Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
To prove his guilt they produced a confession which they said lie had made at his first examination . On its being read ,- the brave Christian made the sign of the cross , and declared , that the three cardinals who had signed the writing , pretending to have heard him acknowledge the contents , were guilty of perjury and forgery-, and deserved the punishment which . the Tartars ' inflict on such criminals ; that isto have their bodies ripped openand their heads cut off .
, , Pie maintained , that the knights of" his order were zealous Catholic Christians ; that there was not a church in Christendom wherein divine service was performed more regularly , or with more devotion , than in those belonging to the houses of that society ; that the } '' gave in all their convents a general alms three times a week ; and that no order or people had more exposed themselves in the defence of the
Christian relig ion than the Knights of the Temple . But till this was preaching to the wind ; the judges were told what to do , and the innocence or the guilt of the accused was just the same thing to them , for they were appointed fof condemnation only . - Fifty-nine were sentenced to the flames at one time , because they
persisted in asserting their integrity , and that of the order whose vows were upon them . The whole number glorified God in the midst of the flames , nor would one of them accept the roj'al pardon at the expence of his conscience . Those who had recanted the confessions which the rack had extorted from them were treated with the greatest rigour , but not even a man of them brought a stigma on the society in the agonies of death . The flames of persecution raged
throughout France , and hundreds of these religious heroes were offered up as sacrifices to the avarice of Philip the Fair . The Grand Master , and the other head officers of the order , were reserved from death for a considerable time , in the hope , probably , of bringing some of them to a confession . In the mean time a council was held at Vienna in Dauphiny ,
where appeared both the king and the Pope , the one to direct , and . the other to give a sanction to the proceedings . The design ' of it was to confiscate the estates of the Templars , and this was done with great formality and pretensions to justice , though the foreign prelates inveighed strenuously against the measure , and pleaded considerably for the accused parties .
The council ended in 1313 , and was followed by the condemnation and murder of the Grand Master , and three other great officers of the order . Their judges exhorted them to a confession of tlie crimes alleged against them , adding to it a promise of their lives and an honourable maintenance . This being refused , they were placed on a scaffold before the cathedral church of Parisin the front of which one of the
, bishops made a long harangue on the iniquities of the knights , and concluded with demanding of the Grand Master to confirm what he had said . On this he went fonvards with great dignity and resolution towards the preacher , shaking his chains in testimony of his
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
To prove his guilt they produced a confession which they said lie had made at his first examination . On its being read ,- the brave Christian made the sign of the cross , and declared , that the three cardinals who had signed the writing , pretending to have heard him acknowledge the contents , were guilty of perjury and forgery-, and deserved the punishment which . the Tartars ' inflict on such criminals ; that isto have their bodies ripped openand their heads cut off .
, , Pie maintained , that the knights of" his order were zealous Catholic Christians ; that there was not a church in Christendom wherein divine service was performed more regularly , or with more devotion , than in those belonging to the houses of that society ; that the } '' gave in all their convents a general alms three times a week ; and that no order or people had more exposed themselves in the defence of the
Christian relig ion than the Knights of the Temple . But till this was preaching to the wind ; the judges were told what to do , and the innocence or the guilt of the accused was just the same thing to them , for they were appointed fof condemnation only . - Fifty-nine were sentenced to the flames at one time , because they
persisted in asserting their integrity , and that of the order whose vows were upon them . The whole number glorified God in the midst of the flames , nor would one of them accept the roj'al pardon at the expence of his conscience . Those who had recanted the confessions which the rack had extorted from them were treated with the greatest rigour , but not even a man of them brought a stigma on the society in the agonies of death . The flames of persecution raged
throughout France , and hundreds of these religious heroes were offered up as sacrifices to the avarice of Philip the Fair . The Grand Master , and the other head officers of the order , were reserved from death for a considerable time , in the hope , probably , of bringing some of them to a confession . In the mean time a council was held at Vienna in Dauphiny ,
where appeared both the king and the Pope , the one to direct , and . the other to give a sanction to the proceedings . The design ' of it was to confiscate the estates of the Templars , and this was done with great formality and pretensions to justice , though the foreign prelates inveighed strenuously against the measure , and pleaded considerably for the accused parties .
The council ended in 1313 , and was followed by the condemnation and murder of the Grand Master , and three other great officers of the order . Their judges exhorted them to a confession of tlie crimes alleged against them , adding to it a promise of their lives and an honourable maintenance . This being refused , they were placed on a scaffold before the cathedral church of Parisin the front of which one of the
, bishops made a long harangue on the iniquities of the knights , and concluded with demanding of the Grand Master to confirm what he had said . On this he went fonvards with great dignity and resolution towards the preacher , shaking his chains in testimony of his