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Article THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR. ← Page 2 of 7 →
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The Knights Templar.
what he had to say , after promising him full pardon , and even a reward , if he told the truth . The criminal , who had drawn the plan of the accusation , charged the whole body of Templars with robbery , murder , idolatry , and certain unnatural crimes of impurity , with the repetition of which I shall not contaminate my paper . He added , that
at the reception of a candidate into the Order , they compelled him to renounce Jesus Christ ; to spit upon the cross in token of his abhorrence of it ; and that those knights being secretly Mahometans , had by a vile piece of treachery , sold the Holy Land to the sultans and princes of that sect .
More of this sort may be seen in the collection of Peter Dupuy , where there is a particular detail of all abominations and obscenities with which this informer charged his brethren . The King gave the Pontiff an account of those accusations , in an
interview he had with him at Lyons , and still more closely pressed him upon the same subject the year following at Poitiers , where they met by concert to treat more fully on this grand affair . But it does not appear that the Pope had as yet taken any method but that of private information . As the King ' s ambassadors at the Pope ' s court
continually solicited him to condemn the Order , it may be proven by a letter of Clement ' s to the King , dated the 9 th July , in which he expressly declares that if the corruption with which the Templars are charged , were as general as it was pretended , and that the Order was abolished , all their property should be employed for the recovery of the Holy
Land ; and that he would not suffer the least part of it to be converted to any other use . By this one may believe that the Pope suspected that the intended prosecution against the Templars was levelled as much against their riches and estates as against the irregularity of their manners .
It appears also that the Pope wished for an opportunity to escape out of France , either on account of this affair of the Templars or that of Boniface VIII ., whose memory Philip insisted on him to condemn as an impious person and heretic . In consequence it appears that Clement , in the year 1306 , disguised himself , and fled from Poitiers
for Bordeaux , without any other attendants than a few Cardinals ; but being discovered upon the road by some of the King ' s officers , he thought proper to return to Poitiers . * Philip , who was fiery and impatient , unable to bear with the Pope ' s dilatory way of proceeding , privately gave orders to apprehend , on
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Templar.
what he had to say , after promising him full pardon , and even a reward , if he told the truth . The criminal , who had drawn the plan of the accusation , charged the whole body of Templars with robbery , murder , idolatry , and certain unnatural crimes of impurity , with the repetition of which I shall not contaminate my paper . He added , that
at the reception of a candidate into the Order , they compelled him to renounce Jesus Christ ; to spit upon the cross in token of his abhorrence of it ; and that those knights being secretly Mahometans , had by a vile piece of treachery , sold the Holy Land to the sultans and princes of that sect .
More of this sort may be seen in the collection of Peter Dupuy , where there is a particular detail of all abominations and obscenities with which this informer charged his brethren . The King gave the Pontiff an account of those accusations , in an
interview he had with him at Lyons , and still more closely pressed him upon the same subject the year following at Poitiers , where they met by concert to treat more fully on this grand affair . But it does not appear that the Pope had as yet taken any method but that of private information . As the King ' s ambassadors at the Pope ' s court
continually solicited him to condemn the Order , it may be proven by a letter of Clement ' s to the King , dated the 9 th July , in which he expressly declares that if the corruption with which the Templars are charged , were as general as it was pretended , and that the Order was abolished , all their property should be employed for the recovery of the Holy
Land ; and that he would not suffer the least part of it to be converted to any other use . By this one may believe that the Pope suspected that the intended prosecution against the Templars was levelled as much against their riches and estates as against the irregularity of their manners .
It appears also that the Pope wished for an opportunity to escape out of France , either on account of this affair of the Templars or that of Boniface VIII ., whose memory Philip insisted on him to condemn as an impious person and heretic . In consequence it appears that Clement , in the year 1306 , disguised himself , and fled from Poitiers
for Bordeaux , without any other attendants than a few Cardinals ; but being discovered upon the road by some of the King ' s officers , he thought proper to return to Poitiers . * Philip , who was fiery and impatient , unable to bear with the Pope ' s dilatory way of proceeding , privately gave orders to apprehend , on