands of Legionaries for their activism

Along the years, the Iron Guard faced many opponents, including other political groups

In this and more aspects, the Legion remsembled the knightly orders of the middle ages, which had been founded to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land

During the Spanish Civil war, the Legion sent a contingent of fighters to support Spanish nationalists in their fight against communist forces

Another aspect in which the Legion resembled knightly orders was their massive charity network:

The Legion offered help in Romanian communities, built and repaired roads, bridges, churches and schools and entertained meal centers where they handed out food to people in need

The Legion was organized in "nests", which were semi-decentralized groups of Legionaries who would engage in all of this social and charitable work

The nests had up to 13 members and each locality had several nests

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