Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivalet,
things contained in the said articles , and some others wholly denied them ; and , for many reasons , it appeared to me that greater credit w as to be given to those who denied than to those who confessed . " The charges against the Templars in England , instituted by the authority of the Pope , were opened before an inquisition held in the province of Canterbhry . They were eighty-seven in number , and read something like a bill in chancery , embodying matters of the
greatest absurdity ; and , as Voltaire justly remarked , " the accusation destroys itself . "
Among the items were : — -They denied Christ , his crucifixion , and God ; that those they received into the Order were made to spit npon the cross ; that they worshipped a cat ; that they did not believe in the sacraments ; that they had idols which they worshipped ; and that a man ' s scull was always present . At the provincial council , which was held in St . Paul ' s Cathedral , London , on the 25 th of November , 1309 , the Pope's bull , which was read , contained , amid a vast amount of verbiage , a considerable show of hypocritical sorrow for the sins of th e Order , the reports of which
had so injured his ( the pure Clement V . ' s ) health , as to cause his body to waste away , and all Christianity to shed ( crocodile ' s ) tears ; and concluded by decreeing that the general council of the Church , held at Yienne , should pronounce the total abolition of the Order , and determine on the disposal of its property ; to which council the English clergy were required to send representatives . The examination of witnesses was commenced at Lambeth , and
resumed at the church of St . Dunstan ' s in the "West , in London , in January , 1310 , before a tribunal composed of the bishop of London , Dieudonne , a Trench abbot , and Sicard de Vaux , a Prench canon , who was the pope ' s chaplain and hearer of causes . There the rector of St . Mary le Strand and the vicar of St . Martin ' s in the Fields , declared that they had been at the Temple church and observed the
divine services , performed the same as elsewhere , and they had seen nothing to allege against the Order . When the examination was closed , the report of the commissioners asserted that , from what they could collect , it appeared that certain practices had crept into the Order of the Temple which were not consistent with the orthodox faith .
The regard and esteem in which the Order had been held by his predecessors made Edward IT . averse to adopt proceedings against it . Clement therefore addressed an urgent letter to him on the subject , to which King Edward sent this pithy answer : " As to the goods of
the Templars , we have done nothing with them up to the present time , nor do we intend to do with them aught but what we have a right to do , and what we know will be acceptable to the Most High . " Yet , although Edward was very reluctant to proceed with harshness towards the Templars , urged as he was by his father-in-law Philip and the pope , he consented to measures which caused every
member of the Order to be arrested and remain in custody for many months * Several died in prison ; and among other distinguished
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivalet,
things contained in the said articles , and some others wholly denied them ; and , for many reasons , it appeared to me that greater credit w as to be given to those who denied than to those who confessed . " The charges against the Templars in England , instituted by the authority of the Pope , were opened before an inquisition held in the province of Canterbhry . They were eighty-seven in number , and read something like a bill in chancery , embodying matters of the
greatest absurdity ; and , as Voltaire justly remarked , " the accusation destroys itself . "
Among the items were : — -They denied Christ , his crucifixion , and God ; that those they received into the Order were made to spit npon the cross ; that they worshipped a cat ; that they did not believe in the sacraments ; that they had idols which they worshipped ; and that a man ' s scull was always present . At the provincial council , which was held in St . Paul ' s Cathedral , London , on the 25 th of November , 1309 , the Pope's bull , which was read , contained , amid a vast amount of verbiage , a considerable show of hypocritical sorrow for the sins of th e Order , the reports of which
had so injured his ( the pure Clement V . ' s ) health , as to cause his body to waste away , and all Christianity to shed ( crocodile ' s ) tears ; and concluded by decreeing that the general council of the Church , held at Yienne , should pronounce the total abolition of the Order , and determine on the disposal of its property ; to which council the English clergy were required to send representatives . The examination of witnesses was commenced at Lambeth , and
resumed at the church of St . Dunstan ' s in the "West , in London , in January , 1310 , before a tribunal composed of the bishop of London , Dieudonne , a Trench abbot , and Sicard de Vaux , a Prench canon , who was the pope ' s chaplain and hearer of causes . There the rector of St . Mary le Strand and the vicar of St . Martin ' s in the Fields , declared that they had been at the Temple church and observed the
divine services , performed the same as elsewhere , and they had seen nothing to allege against the Order . When the examination was closed , the report of the commissioners asserted that , from what they could collect , it appeared that certain practices had crept into the Order of the Temple which were not consistent with the orthodox faith .
The regard and esteem in which the Order had been held by his predecessors made Edward IT . averse to adopt proceedings against it . Clement therefore addressed an urgent letter to him on the subject , to which King Edward sent this pithy answer : " As to the goods of
the Templars , we have done nothing with them up to the present time , nor do we intend to do with them aught but what we have a right to do , and what we know will be acceptable to the Most High . " Yet , although Edward was very reluctant to proceed with harshness towards the Templars , urged as he was by his father-in-law Philip and the pope , he consented to measures which caused every
member of the Order to be arrested and remain in custody for many months * Several died in prison ; and among other distinguished