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Author: Franch Hagerup

Damaged car in repair shop with painter spraying vehicle, insurance contract and money in background symbolizing insurance price control in the automotive repair industry.

Why Should Insurance Companies Decide the Price?

Written by Franch Hagerup on . Posted in Politics. No Comments on Why Should Insurance Companies Decide the Price?

This concerns painting, glass replacement, and repairs to bodywork/frame and related components.

Over time, these so-called “yellow lists,” as they were called, became a major problem for many workshops that had previously calculated their own prices. At that time, Norges Bilbransjeforbund (the Norwegian Automobile Industry Association) truly took hold of the issue and focused 100% on getting these yellow price lists where they belonged — far away on the scrap heap. In other words, it became a standoff between the insurance companies and Norges Bilbransjeforbund.

In those days, there was an annual automotive refinishing seminar (very different from those held today). It took place at a reputable large hotel, where valuable and necessary information was provided to car painters by specialists within the trade. Paint importers were also regular participants and believed that the way these seminars were conducted had a significant impact on health, independent pricing, and professional execution of the craft.

Unfortunately, at that time, no one took responsibility for the environmental and health conditions that automotive painters were exposed to. It is hard to say, but many painters in that era died before the age of 60. This was due to the hardeners in paint containing isocyanates. They still do today, but in a different, less volatile form — though still hazardous to health.

It costs a great deal of money to build or upgrade a workshop, but the insurance industry did not appear to concern itself with this reality.

Isocyanates could well be called the asbestos of our time. Automotive painters primarily use polyurethane paints. These are durable and provide a high-gloss finish. After applying primer and paint in a spray and drying booth, the product cures when moisture in the air reacts with the isocyanate groups. Isocyanates are not only found in automotive paint; they are also present in adhesives, insulation, and other coatings.

Even inhaling small amounts of isocyanates can cause serious health damage. Symptoms include breathing difficulties, nasal congestion or discharge, coughing irritation, nosebleeds, headaches, and reduced lung function. Short-term exposure can often lead to permanent damage to the respiratory system. There are different types of isocyanates, but all must be regarded as equally dangerous.

It was in fact Norges Bilbransjeforbund that, during the 1980s, carried out a major cleanup of working conditions across many automotive trades in Norway. To reach an acceptable and approved working standard in automotive refinishing at that time, substantial investments — often in the millions — were required.

Let us put it this way:

Automotive refinishing workshops and painters had to start from scratch. It was also NBF (Franch Hagerup) that distributed Norway’s first textbook in this trade and was responsible for establishing the country’s first automotive refinishing school, equipped with the correct facilities of the time. New spray and drying booths, new mixing rooms, and other essential equipment all required capital investment.

Unfortunately, it did not seem that insurance companies at the time — and in the years that followed — considered these investments serious enough to understand that refinishing workshops needed to calculate their own prices, just like any other business selling goods and services to customers.

But no. It was the insurance companies that were to set the price, not the owner of the workshop performing the work. This was serious.

The insurance industry engaged in certain tactics that deserve little respect. Many companies moved vehicles far beyond Norway’s borders — often to Sweden or Finland. NBF found this unacceptable and contacted vehicle owners to inform them that their car was on its way to Finland for refinishing. Insurance companies did everything they could, regardless of cost, simply to force through their own pricing — prices that were far below what was reasonable for a refinishing job.

This led to significant backlash when many car owners refused to allow the insurance company to move their vehicle to workshops other than the one they themselves had chosen.

In principle, it is not the insurance company that should determine the workshop’s price.

The tragic and costly outcome is that the insurance companies eventually got their way, and today it is considered almost natural for workshop employees to believe that the insurance company is supposed to set the price (nonsense).

The automotive industry — and especially NBF today — can thank itself for allowing this to happen.

Unfortunately, this is not unique to Norway. It is the same across Europe.

The Next Phase of This Price Domination

Next came collision repair.

Here, the resistance was weaker, and in the years after 1980 NBF was largely absent. Today, no one can charge their own independent workshop rates for collision repair. Insurance determines the price.

Why does the industry not resist? Has anyone actually calculated the true cost of performing insurance-controlled repairs?

And what happened next? Then came pricing controls for automotive glass companies. All workshops in this field had to be approved by the insurance companies. Why not by NBF or the Labour Inspection Authority? That is where expertise should reside — not within insurance companies whose primary concern is profit in their own favor.

What could be next? Shall we predict that insurance companies will begin interfering in the tyre industry — determining prices for mounting, balancing, and tyre storage?

It may sound extreme, but history clearly shows that the automotive industry has been stripped of its right to set its own prices — and NBF has so far failed to follow in the footsteps of former NBF leaders such as Eirik Høien and Knut Bøckmann Slettebø.

The latter once stated that the shortest road to bankruptcy court is to accept prices unilaterally determined by insurance companies.

It has not gone quite that far — but it is reasonable to remind the industry of this unhealthy history. It is never too late to return pricing authority to where it belongs: with the workshops performing the work.

More From the Insurance Industry

When insurance companies had asserted their dominance over workshops repairing or replacing windshields, we have a previous letter from If clearly stating that automotive glass workshops were no longer permitted to repair or replace windows, even though many had done so for decades.

IF explicitly stated that it is IF who decides where windshield repairs and replacements shall take place.

NBF maintained that if insurance companies exercise active and arbitrary control of repairs without legitimate reason, this is unlawful. However, NBF also acknowledged that, in general, directing repairs may be justified based on the need to ensure professional standards and quality, and that repairs are performed according to the vehicle manufacturer’s specifications.

On the glass side, things have stabilized. The two largest players — Riis Group and Hurtigruta Carglass — as far as we know, have no complaints about the insurance industry’s pricing policies. Nevertheless, we maintain our position: the workshop performing the work should determine the price. Anything else resembles centralized control of the market.

What Might Come Next

Small, highly skilled dent and refinishing specialists — those who repair minor body damage that larger collision centers would replace with expensive new parts — may be the next target.

Here, insurance companies could see another opportunity to increase profits and potentially undermine yet another segment of the industry. These specialists often help vehicle owners obtain repairs at a fraction of the cost charged by larger and well-known collision and paint centers — where hourly rates can exceed NOK 2,000.

For the record, we should commend NBF’s lawyers. There has been legal expertise present over the years.

What we want is an NBF that steps forward and fights insurance companies so that the right to set independent prices is restored to the workshops of the Norwegian automotive industry.

We know that NBF is capable of this — even if much of the knowledge from earlier times may have faded.

This is why independent actors in the automotive industry must retain control over their own pricing models — something independent retailers like Dekksperten actively build their business around.

Dramatic historical collage depicting Lenin, Marx, and Engels against a Soviet flag, with Red Square, soldiers, barbed wire, and civilians symbolizing the legacy of communism and centralized power.

COMMUNISM IS DANGEROUS

Written by Franch Hagerup on . Posted in History, Politics. No Comments on COMMUNISM IS DANGEROUS

Introduction

What I express here is based on historical events, documented facts, and my own experiences from ten years within the Soviet Union. I am not attempting to define what is morally right or wrong, but rather to describe how societies and people can change direction after many years of centralized rule.

What we in the West consider self-evident truths may be perceived very differently elsewhere in the world.

The Legacy of Communist Rule

The communist doctrine, summarized in slogans such as “one country, one people, one language,” left deep marks on the behavior and mindset of millions, even decades after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The ideology has also influenced politicians in other countries. Communist systems have demonstrated a consistent ability to manipulate narratives, downplay failures, and justify policy outcomes. Although formal communist regimes have collapsed in many places, political movements inspired by similar ideas remain active in several countries, including Norway.

Ideology and Theory

Communism and socialism are often associated with collective ownership. Broadly defined, they encompass theories aimed at partially or completely abolishing private property and replacing democratic market systems with centralized control.

The goal has traditionally been to redistribute land and resources equally, abolish inheritance rights, implement progressive taxation, centralize production under the state, and in some interpretations, eliminate the monetary system altogether.

Such systems require a strong centralized authority to function. Historically, however, many communist states developed powerful ruling elites and concentrated economic control at the top.

Marx, Engels, and Lenin

Modern communism is rooted in the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Their 1848 Communist Manifesto argued that the working class must seize control of the state and the means of production.

Marx proposed measures including expropriation of property, heavy progressive taxation, abolition of inheritance rights, confiscation of foreign capital, compulsory labor for all, merging agriculture and industry, and centralized state control of production.

Vladimir Lenin later adapted these ideas to Russian conditions. In The State and Revolution, he described the path toward what became known as the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” After the Russian Revolution, communist parties emerged across Europe, including in Norway, Bulgaria, Germany, France, and Italy.

Norway and Political Influence

Throughout the 20th century, socialist and communist ideas influenced political debate in Norway and other European countries. Some policies reflected elements of centralized planning and strong state control.

Whether these developments strengthened or weakened democracy is a matter of political interpretation. What is certain is that ideological influence crossed borders during the Cold War period.

Personal Experience from the Soviet Union

In 1988, I organized and led a group of seventeen officials from Minsk visiting Norway. It was their first time outside the USSR. All held high-ranking positions.

After several days in Norway, they struggled to interpret what they saw. The abundance of goods in shops and the absence of queues were explained, within their own framework, as evidence that Norwegians must lack money rather than evidence of economic difference.

That same year, I traveled with Norwegian journalists to Tallinn, Estonia. A Russian interpreter described the USSR as the best country in the world, emphasizing free healthcare, free housing, and social guarantees.

These experiences illustrated how ideology shapes perception. Pride, conviction, and loyalty to a system can make critical reassessment difficult.

Conclusion

History demonstrates that concentrated political power carries risks. Systems that centralize authority over property, production, and speech require strong control mechanisms. Whether labeled communism or otherwise, any ideology that suppresses pluralism and concentrates power can become destructive.

My conclusion remains clear: political systems that eliminate individual ownership and centralize authority must be approached with caution.

I welcome discussion.

Historical illustration showing Ferdinand and Isabella, scenes of the Spanish Inquisition with flames and religious symbols, a sailing ship representing colonial expansion, and Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War, symbolizing Spain’s turbulent path through monarchy, persecution, empire, and dictatorship.

Spain’s Long Road Through Power, Inquisition and Dictatorship

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A Long Road in Spain

King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile and León took power in Spain after their marriage in 1469. The Pope at the time, Alexander VI, referred to Isabella and her husband as the Catholic Monarchs. For the first time, Spain was united as one kingdom, and the future appeared bright.

Their marriage marked the beginning of a golden age, and Spain became the leading European superpower. However, after the discovery of America, decline followed. When the Inquisition began in 1478, conditions grew increasingly harsh. In 1492, the Emirate of Granada was defeated, and Muslims and Jews were forced to flee. Some Jews converted to Christianity and were allowed to remain. Ferdinand was a capable Renaissance ruler, hardworking but ruthless in carrying out his plans.

The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition became the most brutal and relentless in Europe. For nearly 300 years, inquisitors exercised control, burning hundreds of thousands and torturing many more. Even popes demanded that it be stopped.

The Inquisition’s emblem was a green cross, an olive branch, and a sword. Anti-Jewish sentiment was intensified by both inquisitors and the monarchy.

In the 1400s, Spain consisted of several independent Christian kingdoms and the Muslim Emirate of Granada. Isabella ascended the throne of Castile in 1476. She had married Ferdinand six years earlier. Together they formed a unified Spain, derived from the Roman name Hispania.

At the palace in Seville, Isabella listened to the Dominican monk Alfonso de Ojeda, who proposed creating a Spanish Inquisition independent of papal authority. Soon, informants were recruited and rewarded for reporting suspicious behavior. Many innocent people were tortured into false confessions and burned at the stake, as the Church claimed it could not shed blood.

Property was confiscated and divided between church and crown. Ordinary citizens could be accused for trivial behavior. Fear dominated daily life.

Collapse and Consequences

Eventually, Spain weakened itself. Technological development stagnated while fear and persecution dominated society. Despite claims of greatness, Spain fell behind other European powers. The Inquisition was finally abolished after Napoleon’s invasion in 1808.

The first Jewish wedding in Spain after centuries of persecution took place in 1931.

Columbus and Global Consequences

Christopher Columbus, born in Genoa in 1451, sought to sail west to reach India. After years of rejection, Ferdinand and Isabella financed his voyage in 1492. He completed four journeys, believing he had reached India. His voyages became one of history’s greatest misunderstandings.

The discovery of America led to European expansion, conquest, enslavement, disease, and forced conversion of indigenous populations. Columbus was a skilled navigator but a poor leader. The name America derives from Amerigo Vespucci, who understood it was a new continent.

Franco and a New Dark Period

Francisco Franco ruled Spain from 1936 to 1975. He led a brutal civil war marked by executions and repression. Spain remained officially neutral in World War II but cooperated with both Axis and Allied powers. After the war, Spain was isolated and lagged behind economically and politically.

The civil war caused around 600,000 deaths and left deep political divisions that lasted for decades.

Autonomous police car with flashing lights driving at night, surrounded by digital tracking interfaces, surveillance cameras and patent imagery symbolizing AI-driven law enforcement and traffic monitoring.

Ford Seeks Patent for Autonomous Police Cars

Written by Franch Hagerup on . Posted in Politics, Tech. No Comments on Ford Seeks Patent for Autonomous Police Cars

The patent was submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in January of this year.

According to the patent, an autonomous police vehicle could be equipped with processors connected to other fully or semi-autonomous vehicles, enabling it to detect potential violations of one or more traffic laws. These processors may include sensors, navigation and mapping technology, a traffic law database, recording equipment, and communication systems that could be used to alert drivers to pull over when traffic laws are broken.

Whether future vehicles are semi- or fully autonomous, if a traffic violation occurs, artificial intelligence-driven police cars could be present on the roads.

Perhaps there will no longer be a need for many police cars with officers behind the wheel. No more parking tickets placed on windshields by uniformed officers. Instead, if you commit an offense that violates traffic regulations, the autonomous police vehicle could automatically transmit the information to an administrative office, which then issues fines — or in the worst case, revokes your driver’s license.

This future may sound like something taken from an exciting science fiction novel, but we are fairly certain it could become reality. Today, many new vehicles are already equipped with cameras and systems that collect vast amounts of data. This has been legislated and approved in various regions, and autonomous police vehicles may simply represent the next step.

Such a system, combined with the use of surveillance cameras on roads and in cities, would rely on wireless communication networks to confirm violations and use the collected information to identify individuals suspected of committing offenses.

This method could also involve the processors within the autonomous vehicle itself, enabling the police car to pursue another vehicle. The system may further allow the onboard processors to execute one or more actions in relation to the vehicle being pursued.

However, this remains only a patent application — like thousands of others that may ultimately end up gathering dust in an office archive. Nevertheless, considering the rapid development of autonomous vehicles and the firm regulatory decisions governments worldwide must make regarding road safety, autonomous police vehicles could very well become an aspect of our future.

1950s jet airliner with all-metal wing structure and four mounted engines on display

Dislocations – Something We Must Live With

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What impact can material dislocations have? And could they affect something as ordinary as a car body?

The story begins with the world’s first jet-powered passenger aircraft, the de Havilland Comet. In the early 1950s, four aircraft crashed within a short period of time. The cause was later identified as metal fatigue — what we today understand in terms of microscopic dislocations in the material structure.

Using electron microscopy, investigators discovered structural fractures around door openings and window corners. These were areas exposed to repeated stress cycles during pressurization and depressurization. The Comet, introduced in 1954, featured an all-metal wing design with four engines mounted directly to the wings. After significant structural modifications, the aircraft operated safely for nearly 30 years before being retired with honor.

This became one of the first widely recognized examples of what uncontrolled material fatigue can lead to.

In simple terms, dislocations in steel are irregularities within what should otherwise be a uniform atomic lattice. Under repeated stress, these microscopic imperfections can accumulate strain. The material moves from the elastic region into the plastic region — and eventually, failure occurs.

No steel is entirely free from dislocations. In addition, finished steel components may suffer from stress corrosion cracking or intergranular corrosion. Under certain conditions, these phenomena can develop long after manufacturing.

In earlier decades, lower-quality steel could sometimes result in small surface “blisters” under paint — rust forming from within the structure. Sandblasting and repainting would not solve the problem permanently, as the corrosion originated internally. In severe cases, entire body panels had to be replaced.

We often say that rust requires water (H₂O) and oxygen. Remove one of those elements, and corrosion cannot occur. Yet stress-related corrosion mechanisms can sometimes begin even when metal is heavily protected — slowly developing over time.

Fortunately, advances in metallurgy and production standards have dramatically reduced such issues in modern manufacturing. Today’s automotive industry applies far stricter quality control over materials than in the past.

Even so, the lessons remain relevant. Material science matters. Structural integrity matters. And quality control matters.

In the automotive sector — including components such as wheels and structural parts — quality assurance has become a central focus. Companies operating in the tyre and wheel industry, such as Dekksperten, emphasize reliable sourcing and material standards to ensure durability and safety in everyday driving.

Dislocations are a natural part of material reality. The key is not to eliminate them entirely — that is impossible — but to understand them, manage them, and design around them.

History has shown us what happens when we fail to do so.

Digital illustrasjon av Hadelands vikingtid med norrøn konge, langskip, runestein, Snorre som skriver saga, og varinger i Bysants i dramatisk nordisk landskap.

In Its Own Realm at Hadeland

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Hadeland in the Sagas

With this simple title, I wish to describe the area that Hadeland consisted of in ancient times, as described in Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson. This work tells the stories of the Norwegian kings. Snorri wrote it in Iceland around the year 1220. He was a chieftain, author, and poet, and the book commonly referred to simply as “Snorre” is one of Norway’s most important historical works.

The borders of Hadeland were significantly different during the Viking Age compared to today. Furthermore, the term “Viking” was not originally used as we use it now; instead, people spoke of “going on a viking,” meaning to go raiding. It is widely believed that the word “viking” is connected to piracy (possibly from “vik,” meaning bay or inlet). Vikings were both farmers and fierce warriors.

Harald Fairhair and the Struggle for Power

King Harald Fairhair is often credited with uniting Norway into one kingdom, though this claim has certain qualifications. Harald had eleven wives at the same time and therefore many children. After his death in 933, a fierce struggle for power broke out, and Norway was once again divided into several small and somewhat larger kingdoms.

His father, Halfdan the Black, was a petty king who ruled in Vestfold and the Opplands. He belonged to the Norwegian branch of the Yngling dynasty. According to saga tradition, the Ynglings descended from the Norse gods. Halfdan the Black died suddenly when he and his horse fell through the ice and drowned in Lake Randsfjorden. The Yngling dynasty most likely originated in Uppsala, Sweden, and was a ruling dynasty.

Vikings in the Wider World

Vikings traveled throughout the known world of their time. They are said to have fought alongside both the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller in the Holy Land, Jerusalem. The First Crusade took place in 1098.

Vikings from Hadeland (reference missing) reportedly traveled as far west as Spain and fought in what is now Turkey, at the site of the ancient city of Byzantium, located just outside present-day Istanbul. In this city, the Templars carried out some of their most brutal actions. Whether Vikings were involved here remains undocumented in this account. According to tradition, after a massacre in which men, women, and children were killed, a letter was sent to the Pope stating: “Rejoice, for the horses have waded to their ankles in blood. We have killed them all—children, women, and the elderly. God is good.”

After this battle, their banner was reportedly called “Byzant,” composed of black and white squares.

The Varangians and Byzantium

We know that several Norwegian kings traveled to Byzantium, which remained the Eastern Roman Empire until 1453. What is certain is that various Norwegian kings became what must be described as bodyguards to Byzantine rulers.

When passing Hakadal, one can clearly see the ski hill called Varingskollen. In Byzantium, Vikings were known as “Varangians,” meaning “the sworn ones”—those who pledged themselves to carry out tasks together.

Some Viking kings stood for peace and prosperity; others represented quite the opposite. When Harald Fairhair fought the petty king Haki and won, the area was afterward called Hakadal.

The Name and Borders of Hadeland

Snorri states that the name “Hadeland” is documented as early as the Dyna Stone, dating to around 1050. He believed that the first syllable in the name Hadeland reflects strife and conflict.

Only 100 years ago, Hadeland was a much larger geographical area than it is today. Skrukkelia once belonged to Hadeland but is now under Hurdal. Until around 1675, the districts of Toten, Gjøvik, Vardal, and Biri were part of what was then called Hadafylki. The northern parts of Lake Randsfjorden were included until about 1775.

There are also indications that Ringerike, Modum, Krødsherad, Valdres, and Hedemarken were once under the authority of the old Hadafylki.

Laws, Christianity, and the End of the Viking Age

In the mid-800s, Halfdan the Black entered history, as previously mentioned, the father of Harald Fairhair. He was the son of Gudrød the Hunter King. Halfdan the Black is said to have established the law used at the regional assembly (Lagting). This law likely formed the basis for the later Eidsivating Law.

In Magnus the Lawmender’s national law of 1273, we see that Ringerike, as mentioned earlier, was included in the Hadeland realm. This was new information compared to Snorri’s account, which stated that Ringerike and Hadeland had separate kings.

It was during the reign of Harald Hardrada that the Viking Age came to an end and Christianity firmly took hold in Hadeland and the Opplands. The Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, where Harald Hardrada was defeated, marked the end of the Viking Age.

Finally, Norwegian Vikings settled in large numbers in the English region of York. Many people there have DNA showing Norwegian ancestry, something of which many are proud.

14th-century knighting ceremony inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where a kneeling pilgrim is dubbed knight by a fellow knight while Franciscans witness the ritual in candlelight.

Knights of the Holy Sepulchre

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Dangerous Men in Shining Armor

Out of the tradition of being “knighted” at the Holy Sepulchre, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem was founded.

After the last actual crusaders, following the surrender of Acre in the year 1291, were forced to withdraw from the Holy Land, Pope Nicholas IV persuaded the Muslim Sultan Al-Khalil to allow canons and monks belonging to the Franciscan Order to continue their work in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. From the mid-14th century onward, it was therefore the Franciscans who maintained the Latin Christian tradition in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and throughout the Holy Land.

Pilgrims received their knighthood inside the tomb chamber (Sanctum Sanctorum).

The pilgrims thus became Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.

In the year 1342, through the papal bulls Gratias Agimus and Nuper Carissimae, the Pope officially granted the Franciscans permission to become Custodians (Custos) of the Catholic traditions in the Holy Land. In 1348, a mandate from Sultan Al-Mozaffa in Cairo authorized the establishment of a monastic congregation (an association of monasteries). This meant, among other things, that the liturgy was to be maintained in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Franciscans purchased the ownership rights to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from the Sultan, though the King of Naples paid for the acquisition.

The Franciscan abbot (head of the monastery, literally meaning “father”), in his role as Custos, came to hold a dominant position after the crusaders departed from the Holy Land in 1291. The Custos became the protector of the Christians in Jerusalem. In this atmosphere, a tradition arose whereby Christian pilgrims (including those who traveled to a foreign place for spiritual reasons) received knighthood at the Holy Sepulchre.

This began after the Franciscans had established themselves in Jerusalem in the mid-14th century and continued the same traditions as the earlier military orders had practiced when they were present in Jerusalem. These knightly orders had been driven out of Jerusalem in 1187 and from the rest of the Holy Land in 1291.

The Most Important Act

The knighting at the Holy Sepulchre was initially performed by another knight present, as he had the authority to carry out this act in that most sacred place.

When the Saxon Wilhelm von Bodensel, during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1336, received knighthood at the Holy Sepulchre, two of his companions were also knighted. In his documents, he described that he followed the customs and rules previously used for admission into the Militaris Ordinis. Thus, we know today what took place when, for example, a Templar soldier was knighted at the Holy Sepulchre.

After the Mass dedicated to the knights’ patron saint, St. George, had concluded, the highest-ranking knight fastened a golden belt and sword to the new knight’s hip. The new knight then drew the golden sword from its scabbard and handed it to the celebrant, who, with the unsheathed sword, touched both shoulders of the new knight (the dubbing), after which the new knight returned the sword to its scabbard.

He then placed his right foot upon the Holy Sepulchre itself, and a golden spur was fastened to one boot. Next, he placed his left foot upon the Holy Sepulchre, and another knight fastened the final spur to his other boot. There are examples where the knight who fastened the golden spur to the new knight’s left boot was a Knight Hospitaller.

It is interesting that the new knight first places his right foot, then his left. This is a sign of loyalty and defense of the Holy Sepulchre and all that it represents.

There are strong indications that knighthood was already being conferred at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in the 11th century. At that time, Duke Godfrey of Bouillon was the supreme leader of the vast territories over which the Templars would later rule. He refused the royal title and instead called himself Protector of the Holy Sepulchre. Initially, the Crusades—of which the first began in 1098—were entirely a French enterprise.