On the 22nd day of the inquiry, the following entry was made on the record of the proceedings: – “Memorandum. Brothers Philip de Mewes, Thomas de Burton, and Thomas de Staundon, were advised and earnestly exhorted to abandon their religious profession, who severally replied that they would rather die than do so.” On the 19th and 20th of November, seven lay witnesses, unconnected with the order, were examined before the inquisitors in the chapel of the monastery of the Holy Trinity. Master William le Dorturer, notary public, declared that the Templars rose at midnight, and held their chapters before dawn, and he
thought
that the mystery and secrecy of the receptions were owing to a bad rather than a good motive, but declared that he had never observed that they had acquired, or had attempted to acquire, anything unjustly. Master Gilbert de Bruere, clerk, said that he had never suspected them of anything worse than an excessive correction of the brethren. William Lambert, formerly a “messenger of the Temple,” knew nothing bad of the Templars, and thought them perfectly innocent of all the matters alluded to. And Richard de Barton, priest, and Radulph de Rayndon, an old man, both declared that they knew nothing of the order, or of the members of it, but what was good and honourable.
On the 25th of November, a provincial council of the church, composed of the bishops, abbots, priors, heads of colleges, and all the principal clergy, assembled in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and a papal bull was read, in which the holy pontiff dwells most pathetically upon the awful sins of the Templars, and their great and tremendous fall from their previous high estate. Hitherto, says he, they have been renowned throughout the world as the special champions of the faith, and the chief defenders of the Holy Land, whose affairs have been mainly regulated by those brothers. The church, following them and their order with the plenitude of its especial favour and regard, armed them with the emblem of the cross against the enemies of Christ, exalted them with much honour, enriched them with wealth, and fortified them with various liberties and privileges. The holy pontiff displays the sad report of their sins and iniquities which reached his ears, filled him with bitterness and grief, disturbed his repose, smote him with horror, injured his health, and caused his body to waste away! He gives a long account of the crimes imputed to the order, of the confessions and depositions that had been made in France, and then bursts out into a paroxysm of grief, declares that the melancholy affair deeply moved all the faithful, that all Christianity was shedding bitter tears, was overwhelmed with grief, and clothed with mourning. He concludes by decreeing the assembly of a general council of the church at Vienne to pronounce the abolition of the order, and to determine on the disposal of its property, to which council the English clergy are required to send representatives.
In Scotland, in the mean time, similar proceedings had been instituted against the order. On the 17th of November, Brother Walter de Clifton being examined in the parish church of the Holy Cross at Edinburgh, before the bishop of St. Andrews and John de Solerio, the pope’s chaplain, states that the brethren of the order of the Temple in the kingdom of Scotland received their orders, rules, and observances from the Master of the Temple in England, and that the Master in England received the rules and observances of the order from the Grand Master and the chief convent in the East; that the Grand Master or his deputy was in the habit of visiting the order in England and elsewhere; of summoning chapters and making regulations for the conduct of the brethren, and the administration of their property. Being asked as to the mode of his reception, he states that when William de la More, the Master, held his chapter at the preceptory of Temple Bruere in the county of Lincoln, he sought of the assembled brethren the habit and the fellowship of the order; that they told him that he little knew what it was he asked, in seeking to be admitted to their fellowship; that it would be a very hard matter for him, who was then his own master, to become the servant of another, and to have no will of his own; but notwithstanding their representations of the rigour of their rules and observances, he still continued earnestly to seek their habit and fellowship. He states that they then led him to the chamber of the Master, where they held their chapter, and that there, on his bended knees, and with his hands clasped, he again prayed for the habit and the fellowship of the Temple; that the Master and the brethren then required him to answer questions to the following effect: – Whether he had a dispute with any man, or owed any debts? whether he was betrothed to any woman? and whether he had any secret infirmity of body? or knew of anything to prevent him from remaining within the bosom of the fraternity? And having answered all these questions satisfactorily, the Master then asked of the surrounding brethren, “Do ye give your consent to the reception of Brother Walter?” who unanimously answered that they did; and the Master and the brethren then standing up, received him the said Walter in this manner. On his bended knees, and with his hands joined, he solemnly promised that he would be the perpetual servant of the Master, and of the order, and of the brethren, for the purpose of defending the Holy Land. Having done this, the Master took out of the hands of a brother chaplain of the order the book of the holy gospels, upon which was depicted a cross, and laying his hand upon the book, and upon the cross, he swore to God and the blessed Virgin Mary to be for ever thereafter chaste, obedient, and to live without property. And then the Master gave to him the white mantle, and placed the coif on his head and admitted him to the kiss on the mouth, after which he made him sit down on the ground, and admonished him to the following effect: that from thenceforth he was to sleep in his shirt, drawers, and stockings, girded with a small cord over his shirt; that he was never to tarry in a house where there was a woman in the family way; never to be present at a marriage or at the purification of women; and likewise instructed and informed him upon several other particulars. Being asked where he had passed his time since his reception, he replied that he had dwelt three years at the preceptory of Blancradok in Scotland; three years at Temple Newsom in England; one year at the Temple at London, and three years at Aslakeby. Being asked concerning the other brothers in Scotland, he stated that John de Hueflete was Preceptor of Blancradok, the chief house of the order in that country, and that he and the other brethren, having heard of the arrest of the Templars, threw off their habits, and fled, and that he had not since heard aught concerning them.
Forty-one witnesses, chiefly abbots, priors, monks, priests, and serving men, and retainers of the order in Scotland, were examined upon various interrogatories, but nothing of a criminatory nature was elicited. The monks observed that the receptions of other orders were public, and were celebrated as great religious solemnities, and the friends, parents, and neighbours of the party about to take the vows were invited to attend; while the Templars, on the other hand, shrouded their proceedings in mystery and secrecy, and therefore they
suspected
the worst. The priests thought them guilty, because they were always against the church! Others condemned them because (as they say) the Templars closed their doors against the poor and the humble, and extended hospitality only to the rich and the powerful. The abbot of the monastery of the Holy Cross at Edinburgh declared that they appropriated to themselves the property of their neighbours, right or wrong. The abbot of Dumferlyn knew nothing of his own knowledge against them, but had
heard
much, and
suspected
more. The serving men and the tillers of the lands of the order stated that the chapters were held sometimes by night and sometimes by day, with extraordinary secrecy; and some of the witnesses had heard old men say that the Templars would never have lost the Holy Land if they had been good Christians!
On the 9th of January, A. D. 1310, the examination of witnesses was resumed at London, in the parish church of St. Dunstan’s West, near the Temple. The rector of the church of St. Mary de la Strode declared that he had strong
suspicions
of the guilt of the Templars; he had, however, often been at the Temple church, and had observed that the priests performed divine service there just the same as elsewhere. William de Cumbrook, of St. Clement’s church, near the Temple, the vicar of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and many other priests and clergymen of different churches in London, all declared that they had nothing to allege against the order.
On the 27th of January, Brother John de Stoke, a serving brother of the order of the Temple, of seventeen years’ standing, being examined by the inquisitors in the chapel of the Blessed Mary of Berkyngecherche at London, states, amongst other things, that secular persons were allowed to be present at the burial of Templars; that the brethren of the order all received the sacraments of the church at their last hour, and were attended to the grave by a chaplain of the Temple. Being interrogated concerning the burial of the Knight Templar Brother Walter le Bacheler, Grand Preceptor of Ireland, who had been confined in the penitential cell in the Temple, for disobedience to his superiors, and was reported to have been there starved to death, he deposes that the said knight was buried like any other Christian, except that he was not buried in the burying-ground, but in the court of the house of the Temple at London; that he confessed to Brother Richard de Grafton, a priest of the order, then in the island of Cyprus, and partook, as he believed, of the sacrament. He states that he himself and Brother Radulph de Barton carried him to his grave at the dawn of day, and that the deceased knight was in prison, as he believes, for the space of eight weeks; that he was not buried in the habit of his order, and was interred without the cemetery of the brethren, because he was considered to be excommunicated, in pursuance, as he believed, of a rule or statute among the Templars, to the effect that every one who privily made away with the property of the order, and did not acknowledge his fault, was deemed excommunicated.
On the 30th of March, the papal inquisitors opened their commission at Lincoln, and numerous Templars were examined in the chapter-house of the cathedral, amongst whom were some of the veteran warriors of Palestine, who had moistened with their blood the distant plains of the far East. Brother William de Winchester, a member of twenty-six years’ standing, stated that he had been received into the order at the castle
de la Roca Guille
, in the province of Armenia, bordering on Syria, by the valiant Grand Master William de Beaujeu. He states that the same mode of reception existed there as in England, and everywhere throughout the order. Brother Robert de Hamilton declares that the girdles said to be worn by the brethren were called girdles of Nazareth, because they had been pressed against the column of the Virgin at that place, and were worn in remembrance of the blessed Mary.
At York, the examination commenced on the 28th of April, and lasted until the 4th of May, during which period twenty-three Templars, prisoners in York Castle, were examined in the chapter-house of the cathedral, and followed the example of their brethren in maintaining their innocence. Brother Thomas de Stanford, a member of thirty years’ standing, had been received in the East by the Grand Master William de Beaujeu, and Brother Radulph de Rostona, a priest of the order, of twenty-three years’ standing, had been received at the preceptory of Lentini in Sicily, by Brother William de Canello, the Grand Preceptor of Sicily. Brother Stephen de Radenhall refused to reveal the mode of reception, because it formed part of the secrets of the chapter, and if he discovered them he would lose his chamber, be stripped of his mantle, or be committed to prison.
156
156
Concil. Mag. Brit. tom. ii. p. 350-383. Acta
Rymeri
, tom. iii. p. 179, 180.
The proceedings against the order in France had, in the mean time, assumed a most sanguinary character. On the 28th of March, (A. D. 1310) five hundred and forty-six Templars, who persisted in maintaining the innocence of their order, were assembled in the garden of the bishop’s palace at Paris, to hear the articles of accusation read over to them, and a committee of their number was authorised to draw up a written defence. They asked to have an interview with the Grand Master and the heads of the order, but this was refused. The total number of Templars, immured in the prisons of Paris, was nine hundred. In the course of the examination before the papal commissioners, Brother Laurent de Beaume produced a letter which had been sent to him and his fellow-prisoners at Sens, warning them against a retractation of their confessions in the following terms: “
Sachez que notre pere le pape a mande que tuit cil qui aurent fayt les suizitos confessions devant ses anvouez, qui en cele confessions ne voudroient perseverès, que il sorent mis a damnazion et destruit au feu.
” This threat was carried into execution, and Brother Laurent de Beaume was one of the first victims. The defence drawn up by the brethren and presented to the commissioners by Brother Peter de Bologna, begins by stating the origin and objects of their institution, the vows to which they subjected themselves, and the mode in which persons were received into the fraternity. They give a frightful account of the tortures that had been inflicted upon them, and declare that those who had escaped with life from the hands of the tormentors, were either ruined in health or injured in intellect, and that as pardon and forgiveness had been freely offered to those knights who would confess, it was not wonderful that false confessions had been made. They observed that a vast number of knights had died in prison, and they exhorted the commissioners to interrogate the guards, jailers, and executioners, and those who saw them in their last moments, concerning the declarations and confessions they had made at the peril of their souls when dying. They maintained that it was a most extraordinary thing that so many knights of distinguished birth and noble blood, members of the most illustrious families in Europe, should have remained from an early age up to the day of their death, members of the order, and should never, in days of sickness, or at the hour of death, have revealed any of the horrid iniquities and abominations charged against it.
157
157
Raynouard
, p. 52, 57, 75, ed. 1813.
Dupuy
, p. 138, 139, 174, ed. 1700.
All the Templars, indeed, who had made confessions were rapidly following one another’s example in retracting them, and maintaining their innocence, and the king hastened to arrest the unfavourable march of events.
The archbishop of Sens, whose ecclesiastical authority extended over the diocese of Paris, having died, the king obtained the vacant see for Philip de Martigny, a creature of his own, who was installed therein in the month of April. In a letter to Clement urging this appointment, Philip reminds the holy pontiff that the new archbishop would have to preside over a provincial council wherein would be transacted many things which immediately concerned the glory of God, the stability of the faith, and of the holy church. Immediately after the enthronement of this new archbishop, the provincial council of Sens was convoked at Paris, and on the 10th of May, all the Templars who had revoked their confessions, and had come forward to maintain the innocence of their order, were dragged before it, and sentence of death was passed upon them by the archbishop 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!” As soon as the commissioners had received intelligence of this extraordinary decree, they despatched messengers to the archbishop and his suffragans, praying them to delay the execution of their sentence, as very many persons affirmed that the Templars who died in prison had proclaimed with their last breath the innocence of their order. But these representations were of no avail. The archbishop, who was paying the price of his elevation to a hard creditor, proceeded to make short work of the business.
The very next morning, (Tuesday, May 12,) fifty-four Templars were handed over to the secular arm, and were led out to execution by the king’s officers. They were conducted, at daybreak, into the open country, in the environs of the Porte St. Antoine des Champs at Paris, and were there fastened to stakes driven into the ground, and surrounded by faggots and charcoal. In this situation, they saw the torches lighted, and the executioners approaching to accomplish their task, and they were once more offered pardon and favour if they would confess the
guilt
of their order; they persisted in the maintenance of its
innocence
, and were burnt to death in a most cruel manner before slow fires! All historians speak with admiration of the heroism and intrepidity with which they met their fate. 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 torture nor the fear of death could overcome, but who remained stedfast amid all their trials in the maintenance of their innocence, 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.
158
158
Chron. Cornel.
Zanfliet
apud
Martene
, tom. v. col. 159.
Bocat.
de cas. vir. illustr. lib. ix. cap. 21.
Joan. Can. Sti. Vict.
Contin. de
Nangis
, ad ann. 1310.
Rayn.
On the 18th of August, four other Templars were condemned as relapsed heretics by the council of Sens, and were likewise burnt 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
93.
Temple at Paris, from his grave, and burnt the mouldering corpse as a heretic. 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…!!
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 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. Influenced by the admonitions of the pope, and the solicitations of the clergy, king Edward sent orders to the constable of the Tower, to deliver up the Templars to certain gaolers appointed by the inquisitors, in order that the inquisitors might do with the bodies of the Templars whatever should seem fitting, in accordance with ecclesiastical law. The ecclesiastical council then assembled, and ordered that the Templars should be again confined in separate cells; 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.
Fresh instructions were then sent by the king to the constable of the Tower, and the sheriffs of London, informing them that the king, on account of his respect for the holy apostolical see, had conceded to the inquisitors the power of examining the Templars by TORTURE; and strictly enjoining them to deliver up the Templars to the inquisitors, and receive them back when required so to do. The king then acquainted 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; 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. Shortly afterwards, he 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. 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.
159
159
Acta
Rymeri
, tom. iii. p. 194, 195, 224, 225, 227, 230-235. Concil. Mag. Brit. tom. ii. p. 305-314; tom. iii. p. 228, 229.
On the 30th of March, A. D. 1311, 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 were therefore 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 a certain Preceptor of the Pilgrim’s Castle was in the habit of making all the brethren he received into the order deny Christ. He had
heard
also 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 had
heard
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 discovery to himself for the space of six years!
William de la Forde, a priest, rector of the parish 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, saying, “The devil will burn you;” and hearing a bustle, he got up, and, as far as he recollects, saw one of the brothers of the Temple, “brachis depositis, tenentem faciem versus occidentem et posteriora versus altare!” He then states, that about twenty years before that time, he was the guest of the Templars, at the preceptory of Wetherby 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 brough