Knights Hospitaller (Order of St. John) in the French masonic revolution

"In 1790 the ‘droit de lignage’ was abolished in France. This right had enabled the noble family to legally appoint the eldest son as one and only heir, thus maintaining the family estate. On 10 March 1791, Pope Pius VI formally denounced the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of France and the Revolution. ‘C’est la faute à Voltaire, c’est la faute à Rousseau!’ According to Hafkemeyer, the French Revolution caused a loss to the Order of about 3,000 Knights. This might be an exaggeration, but on the other hand is an indication of how wide-spread the continental Knights were. The Pope probably had no other option than to condemn the Revolution. The property of the Church in France was attacked and its servants were mocked and persecuted. It will come as no surprise that the vast majority of the Knights were against the Revolution. In June 1791, King Louis XVI was captured in Varennes. His flight had been financed by a Knight."

Hoegen Dijkhof (2006). The legitimacy of Orders of St. John: a historical and legal analysis and case study of a para-religious phenomenon.

Bertrand du Guesclin was a 14th century French knight who proved his excellence in many battles and conflicts. He first rose to fame and prominence when he defended Rennes against the attack of the English and was then tasked by the French King Charles V to help secure French influence in Navarre.

Guesclin successfully accomplished this. He would later serve French interests in Spain as well. Guesclin was captured twice by the English and ransomed by Charles V both times. During the later part of his life, Guesclin played a key role in recapturing English-controlled regions in France and proved a decisive character in securing French control of the continental territories in the long run.

La Hire (Etienne de Vignolles)
Etienne de Vignolles (born circa 1390) or La Hire as he was known was one of Joan of Arc's best military commanders. La Hire spent almost his entire life as a soldier fighting the English and may have started as early as the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He was definitely fighting for the cause of Charles VII by 1418 and participated in all of Joan of Arc's major battles. At Patay he was instrumental in leading the vanguard of the French forces against the English defenders overrunning them with a calvary charge before they could properly set up their defenses.

La Hire was boisterous, vulgar and ill tempered at times which was probably what earned him his nickname since "hire" means anger. He first fought with Joan of Arc at Orleans where he had been actively engaged in the military operations to protect the city from the time he arrived in October of 1428. It is unknown as to his original opinion of Joan but he quickly came to recognize her military capabilities on the first day of fighting after she arrived. In an assault against one of the English forts outside the city La Hire joined Joan in leading a charge that completely reversed the tide of the fighting back in favor of the French forces. La Hire fought with Joan in all the operations at Orleans and was present throughout the Loire Valley campaign which culminated in the march to Reims for the coronation of Charles VII.

La Hire seems to have had such a high regard for Joan that he allowed her to exert a moral influence upon him. At Joan's request, La Hire began to go to confession regularly and even renounced his once famously bad language thereafter cursing only "upon his baton." Whether Joan approved of it or not is unknown but La Hire is remembered for his prayer that went along the lines: "May God do for La Hire what God would have La Hire do for Him if God were La Hire and La Hire were God."

At the end of Joan's life, La Hire was one of the few of Joan's men who attempted to rescue her from her imprisonment in Rouen and save her from the flames. For this he paid with capture and imprisonment. He eventually obtained his release through payment of a ransom and continued as the valiant soldier that he was throughout his life fighting the English invaders until the end. As A.B. Paine romantically describes the end of his life: "La Hire, wild, heroic, always half mythical, went fighting down through the years and somewhere vanished in the mists of battle."

"Mr President, judges! When the German people at the end of the First World War put down their weapons, they did so in the belief of the 14 points President Wilson, in the hope of just and reasonable peace. But it was exactly that peace dictate, which President Wilson so insistently had warned against. Germany was torn into 2 parts, the right of the peoples to vote has been reduced to the crudest form and thus perpetuated an endless conflict. Thus, the peace treaty of Versailles sealed the German land's fate. But this fate was borne by every German from year to year more oppressive. The rising need roused passion and confusion. The community was divided into numerous opposing parties. This situation forced every responsible German take a stand, one way or the other. Myself too. I sided with the NSDAP. I thought of them as a powerful group, which seemed to be called upon to restore the German people to according to their social demands, towards a future worth living."

Oswald Pohl (1947). Murdered, 1951.

"This is God's decision: knowledge will be given only to those who will not abuse it. Today we see how the most sacred, the most religious ideas of mankind are being abused in Russia. In the future, these things will not be tolerated." (Dunov, 1919)

"The Bolsheviks in Russia today rejected Christ and the consequences came. Millions have died in the civil war, and millions more will die. In Russia, communist Russia, will change. They will accept the new ideas in the future. They ask: will Russia fulfill her spiritual mission? Yes, she will fulfill it. Those who now rule in Russia are still Jewish scribes, rabbis, Pharisees. Russia is now ruled by Judas Iscariot. What is happening in Russia now is a betrayal of Christianity. This government in Russia is the government of Judas. Christ will triumph in Russia!" (Peter Dunov in "Sunrise", Vol 3, recollections of Boris Nikolov)

Today, we remember our Boer brothers and sisters in South Africa, who hold the 16 December as a holy day. Commemorated as the Day of the Vow, Geloftedag, it is also known as Day of the Covenant or Dingaansdag (Dingaan's Day). The religious holiday commemorates the dramatic victory of the Voortrekker pioneers over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838. On the day of the battle, the Zulu army advanced upon the Voortrekker encampment. It is estimated that anywhere between 15,000 to 30,000 Zulus faced the 464 Voortrekkers. With the women, children and servants reloading the men’s muskets the Voortrekkers managed to repel four waves of Zulu attacks in two hours. It is recorded that after the battle 3,000 Zulu bodies lay about the ring of the Voortrekker wagons, three of the Voortrekkers were wounded. The battle is so named, because the river ran red with Zulu blood and was thus named Blood River or Bloed Rivier in Afrikaans.

Die Gelofde ("The Vow"), 16 December 1838, Blood River, South Africa

"We stand here
before almighty God
of heaven and earth
to make a vow to Him

That if He will bless us
and deliver our enemy into our hands
we will hold this day and date
each year as a day of thanksgiving
like to a Sabbath we will keep it

And that we shall a house
to His honour erect
where it is pleasing to Him

And also that this
to our children will tell
that they too may hold it
also in their memory
for future generations

So that the the Lord's name
will be glorified
and the glory and honour
of the victory
we to give to Him

The Niederwald Monument is located on the edge of the Niederwald Landscape Park above the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein. At its feet are the vineyards of the Rüdesheimer Berg.

The monument was intended to commemorate the unification of Germany in 1871. Planning and construction took a total of twelve years from the first suggestion in 1871 to the inauguration on September 28, 1883. Construction took six years.

Together with the Barbarossa Monument on the Kyffhäuserberg, the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz, the Hermann Monument near Detmold on the southern Teutoburg Forest, the Kaiser Wilhelm Monument at the Porta Westfalica, the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig, the Bismarck Monument in Hamburg and the Walhalla near Donaustauf, the Niederwald Monument is one of Germany's monumental commemorative structures predominantly built during the German Empire.

Since 2002, the Niederwalddenkmal has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley.