A Swedish Knight Templar called Arn
But hang on - were there any Templars in Scandinavia?
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Over ten years ago, Sweden gave us a stunning movie about a fictional Knight Templar called Arn Magnusson - played by the brooding Joakim Nätterqvist. He was everything you’d want a Templar to be. Terribly serious. Deeply moral. And father of an illegitimate child.
OK - maybe not the last bit. And that’s how the story really gets underway. Arn has been brought up by Cistercian monks and schooled in all the skills of knighthood. But he’s a good looking chap. And engages in pre-marital relations with a very fetching young woman called Cecilia Algotsdotter.
Well, the medieval Catholic church wasn’t going to tolerate that kind of behaviour. She is banged away in a convent and her baby removed by evil nuns. Arn is sent off to the Holy Land to redeem his soul as a Templar. While there, he just happens to bump into Saladin in the desert and rather implausibly - saves his life.
However, the brief amity that blossoms between them is soon ruined when Arn leads a Templar attack on Saladin’s army and emerges victorious. This encounter is loosely based on the real life Battle of Montgisard. With that feather in his cap, Arn is allowed to return to Sweden and release his true love from the grip of the aforementioned nuns.
As Templar movies go - this is a cracker. Great atmosphere and evokes the period.
Other facts about the movie Arn - The Knight Templar:
Arn is part of the Swedish Folkung aristocratic dynasty, a family originating from Östergötland in the south of the country
Arn grows up in a Cistercian monastery. This order of monks were very closely related to the Templars, so much so that the Templars have sometimes been referred to as their military wing. The biggest spiritual influence on the knights was a Cistercian abbot in France called Bernard of Clairvaux who led a very severe and self-punishing existence
Arn has to become a Templar as penance for having premarital relations. It is true that some knights had committed crimes and sought to redeem themselves in the order by fighting for Christ in the Holy Land
Arn meets Saladin, the great Saracen leader, but is then instrumental in defeating him at the Battle of Montgisard. Unfortunately, Saladin would later inflict an even worse defeat on the crusaders and Templars at the Battle of Hattin
Arn making friends with Saladin may seem far fetched but the Templars were later accused of being on way too cordial terms with the Muslim enemy, something used against them at their trials from 1307 onwards
The movie about Arn is based on a trilogy of novels by Jan Guillou, an author and journalist who also writes spy fiction
Now, let me chuck a giant fly in the ointment because a few years ago, I got chatting to Templar expert Professor Helen Nicholson. And she was adamant that there were no Templar preceptories in Sweden. So, let’s just say that the whole Arn story is stretching the truth a little bit.
There is however a modern Templar organisation in Sweden which claims to be a “modern successor to the military order of knights”. It does charitable work and consists of about 200 knights.