Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivalet,
Brethren of St . John of the Hospital . The strife continued notwithstanding , and in the reign of Edward III ., another act was passed , and writs issued to the sheriffs throughout the kingdom
commanding them to take possession of and deliver the property to the Hospitallers . While their wealth was thus ruthlessly disposed of , the unfortunate Templars were left to starve ; some found refuge in monasteries , others mixed in the w orld and returned to their lay occupations . *
The chief persecutors of the Templars we have seen did not long survive the accomplishment of their base purposes . The chroniclers of the period report that the venerable De Molay , when surrounded by the flames , ere life was extinct , summoned Pope Clement to answer at the bar of the Almighty Judge within forty days , and King Philip to appear before the same tribunal within the space of a year . The Pope did , in fact , die on the nineteenth of the following month , and the king within the year : others of the more active
persecutors , it is recorded , died violent or sudden deaths . The preservation of these statements" in all their details , conclusively shows that the popular sympathy at the time was on the side of the Templars .
Philip had promised the council of the Church , on obtaining its sanction for his proceedings against the Templars , that he would himself go the East and carry on the war against the infidels , but he died without making the smallest attempt to accomplish his vow . His successor , Philip le Long , entertained the project , but only urged
into action a rude undisciplined multitude , who , setting up the cross as a pretext , with great cruelty persecuted the Jews ; and this longsuffering nation , amongst other absurd charges , were accused of poisoning the wells throughout the country , and delivered over to the blind fury of the ignorant multitude .
Our limited space does not allow us to give in detail all the proceedings of the tribunals before which the Templars were arraigned in Prance and England ; for more full accounts we refer our readers to Mr . Addison ' s history , and Mr . Keightley ' s volume on " Secret Societies . " But we must , in a summary manner , mention the charges , and offer some remarks thereon .
It appears that when Philip had resolved on his scheme for the annihilation of the Order , he did not wait long ere he found a fitting instrument to aid him . There was lying in prison at Toulouse , condemned for some crime for which he had no hope of pardon , a man named Squiii de Flexian , a native of Beziers , who had been formerly a Templar , and Prior of Montfaucon , but who , for his
offences , had been expelled the Order . He had a companion in captivity , named Noffo l ) ei ( a Florentine ) , " a man full of all iniquity . " These two began to plan how they might best extricate themselves from their present hopeless state ; and , as it would appear , aware of the king's dislike to the Templars , and hating them for having punished him for his crimes , Squin de Flexian resolved to accuse them of the most monstrous offences , and thus ohtain his own liberation .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivalet,
Brethren of St . John of the Hospital . The strife continued notwithstanding , and in the reign of Edward III ., another act was passed , and writs issued to the sheriffs throughout the kingdom
commanding them to take possession of and deliver the property to the Hospitallers . While their wealth was thus ruthlessly disposed of , the unfortunate Templars were left to starve ; some found refuge in monasteries , others mixed in the w orld and returned to their lay occupations . *
The chief persecutors of the Templars we have seen did not long survive the accomplishment of their base purposes . The chroniclers of the period report that the venerable De Molay , when surrounded by the flames , ere life was extinct , summoned Pope Clement to answer at the bar of the Almighty Judge within forty days , and King Philip to appear before the same tribunal within the space of a year . The Pope did , in fact , die on the nineteenth of the following month , and the king within the year : others of the more active
persecutors , it is recorded , died violent or sudden deaths . The preservation of these statements" in all their details , conclusively shows that the popular sympathy at the time was on the side of the Templars .
Philip had promised the council of the Church , on obtaining its sanction for his proceedings against the Templars , that he would himself go the East and carry on the war against the infidels , but he died without making the smallest attempt to accomplish his vow . His successor , Philip le Long , entertained the project , but only urged
into action a rude undisciplined multitude , who , setting up the cross as a pretext , with great cruelty persecuted the Jews ; and this longsuffering nation , amongst other absurd charges , were accused of poisoning the wells throughout the country , and delivered over to the blind fury of the ignorant multitude .
Our limited space does not allow us to give in detail all the proceedings of the tribunals before which the Templars were arraigned in Prance and England ; for more full accounts we refer our readers to Mr . Addison ' s history , and Mr . Keightley ' s volume on " Secret Societies . " But we must , in a summary manner , mention the charges , and offer some remarks thereon .
It appears that when Philip had resolved on his scheme for the annihilation of the Order , he did not wait long ere he found a fitting instrument to aid him . There was lying in prison at Toulouse , condemned for some crime for which he had no hope of pardon , a man named Squiii de Flexian , a native of Beziers , who had been formerly a Templar , and Prior of Montfaucon , but who , for his
offences , had been expelled the Order . He had a companion in captivity , named Noffo l ) ei ( a Florentine ) , " a man full of all iniquity . " These two began to plan how they might best extricate themselves from their present hopeless state ; and , as it would appear , aware of the king's dislike to the Templars , and hating them for having punished him for his crimes , Squin de Flexian resolved to accuse them of the most monstrous offences , and thus ohtain his own liberation .