The Humble Templar

To think of the son of god being one with the lowest of poverty, the suffering of men, a carpenter, a grieving mother, women in a society that rejects them…to indulge suffering with fine wine, to be reborn & be freed from mortal shackles. How beautiful is that?

Like Christ, Bacchus is a friend to nobodies, to the downtrodden, to the oppressed. Not just this, but he is the face of luxury- of gold, pelts, & ecstasy, while freely giving these gifts to those who do not have such means.

As you may have noticed, I am not a proponent of any portmanteau names for Alex and Nigel. Call me weird, but none of them please me, so I will continue to abstain from using them.

HOWEVER

In a spirit of generosity, I have come here today to feed the Forbie enjoyers. I give you:

The actual Battle of Forbie

The Battle of Forbie, also known as the Battle of La Forbie or the Battle of Hiribya, was fought October 17, 1244 – October 18, 1244 between the allied armies (drawn from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the crusading orders, the breakaway Ayyubids of Damascus, Homs, and Kerak) and the Egyptian army of the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub, reinforced with Khwarezmian mercenaries. The resulting Ayyubid victory led to the call for the Seventh Crusade and marked the collapse of Christian power in the Holy Land.

I think we’ve all looked at this scene and at some point thought of how it resembled Michelangelo’s “La Pietà”.

What happens if we dive more into it?

Firstly, let’s have a look at the sculpture itself.

Premise: It’s important to note that this isn’t the only work that portrays Christ, Virgin Mary and the concept of “Pity”. There are, in fact, miscellaneous other pieces, the very firsts being sculptures known as German “Vesperbilder” (which inspired many artists). A few other examples are “The Martinengo Pietà” by Bellini, “Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints” by Botticelli (which however presents an “overlap” of bodies) and so on.

Back to our main focus, “La Pietà” (1498-1500) was commissioned to Michelangelo Buonarroti by the cardinal de Lagraulas with the intent of exposing it inside the Chapel of Santa Petronilla. The subject needed to be one that was notorious at the time: Virgin Mary supporting the Dead Christ. Michelangelo was capable of creating a powerful work of art, one that is reminiscent of Greek classicism.

There’s really a lot to say about this sculpture, however I’m only going to point out the most relevant parts of it.

It symbolizes the devotion and compassion of Virgin Mary for her son, her silent sorrow and in contemporary serene resignation in front of his death. Through Christ’s sacrifice is transmitted a message of redemption and hope. Mary’s left hand faces the sky, as if offering Christ’s body, being “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. Christ’s mouth isn’t fully closed, seeming to still hold on the last words of forgiveness conceded to his executioners. His right arm hangs low lifeless, however the veins on it appear almost pulsating. There’s a meeting point between sacred and profane, which permits to ponder both on human life’s fragility and the hope of a divine eternity. Virgin Mary and Christ symbolize the union of life and death, reaching divine perfection together.

But he had to die. It was a necessary means to an end. What I can tell you is that the heavens were falling. The sound, oh– the sound, it was incredible. It was like the Gods were rejoicing for what was done.

Said Alex when interrogated. Nigel HAD to die, he had to be “sacrificed”. The sorrow he felt when holding Nigel’s body became acceptance and resignation to the necessity of Nigel’s death long after, when questioned.

Pray for me. Pray for yourself. We’re one now.

Were Nigel’s last words. In Christian imagery, through prayer, it is possible to reach salvation and redeem from sins. These seem almost words of forgiveness for his executioner, whom we will never really know if it was himself or Alex. It doesn’t really matter in the end, they’re one now, and they’ve united perfectly.

Virgin Mary is also depicted very young, but the reason isn’t for hedonistic purposes, instead beauty has a deeper meaning and redirects to Neoplatonism and Florentine classicism. The philosophical current of Neoplatonism influenced the Italian Renaissance and, consequently, art. Many artists of that time took inspiration from Neoplatonic principles to express philosophical concepts. Among them is, of course, Michelangelo.

Beauty, as mentioned before, has a deeper meaning if we observe it knowing what it represents for Platonism and Neoplatonism. It’s the reflection of the ideas that reside in the hyperuranium (a superior celestial reality in which ideas are tangible entities, and our world derives from it, hence it’s a “copy”). Michelangelo aimed at depicting a transcendental beauty, one that could reach this superior reality. Beauty is the only platonic idea that can be perceived through eyes and it has a connection with the Eros (the desire that drives man to truth, which, for Plato, is goodness).

Let’s also have a closer look at Neoplatonism. Briefly, it’s a doctrine that is the continuation of Platonism (as the name suggests) but at the same time it gathers different elements from different philosophies and philosophers of the past (such as Parmenides, Heraclitus, Pytaghoreans..) and unites them with other new principles. Plotinus is the maximum exponent of this current. He follows Plato’s idea of the hyperuranium and creates a metaphysical system starting from the physical world, stating that everything in the physical world is multiple, and multiplicity can’t exist without unity. Therefore, he elaborates the existence of “the One”.

The One:

is infinite (here infinity gains a positive connotation, since Greeks always viewed it negatively because of the impossibility of calculating it)

can’t contain any multiplicity

is beyond concepts, substance and lacks form

is unthinkable

The One is the first principle, from where everything derives. It is identifiable with goodness and God. The One doesn’t need the world, and the creation of it and its entities is the result of an “overabundance of being”, so a necessity, because the One can’t help but generate. This process of creation is called “emanation” and, surprisingly, can also be inverse. However, the return to the One is a path exclusive to man. Man can ascend to the One through the liberation from the body and material things, and also the dedication to art, love and philosophy. The very pinnacle of human possibilities is the “ecstasy”, a sudden moment, similar to a state of oblivion, that consents man to perceive the One, returning to it and being possessed by it.

Now, all of this was just to say that, coincidentally, Nigel’s last words were “We’re one now.”

Does this phrase have more than one meaning? They’ve united their minds, life and death, and that’s for sure. However, could it also be interpreted like a subtle hint at experiencing the One together and thus being “possessed” by it? Nigel knew he was going to free from his body through death, supposedly returning to where all souls belong.

In conclusion, to dramatize: Alex and Nigel have eternally united life and death together, profane and sacred, and are one, unthinkable, infinite principle.