-
Articles/Ads
Article THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. Page 1 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Templars.
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .
LONDON , SATURDAY , JUNE 26 , 1860 .
By ANTHONY ONEAL HAYS .
( Concluded from page 487 . )
BOOK 17 . —OS AFTER XIX .
The King resolved to punish the Grand Master and the principal Officers—The Pope appoints a Commission to try them—They are condemned to perpetual imprisonments—A scaffold erected for the public pronouncing of the sentence—Be Molai and the Dauphin maintain their innocence—The Commissioners confounded— Order them
uacli to prison—The King assembles a Secret Council , which condemns them to he burnt —The execution—Dying vjords of De Molai and the Dauphin—Effect upon the people—De Molai su-ntntows the Pope and King to appear hefore the throne of God—Deaths of the Pope , King , and the denouncers—A . D . 1313-14
The last scene of the tragedy was now to be perfomed . In all Ms Bulls ancl letters , tlie Pope had reserved to himself the examination and judgement of the Grand Master and Grand Priors . These unfortunate noblemen had languished for
five years in underground dungeons , which were sometimes flooded with water , and infested with rats and noisome reptiles . They were furthermore badly fed and badly clothed , for their garments were in tatters ; and , saving De Molai , they were
allowed no attendance . The King had , as we have seen , allowed De Molai but one attendant ; and in bitter mockery appointed his cook to the office , although the prison allowance was barely sufficient to procure the common necessaries of
life . To the Grand Master this was of very little importance , for life to him had now lost all attractions , and he longed for death as the only passport to liberty . His Order destroyed , its fame blasted , and his own name dishonoured , what had he to
live for ? He had only to long for the sis feet of earth which is the birth-right of every son of Adam , and the King deprived him of even that small inheritance . His companions , as well as himself , had been loaded with irons , as if their bodily
weakness , the thickness of their prison walls , and the vigilance of their keepers , were not sufficient safeguards to prevent their escape . The Pope , urged on by the King , who desired to have done with the matter for ever , by a Bull , appointed
certain Commissioners to judge ths Grand Officers in his name and under his authority * This was against the spirit of his former Bulls , which had
always retained their examination and judgment entirely to himself . These Commissioners were Bernard d'Aux , Bishop of Albania , the Archbishop of Sens , and the Bishops who happened at the time to be assembled in Paris . They were
empowered to call in , to assist them in their deliberations , certains doctors of theology . ¦ The legates repaired to Paris in March , before Easter , when they had their depositions read over to the accused , These depositions had been recanted , and De
Molai again declared , as he had done before the Papal Commissioners , that he had never tittered the one ascribed to him , and what he had said had been distorted and altogether falsified . If he had admitted the criminality of the Order it must have
been while under the torture , and when he was unconscious of what he was saying . All the confession he had been conscious of making was relative to some disorders which had crept in among the Templars , and even this confession , when
about to die , he bitterly repented having made The Commissioners were divided on the subject of the innocence of the accused ; but , by a plurality of voices , aud without hearing- the Templars , they found them guilty , and condemned them . ¦ ' to be
shut up for ever between four walls . The execution of this judgment was appointed to take place on Monday the llth March , and to render the pronouncing * of the sefcence more terrible , it was ordered to be made in public . This was done in
accordance with the desire of the King . A scaffold was erected in front of the Church of Notre-Dame , and thither the Bishop of Albania and the Commissioners repaired . An immense concourse of people assembled to witness the
ceremony . Jacques de Molai , the Grand Master ¦ Guy , the Prince Dauphin , Grand Prior of Normand y ; Hugo de Peyraud , the Grand Prior of France ; and Benigne Cceur-de-Roi , a Preceptor , who had been Minister of Finance , were led out of prison and
placed before the Commissioners . All four hacl irons both on hand and foot ; but , in spite of their squalid appearance , they conducted themselves with nobility and the loftiness of innocence . The Bishop of Albania read the judgment , and
prepared in a speech to recount the crimes of which the Templars had been accused . He had not , however , uttered many words , before the Grand Master and the Dauphin Guy interrupted him , left their places , and dragging their chains , advanced to the side of the scaffold . The Commissioners were struck dumb by their conduct .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Templars.
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .
LONDON , SATURDAY , JUNE 26 , 1860 .
By ANTHONY ONEAL HAYS .
( Concluded from page 487 . )
BOOK 17 . —OS AFTER XIX .
The King resolved to punish the Grand Master and the principal Officers—The Pope appoints a Commission to try them—They are condemned to perpetual imprisonments—A scaffold erected for the public pronouncing of the sentence—Be Molai and the Dauphin maintain their innocence—The Commissioners confounded— Order them
uacli to prison—The King assembles a Secret Council , which condemns them to he burnt —The execution—Dying vjords of De Molai and the Dauphin—Effect upon the people—De Molai su-ntntows the Pope and King to appear hefore the throne of God—Deaths of the Pope , King , and the denouncers—A . D . 1313-14
The last scene of the tragedy was now to be perfomed . In all Ms Bulls ancl letters , tlie Pope had reserved to himself the examination and judgement of the Grand Master and Grand Priors . These unfortunate noblemen had languished for
five years in underground dungeons , which were sometimes flooded with water , and infested with rats and noisome reptiles . They were furthermore badly fed and badly clothed , for their garments were in tatters ; and , saving De Molai , they were
allowed no attendance . The King had , as we have seen , allowed De Molai but one attendant ; and in bitter mockery appointed his cook to the office , although the prison allowance was barely sufficient to procure the common necessaries of
life . To the Grand Master this was of very little importance , for life to him had now lost all attractions , and he longed for death as the only passport to liberty . His Order destroyed , its fame blasted , and his own name dishonoured , what had he to
live for ? He had only to long for the sis feet of earth which is the birth-right of every son of Adam , and the King deprived him of even that small inheritance . His companions , as well as himself , had been loaded with irons , as if their bodily
weakness , the thickness of their prison walls , and the vigilance of their keepers , were not sufficient safeguards to prevent their escape . The Pope , urged on by the King , who desired to have done with the matter for ever , by a Bull , appointed
certain Commissioners to judge ths Grand Officers in his name and under his authority * This was against the spirit of his former Bulls , which had
always retained their examination and judgment entirely to himself . These Commissioners were Bernard d'Aux , Bishop of Albania , the Archbishop of Sens , and the Bishops who happened at the time to be assembled in Paris . They were
empowered to call in , to assist them in their deliberations , certains doctors of theology . ¦ The legates repaired to Paris in March , before Easter , when they had their depositions read over to the accused , These depositions had been recanted , and De
Molai again declared , as he had done before the Papal Commissioners , that he had never tittered the one ascribed to him , and what he had said had been distorted and altogether falsified . If he had admitted the criminality of the Order it must have
been while under the torture , and when he was unconscious of what he was saying . All the confession he had been conscious of making was relative to some disorders which had crept in among the Templars , and even this confession , when
about to die , he bitterly repented having made The Commissioners were divided on the subject of the innocence of the accused ; but , by a plurality of voices , aud without hearing- the Templars , they found them guilty , and condemned them . ¦ ' to be
shut up for ever between four walls . The execution of this judgment was appointed to take place on Monday the llth March , and to render the pronouncing * of the sefcence more terrible , it was ordered to be made in public . This was done in
accordance with the desire of the King . A scaffold was erected in front of the Church of Notre-Dame , and thither the Bishop of Albania and the Commissioners repaired . An immense concourse of people assembled to witness the
ceremony . Jacques de Molai , the Grand Master ¦ Guy , the Prince Dauphin , Grand Prior of Normand y ; Hugo de Peyraud , the Grand Prior of France ; and Benigne Cceur-de-Roi , a Preceptor , who had been Minister of Finance , were led out of prison and
placed before the Commissioners . All four hacl irons both on hand and foot ; but , in spite of their squalid appearance , they conducted themselves with nobility and the loftiness of innocence . The Bishop of Albania read the judgment , and
prepared in a speech to recount the crimes of which the Templars had been accused . He had not , however , uttered many words , before the Grand Master and the Dauphin Guy interrupted him , left their places , and dragging their chains , advanced to the side of the scaffold . The Commissioners were struck dumb by their conduct .