As far back as the mind can recall, there are few things more courageous, than one person or a few to take a stand against overwhelming odds.  Nor is there anything more noble than to make that stand fighting against corruption and injustice.  In the course of my travels and reading, I discovered one such story which was written by Wilhelm Ruland in his book Legends of the Rhine.

Castle Lahneck was a Knight Templar stronghold which towered above Lahnstein on the opposite side of the Rhine from Coblenz.  It was a keep whose high walls and 100-foot tall tower were defended by 12 Templars with their retainers and which eventually succumbed to treachery and greed.  This is the tale of that heroic struggle of those 12 Templars.

It was that base desire to take the rich possessions of the Templars, which paved the way for Phillip IV (the Fair) of France to make false accusations against them to the Pope and brand the Templars heretics.  It was that very same demon which gnawed at the soul of Peter von Aspelt, the Archbishop of Mainz as be made false allegations of misconduct against the Templars .  The Archbishop issued orders that the Templars relinquish the stronghold and forsake the white mantle and red cross in exchange for monks robes.  The eldest and leader of the Knights denounced the accusations and defied Peter von Aspelt's decree.  This only served to fan the flames of anger and greed into a fierce bonfire of rage.  Peter, having previously by his own hands restored the Pope to full health in Avignon, begged a boon, which was granted.  In this manner the Archbishop was granted full power and rights over the lives and riches of the then excommunicated Knights.

Gathering a vast army, he marched to the gates of Lahneck and commanded the Knights to yield; for if they did not, the stronghold would be razed and its inhabitants become fruit of the Gibbet, gasping their last breath at the end of a rope.  To a man, each of the Templars vowed to fight to the death rather than capitulate to the Archbishop's demands.

Greatly outnumbered, the deadly dance began.  Soldiers by the score were reaped in a bloody harvest as the Templars seemed to be everywhere at once on the high ramparts.  Day after day the Archbishop's fury grew uncontrolled as he ordered more and more troops into the fray.  Slowly the defenders dwindled, until even as the oceans waves eventually wear a great rock unto a pebble, so at last did the first of the Templar Knights close his eyes in eternal repose as he fell beneath his battered shield.  Soon a second, and then a third succumbed.  The remaining defenders reached deep within their souls and finding a reserve of strength, fought as if a pride of the fiercest lions were protecting its own cubs.

As the day of the most savage fighting drew to a close, only the eldest Knight, with blood-soaked sword in hand and surrounded by his fallen brethren, remained standing.  Such epic heroism and conviction of faith moved Peter von Aspelt such that he offered mercy by allowing the Templar to surrender.  The Knight, responded by calling down a curse in the name of God and all things holy upon the Archbishop and all other worldly churchmen with their greed for land.  He then raised high his sword and attacked those before him.  Pierced with a dozen or more wounds, the last Templar Knight of Lahneck slowly sank to the ground and found peace in the arms of his fellow knights.