From the
Glossary of The Wheel of Time
A
society holding strict
ascetic beliefs, dedicated to the defeat of the
Dark One and the destruction of all
Darkfriends. Founded during the
War of the Hundred Years by
Lothair Mantelar to proselytize against increasing numbers of Darkfriends, they evolved during the war into a completely military organization, extremely rigid in their beliefs and completely certain that only they know the
truth and the
right. They hate
Aes Sedai, considering them, and any who support or befriend them, Darkfriends. They are known disparagingly as "Whitecloaks"; their sign is a golden sunburst on a field of
white.