On March 18th, 1314, Jasque de Molay, the 23rd Grand Master of the monastic order of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake on an island in the middle of the river Seine. After years and years of torture, confessions of heresy, and trial, the 23rd Grand Master of one of Christiandom’s most famed military orders was slowly roasted in front of massive crowds in Paris, France.   Some in the crowd must have been confused about this turn of events. Molay was in his late 60s, was a member of the French nobility, a devout Catholic, and along with the rest of his order had pledged his life in defense of Christian lands. And yet, despite all of this, his execution was ordered by a French king and approved by none other than the pope himself. Not because he really was a heretic, but because he owed money to the king who had one of history’s most infamous popes in his pocket—Clement V.   The Vintner Who Became Pope Portrait of Pope Clement V, by Henri Auguste César Serrur, 19th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The man who turned a blind eye to the torture and execution of Molay and the other members of his order was born Bertrand de Got to a prominent wine-making family in the Bordeaux region of France. He grew up accustomed to the finer things in life, studying art in Toulouse, and civil law in Orleans, and thanks to his family connections he was handed church office after church office eventually rising to Archbishop of Bordeaux in 1297.   Despite being named to lead the region’s church, he found the arts and enology much more engaging endeavors. Bertrand would have happily continued pruning his vines and decorating cathedrals while ignoring his congregation, but events in far-off Rome soon changed all of that.   For many years the church had been at odds with King Philip IV of France. Philip, who was known as “the Fair” due to his voluminous blond locks, had become embroiled in a costly war with England, and so had decided to raise taxes on the Church in order to fund this ongoing conflict.   This did not sit well with the supreme pontiff at the time Boniface XIII, who had a habit of inserting himself into the political issues of his day and selling church offices (which is why author Dante predicted he would end up in the eighth circle of hell).   Rulers across Europe had quarreled with Boniface XIII, but none had a bigger axe to grind than France’s Philip. When Philip ignored the pope’s official edicts and arrested members of the clergy who opposed his use of church funds for his wars, Boniface XIII responded by issuing the Unam Sanctam, a bull that declared his “total supremacy over earthly rulers.”   Philip IV of France, 1850. Source: Picryl   Needless to say, this didn’t go over well, and the conflict became more and more intense over the ensuing years with Boniface eventually excommunicating the French king and Philip responding by ordering an army to kidnap and imprison the pesky pope.   With all of this going on, it is obvious why, in July of 1304 when Boniface’s successor Benedict XI died, suddenly and quite conveniently if you happen to be a certain French monarch, the College of Cardinals was very concerned about who should be elected next. There was a divide between those who wanted to continue defending the Church’s interests and those who wanted to placate France’s king as a way of de-escalating what they viewed as a nobody-wins scenario.   Eventually, the faction looking to ameliorate the conflict won out and elected Bertrand. This was a bit of a surprise because as an Archbishop he wasn’t even a member of the college. So why did the Cardinals decide to elect someone outside their ranks?   Maybe nobody wanted to put themselves in the office and feel the wrath of Europe’s most powerful monarch, or maybe it was because he was well known to have been a childhood friend of the French king. He became Clement V in 1305 and then almost immediately rolled over and showed Philip his belly.   The King’s Pope The Papal Palace at Avignon, France. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Soon after his election, Clement went to work revoking Philip’s excommunication and almost every single papal decree the king had taken issue with. He reversed the Unam Sanctum, gave away Church lands to the king for a pittance and even moved the seat of the papacy to Avignon so Philip could keep an eye on what the Church was up to.   And if that wasn’t enough, he also consented to having his predecessor Boniface XIII put on trial posthumously for all sorts of likely false crimes. The trial ended when two knights invited anyone who questioned the late pope’s morality to trial by combat and, predictably, there were no takers.   While these moves were obviously questionable and done under what was surely extreme pressure and copious threats, they paled in comparison to what Clement V would do, or rather wouldn’t do, when Philip decided it was time to eradicate the Knights Templar.   The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple Solomon Jacques de Molay, of the Knights Templar, 19th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The Knights Templars were a Roman Catholic military order formed in the early 1100s to provide protection for Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Deriving their name from the location of their headquarters atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and once being so poor they relied on donations to feed themselves, by the time Clement V had been elevated as the heir of Saint Peter the order had undergone dramatic changes.   Once used as heavily armored shock troops, they were eventually pushed out of the Middle East together when the Muslim world was able to unite under leaders like the legendary Saladin and the Fatimid Dynasty. While its original mission was now impossible, they left with a large and well-established network of castles, forts, and strongholds from which they were able to shift their focus from fighting to finance.   During the crusades, nobles and pilgrims alike could deposit their money at one of the many Templar houses and banks across Europe and receive a letter of credit in return which could be cashed in once they reached the Holy Land in what could be considered an early checking account. Even after the order had abandoned the region, their systems continued to be used and made them insanely wealthy, allowing them to easily pivot into the money lending business, with many of Europe’s biggest monarchs utilizing loans of Templar gold to pay for all sorts of things. And there was nobody taking out bigger loans than their biggest customers—Philip IV.   Arrest of the Templars, 12th-13th century. Source: British Library   Philip had taken out a boatload of loans from Templar-run banks to finance his wars with England, and the receipts were starting to come due. But the French king didn’t have the resources to pay back all those loans, which was of little consequence because he also never had any intention of paying back the money he owed, at least not while he had an ally in the papal robes, and together they hatched one of the most infamous double-crosses in the history of the Church.   In 1306, Clement V, most likely at the behest of his old friend Philip, invited the leaders of the Templar order to France to discuss a new crusade and some other matters. Grand Master De Molay arrived first but many of the others who were invited were arriving from across Europe and were delayed so the entire conference took much longer than expected, providing plenty of time for Philip to execute his plan. He had arrest warrants sent across his kingdom with orders to open them simultaneously on a very specific date and time.   The moment arrived one morning in mid-October as dawn broke. Templars were simultaneously arrested all across France and those who resisted were put to the sword. They faced a plethora of charges including worshiping mummified cats, homosexual relations, spitting on the cross, and even “indecent kissing.” Almost all of these charges were trumped up by Philip as a way to dodge paying what he owed and allowing him to seize Templar-owned lands.   Two Templars Burned at the Stake, illustration from a 15th-century French manuscript. Source: British Library   Once in French custody, Templars were subjected to days of torture, including systematic starvation, burning the soles of their feet, and other acts so horrifying that before long the imprisoned Templars were confessing to all manner of irrational charges. Even when some like De Molay later recanted their forced confessions, before any of them could mount any kind of a defense the king had them burned at the stake as heretics.   Clement V, who could have spoken up on behalf of his faithful defenders, instead became a collaborator, issuing a papal decree that disbanded the order, in large part due to Philip threatening military action. Those who weren’t found guilty made their way into other military orders, and by 1312 the Templars were more or less dissolved along with King Philips’s debts.   To be fair, there are historians who would disagree with this interpretation of Clement’s lack of action. It could be argued that having inherited a deeply divided Church, as evidenced by the revolt of Venice that sprung up soon after he took office, he had no choice but to give into Philip’s demands and betray the Templars in order to hold the Church together.   Regardless of his true motives, the degree to which Clement rolled over for Philip crippled the political clout of the papal office for good and his total acquiescence to Philip meant that Clement V’s name continues to live in infamy, as does the date of the Templars’ unlucky betrayal—Friday the 13th.

  Just south of Washington DC lies a 15,000-acre oasis of piedmont forest that, despite being less than an hour from the nation’s capital, feels like another planet. Every summer, the park’s tall trees and meandering streams welcome thousands of visitors, including hundreds of summer campers who spend their days hiking, learning archery, and making friendship bracelets. Summers have gone on like this for nearly 100 years, with one short deviation. During World War II, the trees and streams played host to a very different kind of “summer camp,” one where the cabins were filled with campers who learned how to make explosives, crack codes, and strangle people with piano wire.   First There Was a Forest Forest Park. Source: The National Parks Service   Once part of an expansive forest that covered most of eastern North America, Prince William Forest was first inhabited by members of the Algonquin-speaking people over 8,000 years ago. They called the area Chopawamsic. Drawn to the area because of its rich resources, the first people of the area lived and hunted in the endless forest of hardwoods like oak, hickory, and chestnut.   As the Indigenous population was reduced by conflict and disease, settlers began to move into the area, and by the early 1800s, there was a sizable community of both Black and white settlers that grew over time thanks to the development of a nearby pyrite mine that operated until the outbreak of the Great Depression.   It was at this point that the federal government began buying up property and displacing the area’s families looking to turn the forest into a recreation area for poor urban youth. As federal agents tried to buy off or run off as many of the original settlers as they could, the Civilian Conservation Corp spent the better part of the 1930s building five separate camps that were managed by different community groups such as the YMCA and the Girl Scouts as well as family camps for impoverished Black families, spaced out around the forest to adhere to Virginia’s segregation laws.   This Recreational Demonstration Area was one of 24 managed by the National Parks Service and probably would have continued to host youth camps for many more years, but then in 1941, something unexpected happened: the Empire of Japan decided to bomb an isolated American naval base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.   USS Arizona burning at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Source: National Archives   After the US officially entered World War II, the country and all its resources and assets were realigned to support the war effort, including Prince William Forest. The summer camps were relocated, the last of the area’s residents who tried to hold on to their land were removed by force, and the properties and buildings that once made up the camp were turned over to a newly established intelligence agency—the Office of Strategic Services or OSS.   The OSS OSS Insignia. Source: Wikimedia Commons   At the time Pearl Harbor was bombed, US intelligence services were, to put it mildly, a mess. The Army and Navy both had their own intelligence operations going, as did the FBI, and nobody was doing a particularly good job of info sharing.   Since the outbreak of the war in Europe, the US had been mulling over the idea of a clandestine service modeled after Great Britain’s MI6 that combined both intelligence gathering and a commando unit focused on sabotage, disinformation, and guerrilla tactics. After the surprise attack on Hawaii, the mulling stopped, and FDR created the agency in June of 1942, immediately appointing William J Donovan to run it.   William Donovan, 1928. Source: Library of Congress   Donovan was a perfect choice as he was both a battle-tested warrior and a gentleman who easily traveled through the upper echelons of Washington society. His exploits during WWI were the stuff of legends and earned him the nickname “Wild Bill,” while his work for the Justice Department and in politics garnered him a great deal of respect. He also possessed a stalwart moral compass, as evidenced by how he used his connections to save Jews he had worked with as Fascism took hold in Europe. He even argued with FDR against Japanese internment, saying that it addressed a security problem that didn’t exist and would do more harm than good by providing propaganda for the enemy.   Donovan was also the natural choice to run a combined intelligence/special operations service as he had long been researching the idea and had spent the years in the run-up to US entry in the war working closely with his business connections in the UK to create the organizational blueprint that would eventually be used to create it. Today, his ideas and foresight are widely credited for laying the foundation for the Central Intelligence Agency and the entire US intelligence apparatus, which is probably why there is a statue of him at CIA headquarters in Langley.   Prince William Forest Park. Source: Wikimedia Commons   But in 1942, the statues were a long way off, and Donovan moved fast to build his service and recruit members who would be turned into spies and commandos. He enlisted assistants who scoured the country for Americans who could handle the rigors of clandestine service and who had traveled or lived abroad, meaning his recruits were generally men under the age of 30 and a mix of foreign immigrants or those from affluent families and universities.   Eventually, the OSS would employ nearly 13,000 people, but first, they needed to be trained somewhere away from Washington DC, in a place that could obfuscate their activities and that wouldn’t require Donovan to waste time building facilities.   Spy Camp OSS Firearms Instruction. Source: The National Archives   Initially, the idea of turning national parkland into training camps for spies met pushback, but by March 1942, two members of the OSS arrived unannounced at the park to inspect the site and its facilities while a nervous and bewildered park superintendent, unsure what else to do, provided them with the rules of conduct for the park which somewhat laughably reminded visitors to stay on established trails and banned guns and explosives inside the park.   By April, the OSS had officially moved into Prince William Forest and nearby Catoctin Mountain in Maryland, and soon both parks were closed to the public and surrounded by a barbed wire fence and dog patrols protecting the perimeter.   Recruits began to arrive and were immediately placed under strict, almost draconian rules of conduct. All OSS recruits were required to use assumed names in order to protect their identity, were prohibited from gathering in groups of more than four, and were under constant surveillance, even as they slept. All the cabins in the camp were bugged and monitored by teams of psychologists who used what they heard and saw to build profiles for each operative to ensure they were mentally capable of tackling even the most grueling of missions.   Area C Map. Source: The National Parks Service   The OSS camp was subdivided into different areas based on the training that was going on. Cabin camps 1 and 4, or Area C, were where the code breakers and communications operators were trained. In this area, they were trained to crack enemy codes, pass on intelligence even under the worst conditions, and were schooled in the art of “black propaganda,” spreading misinformation or self-defeating messaging that on the surface seemed to come from within enemy organizations. The men in this camp would go on to operate listening stations and outposts across the globe during the war and would play a hand in many of America’s most famous moments, such as Operation Torch and the D-Day landings at Normandy.   Across the park in Area A, the OSS trained men to be commandos and saboteurs. They were instructed in close combat tactics, lock picking, weapons, and how to extract information from enemies through interrogation. Additionally, they used the forest to fine-tune the stealth and camouflage skills, which they would later use to wreak havoc behind enemy lines. To fine-tune these skills, they would take outings to nearby towns where they would perfect their spycraft by practicing it on unsuspecting residents.   Return to the Park Service  Summer Camp, the young men of Camp Lichtman gather in front of the camp administration building. Source: National Parks Service   While the OSS contributed to many Allied victories during the war, it lost the postwar battle in Washington DC. As 1944 wound down and it became clear that victory in both Europe and the Pacific were assured, the OSS was disbanded despite the efforts of Donovan to frame them as an asset to preserving ongoing peace.   By October of 1945, the OSS was effectively disbanded, and the process of turning Prince William Forest back over to the National Park Service began. The park rangers returned and, with the help of nearby army engineers, began the process of reopening the park by removing what the OSS left behind, like some buildings, a weapons range, and even live minefields. Organized camping resumed soon after the war ended, and before long the park looked much like it did prior to the war.   This history and the park’s role in the final Allied victory were largely unknown until 1992, when the National Archives released its records and photographs taken by the OSS. Today, the park celebrates this part of its history through periodic reenactments as well as a “spy camp” for kids held every summer.

The Prince Of Darkness will step onstage for the last time at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5

Zara Larsson was raised in Solna, a municipality just outside of Stockholm, Sweden, where she began displaying a remarkable vocal talent from an early age. Her first major step into the public eye came in 2008 when, at the age of 10, she won the second season of Talang, the Swedish adaptation of the Got Talent franchise. Performing a rendition of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” Larsson stunned both judges and viewers, setting the stage for a career that would evolve rapidly over the following decade. Following her victory on Talang, Larsson stepped back from the public spotlight The post Complete List Of Zara Larsson Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

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