The History of the Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and the Temple

On the 20th of May, in obedience to the mandate of the archbishop of York, an ecclesiastical council of the bishops and clergy assembled in the cathedral. The mass of the Holy Ghost was solemnly celebrated, after which the archbishop preached a sermon, and then caused to be read to the assembled clergy the papal bulls fulminated against the order of the Temple.³⁷⁶ He exhibited to them the articles upon which the Templars had been directed to be examined; but as the inquiry was still pending, the council was adjourned until the 23rd of June of the following year, when they were to meet to pass sentence of condemnation, or of absolution, against all the members of the order in the province of York, in conformity with ecclesiastical law.³⁷⁷

On the 1st of June the examination was resumed before the papal inquisitors at Lincoln. Sixteen Templars were examined upon points connected with the secret proceedings in the general and particular chapters of the order, the imposition of penances therein, and the nature of the absolution granted by the Master. From the replies it appears that the penitents were scourged three times with leathern thongs, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, after which they were absolved either by the Master or by a priest of the order, according to the particular circumstances of each case. It appears, also, that none but preceptors were present at the general chapters of the order, which were called together principally for the purpose of obtaining money to send to the Grand Master and the chief convent in Palestine.³⁷⁸

After closing the examinations at Lincoln, the abbot of Lagny and the canon of Narbonne returned to London, and immediately resumed the inquiry in that city. On the 8th and 9th days of June, Brother William de la More, the Master of the Temple, and thirty-eight of his knights, chaplains, and sergeants, were examined by the inquisitors in the presence of the bishops of London and Chichester, and the before-mentioned public notaries, in the priory of the Holy Trinity. They were interrogated for the most part concerning the penances imposed, and the absolution pronounced in the chapters. The Master of the Temple was required to state what were the precise words uttered by him, as the president of the chapter, when a penitent brother, having bared his back and acknowledged his fault, came into his presence and received the discipline of the leathern thongs. He states that he was in the habit of saying, “Brother, pray to God that he may forgive you;” and to the bystanders he said, “And do ye, brothers, beseech the Lord to forgive him his sins, and say a pater-noster;” and that he said nothing further, except to warn the offender against sinning again. He declares that he did not pronounce absolution in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost! and relates, that in a general chapter, and as often as he held a particular chapter, he was accustomed to say, after prayers had been offered up, that all those who did not acknowledge their sins, or who appropriated to their own use the alms of the house, could not be partakers in the spiritual blessings of the order; but that which through shamefacedness, or through fear of the justice of the order, they dared not confess, he, out of the power conceded to him by God and the pope, forgave him as far as he was able. Brother William de Sautre, however, declares that the president of the chapter, after he had finished the flagellation of a penitent brother, said, “I forgive you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” and then sent him to a priest of the order for absolution; and the other witnesses vary in their account of the exact words uttered, either because they were determined, in obedience to their oaths, not to reveal what actually did take place, or else (which is very probable) because the same form of proceeding was not always rigidly adhered to.

When the examination was closed, the inquisitors drew up a memorandum, showing that, from the apostolical letters, and the depositions and attestations of the witnesses, it was to be collected that certain practices had crept into the order of the Temple, which were not consistent with the orthodox faith.³⁷⁹

CHAPTER X

The Templars in France revoke their rack-extorted confessions – They are tried as relapsed heretics, and burnt at the stake – The progress of the inquiry in England – The curious evidence adduced as to the mode of holding the chapters of the order – As to the penance enjoined therein, and the absolution pronounced by the Master – The Templars draw up a written defence, which they present to the ecclesiastical council – They are placed in separate dungeons, and put to the torture – Two serving brethren and a chaplain of the order then make confessions – Many other Templars acknowledge themselves guilty of heresy in respect of their belief in the religious authority of their Master – They make their recantations, and are reconciled to the church before the south door of Saint Paul’s cathedral – The order of the Temple is abolished by the Pope – The last of the Masters of the Temple in England dies in the Tower – The disposal of the property of the order – Observations on the downfall of the Templars.

 
Veggio ’l nuovo Pilato sì crudele,
Che cio nol sazia, ma, senza decreto
Porta nel Tempio le cupide vele.
 

ante. Del Purgatorio. Canto xx. 91.

James de Molay.

A. D. 1310.

In France, on the other hand, the proceedings against the order had assumed a most sanguinary character. Many Templars, both in the capital and the provinces, had made confessions of guilt whilst suffering upon the rack, but they had no sooner been released from the hands of their tormentors, and had recovered their health, than they disavowed their confessions, maintained the innocence of their order, and appealed to all their gallant actions, in ancient and modern times, in refutation of the calumnies of their enemies. The enraged Philip caused these Templars to be brought before an ecclesiastical tribunal convoked at Paris, and sentence of death was passed upon them by the archbishop of Sens, in the following terms: —

“You have avowed,” said he, “that the brethren who are received into the order of the Temple are compelled to renounce Christ and spit upon the cross, and that you yourselves have participated in that crime: you have thus acknowledged that you have fallen into the sin of heresy. By your confession and repentance you had merited absolution, and had once more become reconciled to the church. As you have revoked your confession, the church no longer regards you as reconciled, but as having fallen back to your first errors. You are, therefore, relapsed heretics(!) and as such, we condemn you to the fire.”³⁸⁰

The following morning, (Tuesday, May 12,) in pursuance of this absurd and atrocious sentence, fifty-four Templars were handed over to the secular arm, and were led out to execution by the king’s officers. They were conducted into the open country, in the environs of the Porte St. Antoine des Champs at Paris, and were burnt to death in a most cruel manner before a slow fire. All historians speak with admiration of the heroism and intrepidity with which they met their fate.³⁸¹

Many hundred other Templars were dragged from the dungeons of Paris before the archbishop of Sens and his council. Those whom neither the agony of the torture nor the fear of death could overcome, but who remained stedfast amid all their trials in the maintenance of the innocence of their order, were condemned to perpetual imprisonment as unreconciled heretics; whilst those who, having made the required confessions of guilt, continued to persevere in them, received absolution, were declared reconciled to the church, and were set at liberty. Notwithstanding the terror inspired by these executions, many of the Templars still persisted in the revocation of their confessions, which they stigmatized as the result of insufferable torture, and boldly maintained the innocence of their order.

On the 18th of August, four other Templars were condemned as relapsed heretics by the council of Sens, and were likewise burned by the Porte St. Antoine; and it is stated that a hundred and thirteen Templars were from first to last burnt at the stake in Paris. Many others were burned in Lorraine; in Normandy; at Carcassone, and nine, or, according to some writers, twenty-nine, were burnt by the archbishop of Rheims at Senlis! King Philip’s officers, indeed, not content with their inhuman cruelty towards the living, invaded the sanctity of the tomb; they dragged a dead Templar, who had been Treasurer of the Temple at Paris, from his grave, and burnt the mouldering corpse as a heretic.³⁸² In the midst of all these sanguinary atrocities, the examinations continued before the ecclesiastical tribunals. Many aged and illustrious warriors, who merited a better fate, appeared before their judges pale and trembling. At first they revoked their confessions, declared their innocence, and were remanded to prison; and then, panic-stricken, they demanded to be led back before the papal commissioners, when they abandoned their retractations, persisted in their previous avowals of guilt, humbly expressed their sorrow and repentance, and were then pardoned, absolved, and reconciled to the church! The torture still continued to be applied, and out of thirty-three Templars confined in the chateau d’Alaix, four died in prison, and the remaining twenty confessed, amongst other things, the following absurdities: – that in the provincial chapter of the order held at Montpelier, the Templars set up a head and worshipped it; that the devil often appeared there in the shape of a cat, and conversed with the assembled brethren, and promised them a good harvest, with the possession of riches, and all kinds of temporal property. Some asserted that the head worshipped by the fraternity possessed a long beard; others that it was a woman’s head; and one of the prisoners declared that as often as this wonderful head was adored, a great number of devils made their appearance in the shape of beautiful women…!!³⁸³

We must now unfold the dark page in the history of the order in England. All the Templars in custody in this country had been examined separately and apart, and had, notwithstanding, deposed in substance to the same effect, and given the same account of their reception into the order, and of the oaths that they took. Any reasonable and impartial mind would consequently have been satisfied of the truth of their statements; but it was not the object of the inquisitors to obtain evidence of the innocence, but proof of the guilt, of the order. At first, king Edward the Second, to his honour, forbade the infliction of torture upon the illustrious members of the Temple in his dominions – men who had fought and bled for Christendom, and of whose piety and morals he had a short time before given such ample testimony to the principal sovereigns of Europe. But the virtuous resolution of the weak king was speedily overcome by the all-powerful influence of the Roman pontiff, who wrote to him in the month of June, upbraiding him for preventing the inquisitors from submitting the Templars to the discipline of the rack.³⁸⁴ Influenced by the admonitions of the pope, and the solicitations of the clergy, king Edward, on the 26th of August, sent orders to John de Crumbewell, constable of the Tower, to deliver up all the Templars in his custody, at the request of the inquisitors, to the sheriffs of London, in order that the inquisitors might be able to proceed more conveniently and effectually with their inquisition.³⁸⁵ And on the same day he directed the sheriffs to receive the prisoners from the constable of the Tower, and cause them to be placed in the custody of gaolers appointed by the inquisitors, to be confined in prisons or such other convenient places in the city of London as the inquisitors and bishops should think expedient, and generally to permit them to do with the bodies of the Templars whatever should seem fitting, in accordance with ecclesiastical law. He directs, also, that from thenceforth the Templars should receive their sustenance at the hands of such newly-appointed gaolers.³⁸⁶

On the Tuesday after the feast of St. Matthew, (Sept. 21st,) the ecclesiastical council again assembled at London, and caused the inquisitions and depositions taken against the Templars to be read, which being done, great disputes arose touching various alterations observable in them. It was at length ordered that the Templars should be again confined in separate cells in the prisons of London; that fresh interrogatories should be prepared, to see if by such means the truth could be extracted, and if by straitenings and confinement they would confess nothing further, then the torture was to be applied; but it was provided that the examination by torture should be conducted without the PERPETUAL MUTILATION OR DISABLING OF ANY LIMB, AND WITHOUT A VIOLENT EFFUSION OF BLOOD! and the inquisitors and the bishops of London and Chichester were to notify the result to the archbishop of Canterbury, that he might again convene the assembly for the purpose of passing sentence, either of absolution or of condemnation. These resolutions having been adopted, the council was prorogued, on the following Saturday, de die in diem, until the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, A. D. 1311.³⁸⁷

On the 6th of October, a fortnight after the above resolution had been formed by the council, the king sent fresh instructions to the constable of the Tower, and the sheriffs of London, directing them to deliver up the Templars, one at a time, or altogether, and receive them back in the same way, at the will of the inquisitors.³⁸⁸ The gaolers of these unhappy gentlemen seem to have been more merciful and considerate than their judges, and to have manifested the greatest reluctance to act upon the orders sent from the king. On the 23rd of October, further and more peremptory commands were forwarded to the constable of the Tower, distinctly informing him that the king, on account of his respect for the holy apostolic see, had lately conceded to the prelates and inquisitors deputed to take inquisition against the order of the Temple, and the Grand Preceptor of that order in England, the power of ordering and disposing of the Templars and their bodies, of examining them by TORTURE or otherwise, and of doing to them whatever they should deem expedient, according to the ecclesiastical law; and he again strictly enjoins the constable to deliver up all the Templars in his custody, either together or separately, or in any way that the inquisitors or one bishop and one inquisitor may direct, and to receive them back when required so to do.³⁸⁹ Corresponding orders were again sent to the sheriffs, commanding them, at the requisition of the inquisitors, to get the Templars out of the hands of the constable of the Tower, to guard them in convenient prisons, and to permit certain persons deputed by the inquisitors to see that the imprisonment was properly carried into effect, to do with the bodies of the Templars whatever they should think fit according to ecclesiastical law. When the inquisitors, or the persons appointed by them, had done with the Templars what they pleased, they were to deliver them back to the constable of the Tower, or his lieutenant, there to be kept in custody as before.³⁹⁰ Orders were likewise sent to the constable of the castle of Lincoln, and to the mayor and bailiffs of the city of Lincoln, to the same effect. The king also directed Roger de Wyngefeld, clerk, guardian of the lands of the Templars, and William Plummer, sub-guardian of the manor of Cressing, to furnish to the king’s officers the sums required for the keep, and for the expenses of the detention of the brethren of the order.³⁹¹

On the 22nd of November the king condescended to acquaint the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of his faithful city of London, that out of reverence to the pope he had authorised the inquisitors, sent over by his holiness, to question the Templars by TORTURE; he puts them in possession of the orders he had sent to the constable of the Tower, and to the sheriffs; and he commands them, in case it should be notified to them by the inquisitors that the prisons provided by the sheriffs were insufficient for their purposes, to procure without fail fit and convenient houses in the city, or near thereto, for carrying into effect the contemplated measures; and he graciously informs them that he will reimburse them all the expenses that may be incurred by them or their officers in fulfilling his commands.³⁹² Shortly afterwards the king again wrote to the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of London, acquainting them that the sheriffs had made a return to his writ, to the effect that the four gates (prisons) of the city were not under their charge, and that they could not therefore obtain them for the purposes required; and he commands the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty, to place those four gates at the disposal of the sheriffs.³⁹³

On the 12th of December, all the Templars in custody at Lincoln were, by command of the king, brought up to London, and placed in solitary confinement in different prisons and private houses provided by the mayor and sheriffs. Shortly afterwards orders were given for all the Templars in custody in London to be loaded with chains and fetters; the myrmidons of the inquisitors were to be allowed to make periodical visits to see that the imprisonment was properly carried into effect, and were to be allowed to TORTURE the bodies of the Templars in any way that they might think fit.³⁹⁴

A. D. 1311.

On the 30th of March, A. D. 1311, after some months’ trial of the above severe measures, the examination was resumed before the inquisitors, and the bishops of London and Chichester, at the several churches of St. Martin’s, Ludgate, and St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate. The Templars had now been in prison in England for the space of three years and some months. During the whole of the previous winter they had been confined in chains in the dungeons of the city of London, compelled to receive their scanty supply of food from the officers of the inquisition, and to suffer from cold, from hunger, and from torture. They had been made to endure all the horrors of solitary confinement, and had none to solace or to cheer them during the long hours of their melancholy captivity. They had been already condemned collectively by the pope, as members of an heretical and idolatrous society, and as long as they continued to persist in the truth of their first confessions, and in the avowal of their innocence, they were treated as obstinate, unreconciled heretics, living in a state of excommunication, and doomed, when dead, to everlasting punishment in hell. They had heard of the miserable fate of their brethren in France, and they knew that those who had confessed crimes of which they had never been guilty, had been immediately declared reconciled to the church, had been absolved and set at liberty, and they knew that freedom, pardon, and peace could be immediately purchased by a confession of guilt; notwithstanding all which, every Templar, at this last examination, persisted in the maintenance of his innocence, and in the denial of all knowledge of, or participation in, the crimes and heresies imputed to the order. They declare that everything that was done in their chapters, in respect of absolution, the reception of brethren, and other matters, was honourable and honest, and might well and lawfully be done; that it was in no wise heretical or vicious; and that whatever was done was from the appointment, approbation, and regulation of all the brethren.³⁹⁵ From their statements, it appears that the Master of the Temple in England was in the habit of summoning a general chapter of the order once a year, at which the preceptors of Ireland and of Scotland were present. These were always called together to take into consideration the affairs of the Holy Land, and to determine on sending succour to their brethren in the East. At the close of their examination the Templars were again sent back to their dungeons, and loaded with chains; and the inquisitors, disappointed of the desired confessions, addressed themselves to the enemies of the order for the necessary proofs of guilt.

During the month of April, seventy-two witnesses were examined in the chapter-house of the Holy Trinity. They were nearly all monks, Carmelites, Augustinians, Dominicans, and Minorites; their evidence is all hearsay, and the nature of it will be seen from the following choice specimens.

Henry Thanet, an Irishman, had heard that Brother Hugh de Nipurias, a Templar, deserted from the castle of Tortosa in Palestine, and went over to the Saracens, abjuring the christian faith; and that a certain preceptor of the Pilgrim’s Castle was in the habit of making all the brethren he received into the order deny Christ; but the witness was unable to give either the name of the preceptor or of the persons so received. He had also heard that a certain Templar had in his custody a brazen head with two faces, which would answer all questions put to it!

Master John de Nassington declared that Milo de Stapelton and Adam de Everington, knights, told him that they had once been invited to a great feast at the preceptory of Templehurst, and were there informed that the Templars celebrated a solemn festival once a year, at which they worshipped a calf!

John de Eure, knight, sheriff of the county of York, deposed that he had once invited Brother William de la Fenne, Preceptor of Wesdall, to dine with him, and that after dinner the preceptor drew a book out of his bosom, and delivered it to the knight’s lady to read, who found a piece of paper fastened into the book, on which were written abominable, heretical doctrines, to the effect that Christ was not the Son of God, nor born of a virgin, but conceived of the seed of Joseph, the husband of Mary, after the manner of other men, and that Christ was not a true but a false prophet, and was not crucified for the redemption of mankind, but for his own sins, and many other things contrary to the christian faith. On the production of this important evidence, Brother William de la Fenne was called in and interrogated; he admitted that he had dined with the sheriff of York, and had lent his lady a book to read, but he swore that he was ignorant of the piece of paper fastened into the book, and of its contents. It appears that the sheriff of York had kept this dangerous secret to himself for the space of six years!

William de la Forde, a priest, rector of the church of Crofton in the diocese of York, had heard William de Reynbur, priest of the order of St. Augustine, who was then dead, say, that the Templar, Brother Patrick of Rippon, son of William of Gloucester, had confessed to him, that at his entrance into the order, he was led, clothed only in his shirt and trousers, through a long passage to a secret chamber, and was there made to deny his God and his Saviour; that he was then shown a representation of the crucifixion, and was told that since he had previously honoured that emblem he must now dishonour it and spit upon it, and that he did so. “Item dictum fuit ei quod, depositis brachis, dorsum verteret ad crucifixum,” and this he did bitterly weeping. After this they brought an image, as it were, of a calf, placed upon an altar, and they told him he must kiss that image, and worship it, and he did so, and after all this they covered up his eyes and led him about, kissing and being kissed by all the brethren, but he could not recollect in what part. The worthy priest was asked when he had first heard all these things, and he replied after the arrest of the brethren by the king’s orders!

Robert of Oteringham, senior of the order of Minorites, stated that on one occasion he was partaking of the hospitality of the Templars at the preceptory of Ribstane in Yorkshire, and that when grace had been said after supper, the chaplain of the order reprimanded the brethren of the Temple, saying to them, “The devil will burn you,” or some such words; and hearing a bustle amongst them, he got up to see what was the matter, and, as far as he recollects, he saw one of the brothers of the Temple, “brachis depositis, tenentem faciem versus occidentem et posteriora versus altare!” Being asked who it was that did this, he says he does not exactly remember. He then goes on to state, that about twenty years before that time! he was again the guest of the Templars, at the preceptory of Wetherby (query Feriby) in Yorkshire, and when evening came he heard that the preceptor was not coming to supper, as he was arranging some relics that he had brought with him from the Holy Land, and afterwards at midnight he heard a confused noise in the chapel, and getting up he looked through the keyhole, and saw a great light therein, either from a fire or from candles, and on the morrow he asked one of the brethren of the Temple the name of the saint in whose honour they had celebrated so grand a festival during the night, and that brother, aghast and turning pale, thinking he had seen what had been done amongst them, said to him, “Go thy way, and if you love me, or have any regard for your own life, never speak of this matter.” This same “Senior of the Minorites” declares also that he had seen, in the chapel of the preceptory of Ribstane, a cross, with the image of our Saviour nailed upon it, thrown carelessly upon the altar, and he observed to a certain brother of the Temple, that the cross was in a most indecent and improper position, and he was about to lift it up and stand it erect, when that same brother called out to him, “Lay down the cross and depart in peace!”

Brother John de Wederal, another Minorite, sent to the inquisitors a written paper, wherein he stated that he had lately heard in the country, that a Templar, named Robert de Baysat, was once seen running about a meadow uttering, “Alas! alas! that ever I was born, seeing that I have denied God and sold myself to the devil!” Brother N. de Chinon, another Minorite, had heard that a certain Templar had a son who peeped through a chink in the wall of the chapter-room, and saw a person who was about to be professed, slain because he would not deny Christ, and afterwards the boy was asked by his father to become a Templar, but refused, and he immediately shared the same fate. Twenty witnesses, who were examined in each other’s presence, merely repeated the above absurdities, or related similar ones.³⁹⁶

At this stage of the proceedings, the papal inquisitor, Sicard de Vaur, exhibited two rack-extorted confessions of Templars which had been obtained in France. The first was from Robert de St. Just, who had been received into the order by brother Himbert, Grand Preceptor of England, but had been arrested in France, and there tortured by the myrmidons of Philip. In this confession, Robert de St. Just states that, on his admission to the vows of the Temple, he denied Christ, and spat beside the cross. The second confession had been extorted from Geoffrey de Gonville, Knight of the Order of the Temple, Preceptor of Aquitaine and Poitou, and had been given on the 15th of November A. D. 1307, before the grand inquisitor of France. In this confession, (which had been afterwards revoked, but of which revocation no notice was taken by the inquisitors,) Sir Geoffrey de Gonville states that he was received into the order in England in the house of the Temple at London, by Brother Robert de Torvibe, knight, the Master of all England, about twenty-eight years before that time; that the master showed him on a missal the image of Jesus Christ on the cross, and commanded him to deny him who was crucified; that, terribly alarmed, he exclaimed, “Alas! my lord, why should I do this? I will on no account do it.” But the master said to him, “Do it boldly; I swear to thee that the act shall never harm either thy soul or thy conscience;” and then proceeded to inform him that the custom had been introduced into the order by a certain bad Grand Master, who was imprisoned by a certain sultan, and could escape from prison only on condition that he would establish that form of reception in his order, and compel all who were received to deny Christ Jesus! but the deponent remained inflexible; he refused to deny his Saviour, and asked where were his uncle and the other good people who had brought him there, and was told that they were all gone; and at last a compromise took place between him and the Master, who made him take his oath that he would tell all his brethren that he had gone through the customary form, and never reveal that it had been dispensed with! He states also that the ceremony was instituted in memory of St. Peter, who three times denied Christ!³⁹⁷

Ferinsius le Mareschal, a secular knight, being examined, declared that his grandfather entered into the order of the Temple, active, healthy, and blithesome as the birds and the dogs, but on the third day from his taking the vows he was dead, and, as he now suspects, was killed because he refused to participate in the iniquities practised by the brethren. An Augustine monk declared that he had heard a Templar say that a man after death had no more soul than a dog. Roger, rector of the church of Godmersham, swore that about fifteen years before he had an intention of entering into the order of the Temple himself, and consulted Stephen Queynterel, one of the brothers, on the subject, who advised him not to do so, and stated that they had three articles amongst themselves in their order, known only to God, the devil, and the brethren of the Temple, and the said Stephen would not reveal to the deponent what those articles were.

The vicar of the church of Saint Clement at Sandwich had heard that a boy had secreted himself in the large hall where the Templars held their chapter, and heard the Master preach to the brethren, and explain to them in what mode they might enrich themselves; and after the chapter was concluded, one of the brothers, in going out of the hall, dropped his girdle, which the boy found and carried to the brother who had so dropped it, when the latter drew his sword and instantly slew him! But to crown all, Brother John de Gertia, a Minorite, had heard from a certain woman called Cacocaca! who had it from Exvalettus, Preceptor of London, that one of the servants of the Templars entered the hall where the chapter was held, and secreted himself, and after the door had been shut and locked by the last Templar who entered, and the key had been brought by him to the superior, the assembled Templars jumped up and went into another room, and opened a closet, and drew therefrom a certain black figure with shining eyes, and a cross, and they placed the cross before the Master, and the “culum idoli vel figuræ” they placed upon the cross, and carried it to the Master, who kissed the said image, (in ano,) and all the others did the same after him; and when they had finished kissing, they all spat three times upon the cross, except one, who refused, saying, “I was a bad man in the world, and placed myself in this order for the salvation of my soul; what could I do worse? I will not do it;” and then the brethren said to him, “Take heed, and do as you see the order do;” but he answered that he would not do so, and then they placed him in a well which stood in the midst of their house, and covered the well up, and left him to perish. Being asked as to the time when the woman heard this, the deponent stated that she told it to him about fourteen years back at London, where she kept a shop for her husband, Robert Cotacota! This witness also knew a certain Walter Salvagyo of the family of Earl Warrenne, grandfather of the then earl, who, having entered into the order of the Temple, was about two years afterwards entirely lost sight of by his family, and neither the earl nor any of his friends could ever learn what had become of him.