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TEMPLARS . The Knights Templars, or Poor Knights of See also:Christ and of the See also:Temple of See also:Solomon (pauperes commilitones Christi templique Salomonici), formed one of the three See also:great military orders, founded in the 12th See also:century. Unlike the Hospitallers and the See also:Teutonic Knights it was a military See also:order from its very origin. Its founders were a Burgundian See also:knight named See also:Hugues de Payns 1 (See also:Hugo de Paganis) and Godeffroi de St Omer, a knight from See also:northern See also:France, who in 1119 undertook the pious task of protecting the pilgrims who, after the first crusade, flocked to See also:Jerusalem and the other sacred spots in the See also:Holy See also:Land. They were quickly joined by six other knights and soon afterwards organized themselves as a religious community, taking an See also:oath to the See also:patriarch of Jerusalem to guard the public roads, to forsake worldly See also:chivalry, "of which human favour and not Jesus Christ was the cause," and, living in chastity, obedience and poverty, according to the See also:rule of St See also:Benedict, " to fight with a pure mind for the supreme and true See also: 928).
' Prutz, See also:Tern plerherrenorden, p. 12. The Latin copy of the Rule (Bibliotheque Nationale) reads " Milites non excommunicates" for " chevaliers escomenies"; which means, according to Prutz, that when the Latin version was made the See also:original significance of the rule had been forgotten. M. de Curzon (Regle du Temple, p. iv.), on the other See also:hand, assumes that the Latin See also:text represents the original rules See also:drawn up in 1128 and that the See also:French version is a corrupt copy. That Prutz is right would seem to be shown not only by the reasonableness of the rule in itself (why should the Templars be instructed to look out for gatherings of non-excommunicated knights?) but by the See also:language of cap. v. of the De laude novae militae, in which Bernard extols the knights for turning the enemies of Christ into his soldiers (ut quos See also:diu pertulit oppugnatores maxis jam See also:pro pugnatores habere incipiat; faciatque de See also:hoste militem).expedient to obtain the highest See also:sanction for the new order and its rules. In the autumn of 1127 accordingly Hugues de Payns, with certain companions, appeared in See also:Europe, where he was fortunate enough to secure the enthusiastic support of the all-powerful See also: The last of these, probably intended for the use of the See also:master of a subordinate See also:house, is much abbreviated; it See also:dates, however, from the See also:early part of the 13th century, whereas the others are of the end of the century at earliest. In essentials these copies preserve the See also:matter and spirit of the primitive Rule, and they prove that to the end the order was, in pnnciple at least, submitted to the same strict discipline as at the beginning.'
The Regle du Temple in its final See also:form as we now possess it contains the rules for the constitution and See also:administration of the order; the duties and privileges of the various classes of its personnel; the monastic rules, regulations as to See also:costume and as to religious services; rules for the holding of chapters, and a See also:summary of offences and their See also:punishment; the See also:procedure at the See also:election of a See also:grand master and at receptions into the order; a See also:definition of the relations of the order to the See also:pope, and to other religious orders. It must be See also:borne in mind, however, that the organization of the order as described below was only gradually See also:developed, not having been fixed at Troyes. At first the master of the Temple at Jerusalem was only one among many; the See also:seneschal and See also:marshal appear not to have existed; and it was not till the See also:bull Omne datum optimum of Pope See also: He was elected by a complicated See also:process, a chapter summoned ad hoc electing a "See also:commander of the election" and one other brother who, after See also:vigil and See also:prayer, co-opted two more, these four choosing another two, and so on till the number of the twelve apostles had been reached. A See also:chaplain, representing Jesus Christ, was then added to See also:complete the electoral See also:college (see Curzon, Regle du Temple, p. See also:xxxv).7 The grand master was allowed four horses for his See also:ordinary use. His See also:household consisted of a See also:frater capellanus, a cleric, a frater serviens with two horses, a Saracen secretary (ecrivain sarrazinois) 3 Bernard was not See also:present at the council. But the " humble escrivain " of the Regle du Temple, Johan Michiel, writes See also:par le comandement dou concile et dou See also:venerable Pere Belmar' See also:abbe: de Clerevaus." Compare the rule also with the chapter (iii.) of the De laude: De militibus Christi. ' Of a See also:secret Rule, in spite of the most diligent See also:research, no trace has ever been found. It is now generally held that none ever existed. The See also:legend of its existence, so fatal to the order, is probably traceable to the fact that the complete Rule was jealously guarded by the See also:chief See also:office-bearers of the order, only excerpts being given to the heads of the lesser houses (e.g. the Dijon MS.) and known generally to the knights. 6 Rule 70. Perillouse See also:chose est compaignie de feme, que le deable ancien par compaignie de feme a degete pluisors dou See also:droit sentier de paradis. It is interesting to compare this with the more wholesome view of the best of the contemporary chivalrous poets, e.g. See also:Walther von der Vogelweide or Wolfram von Eschenbach (Parzival), who hold up true love as the highest earthly incentive to See also:noble deeds. 7 The bull Omne datum optimum (1163) decreed that the master must be a knight of the order who had taken the vows, and vested the election exclusively in the knights.
as interpreter, a turcople, i.e. a soldier belonging to the See also:light-See also:horse attached to the order, a See also:farrier and a See also:cook, two footmen (garcons a pied) to look after his special Turcoman horse, only used in war See also:time. He was further attended by two knights of the order of high See also:rank. The ensigns of his presence on See also:campaign were the large See also:round See also:tent and the gonfanon baucent, the See also:black and See also: The provincial marshals were absolute in their provinces, but subordinate to the marshal of the order. The commander of the land and See also:realm of Jerusalem was grand treasurer of the order, administered its estates in the See also:province of Jerusalem, and was responsible for the lodging of the brethren. He also had charge of the See also:fleet, the commander of the See also:port of See also:Acre being his subordinate. His equipage and suite were much the same as those of seneschal and marshal. The commander of the See also:city of Jerusalem was the hospitaller of the order. He was charged with the See also:defence of pilgrims visiting the Holy Land, and with the See also:duty of supplying them with See also:food and horses. Ten knights were specially attached to him for this purpose, and to See also:act as guard to the See also:relics of the True Cross. Subordinate to him was a second commander for the city itself. The commanders of See also:Tripoli and See also:Antioch enjoyed all the rights of the grand master within their provinces, except when he was present. They too had the round tent and the gonfanon. Besides these, the rule mentions the commanders of France, See also:England, See also:Poitou, See also:Portugal, See also:Apulia and See also:Hungary, whose rights and privileges are analogous to those of the commanders above mentioned.' Lastly, of the great See also:officers of the order must be mentioned the drapier, who was charged with the supervision of the clothing of the brethren. He was closely associated with the commander of the kingdom of Jerusalem, his equipage was that of the commanders, but his suite included a number of tailors. Below the great dignitaries there were in the provinces commanders of houses, under the provincial commanders, and the commanders of the knights, who acted as lieutenants of the marshals. Turning to the See also:general See also:body of the order: the knights (willies) were entitled to three horses and a See also:squire, or by special favour to four horses and two squires. They had two tents. Of the serjeants (servientes) five occupied an exceptional position: the See also:deputy-marshals (souz-mareschau), who looked after the arms and See also:armour, the gonfanonier, who was responsible for the discipline and catering of the squires, the See also:kitchener (cuisinier) and the farrier. These had two horses, a squire and a tent. All the others, even if commanders of houses, had but one horse. At the head of all the serjeants in time of war was the turcoplier, the chief of the turcopies. He had four horses in his equipage and certain special prerogatives; in See also:battle he took his orders only from the master or seneschal. Of See also:peculiar importance were the chaplains (fratres capellani). These did not originally form part of the order, which was served by priests from outside. The bull Omne datum optimum of 1163 imposed on clerics attaching themselves to the order an oath of See also:life-See also:long obedience to the grand master; by the See also:middle of the 13th century the chaplains took the same oath as the other See also:brothers and were distinguished from them only by their orders and the privileges these implied (e.g. they were spared the more humiliating punishments, shaved the See also:face, and had a See also:separate See also:cup to drink out of). The order thus had its own See also:clergy, exempt from the See also:jurisdiction of diocesan bishops and parish priests, owing obedience to the grand master and the pope alone. By the rules, no Templar was allowed to confess to any See also:save a See also:priest attached to the order, if one were available, and such priest was formally declared to have received from the pope more See also:power to absolve than an See also:archbishop.' It remains to be said that the brethren were admitted either for life or for a See also:term of years. Married men were also received, but on See also:condition of bequeathing one See also:half of their See also:property to the order (rule 69). The chapters of. the order were either secret, composed of such brothers as the master might esteem " See also:wise and profitable for 1 The titles varied. The provincial commander is " Master " or " Grand See also:Prior " or " Grand See also:Preceptor " under him are " priors " over large estates, and under them " preceptors " of houses. Preceptors took their name from the See also:mandate of the master issued to them: " Praecipimus tibi. 2 Rule 269 . . . See also:Car it en ont greignor povir de l'apostoile (i.e. the pope) d'eaus assoudee que un arcevesque (Curzon, p. 165).giving See also:advice, " or general assemblies of the order, at the discretion of the master, who was to listen to the counsel given and do what seemed best to him (rule 36). Habit of the Order.—The characteristic habit of the order was the white See also:mantle, symbolic of purity, with the red cross, the See also:ensign of the champions of the Church, first granted by Pope See also:Eugenius III. (1145-53). Only the unmarried knights bound by life-long vows, however, were privileged to See also:wear the white mantle, which was also given to chaplains in episcopal orders. The See also:rest wore a black or See also: See also:Hunting and hawking were unlawful; and the very allusion to the follies or See also:secular achievements of earlier life was forbidden. A See also:lion, however, being the type of the evil one, was legitimate See also:prey. Strict See also:watch was kept on the incomings and outgoings of every brother, except when he went out by See also:night to visit the See also:Sepulchre of our See also:Lord. No See also:letter, even from the nearest relative, might be opened except in the master's presence; nor was any member to feel annoyance if he saw his relative's gift transferred at the master's bidding to some other brother. The brethren were to See also:sleep in separate beds in shirts and breeches, with a light always burning in the See also:dormitory. Those who lacked a See also:mattress might See also:place a piece of See also:carpet on the See also:floor; but all luxury was discouraged.
A term of See also:probation was assigned to each See also:candidate before ad-mission; and a special clause discouraged the reception of boys before they were of an See also:age to See also:bear arms.' Lastly, the brethren of the Temple were exhorted to shun the See also:kiss of every woman, whether maid or widow, See also:mother, aunt or See also:sister.
For grievous offences, such as See also:desertion to the See also:Saracens, See also:heresy, losing the See also:gonfalon, murdering a See also:Christian, or failing to See also:account for all the property of the order in his See also:possession, a Templar might be expelled (perdre la maison); for See also:minor offences, such as disobedience, lowering the banner in battle, or killing a slave or a horse, he suffered a temporary degradation (perdre son abit). No member of another religious order was received by the Templars, and no Templar could leave the order without permission of the master, and then only on condition of joining a stricter monastic community. By mutual agreement the Templars and Hospitallers, despite their long and deadly See also:feud, were bound not to receive ejected members of the See also:rival order; and the Templar cut off in battle and defeat from all hope of rejoining his own ranks might rally to the cross of St See also: They seemed to have been settled in See also:Castile by 1129, in Rochelle by 1131, in See also:Languedoc by 1136, at Rome by 1138, in See also:Brittany by 1141, and in See also:Germany at perhaps a still earlier date. See also:Alphonso I. of See also:Aragon and See also:Navarre, if we may See also:trust the See also:Spanish
historians, bequeathed them the third of his kingdom spread
(See also:Mariana, x. c. 9). See also:Raymond Berengar IV., See also:count of of the
See also:Barcelona, and Alphonso's successor in Aragon, whose order See also:father had been admitted to the order, granted them the strong See also:castle of Monzon (1143), and established a new chivalry in See also:imitation of theirs. See also: Pope See also:Adrian IV. allowed them to have their own churches; Eugenius III. added to these the right to have churchyards; and churches and churchyards, as in the See also:case of the order generally, were exempted from the operation of ordinary excommunications and interdicts. Thus a person dying excommunicated, refused See also:burial elsewhere, sometimes—like See also:Geoffrey de See also:Mandeville 2—found a resting-place in the consecrated ground of the Templars. Eugenius III. also granted the Templars the right to have interdicted churches opened twice a See also:year for the purpose of making their collections. They were, moreover, as defenders of the Church, exempted from the See also:payment of See also:tithes. Finally, they were exempted from the See also:action even of general censures and decrees of the popes, unless mentioned in them by name. Very soon the order refused to submit in any way to the ordinary jurisdiction of the diocesan bishops and formed in effect a separate ecclesiastical organization under the pope as supreme bishop. The result was that, scarce twenty-five years after its See also:foundation, the order was at open feud with bishops and parish priests, and the popes found it necessary to issue decree after decree to protect it from violence and spoliation. The complaints of the secular clergy, on the other hand, came to a head in 1179 at the Lateran Council, when even Pope Alexander III. had to consent to a See also:series of decrees directed against the abuse of its privileges by the order (Prutz, p. 41). So long, however, as the attention of the papacy and of Christendom was fixed on the problem of recovering and safe-guarding the Holy Land, the position of the Templars was unassailable and all efforts to curb the growth of their power vain. The order as such had no See also:European policy;3 the whole of its vast organization was maintained for the purpose of feeding the holy war against the infidels with recruits and with See also:money; and its ultimate See also:fate depended on its success or failure in the See also:East. (W. A. P.)
After the council of Troyes Hugues de Payns came to England and induced a number of knights to follow him to the Holy Land. Among these was See also:Fulk, count of See also:Anjou, who would thus seem to have been a Templar before assuming the See also:crown of Jerusalem in 1131. Hugues de Payns died about the year
party 1136 and was succeeded by See also:Robert de Craon, who is
grand said to have been See also:Anselm's See also:nephew. Everard de masters. Barris, the third master, was conspicuous in the second crusade. In the disastrous See also: There must be a slight See also:error here on the part of the chronicler; for Geoffrey died in 1144 and the red cross was not granted to the Templars until the following year. This does not, however, affect the See also:main fact that Geoffrey, though excommunicated, was buried in consecrated ground at the New Temple in See also:London. This was in 1163, twenty-two years before the See also:consecration of the Temple Church now See also:standing. See Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 224. Finke, p. 42. Individual Templars, of course, acted from time to time as diplomats or as royal advisers; but they in no sense represented the order.success prompted Louis VII. to regulate his whole See also:army after the See also:model of the Templar knights. In the French king's See also:distress for money the Templars See also:lent him large sums, ranging from 2000 See also:silver marks to 30,000 solidi. When See also:Conrad III. of Germany reached Jerusalem he was entertained at their palace (See also:Easter 1148); and in the summer of the same year they took part in the unsuccessful See also:siege of See also:Damascus. The failure of this expedition was ascribed by a contemporary writer to their treachery—a charge to which Conrad would not assent. This is the first See also:note of the accusations which from this time were of See also:constant recurrence' Henceforward for 140 years the history of the Templars is the history of the See also:CRUSADES (q.v.). In 1149 the Templars were appointed to guard the fortress of See also:Gaza, the last Christian stronghold on the way towards See also:Egypt. Four years later the new master, Bernard de Tremelai, and See also:forty of his followers, bursting into See also:Ascalon, were surrounded by the Saracens and cut off to a single See also:man. See also: Nor was the order less active at the northern limits of the Latin kingdom. Two English Templars, See also: 594 reckoning of M. Defremery) somewhere about 1149. The Templars murdered the envoys on their return (c.1172) . Amalric demanded that the offenders should be given up to justice. Odo refused to yield the chief See also:culprit, though he was well known, and invoked the See also:protection of the pope. Amalric had to vindicate his right by force of arms at See also:Sidon, and died while preparing to take stronger See also:measures. The connexion between the Templars and the Old Man was still vital eighty years later when the two grand masters rebuked the insolence of the See also:Assassin envoys in the presence of Louis IX. Odo de St Amand was succeeded by See also:Arnold de Torroge, who died at See also:Verona on his way to implore European succour for the Holy Land. The power of Saladin was now (1184) increasing daily; Baldwin IV. was a leper, and his realm was a prey to rival factions. There were two claimants for the guardianship of the See also:state—Raymond III. of Tripoli and See also:Guy de See also:Lusignan, who in 118o had married Sibylla, sister of the young king. Baldwin inclined to the former, against the patriarch and Arnold de Torroge. There is something Homeric in the See also:story of the fall of the Latin kingdom as related by the historians of the next century. Fall of A French knight, See also:Gerard de Riderfort or See also:Bideford, Latta coming to the East in quest of See also:fortune, attached kiagdon,, himself to the service of Raymond of Tripoli, looking for the hand of some wealthy widow in See also:reward. But on his claiming the hand .of the See also:lady of Botron he was met with a refusal. Angered at this, Gerard enrolled himself among the Templars, biding his time for revenge, and was elected grand master on the death of Arnold. Baldwin IV. died (1185), leaving the See also:throne to his young nephew Baldwin V., the son of Sibylla, under the guardianship of Raymond, whose office was not of hang duration, as the little king died in See also:September 1 186. This was Gerard's opportunity. The Templars carried the body of their dead See also:sovereign to Jerusalem for burial; and then, unknown to the barons of the realm, Gerard and the patriarch crowned Sibylla and her See also:husband Guy. The See also:coronation of Guy was the See also:triumph of Raynald of Cha.tillon, once prince of Antioch, and Saladin's deadliest foe. It was at the same time the overthrow of Raymond's ambition; and both Latin and Arabic writers are agreed that the Christian count and the See also:Mahommedan See also:sultan now entered into an See also:alliance. To break this friendship and so save the kingdom, the two grand masters were sent See also:north to make terms with Raymond. But the rash valour of the Templars provoked a hopeless contest with 7000 Saracens. The grand master of the Hospitallers was slain; but Gerard made his See also:escape with three knights to See also:Nazareth (1st May 1187). In this emergency Raymond be-came reconciled with Guy; and Gerard placed the Temple treasures of Henry II. at his king's disposal. Once more it was the Templars' rashness that led to the disastrous battle of Hittin (4th July). Gerard and the king See also:fell into the hands of Saladin, but were released about a year later; Raymond of Tripoli made his escape through treachery or fortune; and 230 Templars fell in or after the battle, for the fight was scarcely over before Saladin ordered all the Templars and Hospitallers to be murdered in See also:cold See also:blood. One after another the Christian fortresses of See also:Palestine fell into the hands of Saladin. Jerusalem Fall of surrendered on 2nd-3rd See also:October 1187, and the treasures /eru- of the Temple coffers were used to See also:purchase the re- See also:salem. demption of the poorer Christians, part of whom the Templar warriors guarded on their sad march from the Holy City to Tripoli. Part of their See also:wealth was expended by Conrad of See also:Montferrat in the defence of Tyre; but, when this prince refused to admit Guy to his city, both the Templars and the Hospitallers from the neighbouring parts flocked to the banner siege of of their released king and accompanied him to the Acre. siege of Acre (22nd August t18g). In his See also:company they See also:bore their part in the two years' siege and the terrible See also:famine of 1 r9o-91; and their grand master died in the great battle of 4th October 1189, refusing to survive the slaughter of his brethren. On the fall of Acre Philip See also:Augustus established himself in the palace of the Templars, who are, however, stated to havesympathized with See also:Richard. This king sold them the See also:island of Cyprus for xoo,000 besants; but, unable to pay the purchase money, they transferred the See also:debt and the principality to Guy of Lusignan. The English king consulted them before deciding on any great military See also:movement; and in See also:June 1192 they advocated the bold See also:plan of an advance on Egypt rather than on Jerusalem. In the disputes for the Latin kingdom of the East the Templars seem to have supported Guy, and, like Richard, were credited with having had a hand in the See also:murder of Conrad of Montferrat (See also:April 1192). It was in the disguise of a Templar and in a Templar See also:galley that Richard See also:left the Holy Land. When Acre was recovered, the Templars, like the Hospitallers, received their own quarters in the town, which from this time became the centre of the order. On the death of Henry of Champagne (1197) they vetoed the election of Raoul de Tabarie; after the death of his successor Amalric they refused to renew the truce with Saladin's brother, Saif al-Din, and led an expedition against the Saracens before the arrival of the John de new king, John de Brienne, at whose coronation in Brienne. 1210 William de See also:Chartres, the grand master, was present. Seven years later, with the aid of See also:Walter de Avennis and of the Teutonic Knights, they commenced the See also:building of their fortress of Castle See also:Pilgrim, near Acre, on a rocky promontory washed by the Mediterranean on every side except the east. This wonderful structure, whose ruins are still to be seen, was fortified with a strong See also:wall, founded on the substructure of a yet more extensive one See also:running from See also:sea to sea, and was flanked by lofty towers of huge squared stones. Within was a See also:spring of pure See also:water, besides fishponds, See also:salt-mines, See also:woods, pastures, orchards, and all things fitted to furnish an See also:abode in which the Templars might await the day of their restoration to Jerusalem. It was from this castle that in May 1218 the fifth.crusade started for the expedition against Egypt. The Templars were the heroes of the siege of See also:Damietta, at which William Fifth de Chartres was slain. " First to attack and last to crusade. See also:retreat," they saved the Christian army from annihilation on 29th August 1219; and when the city surrendered (5th See also:November) the only one of its twenty-eight towers that had begun to give way had been shaken by their engines. On the other hand, it was largely owing to their objections that John de Brienne refused the sultan's offer to restore Jerusalem and Palestine. From the very first the Templars seem to have been opposed to See also:Frederick II., and when he landed at Acre (7th September 1228) they refused to march under the See also:banners of an excommunicated man, and would only accompany his See also:host from Acre to See also:Joppa in a separate body. They were accused of notifying Frederick's intended See also:pilgrimage to the Jordan to the sultan, and they were certainly opposed to Frederick's ten years' See also:peace with Al-Kamil, the sultan of Egypt, and refused to be present at his coronation in Jerusalem. Frederick was not slow to avenge himself: he left Jerusalem abruptly, publicly insulted the grand master, demanded the surrender of their fortresses, and even laid siege to Castle Pilgrim, He left Acre on the 3rd of May 1229, and on landing in Apulia gave orders to seize the estates of the order and See also:chase all its members from the land. Long before the expiration of Frederick's peace Europe was preparing for a fresh crusade against the now divided realm of the Ayyubids. See also:Theobald of Navarre and his crusaders seventh reached Palestine about August 1 239. The Templars crusade. shared in the great defeat near Jaffa, an engagement which their temerity had done much to provoke (r3th November x239). If the king ever accepted the overtures of Salih of Damascus, he was supporting the policy of See also:Hermann of See also:Perigord, the grand master, who towards the summer of 2244 wrote a triumphant letter to England, telling how he had engaged this sultan and Nasir of See also:Kerak to make an alliance against the sultan of Egypt and restore the whole of Palestine from the Jordan to the sea. Theobald, however, before leaving the Holy Land ( 27th September 1240), signed a ten years' truce with Salih of Egypt. The Hospitallers seem to have been won over to his view, and when Richard of See also:Cornwall arrived (rrth October) he had to decide between the two rival orders and their opposing policies. After some hesitation he concluded a treaty with the sultan of Egypt, much to the annoyance of the Templars, who openly mocked his efforts. On his departure the three orders came to open discord: the Templars laid siege to the Hospitallers in Acre and drove out the Teutonic Knights " in contumeliam imperatoris." They were successful on all sides. The negotiations with Damascus and Kerak were reopened, and in 1244 Hermann of Perigord wrote to the princes of Europe that after a " silence of fifty-six years the divine mysteries would once more be celebrated in the Holy City." It was in this moment of danger that the sultan of See also:Babylon called in the barbarous Kharizmians, whom the Mongol in-Khariz- vasions had driven from their native lands. These mtaa fa- savages, entering from the north, flowed like a See also:tide rash". past the newly built and impregnable Templar fortress of Safed, swept down on Jerusalem, and annihilated the Christian army near Gaza on St See also:Luke's day (18th October) 1244. From this See also:blow the Latin kingdom of the East never recovered; 600 knights took part in the battle; the whole force of the Templars, 300 in number, was present, but only 18 survived, and of 200 Hospitallers only 16. The masters cf both orders were slain or taken prisoners. Despite the admirable valour of the Templars, their policy had proved the ruin of the land. Jerusalem was lost to Christendom for ever; and, though the Kharizmians melted away in the course of the next three years, they left the See also:country so weak that all the acquisitions of Theobald and Richard fell an easy prey to the sultan of Babylon. Recognizing the fact that the true way to Jerusalem See also:lay through Egypt, Louis IX. led his host to the See also:banks of the Nile, Louis being accompanied by the Templars. Their master, Ix.'s William de Sonnac, attempted in vain to restrain crusade. the rash advance of the count of See also:Artois at the battle of See also:Mansura (8th See also:February 1250), which only three Templars survived. St Louis, when captured a few See also:weeks later, owed his speedy See also:release to the generosity with which the order advanced his See also:ransom-money. Shortly after his departure from Acre (April 1254) they consented to an eleven years' truce with the sultans of Egypt and Damascus. A new enemy was now threatening Mahommedan and Christian alike. For a time the Mongol advance may have been welcomed by the Christian cities, as one after another the Mahommedan principalities of the north fell before the new invaders. But this new danger stimulated the energies of See also:sue- Egypt, which under the See also:Mameluke Bibars encroached ceases year after year on the scanty remains of the Latin of See also:Bloom. kingdom. The great Frankish lords, fearing that all was lost, made haste to sell their lands to the Templars and the banners of both orders, Bibars nearly surprised Antioch. The Templar fortress of Safed surrendered with its See also:garrison of 60o knights, all of whom preferred death to See also:apostasy (June 1266). See also:Beaufort fell in 1268, Antioch six weeks later; and, though the two orders still made occasional brilliant dashes from their Acre stronghold, such as that to Ascalon in 1264 and that with Prince See also:Edward of England to destroy Kakun in 1271, they became so enfeebled as to welcome the treaty which secured them the See also:plain of Acre and a See also:free road to Nazareth as the result of the English crusade of 1272. But, though weak against See also:external foes, the Templars were strong enough for See also:internal warfare. In 1277 they espoused the See also:quarrel of the bishop of Tripoli, formerly a member of the order, against his nephew Bohemond, prince of Antioch and Tripoli, and began a war which lasted three years. In 1276 their conduct drove See also:Hugh III., king of Cyprus and Jerusalem, from Acre to Tyre. In the ensuing year, when See also:Mary of Antioch had sold her claim to the crown to See also: Frederick II.'s persecution of their order was one of the main causes of his excommunication in 1239; and his last will en-joined the restoration of their estates. Their property was scattered over every country of Christendom, from See also:Denmark to See also:Spain, from See also:Ireland to Cyprus. Before the middle of the 13th century See also:Matthew Paris reckons their manors at 9000, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines at 7050, whereas the rival order of St John had barely half the latter number. Some fifty years earlier their income from See also:Armenia alone was 20,000 besants. Both in Paris and in London their houses were used as strongholds for the royal treasure. In the Temple in London See also:Hubert de See also:Burgh and the Poitevin favourites of Henry III. stored their wealth; and the same building was used as a bank into which the debtors of the See also:foreign usurers paid their dues. From the English Templars Henry III. borrowed the purchase money of See also:Oleron in 1235; from the French Templars Philip IV. exacted the See also:dowry of his daughter See also:Isabella on her See also:marriage with Edward II. To Louis IX. they lent a great part of his ransom, and to Edward I. of England no less than 25,000 livres Tournois, of which they remitted four-fifths. Jacques de See also:Molay, the last grand master, came to France in 1306 with 150,000 See also:gold florins and ten horse-loads of silver.' In the Spanish See also:peninsula they occupied a peculiar position, and more than one king of Aragon is said to have been brought up under their discipline? ' The wealth of the Templars was due not so much to their territorial possessions as to the fact that they were the great inter- ut ssu as oans on Templars who made the See also:exchange of money with the East possible. It is easy, indeed, to see how they were the ideal bankers of the age; their strongholds were scattered from Armenia to Ireland, their military power and strict discipline ensured the safe transmission of treasure, while their reputation as monks guaranteed their integrity. Thus they became the predecessors, and later the rivals, of the great See also:Italian banking companies. See L. Delis!e, " Memoire stir Ies operations financieres See also:des Templiers " in Memoires de l'Institut See also:national de France, t. xxxii. To take See also:interest (See also:usury) was of course unlawful. The method of circumventing this seems to have been that the mortgages paid to the mortgagors a nominal See also:rent which was used towards the reduction of the debt. The difference between this and the real rent represented the interest. See See also:Ancient Charters, Pt. i. (See also:Pipe See also:Roll See also:Soc., London, 1888), edited by J. H. Round, p. 94 note. A document throwing a vivid light on the banking methods of the Templars and Hospitallers is a charter of See also:Margaret, See also:queen of the English, A.D. 1186, from the See also:abbey of See also:Fontevrault, printed in See also:Calendar of Documents, France (London, 1899), vol. i., ed. J.) H. Round, No. Io84. (W. A. IP' 2 The Templars in Aragon and the other kingdoms of the Spanish peninsula were far more subordinate to the crown than elsewhere. None but natives were admitted to their ranks, and there were very few exchanges of knights with foreign commanderies. They were d Hospitallers before quitting Palestine for ever. In 1260 the national financiers and bankers former See also:purchased Sidon and Beaufort; next year the Hos- was the centre of the See also:world's pitallers purchased See also:Arsuf. In 1267, by a skilful See also:adaptation of See also:kings deposited their revenues, a of the age. The Paris Temple money See also:market. In it popes and d these vast sums were not hoarded e secu ty. A ove , hequatt was e Such were the power and wealth of the Templars at the time when Philip IV. of France accused them of heresy and worse offences, had them arrested (13th October 1307), and forced them to confess by tortures of the most excruciating kinds. Five years later (26th May 1312) the order was suppressed by decree of the council of See also:Vienne and its goods transferred to the See also:hospital of St John. (T. A. A.) Never had the order of the Temple been to all See also:appearance more powerful than immediately before its ruin. Sovereign Suppress power, in the sense of that of the Teutonic Knights in slot' of See also:Prussia or the Knights of St John in See also:Rhodes and later in the See also:Malta, it had never possessed; but its privileges and order. immunities constituted it a church within the church and—in France at least—a state within the state. Philip IV., indeed, in pursuance of his policy of centralizing power in the crown, had from 1287 onwards made tentative efforts to curtail the power and wealth of the order; in 1287 he commanded the See also:sequestration of all its property acquired since the See also:confirmation of its privileges by Louis IX. in 1258; in 1289 the See also:ordinance of Ferrieres in GStinais was directed against its illegal acquisitions and its interference with the jurisdiction of the king and his vassals; in 1290 the See also:parlement decided that the privileges of the order could only be enjoyed by those who actually wore its habit. Soon, however, the king's necessities forced him to See also:change his policy. In See also:January 1293 the privileges of the order in and about Paris were confirmed and extended, and in 1297 Philip borrowed 5200 livres tournoises from the Paris Temple. Then came the great quarrel with Pope See also:Boniface VIII., and on the loth of August 1303 the king signed with Hugues de Peraud, the general visitor of the French Templars, a formal treaty of alliance against the pope. On the 6th of February 1304 Boniface's successor, Benedict XI., once more confirmed all the Templars' privileges; while Philip, for his part, appointed Hugues de Peraud See also:receiver of the royal revenues and, under pressure of the disastrous campaign in Flanders, in June granted a charter exempting the order from all hindrances to the acquisition of property. Two years later the king took See also:refuge in the Temple from the violence of the Paris See also:mob,' and so See also:late as the spring of 1307 was present at the reception of a new Templar .2 Yet for some two years past the king had been plotting a treacherous attack on the order. His motives are clear: he had used every expedient to raise money, had robbed and expelled the See also:Jews and the Lombard bankers, had debased the coinage; the suppression of the Templars would at once See also:rescue him from their unwelcome tutelage and replenish his coffers. He cherished also another ambition. The question of an amalgamation of the great military orders had often been mooted; the project had been approved by successive popes in the interests of the Holy Land; it had been formally proposed at the Lyons council of 1274, only to be rejected by the opposition of the Templars and Hospitallers themselves. To Philip this See also:scheme commended itself as an opportunity for bringing the orders under the See also:control of the French crown; there was to be but one order, that of the " Knights of Jerusalem," of which the grand master was always to be a prince of the royal house of France? Clearly, it only needed an excuse and a favourable opportunity to make him attack the Templars; and, once having attacked them, nothing short of their entire destruction would have been consistent with his safety. The excuse was found in the denunciation of the order for heresy and unspeak- bound to•See also:respond to demands of the grand master for consignments of men and money, but their main duty was to assist the king in his See also:wars against the See also:Moors at See also:home (ad Sarracenorum Yspanie ofensionem), a duty they fulfilled with conspicuous success and courage to the last.- See Finke i. 3, Papsttum and Untergang des Templerordens (p. 27), " See also:Die Sonderstellung der aragonesischen (und spanischen) Templer." See also Prutz, Templerherrenorden, p. 61 seq. In Portugal the Templars were practically feudatories of the crown, the master taking an oath of fealty to the king and his See also:heir (ib. p. 59). (W. A. P.) i For details see Lavocat, p. 120. 2 Finke i. 119. ' He himself was to be its first head, with the See also:title of " King of 1erusalem." See the letter (No. 75) from Leget F. to Bernart F. in Finke ii. rig.able immoralities by a venal informer; the opportunity was the election of a pope, See also:Clement V., wholly devoted to the interests of the king of France. For perhaps half a century there had been See also:strange stories circulating as to the secret See also:rites practised by the order at its midnight meetings, stories which probably had their Accusaorigin in the extreme precautions taken by the ttons. Templars, originally perhaps for military reasons, to secure the secrecy of their proceedings, which excited popular curiosity and suspicion. Among the Templars alone of the religious orders the ceremonies of reception were conducted in strict privacy; chapters were held at daybreak with closely guarded doors, and no one participating was allowed to reveal what had passed, even to a fellow-member of the order, under See also:pain of See also:expulsion. It was inevitable that, considering the See also:temper of the age, all this should See also:lead to stories of rites too repulsive to bear the light. It was said that on his See also:initiation each member had to disavow his belief in Christ, to See also:spit upon the crucifix, to submit to indecent ceremonies. When the See also:mass was celebrated the consecrating words Hoc est corpus were omitted; on See also:Good See also:Friday the holy cross was trampled under foot; and the Christian duty of almsgiving had ceased to be observed. Even the vaunted chastity of the order towards women had, it was said, been turned into the formal See also:obligation to commit more horrible offences. These evil practices were part of the secret See also:statute law of an order which in its nightly assemblies worshipped an idol named See also:Baphomet d or the See also:devil in the shape of a black See also:cat. Devils, too, appeared in the form of beautiful women (succubi), with whom the brothers had carnal intercourse. In England the very See also:children at their See also:play bade one another beware of a Templar's kisses. Stranger stories yet were rife in England and gravely reported before bishops and priests—of children slain by their fathers because they chanced to See also:witness the nightly orgies of the society; of one prior's being spirited away at every See also:meeting of the general chapter; of the great preceptor's declaring that a single hair of a Saracen's beard was See also:worth more than the whole body of a Christian man. In France they were said to roast their illegitimate children and smear their idols with the burning See also:fat.
In the spring of 1304 or 1305 a certain Esquiu de Floyran of See also:Beziers pretended to betray the " secret of the Templars (factum Templariorum) to See also: A Templar at See also:Florence called the idol See also:Mahomet or Magomet. Baphomet was a common See also:medieval corruption of Mahomet (Maphomet, Mahom, &c.), who was regarded, not as a false See also:prophet only, but as a demon, a false god to whom human sacrifices were offered. Hence any unholy or fantastic rites came to be called baffumerie, mahomerie, mbmerie, i.e. " mummery." See also:Hammer-Purgstall's derivation from See also:Waco', MnToi,c, i.e. the See also:baptism of Metis (the supreme wisdom), has no trustworthy evidence to support it. See Loiseleur, See also:Doctrine secrete, p. 97 seq. 6 Finke ii. 83, No. 57, publishes a letter of Esquiu to the king, dated gist January 1308, claiming his reward. Esquiu is the Squin de See also:Florian of See also:Villani; the other informer mentioned by him, Noffo Dei (Deghi) of Florence, had, however, nothing to do with the matter; he was in See also:financial relations with the Temple at Paris, and was hanged for swindling. Nor was Esquiu's See also:motive to save himself from See also:execution, but purely See also:mercenary. The existence of an informer, doubted by See also:Lea (Inqussition iii. 253) and others, is now proved. expressing his disbelief in the charges against the order, and, though promising an inquiry, doing his best to procrastinate. Philip determined to force his hand. All France was at this time under the jurisdiction of the See also:Inquisition, and the Inquisition could act without consulting the pope. The grand inquisitor of France, William of Paris, was Philip's See also:confessor and creature. The way was thus open for the king to carry out his plan by a perfectly legal method. His informers denounced the Templars to the Inquisition, and the grand inquisitor—as was the customary procedure in the case of persons accused of heresy—demanded their See also:arrest by the See also:civil power. On the 14th of September 1307, accordingly, Philip issued writs to his baillis and seneschals throughout the kingdom, directing them to make preparations to arrest the members of the order on the following 13th of October. The Templars had for some time past been aware of the charges against them. On the 6th of June 1306 Pope Clement had summoned Jacques de Molay, the grand master, from Cyprus to France, in order to consult him on the projected crusade. He had obeyed the See also:call, and, in an interview with the pope, had taken the opportunity to demand a full inquiry. They had, however, taken no measures to defend themselves; the sudden action of the king took them wholly by surprise; Arrest and on the night of Friday, the 13th of October 1307, of the their arrest was effected without difficulty, Jacques Templars. de Molay himself with sixty of his brethren being seized in Paris. Next day they were haled before the university of Paris, to hear the See also:recital of their crimes; on See also:Sunday the populace was collected in the royal gardens, where preachers inveighed against the iniquities of the order. The Templars were caught in toils from which there was no escape. To force them to confess, they were first tortured by the royal officials, before being handed over to the inquisitors to be, if need were, tortured again. In Paris alone See also:thirty-six died under the process.' The result was, at the outset, all that the king could See also:desire. Of 138 Templars examined in Paris between the 19th of October and the 24th of November, some of them old men who had been in the order the greater part of their lives, 123 confessed to spitting on (or " near ") the crucifix at their reception. Many of the prisoners, on the other hand, confessed to all the charges, however See also:grotesque. But the most damning See also:confession was that of the grand master himself, publicly made with tears and protestations of contrition and embodied in a letter (October 25) sent to all the Templars in France. He had been guilty, he said, of denying Christ and spitting on the cross; the grosser charges he indignantly re- pudiated? To the pope, meanwhile, the proceedings in France were to the highest degree unwelcome. He had, indeed, become convinced, if not of the general See also:guilt of the order, at least of the guilt of some of its members. But the affair was one which he desired to reserve for his own See also:judgment; Philip's action he interpreted, rightly, as an encroachment of the civil power on the privileges and property of the Church, and his fears were increased when the French king, without consulting him, sent letters to King James of Aragon, Edward II. of England, the See also:German king See also:Albert and other princes, calling upon them to imitate his example. On the 27th of October Clement issued letters suspending the See also:powers of the Inquisition in France. What followed is not clear, for the documentary evidence for these months is very defective. On the 17th of November James of Aragon wrote to Philip, in See also:answer to his letter and the See also:report of the proceedings in Paris forwarded to him,' expressing 1 See also:Michelet, Prods, i. 36. 1 Jacques de Molay's confession was partly due to fear of See also:torture, partly to secure the withdrawal of a specific charge of unnatural See also:crime brought against him by the Templar See also:Guillaume de Giac (See also:Gmelin ii., Tab. i. No. 12). But he continued to demand See also:access to the pope, declaring that he could satisfactorily explain the practices of the order. Text in Finke ii. The writer, Rotneus de Brugaria, of the ..alversity of Paris, boldly declares that the proceedings were taken See also:Orsini papae assensu precedenk.his surprise at the charges against the Templars, who had done himself and his forefathers great service against the infidel, but promising to proceed against them since required to do so ` by the Church.'" In Portugal no action was taken at all. Edward II. of England replied that he must first receive in-formation as to the charges from his officials in See also:Agen (whence the charges had originated), and on the 5th of See also:December he wrote to the kings of Aragon, Castile, Portugal and See also:Sicily begging them not to believe the evil reports against the order (Prutz, p. 159). But meanwhile, on the 22nd of November, Pope Clement had issued a bull calling on all kings and princes to arrest the Templars everywhere, his motive probably being (according to Finke) to forestall the probable action of the secular powers and keep the affair in his own hands. All scruples and hesitations now vanished. In England the Templars were arrested on the loth of January 1308, in Sicily on the 24th of the same See also:month, in Cyprus on the 27th of May; in Aragon and Castile the process was less easy, for the knights, fore-warned, had put their fortresses into a state of defence, notably their strong castle of Monzon, which was only taken after a long siege on the 17th of May, while the last of the Templars' strongholds, Castellat, did not fall until the and of November.' Meanwhile, on the 26th of May, Philip had made his See also:solemn entry into See also:Poitiers, where the pope and cardinals had already assembled for the purpose of conferring with the king on the matter. The debates that followed were protracted and stormy; but Philip was in a positon to back his See also:argument for the suppression of the order by pressing other and more dangerous claims: the See also:canonization of See also:Celestine V., the condemnation of Boniface VIII. for heresy, the absolution of Guillaume de See also:Nogaret, the executer of the See also:outrage at Anagni, the summoning of a general council, the settlement of the papacy at See also:Avignon. At last, on the 27th of June, an arrangement was come to. The king agreed to hand over to the papal commissioners the property s and persons of the Templars; Clement, for his part, withdrew the See also:sentence of suspension against the grand inquisitor of France (July 5) and ordered an inquisition into the charges against individual Templars by the diocesan bishops with assessors nominated by himself. The examination of the grand master, of the grand visitor of France, and of the grand preceptors of Cyprus, Normandy and See also:Aquitaine he reserved to himself. Inquisition was to be made into the conduct of the order in each country by special papal commissions; and the fate of the order as a whole was to be decided by a general council' These decisions were at once acted on. At Poitiers Clement had already heard the confessions of seventy-two Templars, carefully selected from the royal prisons (June 29 to July 1) 8 The grand master and the three preceptors were re-examined at See also:Chinon, and renewed their old confessions (loth August). Lastly, the bull Regnans in Coelo summoned a great council at Vienne for the 1st of October 1311, when the question of the guilt of the order might be considered. Meanwhile the pope and cardinals had elaborated the organization of the new inquisition. In this the actual inquisitors, though admitted, played a quite subordinate part: the commissions centred round the diocesan bishops, who had as assessors prelates, abbots, priors and canonists. These commissions were two-See also:fold, usually—though erroneously—distinguished as papal and episcopal (both were in fact papal); the first were charged with the inquisition into the accusations against the order itself and the grand preceptors of the various countries, the second with Text in Finke ii. 55. ° Finke i. 302 if. Some of the Spanish Templars turned Mahommedan and joined the king of See also:Granada in an invasion of Aragon (Finke H. 188, No. 105). ° This was to be devoted to the cause of the Holy Land. In fact its administration fell into the hands of Philip s confidants and the greater part remained -in his possession (Finke i. 227). ' For a detailed account of the negotiations see Finke i. 200 ff. He holds that Clement, though now convinced of the Templars' guilt, was anxious to treat them leniently and, if possible, to save the order (p. 215). ° See Gmelin ii., Tab. vii. and viii. that into the accusations against individual Templars. The papal See also:commission in Paris began its sessions on the 9th of August 13o9; on the 12th; citations were issued to those Templars who " of their own free will " were prepared to come and defend the order. There was much confusion and delay, however, and the actual public trial did not begin till the 11th of April 1310.1 Many Templars, trusting in the assurance implied in their See also:citation, had volunteered to defend the order and withdrew their previous confessions. They were soon undeceived; the commission, presided over by the garde des sceaux of the king, the archbishop of See also:Narbonne, was packed with creatures of the crown. The evidence given in Paris for or against the order was, it was soon found, used against the individual Templars on their return to the provinces; the retractation of a confession, under the rules set up for the diocesan inquisition, was punished with death by See also:fire. On Tuesday The the 12th of May, fifty-four Templars who had re- triaL tracted their confessions before the commission were burnt in Paris by order of the archbishop of See also:Sens;2 a few days later four were burnt at Senlis, and towards the end of May nine more, by order of the archbishop of See also:Reims. Forty-six Templars now withdrew their defence, and the commissioners in Paris decided (3oth May) to adjourn till November. The second examination lasted from the 17th of December 1310 to the 16th of May 1311. Meanwhile (c. April 1311) Clement and Philip had come to terms. The pope condemned the Templars. The council of Vienne met in October 131.1. A discussion arose as to whether the Templars should be heard in their own de-fence. Clement, it is said, See also:broke up the session to avoid compliance; and when seven Templars offered themselves as deputies for the defence he had them See also:cast into See also:prison. Towards the beginning of March Philip came to Vienne, and he was seated at the pope's right hand when that pontiff delivered his See also:sermon against the Templars (3rd April 1312), whose order had just been abolished, not at the general council, but in private con sstory (22nd March). On 2nd May 1312 he published the bull Ad Providam, transferring the goods of the society, except for the kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Portugal and See also:Majorca, to the Knights of St John. The order was never formally pronounced guilty of the crimes laid to its charge; its abolition was distinctly, in the terms of Clement's bull Considerantes Dudum, " non per modum definitivae sententiae, cum See also:eam super hoc secundum inquisitiones et processus super his habitos non possemus ferre de jure sed per viam provisionis et ordinationis apostolicae " (6th May 1312). The final act of the stupendous tragedy came early in 1314. Jacques de Molay, the grand master, had not hitherto risen' to the height of his great position; the fear of torture alone had been enough to make him confess, and this confession had been used to See also:extract avowals from his brethren, subject as they were to unspeakable sufferings and accustomed to yield to the military chief. Humiliation on humiliation had been heaped on the wretched man, public recantations, reiterated confessions. Before the papal commission he had flamed into anger, protested, equivocated—only in the end to repeat his confession once more. The same had happened before the commission of cardinals at Chinon; the See also:audience with the pope, which he demanded, he had never obtained. On the 6th of May 1312 Pope Clement issued his final decision as to the fate of the Templars in general; that of the five great offices of the order he reserved in his own hand:- With this a silence falls over the history of the Templars; a the fate of the order had been de- ' This was, of course, only one of some twenty-five separate commissions in different countries. It was, however, the most important and is the best known. 2 Philippe de See also:Marigny, brother of Enguerrand de Marigny, the king's See also:minister, had been appointed archbishop of Sens at Philip IV.'s instance in April, and was naturally full of zeal for the royal cause. The condemned Templars appealed to the papal commission, which was sympathetic, but replied that it had no authority to interfere with the archbishop's ordinary jurisdiction. (See also:Raynouard, p. 92.) Finke devotes an interesting chapter to tracing what became of the property of the order and of the individual Templars.' Thecided, that of the individuals still under trial was of little interest to contemporary chroniclers. Then the See also:veil is suddenly lifted. Jacques de Molay has found his wonted courage at last, and with him Gaufrid de Charney, the preceptor of Normandy; on the 14th of March 1314 they were brought out on to a See also:scaffold erected in front of Notre See also:Dame, there in the presence of the papal legates and of the people to repeat their confessions and to receive their sentence of perpetual imprisonment. Instead, they seized the opportunity to withdraw their confessions and to protest to the assembled thousands the innocence of the order. King Philip the See also:Fair did not wait to consult the Church as to what he should do; he had them burnt " in the little island " of the Seine between the See also:Augustinians and the royal See also:garden "; with them perished Guy (the Guido Delphini of the trials), the youthful son of the dauphin of See also:Auvergne. After the deaths of the pope and king, which followed shortly, the people remembered that the grand master had summoned them with his dying breath before the judgment seat of God; but the See also:sole recorded contemporary protest is that of the Augustinians against the trespass committed by the royal officers on their land! On the question of the guilt or innocence of the Templars in respect of the specific charges on which the order was condemned See also:opinion has long been divided. Their innocence was maintained by the greatest of all their contemporaries, See also:Dante,' and among others by the historian Villani and by the sainted See also:Antoninus, archbishop of See also:Padua. In more See also:recent times a certain See also:heat was introduced into the discussion of the question owing to its having been for centuries brought into the See also:arena of party controversy, between Protestants and Catholics, Gallicans and Ultramontanes, Freemasons and the Church. Thus in 1654 See also:Pierre Du See also:Puy, librarian of the Bibliotheque Royale, published his work on the Templars to confute those who sought to establish their innocence in order to discredit a king of France. On the other hand, See also:Nicolas Gurtler published his Historia Temglariorum (See also:Amsterdam, 1691, 2nd ed. 1703) to show, as a good See also:Protestant, that the Templars had the usual vices of See also:Roman Catholics, while, according to Loiseleur, the later editors of Du Puy (especially of the 1751 edition,' ostensibly printed at See also:Brussels) were Freemasons who, under false names, garbled the old material and inserted new in the interests of the supposed origin of their own order in that of the Templars." Several Roman See also:Catholic- champions of the order now entered the See also: 92.)
Histoire de l'ordre militaire des tern pliers, &c. The titles of the various See also:editions differ.
8 There is, of course, no foundation whatever for this claim. It is examined and refuted, inter alios, by Wilcke, iii. 383 seq. A delightfully absurd attempt to assert the continuity of the See also:modern Order of Knights Templars, which still has a considerable organization in the United States, with the suppressed order,, is made by See also:Jeremy L. Cross in The Templars' See also:Chart (New See also:York, 1845) ; he actually gives a complete list of grand masters from Hugues de Payns to See also:Sir See also:Sidney See also: Others, like Boutaric,' while rejecting the charge of heresy, accepted the evidence for the spuitio and the indecent kisses, explaining the former as a See also:formula of forgotten meaning and the latter as a sign of fraternite! Michelet, who in his history of France had expressed himself favourably to the order, announced his See also:conversion to the opposite opinion in the prefaces to his edition of the Proces. This view was reinforced by the work in which Loiseleur endeavoured to prove that the order had secretly rejected See also:Christianity in favour of an heretical See also:religion based on Gnostic See also:dualism as taught by the Cathari ;' it was crowned with the high authority of See also:Ranke in the great Weltgeschichte (8 Theil, 1887, p. 621 ff.) ; it has been adopted in the later Weltgeschichte of See also:Weber (8 Theil, 1887, p. 521 ff.). The greatest impulse to this view was, however, given by the brilliant contributions of Hans Prutz. The first of these, the Geheimlehre, in the main an expansion of Loiseleur's argument, at once raised up a host of critics; and, as a result of five years' study of the archives at Rome and elsewhere, Konrad Schottmuller published in 1887 his Untergang des Templerordens, in which he claimed to have crushed Prutz's conclusions under the See also:weight of a mass of new evidence. The work was, however, uncritical and full of conspicuous errors, and Prutz had little difficulty in turning many of its author's arguments against himself. This was done in the Entwicklung and Untergang des Tempelherrenordens (1888), in which, however, Prutz modifies his earlier views so far as to withdraw his contention that the Templars had a " formally developed secret doctrine," while maintaining that the See also:custom of denying Christ and spitting on the cross was often, and in some provinces universally, practised at the reception of the brethren, as a coarse test of obedience, of which the original sense had partly been forgotten, partly heretically interpreted under the See also:influence of later heresies."' This view was maintained by Mr T. A. See also:Archer in the 9th ed. of the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica. It was criticized and rejected by See also:Dollinger in the last of his university lectures (19th Nov. 1889), and by Karl Wenck in several articles in the Gottinger Gelehrte Anzeigen; and it was further attacked by J. Gmelin (Schuld See also:oder Unschuld, 2 Bd. 1893), whose work,, in spite of its somewhat ponderous polemic, is valuable as a mine of learning and by reason of the sources (notably the tables of the evidence taken at the trials) which it publishes. H. C. Lea, in his History of the Inquisition 1888, vol. iii.), had already come independently to the conclusion that the Templars were See also:innocent. Lastly appeared the fascinatingly interesting and closely reasoned See also:book of See also:Professor H. Finke (1907) which, based partly on a mass of new material drawn from the Aragonese archives, had for its See also:object to supplement the work of Gmelin and to establish the innocence of the order on an incontrovertible basis. ' F. J. M. Raynouard, Monuments historiques, relatifs a la con-damnation des chevaliers du Temple, &c. (Paris, 1813).
! In vol. vi. of Fundgruben des Orients (See also:Vienna, 1818). In reply to his critics Hammer published in 1855 his " Die Schuld der Templer " (K. Akad. zu Wien Denkschrift., vi.), in which he reproduced drawings of two remarkable caskets, sculptured with Gnostic pictures, from the former collection of the duc de Blacas, said to have been found on the sites of Temples. To the present writer the evidence that any of these See also:objects had been connected with the Templars seemed singularly unconvincing even before he had seen the trenchant criticisms of Wilcke (ii. 290, ed. 1862, Beilage 22) and Loiseleur (Doctrine secrete, 4me partie, p. 97 seq.). If such objects existed, why were none brought up as evidence against the Templars at their trial ?
' Wilhelm See also: 140 seq.
' J. Loiseleur, La Doctrine secrete des Templiers (See also: In Castile, where the king flung them into prison, they were acquitted at the council at See also:Salamanca. In Aragon, where they held out for a time in their fortresses against the royal power, the council of See also:Tarragona proclaimed in their favour (4th November 1312). In Portugal the commissioners reported that there were no grounds for See also:accusation. At See also:Mainz the council pronounced the order blameless. At Treves, at See also:Messina, and at See also:Bologna, in Romagna and in Cyprus, they were either acquitted or no evidence was forthcoming against them. At the council of See also:Ravenna the question as to whether torture should be used was answered in the negative except by two See also:Dominicans; all the Templars were absolved—even those who had confessed through fear of torture being pronounced innocent (18th June 131o). Six Templars were examined at Florence, and their evidence is for its length the most remarkable of all that is still extant. Roughly speaking, they confess with the most elaborate detail to every charge,—even the most loathsome; and the perusal of their evidence induces a constant suspicion that their answers were practically dictated to them in the process of the examination or invented by the witnesses themselves.? In England, where perhaps torture was not used, out of eighty Templars examined only four confessed to the charge of denying Christ, and of these four two were apostate knights. But some English Templars would only See also:guarantee the purity of their own country. That in England as elsewhere the charges were held to be not absolutely proved seems evident from the form of confession to be used before absolution, in which the Templars acknowledge themselves to be defamed in the matter of certain articles that they cannot purge themselves. In England nearly all the worst evidence comes at second or third hand or through the depositions of See also:Franciscans and Dominicans," i.e. the rivals and enemies of the order. But what is the nature of the evidence " too strong to be explained away " on which Mr Archer bases his opinion that certain of the charges were proved " at least in France "? The modern practice of the English courts tends to See also:discount altogether the value as evidence of confessions, even freely made. What is the value of these confessions of the Templars which See also:lie before us in the Tables published by Gmelin? The procedure of the Inquisition left no alternative to those accused on " vehement suspicion " of heresy, but confession or death under lingering torture; to withdraw a confession, meant instant death by fire. The Templars, for the most part See also:simple and illiterate men, were suddenly arrested, cant separately into dark dungeons, loaded with chains, starved, terrorized, and tortured. They were told the charges to which their leaders had confessed, or were said to have confessed: to repeat the monotonous formula admitting the spuitio super crucem and the like was to obtain their freedom at the cost of a comparatively mild See also:penance. The wonder is not that so many confessed, but that so many persisted in their denial. The evidence, in short, is, from the modern point of view, wholly worthless, as even some contemporaries suspected it to be. A word must be added as to the significance of the work of the Templars and of the manner of their fall in the history of the world. Two great things the order had done for European See also:civilization: in the East and in Spain it had successfully checked the advance of Islam; it had deepened , and given a religious sanction to the See also:idea of the chivalrous man, the home legalis, and so opened up, to a class of people who for centuries to come were to exercise enormous influence, See also:spheres of activity the beneficent effects of which are still recognizable in the worlds On the other hand, the destruction of the Templars had three consequences fateful for Christian civilization: (I) It facilitated the conquests of the See also:Turks by preventing the Templars from playing in Cyprus the part which the Knights of St John played in Malta.9 (2) It partly set a precedent for, partly confirmed, the cruel criminal procedure of France, which lasted to the Revolution. (3) It set the seal of the highest authority on the 7 See the evidence in full, ap. Loiseleur, pp. 172--212. 8 G. Schnilrer, quoted in Finke, i. I. In his See also:essay on the Templars (The Spanish Story of the See also:Armada and other Essays, 1892) See also:Fronde says that the order lacked " the only support that never fails—some legitimate place among the useful agencies of the time." Was there no use for them against the advancing tide of See also:Turkish conquest in the East? Or in Spain against the Moorish powers? If not, why did the Hospitallers survive? See also:Froude's contribution is but a popular lecture, however, and, for all its beauty of See also:style, characteristically careless (e.g. such mistakes as Hugh von Peyraud, Esquin von Florian). popular belief in See also:witchcraft and See also:personal intercourse with the devil, sanctioned the expedient of wringing confessions of such intercourse from the accused by unspeakable tortures, and so made possible the hideous See also:witch-persecutions which darkened the later middle ages and, even in Protestant countries, long survived the See also:Reformation. " If I were to name a day in the whole history of the world," said Dellinger at the conclusion of his last public lecture, " which appears to me in the truest sense as a See also:dies nefastus, I should be able to name no other than the 13th of October 1307." A comprehensive bibliography of See also:works is given by Ulysse See also:Chevalier in his Repertoire des sources hist. Topo-biblio-graphie, s.v. Templiers." Of the works not fully indicated in the text must be mentioned M. Lavocat, Proces des freres et de l'ordre du Temple (Paris, 1888); G. Schnurer, Die ursprungliche Templerregel (1903); H. Finke, Papsttum and Untergang des Tent plerordens (See also:Monster,-i.-W., 1907); C. G. Addison, The Knights Templars (London, 3rd ed. 18J4), which contains a valuable account of the suppression of the order in England. For the order and its suppression in Ireland see See also:Herbert Wood, " The Templars in Ireland, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish See also:Academy, vol. See also:xxvi. See also:Section c. p. 327 (See also:Dublin, 1906-1907). (W. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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