The Knights Templars.

money advanced by them , upon the marriage of Phili p ' s daughter , Isabella , with the son of the King of England . The bold conduct and daringlanguage of the Templars , soon became known among the people . Its effect upon them , was most

powerful . They assembled together , and emboldened by the example of the Knights , took up arms to defend themselves against the edict . The Kni ghts do not appear to have had any . actual communication with the people ; but two

men who had formerly belonged to the Order , -thinking thereby to ingratiate themselves with the Templars , and hoping to be again received into the body , by furious speeches inflamed the passions of the populace . Dressed in the habit

of the Order , they were believed to be accredited agents of the Knights , which they were not . These men were named Squin de Flexian and Noffo Dei . Squin de Flexian was a native of Beziers , and had been the preceptor of

Montfaucon in Querci ; but convicted of heresy and of leading a most infamous life , he had been degraded , and by the order of the Grand Master condemned to perpetual imprisonment . Noffo Dei , a man full of all iniquity , was a native of Florence . He does

appear to have held any office in the Order , but ranked as a simple Knight . Noffo had been guilty of certain crimes , and to escape punishment fled to Paris , where he was seized by the provost , and condemned to suffer imprisonment

for life . The chapter-general of the Templars thereupon degraded and expelled him from the Order . The two had succeeded in escaping from prison and took refuge in the provinces , where they wandered about in company , subsisting on

alms . When the tidings arrived of the sedition in Paris they hurried thither , hoping to inflame the people to resist the edict , and trusting by that measure once more to be received into the Order , or failing that , in the riots which would succeed

the enforcing of the edict , to enrich themselves by means of plunder . They were gladly received by the Parisians , who placed them at their head . A riot ensued . * The mob surrounded the house of Etienne Barbet , the treasurer , which they

pillaged and then demolished . The King had gone on a visit to the palace of the Templar . s , and thither the crowd repaired . They surrounded it an < 2 gave utterance to the most violent threats against the King . The Templars , however ,

The Knights Templars.

manned the walls ancl , with the retinue oi the King , defended the gates against the attacks of the mob . They were , however , ill-provided with stores , and the dishes for the king's table had to be brought from the Louvre . The seditionists , as

the provisions were being carried to the temple , attacked the bearers , and , seizing the trenchers , threw them into the mud . The King was in a furious rage at finding . himself thus besieged , without either victuals or soldiers , while he was

suspicious ofthe good faith of the Templars , whom he had injured so grossly and so often . His suspicions , however , were uncalled for , as the Templars would have scorned to harm any one under their protection and enjoying their hospitality . The

siege lasted three clays . The attacks of the populace were incessant , but the Templars succeeded iu defending the gates , ancl at length the King ' s troops arrived , when the people struck with teiTor , retired , and the sedition was quelled .

Philip ' s wrath did not soon dissipate . He , the proudest king in Europe , had been insulted by a beggarly mob—he , the most powerful monarch of

his time , had been besieged by a cowardly race of citizens . He ordered the leaders of the seditionists to be arrested and cast into prison . He resolved to make an example of them , so as to crush for ever the audacity of the people . Report pointed

out Squin de Flexian and Noffo Dei as the leaders and chief instigators of the sedition . They were arrested and thrown into prison , and the tidings brought to Philip that the two culprits were Templars , and in all probability had been deputed

by the Order to stir up the people . The remonstrances of the Knights upon the occasion of passing the edict for sounding the money was now remembered to their disadvantage ; but the

Templars , hearing of the arrest of their degraded brethren , laid the particulars of their cases before the King . These explanations , while they exonerated the Knights from any share in the seditions , exasperated the King the more against them . He

had intended to proceed against the Templars as fomentors of the riots , and when thus certain of having his prey within his claws , he found it slip away beyond his reach . He ascribed to the conduct of the Templars in resisting the edict the

subsequent riot , and , although he could not proceed against them criminally , he did everything in his power to humiliate and mortify them . But , when he least expected it , a pretext for destroying them was put into his hands , in a most extraordi-