ALESSANDRO ANGELUCCI LOOKING AT GARGOYLE'S EYES. THE MEDIEVALISM AFTER BREIVIK
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189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 189
ALESSANDRO ANGELUCCI
LOOKING AT GARGOYLE’S EYES.
THE MEDIEVALISM AFTER BREIVIK
Abstract
The slaughter by Hans Anders Breivik on 2011 has put to-
day’s Medievalism scholars into new critical relation to the
challenges of the contemporary world. This carnage shows
how the political use of Middle Ages history is revealed to
create a threatening reality. The ideas of Breivik’s project,
attempting to stop a multicultural reality in the EU, is a re-
creation of tradition and multicultural approach, notwith-
standing the claim of a comeback to a glittering and heroic
past. The Medievalism he uses is related to the history of
Islam and the Templars. Could the Breivik episode be an
isolated episode or it is just the prequel of the worst threat
to a peaceful life? The paper has the aim of inviting to look
at these Gargoyle’s eyes, finding out some solutions related
to the educational role for critical sense into modern so-
ciety.
Keywords
Breivik Templarism Medievalism Multiculturalism Utoah
Islam
Essay
It is very likely that Andrew Berwick’s 2083. A European
Declaration of Independence. De Laude Novae Militiae Paupe-
res Commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici1 would have
been neglected but among some underground aficionados,
or it would have been remembered as another subcultural
extreme right-wing stuff for a couple of web followers.
Unfortunately, 2083 is a manifesto which expresses the ideo-
1 Cfr. A. BERWICK, 2083. A European Declaration of Indipendence, By the
author, London 2011, http://www.kevinislaughter.com/wp-content/up-
loads/2083+-+A+European+Declaration+of+Independence.pdf accessed on
26/06/2012. This essay was written for the first edition of the Michael Camil-
le Essay Prize on 2012, a biennal contest co-sponsored by the «Postmedie-
val» Journal, whose theme was Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity.
The essay classified amongst the first 20 papers; I would like to thank pro-
fessor Eileen Joy, Southern Illinois University, for her kindness on organi-
zing this competition and for she paid attention on my work, here publi-
shed with some upgrades. Thanks also to Elisabetta Fazzini, Silvia Martel-
la, Delio Napoleone, Antonio Talone, Roberto Gemini, Franco Cardini and
David Abulafia for reading, bibliography and suggestions.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 190
190 Alessandro Angelucci
logy of Anders Behring Breivik, who is the man who came
under the lights of the media for the worst cold blood slau-
ghter ever of the Norwegian contemporary history. On 22nd
July 2011 in the island of Utøya he shot and killed sixty-nine
people, all almost young belonging to the Labour Party, and
injured twenty-three. Just before the massacre, the Norwe-
gian terrorist had detonated a car bomb in front of the Oslo
Government Palace, causing the death of eight people. Brei-
vik claimed responsibility for the assault in defense of Euro-
pe from Multiculturalism, Marxism, Fascism, Capitalism
and Catholicism. He wrote 2083 to express his ideas that led
him to the preparation of the attack, which started in 2009,
and took inspiration by the Dutch political leader Geert Wil-
ders2. He is referring to a glittering past of Europe, looking
back with nostalgia3, writing about a Middle Ages when Ch-
ristianity was winning over a frightening Islam.
No one among the scholars studied the historical issues
contained in Breivik’s project, but there are short references
in Di Carpegna Falconieri’s latest work4. It is very important
to focus on how more than before the study of Medievalism
is useful to help denying the tragedies pertaining to the poli-
tical use of history5, a concept that developed from the idea
of public use of history proposed by Habermas6. Assuming
Medievalism as main point of view is useful to put in critical
relation the use of history with the recreation of a medieval
image into modernity, moreover it highlights the role of the
history teaching as well as the duties of the scholars as mem-
bers of a citizenship. But first of all, it shows how the sleep
of the Medievalist reason could generate monsters in the mo-
dernity through the abuse of Occultism, as the gargoyles in
relations to Fascism and Occultism well studied by Camille7.
My essay is trying to to demonstrate that the insanity of
the act could be found in the paradoxical roots of a multicul-
2 Cfr. T. TODOROV, Les ennemis intimes de la démocratie, Éditions Robert
Laffront, Paris 2012, it. trl. E. LANA, I nemici intimi della democrazia, Gar-
zanti, Milano 2012, pp. 205-208.
3 Cfr. H. DELL, Nostalgia and Medievalism: Conversations, Contradictions,
Empasses in «Postmedieval», 2, II (2011), pp. 115-126.
4 Cfr. T. DI CARPEGNA FALCONIERI. Medioevo militante. La politica di oggi alle
prese con barbari e crociati, Einaudi, Torino 2011, pp. 63-64.
5 Cfr. A. D’ORSI, Piccolo manuale di storiografia, Bruno Mondadori, Milano
2002, pp. 146-150.
6 Cfr. J. HABERMAS, L’uso pubblico della storia in Germania. Un passato che
non passa, ed. G. E. RUSCONI, Einaudi, Torino, 1987, pp. 98-109.
7 Cfr. M. CAMILLE, The Gargoyles of Notre-Dame: Medievalism and the Mon-
sters of Modernity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2009, pp. 312-322.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 191
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 191
turalist approach not well recognized by the author himself,
which makes his purposes more foolish and contradictory.
2083 is a more than 1500 not numbered pages – making
it harder precise quotations - written under the English
pseudonym Andrew Berwick. This work was initially sent to
a selected number of «former 7000 patriotic friends on Fb».
It is composed by three parts and ends with an interview to
a fellow of the organization Breivik created: the PCCTS, in
order to say Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salo-
monici. Then there is the diary of the assault preparation
with an inclosed photobook of the author. Some parts of
2083 are signed as a rough draft. The date refers to the
author rêverie pertaining to an Europe hoped as a free place
from any Islamic presence, whose remaining population is
swearing oath of fidelity to an European Declaration of In-
dependence. So the text is a project aiming at this goal, but
before it finally realizes the Europe should get through a ci-
vil war between culturalism and multiculturalism. 2083 is
indicated as the date in which Europe is going to become
pure, according to the instruction contained in the book, ju-
st if the reader follows the process described step by step.
Breivik, who affirms he spent around 317’000 euros for
preparing such a «compendium», defines himself as a Justi-
ciar Knight Commander for Knights Templar Europe and one
of several leaders of the National and pan-European Patriotic
Resistance Movement, seems to be a Christian Protestant fol-
lower and pro-monarchic. The word paneuropean comes
from the plan for uniting Europe in a Federation as it was
written in 1923 by Coudenhove-Kalergi’s8 projecti, but Pa-
neuropa is the official name of a peaceful movement that
tries to achieve this same extent, whose former leader and
founder was Otto von Habsburg9.
However Breivik would get rid of the EU as political or-
ganization for it would have weakened the European cul-
tural heritage; he also suggests to boycott the UN and con-
siders the USA as an enemy. He is not a fascist nor a neo-
nazis, considering them both enemies and strictly close to
Marxism, but he does not hate these as much as the latter.
Anyway the use of racist and negationist categories let us
understand how the thought of extreme right-wing parties
8 Cfr. R. COUDENHOVE-KALERGI, Pan-Europa. Un grande progetto per l’Europa
unita, Il Cerchio, Rimini 2006.
9 Cfr. S. BAIER-E. DEMMERLE, Otto d’Asburgo. La biografia autorizzata, pref.
W. D’ASBURGO DOUGLAS, Il Cerchio, Rimini, 2006.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 192
192 Alessandro Angelucci
are main cultural references10.
Maybe he knows the typical issues of the strong conserva-
tives parties about Fascism and Marxism seen as brothers,
whose common roots took ground starting on the French
Revolution and the spreading Giacobinism outside France -
an idea we can also find as an echo in a Fascist thinker like
Drieu La Rochelle11 - as far as another typical issue is that
between Socialism and Liberalism seen as a whole, as in the
conservative thought of Donoso Cortés in a book of 185112.
In Political Scholarly Studies the idea of a common genera-
tion between fascism and socialism and Liberalism is kept
under consideration by the school of Sternhell13. We are pro-
bably in front of a case of removal/repression of the more ex-
treme-right ideas, so Breivik trust on specific assumptions
towards Islam and Marxism expressed by some authors he
defines as Fascist enemies, whose biographical evolution
and point of view is better to be used in order to explain ap-
parently borderliners ideas, assumed by Breivik as a para-
digm. For instance it could be pointed out that several Fasci-
sms, such as the Italian one, showed friendship towards the
Muslims14 not to mention the relationship between Nazis
and the great Mufti of Jesusalem al-Husayn during the WW
II15, as well some Italian writers from the neo-Fascist politi-
cal tradition have been doing the same through René Gue-
non’s thought, using as a medium the political Extreme-Ri-
ght point of view of Julius Evola16. Breivik also demonstrates
a sort of admiration towards Israel, but he does not explain
how it could fit the European Nation; he is probably inspired
10 About Negationism in general see C. VERCELLI, Il negazionismo. Storia di
una menzogna, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2013.
11 Cfr. P. DRIEU LA ROCHELLE, Le radici giacobine dei totalitarismi. Bolscevis-
mo, nazismo e fascismo, Tabula Fati, Chieti 1998.
12 Cfr. J. DONOSO CORTÉS, Saggio sul cattolicesimo, il liberalismo e il socialis-
mo, Il Cerchio, Rimini 2007.
13 Cfr. Z. STERNHELL, Naissance de l’idéologie fasciste, Paris, Fayard 1989, it.
trl. G. MORI, Nascita dell’ideologia fascista, Milano, Baldini&Castoldi 2008.
14 Cfr. E. GALOPPINI, Il fascismo e l’Islam, Edizioni all’Insegna del veltro,
Parma 2001.
15 It is a too much studied topic nowaday, just after 9/11, you can see A.
ROSSELLI, Islam nazismo e fascismo. Storia di un’intesa ideologica e stratete-
gica che avrebbe potuto modificare l’assetto geopolitico mediorientale ed eura-
siatico, Nuova Aurora Edizioni, Prato 2011; S. FABEI, Il fascio, la svastica e
la mezzaluna, Mursia, Milano 2002.
16 Cfr. A. ANGELUCCI, Le radici comuni di Islam e Cristianesimo nel romanzo
L’Ultima del diavolo di Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, in «La Porta d’Oriente. Riv-
ista di studi sugli orienti», II, 5 (2008), pp. 17-24; cfr. F. G ERMINARO ,
Tradizione, Mito, Storia. La cultura politica della destra radicale e i suoi teori-
ci, Carocci, Roma 2014, pp. 55-99.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 193
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 193
by the ideas expressed by Geert Wilders17. All in all, Breivik
is extremely racist and aims at a conservative revolution.
According to Breivik the corruption of Europe is caused
by cultural Marxism, which has provoked a political correct-
ness. It is simply «Marxism translated from economics into
cultural terms», a way to change how we are. It does not
matter how many Marxists have the self consciousness to
express a radical political thought18, although for him the
beginning of evil should be found in the ideas of Gramsci,
the Frankfurt School, Lukacs, Reich, Fromm: «The Frank-
furt School blended Marx with Freud, and later influences
(some Fascist as well as Marxist) added linguistics to create
“Critical Theory” and “deconstruction”». So the problem is
that «Cultural Marxism defines all minorities, what they see
as the victims; Muslims, Feminist women, homosexuals and
some additional minority groups as virtuous and they view
ethnic Christian European men as evil».
The book is divided into three parts. Hough19 reported
how 2083 plagiarizes the Unabomb Manifesto20. 2083 looks
also like a handbook to every kind of modern warfare, provi-
ding references about a lot of political and criminal organi-
zations. It also provides informations to create bombs and
protection systems. He justifies the use of nuclear or mass
destruction weapons, like anthrax or nicotine fumes. Advice
for weapon building is usually available on the internet, so it
could not be so strange, but its accuracy should be studied
by science scholars in order to reach out the level of his
knowledge.
He pays attention to demographical problem, fearing an
invasion of young Islamists and taking care of the low birth
rate in the Western Countries21. But if in some places of the
book he raises the terror of Islamic rapes against women, re-
17 Cfr. G. WILDERS, Moslims, bevrijd uzelf en u kunt alles [Muslims, You Can
Free Yourself and Everithing], in «NRC handeslblad», 19th July 2010, link
here: http://vorige.nrc.nl/opinie/article2584468.ece last access on 23th De-
cember 2014.
18 Cfr. P. BEVILACQUA, Elogo della radicalità, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012, pp.
14-25.
19 Cfr. A. HOUGH, 2011. Norway shooting: Anders Behring Breivik plagiarised
unabomb , in «The Telegraph», 24th July 2011, link here: http://www.tele-
graph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8658269/Norway-shooting-An-
ders-Behring-Breivik-plagiarised-Unabomber.html, accessed on 23th De-
cember 2014.
20 Cfr. T. KACZYNSKI, Industrial Society and its Future, link on internet re-
moved, accesed on 30th June 2012.
21 The worries about demographical growth today, apart from the Breivik’s
racist view, are just common issues of Social Sciences today as well a topic189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 194
194 Alessandro Angelucci
ferring to a stereotype of Orientalism well explained by
Said22, on the other hand he suggests the Justiciar Knights
in § 3.46 that «It is essential to know that approximately 60-
70% of all cultural Marxists or suicidal humanist are female
and up to 20% of police officers and military personnel (sy-
stem protectors). […]. You must therefore embrace and fa-
miliarise yourself with the concept of killing women, even
very attractive women». This is just an example among
many to say how contradictory but maniacally stubborn in
details the author is. Breivik arranges everything using lots
of data or tables, however his mental schemes seem to fol-
low an evil/good dichotomy which leaves no place to excep-
tion. Politically speaking, his ideology reminds to a little bit
of Schmitt23 pointing on the Freund/Feind or friend/enemy
idea, fixed with a little bit of Sorel24 in his attempt of crea-
ting chaos with terrorism pulling the masses under the egis
of his organization.
There is a great spread from the part related to the ideolo-
gical and historical justification of his theories and the part
devoted to the deep attention for the battle tactics, which em-
ploys more than half of the book. Anyway medievalists who
are attempting to study the use of history as ideological core
in order to justify Breivik’s political proposal have to face
two problems in a critical approach to their proper topic in
2083: the image of Islam and the role of the Templar Order25.
The first issue to focus on is the Breivik Bildung; and we
can see how most of his information comes directly from
Wikipedia. The most relevant discrepancy occurs when we
see the bibliography he uses; about Islam only a few works
are provided, but he does not relate bibliographical sources
from catastrophic views about the earth enviroment, and could be well ex-
pressed in the acclaimed bestseller of A. WEISMAN, Countdown. Our last, be-
st Hope for a Future on Earth?, Little, Brown and Company, NewYork-Bo-
ston-London 2013, it. trl., A. MONTRUCCHIO, Conto alla rovescia. Quanto po-
tremo ancora resistere?, Einaudi, Torino 2014.
22 Cfr. E. W. SAID, Orientalism, Pantheon Books, new York 1978, it. trl. S.
GALLI, Orientalismo. L’immagine europea dell’Oriente, Feltrinelli, Milano
2001, pp. 168-198.
23 Cfr. C. SCHMITT, Le categorie del «politico», G. MIGLIO-P. SCHIERA eds., Il
mulino, Bologna 1972.
24 Cfr. G. E. SOREL, Réflexions sur la violence, 1908, Slatkine, Paris 1981 and
STERNHELL, Naissance cit., pp. 129-180.
25 A little account of this problem is provided by S. CERRINI, L’apocalisse dei
templari. Missione e destino dell’ordine religioso e cavalleresco più misterioso
del medioevo, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 2012, p. 36.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 195
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 195
over Wikipedia; he just suggests to take a look at the works
contained in the Masonic libraries. At the end of the book he
puts a translation of De Laude Nove Militie of St Bernard, a
Parenetical treatise of the greatest inspirer of the Templar
Order during its origins26. We can exclude a use of the Da
Vinci Code 27 as source of his ideas about the Templars
although this work could be still considered influential in
popular culture28 especially with reference in masonic libra-
ries and in paranoic ideas based on Conspiracy theories29; in
fact Breivik criticizes Da Vinci Code as influenced by the
Marxist theory. Nevertheless there is a joke upon Dan Brown
when he calls Eurabia Code, referring to one of the main
problems of Europe, the Euro-Arab Axis, or the participation
of the EU leaders to the islamization process of the conti-
nent, and he quotes a not well specified work from Ye’or.
Another problem relates to the historical continuum; Breivik
considers all the European history as a whole, there are no
breaks in his telling. Of course Le Goff spoke about a long
Middle Ages30, but Breivik’s Middle Ages is truly too long.
What he defines the second major wave of Islam is an age
from 1071 to 1683, precisely from the Manzikert battle to
the siege of Vienna; so the Turks were unchanged notwith-
standing the conquest of Constantinople. Reading his posi-
tions toward Islam looks like a reading of medieval contro-
versistical labels, and his proper chronological frame is exac-
tly restricted from the beginning of the Turkish settlement in
Anatolia to the end of the Turkish invasion in Europe.
He uses Lewis in general, Vryonis for the Janissaries sy-
stem, Lévi-Provençal for the Muslim Spain, many works by
Vacalopoulos for Balkans, Witek and Inalcik for Ottoman
Turkey. To refer what must be known about Islam he reports
the transcription of a documentary film (further expanded by
26 Cfr. S. BERNARDO DI CHIRAVALLE, Ai cavalieri del tempio. Elogio della nuova
cavalleria, dir. M. POLIA, Il Cerchio, Rimini 2003.
27 Cfr. D. BROWN, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday Groups, New York 2003,
it. trl. R. VALLA, Il codice Da Vinci, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 2003.
28 Cfr. N. MORTON, The medieval military orders, 1120-1314, Pearson, Har-
low 2013, It. trl. F. P. Terlizzi, Gli ordini religiosi militari, Il Mulino, Bolo-
gna 2014, p. 14.
29 Cfr. M. POLIDORO, Rivelazioni. Il libro dei segreti e dei complotti, Piemme,
Milano 2014, pp. 159-209. The author is one of the founders of the Italian
CICAP Committee («Comitato italiano per il controllo delle affermazioni
sulle pseudoscienze»).
30 It could be shown in his last work J. LE GOFF, Faut-il vraiment découper
l’histoire en tranches, Editions du Seuil, Paris 2014, it. trl. D. SCAFFEI, Il tem-
po continuo della storia, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2014.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 196
196 Alessandro Angelucci
him) about a dialogue amongst Serge Trifkovic, Robert
Spencer, Bat Ye’or, Abdullah al-Arabi, Walid Shoebat31.
Breivik assumes that the concept of al-Taqiyya, who
marks the condition of an Islamic believer in non Islamic
countries and could be translated with a sort of dissimula-
tion, is «an integral part of Islam, and that it is NOT a Shi’ite
concoction». Moreover, he attacks the Nask, or the Coranic
Abrogation law, to state that Islam is not a peaceful religion
but rather a warlike one32.
So the jihad is the more typical mark of Islam33. If so-
meone tries to ask Breivik if it is possible a peaceful change
into Islam, he answers that «to pacify Islam would require
its transformation into something that it is not». But he ex-
presses the extreme point of view of a Protestant Christian,
because he goes on «The Western Christian Reformation,
that is often used as an example, was an attempt (successful
or not) to recover the essence of Christianity, namely, the
example and teachings of Christ and the Apostles. Trying to
get back to the example of Muhammad would have very dif-
ferent consequences».
No need to say how every mention of the shared life of
the so-called Peoples of the Book under Islam lacks here.
The Dhimmitude is seen like an act of merely submission,
not a special status of not islamic believers living on lands
under islamic powers. He also affirms that there was a falsi-
fication on curricula studiorum because in high school cru-
sades are draawn as offensive - not defensive - military cam-
paigns. He writes about «Jus Primae Noctis - Officially sanc-
tioned rape under the Ottoman Empire». But this term rela-
ted to the Right is an invention of the XIX century medieva-
lism, and did not exist in the Middle Ages nor in the Otto-
man Empire34, which hardly could have used a word of infi-
dels of Islam, if we also want to follow the works by Lewis
31 Breivik quotes the video of G. M. D A V I S , filmed on 2008 link
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-871902797772997781, accessed on
30th June 2012.
32 Breivik does not knows anything about all the problem related to this to-
pic, which is under debate because raise up great questions about the for-
mation of the Coranic Canon, see now A.-L. DE PRÉMARE, Aux origines du
Coran. Question d’hier, approches d’aujourd’hui, Téraèdre, Paris 2004, it. trl.
C. BANTI, Alle origini del Corano, ed. C. BORI, Carocci, Roma 2014.
33 An useful overview is D. COOK, Understanding Jihad, University of Ca-
lifornia Press, Princeton 2005, it. trl. P. ARLORIO, Breve storia del Jihad. Da
Maometto ai giorni nostri, ed. R. TOTTOLI, Einaudi, Torino 2007.
34 Cfr. POLIDORO, Rivelazioni, p. 300.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 197
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 197
himself35. He talks about an «European Islamic Negationi-
sm», referring to it like a danger.
To sum up, we can say Breivik has got a good ground
knowledge of some concepts he talks about, but he does not
make use of any methodological nor critical examination, so
he makes his ideological construction, because he is affected
by a short-circuitation. He uses old works because the most
up-to-date books are affected by Marxism. So he trusts in
his old-fashioned knowledge because he considers it pure,
no matter if some concepts are wrong or just out of date: he
wants to cut off every today’s scholarly debate. Then he is
closer to the Conspiracy Theories or is under a sort of para-
noia. He uses the latest scholars’ works, but just if they seem
to describe at best the ideology he is defending. He uses
Madden36 for the Crusades subject, for instance. But he does
not wonders if - for instance - to use a work written by a
Greek scholar could to cause a twisted or displaced view of
the Ottoman world. He is probably limiting the use of the
category of Medievalism as a key of reading: he judges the
reality with the filter of a perennial Medievalism, connected
to the idea of different civilizations as a whole close system
and living by itself, looking like Huntington reading37, who
is taking the distance from the inspiring this speculation su-
ch as Spengler38 or Toynbee39, according with the idea of Ci-
vilizations as organism or simply subjected to internal evo-
lution. He is spurring to the achievement of a new Reconqui-
sta, another myth of the Spanish medievalism, which was
created in the XIX century40.
35 For example see B. LEWIS, From Babel to Dragomans, Oxford, Oxford
University Press 2005, it. trl M. C. BITTI, Le origini della rabbia musulmana.
Millecinquecento anni di confronto tra l’islam e l’Occidente, Arnoldo Monda-
dori, Milano 2009.
36 Cfr. T. MADDEN, The New Concise History of the Crusades, Rowman&Lit-
tlefield, Lanham 2005, it. trl. D. BALLARINI, Le crociate. Una storia nuova,
Lindau, Torino 2005.
37 Cfr. S. HUNTINGTON, The Clash of Civilization?, «Foreign Affairs», Summer
(1993), pp.22-49, also available on internet, link here:
http://edvardas.home.mruni.eu/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/huntington.pdf
accessed on 30th June 2012.
38 Cfr. O. SPENGLER, Der untergang des Abendlandes, München, Oscar Beck
1923, it. trl. J. EVOLA, Il tramonto dell’Occidente, pref. S. ZECCHI, edd. R. CA-
LABRESE CONTE, M. COTTONE, F. JESI, Parma, Guanda1995.
39 Cfr. A. TOYNBEE, The World and the West, it. trl. G. CAMBON, Il mondo e
l’Occidente, with a note of L. CANFORA, Palermo, Sellerio 1992.
40 Cfr. A. VANOLI, La reconquista, Il Mulino, Bologna 2009, pp. 199-212.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 198
198 Alessandro Angelucci
The greatest historical effort is put on analyzing the so
called battle of Tours-Poitiers, probably the most popular
mithomoteur for the birth of Europe. Breivik employs a lot
of scholarly quotations and the main sources as well. But ea-
ch one has no reference. The sources are quoted with pages
but with no relation to any edition. We can recognize, besi-
des Gibbon and Creasy, the creators of the myth of Poitiers,
others like Hanson, Wells, Kurth, Schlegel, Delbruck, Oman,
Arnold, Santosuosso, Coppée, Smith, Gustave and Strauss,
Cowley and Parker. Sometimes the name of the work is quo-
ted. He reports also what Hitler said about the clash. He
quotes others who criticize the epical nature of the struggle,
for example Cardini. So he quotes voices pro and contra,
looking with a scientific perspective in his reconstruction. It
is not so important to see precisely how many scholars he
quotes. But it is important to find out his dialectic device;
because we have a lot of scholars who think Poitiers was a
decisive battle, it should have been a decisive one, no mat-
ters if for example the studies quoted are too old, are part of
a popular secondary literature or if the authors have parti-
cular positions to take side on a particular hypothesis. He
ignores the latest work as Bachrach41, or – more difficult to
find out – a work by Angelucci42 who argues the so-called
struggle is something completely different from a battle or a
skirmish as well; not to mention the debate about the book
of Guemriche in france, a journalist who revisited the battle
in an deconstructivistic view43.
Breivik puts in relation the struggle with the battle of
Vienna, but most notably he uses Poitiers to create a link
with one of the ideas he is defending in relation to the
Franks: the Odinism. Unfortunately it has not historical
background. «One of Charles Martel’s comrades-in-arms at
Poitiers was a warrior of the North known as Ogier le Da-
nois, later Holger Danske, or Holger the Dane. Although Hol-
ger was a historical figure, little is known of him, and most
of the written material about him is drawn from legend». He
uncritically uses a character appeared in the further Chan-
41 Cfr. B. BACHRACH, Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire. Phila-
delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2001, pp. 170-178.
42 Cfr. A. ANGELUCCI, Carlo Martello e la Battaglia di Poitiers: nuove proposte
interpretative per un mito storiografico, «Quaderni del MAES», X (2007), pp.
91-120.
43 Cfr. S. GUEMRICHE, Abd er-Rahman contre Charles Martel. La véritable hi-
stoire de la bataille de Poitiers, Perrin, Paris 2010.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 199
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 199
sons de Geste, defining him a comrade of Charles Martel,
without questioning if he is real or just invented44. Moreover
he employs as sources what was written by Andersen and his
«favourite English poet, Ted Hughes». Then he filled a list of
«European Odinist and Crusader heroes resisting and figh-
ting Islamisation: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxem-
bourg». All in all, the historical Ogier le Danois should have
been a charachter from the age of Charlemagne instead, a
little bit far from the times of Charles martel. How could
stay together Crusaders and Odinist pagans he does not tell,
but it is obvious we are in front of references put out from
their background and recollected to recreate the past, which,
for his carelessness, reminds the XIX Century recreation of
ethnic identities, as Geary45 points out in the great contem-
porary debate of ethno-genesis.
Breivik talks about a re-emergence of an old Order Tem-
plars. «The Knights Templar, whose official name was: Pau-
peres commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici (PCCTS)
(English:
Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solo-
mon)». But it is not completely true: this is the official name
of the Templar order, but medieval people did not shorten it
so. Sometimes also appeared the name Milites Dei Templique
Salomonici, or just Milites Templi. He mistakes milites with
commilitones. The problem is that we do not know if it was
the original name or it was assumed after the Troyes council
of 112946. The important thing is to underline that the ori-
gins of the order are still not clear. Fortunately he speaks
about a re-emergence, not of a continuity, because it is not
infrequent to see in Europe the blooming of pseudo-templar
groups which swear to be the direct prosecution of an Order
formerly disbanded in 1312. On the dot PCCTS «was re-
founded in London in 2002 by representatives from eight
European countries, for the purpose of serving the interests
of the free indigenous peoples of Europe and to fight against
44 See in general E. POULAIN-GAUTRET, La tradition littéraire d’Ogier le Danois
après le XIIIe siècle. Permanence et renouvellement du genre épique médiéval,
Champion, Paris 2005.
45 Cfr. P. J. GEARY, The Myth of Nations. The Medieval Origins of Europe,
Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2002, it. trl. G. C. BRIOSCHI, Il mito
della nazioni. Le origini medievali dell’Europa, pref. G. SERGI, Carocci, Roma
2009, pp. 19-53.
46 Cfr. A. DEMURGER, Les Templiers. Une chevalerie chrètienne au Moyen Âge,
Éditions du Seuil, Paris 2005, it. trl. E. LANA, I templari. Un ordine cav-
alleresco cristiano nel medioevo, Garzanti, Milano 2006, pp. 83-85.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 200
200 Alessandro Angelucci
the ongoing European Jihad (referred to as the “third
Jihad”)», so it is not properly a Breivik’s creation. Beside
him there could be accomplices, and is it unlikely that the
preparation of the slaughter or at least the use of the car
bomb could be a task by oneself.
«The first headquarters of the Knights Templar was built
on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. The Crusaders called it the
Temple of Solomon, as it was built on top of the ruins of the
original Temple, and it was from this location that the Kni-
ghts took their name of Templar». Actually, it was the palace
of Salomon, but in Middle Ages it was supposed to be the
Temple. The survive of this rumor is a part of the myth of
the Temple, specifically, the freemason elaboration in the
XVIII century47, so it is part of a so called invention of the
tradition 48. Moreover, Breivik describes commendation,
uniform, title, tombstone of the Templar Knights. Informa-
tion to purchases of the clothes and use of marketing stra-
tegy is also delivered. «Distinctive architectural elements of
Templar buildings include the use of the image of “two kni-
ghts on a single horse”, representing the Knights’ poverty,
and round buildings designed to resemble the “Church of
the Holy Sepulchre” in Jerusalem».
Here is the popular false image of a typical templar ar-
chitecture, which was not so different from the contempo-
rary building style49, meanwhile the image of the horses is
proper of the seals than not for the architecture. But the
worst think to underline is how part of the information on
which is based the core elaboration of the Breivik’s 2083 is
not taken from any book of Templar history, as the good
ones of Barber50 and Demurger51...but from Wikipedia! It is
astonishing.
The most strange character of such new knightly order is
the Justiciar Knight: «Choosing the path of the Justiciar
Knight is to walk the path in pursuit of becoming “The Per-
47 Cfr. F. CARDINI, Templari e templarismo. Storia mito menzogne, Il Cerchio,
Rimini 2005, pp. 121-151; ID., La tradizione templare, Vallecchi, Firenze
2007, pp. 97-130.
48 Cfr. E. HOBSBAWM-T. RANGER, The invention of the Tradition, Cambridge
University Press , Cambridge UK 1983, it. trl. E. BASAGLIA, L’invenzione della
tradizione, Einaudi, Torino 1987.
49 Cfr. CARDINI, La tradizione templare cit., pp. 63-96.
50 Cfr. M. BARBER, The New Knighthood. A History of the Order of the Tem-
ple, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK 1994, it. trl. M. SCAC-
CABAROZZI, La storia dei templari. Vita avventurosa, storia e tragica fine dei
leggendari monaci guerrieri, Piemme, Milano 1997.
51 Cfr. DEMURGER, Les Templiers Cit.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 201
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 201
fect Knight”. Any candidate prepared to walk this road must
be willing to forfeit his materialistic ambitions and embrace
voluntary poverty and martyrdom». He is also a sort of exe-
cutioner of internal traitors: «The European Military & Cri-
minal Tribunal, PCCTS, request that any and all Justiciar
Knights of Europe; identify and effectuate punishment for
category A and B traitors - cultural Marxist/multiculturalist
individuals for the violations specified and included in this
document; charges 1 – 8». Then he gives a planning to per-
ceive the scopes of PCCTS, for example the assimilation of
the Islamic presence in Europe by 2020. It is interesting to
point out how after the entitlement of §3.17, named «Justi-
ciar Knights Task and Requirements», he opens the chapter
with a quotation of Lao Tzu.
We can consider it the most relevant spy of a medievali-
sm, to use a paradigmatic category of Ginzburg52. It shows
that Breivik’s reconstruction is not based on the historical
setting but on a sedimentation of Templarism. He just uses
De Laude Novae Militiae, a treatise which gives just an idea-
lized images of the Order, according to what St Bernard
thought it ought to be. If we take a look at the Rule of Tem-
ple53, notwithstanding all the philological and critical work
getting out all the stages of redaction like Cerrini does54, we
can say there is not a similar figure in the original Middle
Ages Religious Order. Punishments are given by the collec-
ted Chapter, and the harder fault is punished with imprison-
ment. If we trust in St Bernard, Templars who fought had to
take care of malicidium, not homicidium. If it is a theologi-
cal justification for the holy war, also rhetorical, neverthe-
less in the Middle Ages churchmen are waiting for conver-
sion of the infidels more than for their death.
So what could be the source for the Justiciar Knight cha-
racter, excluding it could be a creation of Breivik? It reminds
me the roots of a freemason idea. In fact the only character
who could be put in relation with it is the symbolic charge of
Kadosh Knight. Kadosh in Aramaic means temple, and this
thirty-third charge refers also to the idea of vengeance. Ac-
52 Cfr. C. G INZBURG , Freud and Sherlock Holmes: Clues and Scientific
Method, in «History Workshop Journal» 9, (1980), pp. 5-36 and ID., Miti, em-
blemi, spie, Einaudi, Torino 1986, pp. 158-209.
53 Cfr. The Rule of the Templars., ed. J. UPTON-WARD, The boydell Press,
Woodbridges 1992.
54 Cfr. S. CERRINI, La révolutions des Templiers, Perrin, Paris 2007, it. trl. S.
CERRINI, La rivoluzione dei templari, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 2008.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 202
202 Alessandro Angelucci
cording to masonry reference55, it is usually misunderstood
because it has been read as an act of justice by the masonry
against the foes of it. The charge takes place from the legend
of the death of Jacques de Molay, last master of the Temple,
and to the quest for his vengeance. In the Eclectic Rite, a
marginal rite from Freemasonry, the kadosh knight is the hi-
gher grade delivering a brother to take visit to others Maso-
nic groups outside the knight proper lodge56.
Freemasonry, which is a method to get a true revealed
gnostic just to some happy few after a long initiation and
following symbolic footsteps, is an organization which is
formally aiming to universal brotherhood with the use of
reason and the construction of a symbolic new Temple of
Salomon. Breivik is drawn in a photo on 2083 dressed like a
free mason. Introvigne57 refers he had been initiated in the
Lodge of saint John, probably the Søilene, one managing the
first 3 charges of the Masonic rite in Norway. Obviously,
Breivik was radiated by the lodge, nor could apparently have
been a link between the slaughter and the lodge, so respon-
sibility pertains only to Breivik. Templars are fundamental
for the freemason rite. They were considered secret keepers,
Murder Magicians to use the words of Partner58, who survi-
ved hiding themselves from the Catholic Church persecu-
tion. According to this consideration no matters for example
the characters like Roger de Flor, renegade of the Order who
became a soldier of venture and a military businessman59,
neither the fact that about the supposed Templar filiation of
the Scotland chapel of Rosslyn60 there is no evidence of its
construction or possession by the Templars. Everyone is free
55 Cfr. A. CERINOTTI, La massoneria, Giunti, Firenze 2002, p. 106.
56 Cfr. L. PRUNETI, Gli iniziati. Il linguaggio segreto della massoneria, Arnoldo
Mondadori, Milano 2014, pp. 111-112.
57 Cfr. M. INTROVIGNE, Introvigne: Breivik è massone?, «La stampa», 25th
July 2011, link here: http://www.lastampa.it/2011/07/25/blogs/san-pietro-e-
dintorni/introvigne-breivik-e-massone-d5xjZ1O6ztHm46WePGZZlK/pagi-
na.html accessed on 23th December 2014.
58 Cfr. P. PARTNER, The Murdered Magicians. The Templars and their Myth,
Oxford University Press, Oxford 1987, it. trl. L. ANGELINI, I templari, Einau-
di, Torino 1991, pp. 103-208.
59 Cfr. W. OSTASZ, Sredniowieczna kariera Rogera de Flor do roku 1303. MA
Dissertation, Jiagellonian University 2009; A. ANGELUCCI, Frate Ruggero da
Brindisi, la Compagnia Catalana e la minaccia turca a Bisanzio: una storia
mediterranea (1268-1305), PhD Thesis, San Marino University, tutor prof.
David Abulafia.
60 Cfr. L. GARDNER, The Shadows of Salomon: The Lost Secrets of Freemason
Revealed, HarperCollins, New York 2005, it. trl. F. OSSOLA, L’ombra di Sa-
lomone. I segreti della massoneria, Newton Compton, Roma 2006, pp. 167-183.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 203
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 203
to believe what he wants, and the myth of the Temple is as
important as his historical existence for the modern period.
But undoubtedly the freemason Fortleben of the Temple en-
couraged the idea of their supernatural power or over-esti-
mated its historical role. Indeed, can we exclude that this
cultural background impressed so much Breivik?
But the cultural sources of Templarism could be others.
In a figure we cannot quote, because it is not possible to
copy and paste from the 2083 text, we can see a bottle of
vodka with a strange laughing sun depicted. It is in the side
of the § 2.72, title Green is the new Red - Stop Enviro-Com-
munism! Such sun drawing is the same badges of some
Orcs™ armies from the play of Warhammer Fantasy™61. If
we take a look on the badge on his shoulder, when he is
wearing like one of the PCCTS, we can see a red cross on
black background stuck through a skull. It looks like some
Warhammer 40000™ Space Marines™ badges. In fact Justi-
ciar Knight™ is one of the Grey Knights™, a special and well
skilled élite group which fight demons of the Chaos™ in
Warhammer 40000™ wargame. The Justiciar knight was a
charge in Medieval England, but there is not such a charge
in Templar Order, so it is easier to figure out the reference
come from elsewhere like the world of Warhammer
40000™. There is also an army of Space Marines called the
Black Templars™; Breivik is also wearing a black Latin
cross over the heart in another photo, in which he is wea-
ring an anti-contamination suit. The cross of historical
Templars is red, but he seems not to distinguish it, although
he wrote a chapter about St George’s Cross and looks inte-
rested in militaria. Warhammer 40000™ Black Templars are
wearing a dark cross. So it could be possible Breivik is also
referring or inspired to an imaginary related to the world of
Wargames.
In conclusion, the event of Breivik used as case study is
relevant to point out the involvement of Medievalism in mo-
dern times. Templarism is usually snubbed by scholars for
its relation with Subculture, Occultism, New Age, Freema-
sonry or Cultural Fetishism. The danger of ignoring it as
subject cut scholarly research out from the dialogue with all
61 For the qotation here is bettere to take a look to the official site of the
Games Workshop™ at link here, because books and materials about these
games are constantly upgraded and edited: http://www.games-
workshop.com/en-EU/Home?_DARGS=/includes/catalogHeaderTagCon-
tent.jsp_AF&_dynSessConf=1122247827648136348 last access 23th Decem-
ber 2014.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 204
204 Alessandro Angelucci
the promptness of a society which wants to know more
about this topic but is not aware by a scientific control, so
most of the times non-specialistic curious people trust other
media, usually without consciousness of all the problem of a
philological recreation of the past. The myth, favourite
subject for medievalism, is different from historical recrea-
tion, but when myth is taken out for a historical recreation
without advice it could drive to dangers if people using it are
not prepared.
We cannot say now if Breivik had self-consciousness of
the slaughter or he was just crazy. Medical crews called up
to give expertise are divided about it, but Breivik is claiming
he was responsible for it, not out of his mind. On 24th Augu-
st 2012 the Norway Court gave its sentence for the worst cri-
me event ever in the history of democratic Norway, so An-
ders Breivik was convicted to 21 years of jail. The Court con-
sidered he was not mad, anyway the scholars of the Middle
Ages or Medievalism can be shout out in front of the use of
history he did. If Breivik was insane, the uncontrolled and
non-academic information he found on the internet or el-
sewhere encouraged a twist vision of the past, according to
the fact that he assumed murder as an act of justice. If he
was well aware of his pseudo-construction of history, used
just to recreate a pretext to push the people into fighting
against multiculturalism, trying to pretend or be assumed
like a hero of European civilization, it is necessary by side of
scholarly a deconstruction of his political use of history. His
act could be assumed as inspiration for emulation.
The main assumption is to say that Breivik was defen-
ding a not existing heritage, a vision of the past which is
trying to exclude multiculturalism but is itself an issue of a
multiculturalistic view, in which the past is not laying in its
original setting nor context, but takes inspiration by the mo-
dern view: this vision corresponds more to how modern peo-
ple think it should be rather how it really was. In fact, Brei-
vik’s view of the past is a Gargoyle, a post-modern monster
assembled with pieces coming from different sources, but
out of the nature and background of the Middle Ages.
Teaching or education to the past is needed now to de-
stroy all the gargoyles that are going to come out, like this,
but we can do something to avoid or make it difficult the re-
peating of other tragedies right now62. Templarism is maybe
62 Maybe the other kind of action to remember at best Camille could be
proposing a project to take ahead the encounter between past and modern189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 205
Looking at gargoyle’s eyes. The medievalism after breivik 205
the most present branch of Medievalism. There are so many
novels, studies, movies, games taking inspiration from the
Templar characters. An independent organization, no-profit
and NGO, could gather scholars of the Middle Ages and
other people to study the influence of the Templar Order in-
to modern. It could be called for instance ITO, International
Templaristic Organization, and should study the interrelation
of historical reconstruction with myth. It could rate the
making of cultural production related to Templars, issuing a
quarterly, managing seminars, acting for fund sourcing or
scholarships and so on to create concern and sensitize about
the fact that academic scholars are not an élite living in an
ivory tower or closed in dusting libraries, but they also try to
explain to non-specialists how information and cooperation
are important to distinguish how much re-elaboration on
production there is. Furthermore, it is important to show
how difficult is to say wie ist eigentlich gewesen, because
many problems are still unsolved. If we think about it, we
can avoid that, meanwhile scholars are discussing about the
problems on reading the past, other people solve it without
critics and move on murder plots pushed by a pseudo past
reconstruction.
into critical relations, or avoiding that ‘the subjugated rabble’ explodes in
an out-of-mind rage looking like a revolutionary act. I suggest the creation
of something that is probably missing; a think tank, which for instance BA-
BEL worksgroup could be entrusted to bring into life, see the site at link
here: http://blogs.cofc.edu/babelworkinggroup/ last access 23th December
2014. It could be interesting to create something like Babel Worksgoup also
in the Italian academic setting.189-206 ANGELUCCI_GABBIAITINERARI1_A.qxd 03/03/15 20.34 Pagina 206
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