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Written by: Lilly Cline

Alesha Packer

Comp II

11/14/2011

Word Count: 2043

Templar Knights: Not Guilty

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Templar Knights: Not Guilty

Guilt or innocence is a preconceived notion laying on the heart and minds of men in

everyday life. This is the topic of today’s modern courts. Yet it is often misconstrued by those

who seek so-called justice. This theme has been with the world since men were judged by their

peers. Throughout the years of men, many were often misjudged leading to false allegations,

harsh sentences, and even death for the innocent. One such case happened with the Knights

Templar. They were unjustly accused and sentenced; now it’s time to set the record straight. The

Templar Knights were innocent.

When covetousness takes hold of a man the devil whispers in his ear and together

morality becomes spoiled and with it the lives of the innocent are destroyed. Philip IV (also

known as Philip the Fair) (Wasserman 136), was such a man and his scorn was set against the

Christian men known throughout all of Europe as the Templar Knights when they denied him to

become a Templar Knight.

Philip IV took the throne at the age of seventeen from his fallible father Philip III and ill-

famed uncle; his duty would be to restore the strength and secure the ruler ship of the Capetian

dynasty, which is the oldest European French royal house. Philip IV calculated his fathers’ debt

and took into account that the continuing war in England had to paid but, it appeared

insurmountable (Reed 252-259).

One of his first acts was to envelop himself with prestigious lawyers and advisors that

were given their importance by his sovereignty and that alone would keep them loyal despite his

pitilessness and cruelty. Now surrounded by intelligent and skillful men such as Enguerrand de

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Marigny and Guillaume de Nogaret (Wasserman 164), Philip IV reorganized the management of

the state on the model of the Roman Empire, which places the monarch "above all."

As counseled by Enguerrand de Marigny (Wasserman 164), Philip IV began raising taxes

and placing taxes on those that were not previously taxed such as on the 10% tithes of the church

and the Jewish people. Many scandals occurred during this time that brought the name of Philip

IV to be known as a counterfeiter to the general populous for he would take coin, smelt it, and

change the weight or proportions of the precious metals within it without changing their values,

and place it back on the market. Under royal ordinances this was not seen as unlawful but merely

as political ambition in favor of France.

When Philip IV taxed the church again Pope Boniface VIII issued a Bull in 1302

forbidding the clergy to pay. In retaliation, Philip IV ordered that no more gold be exported,

causing the Vatican to lose all income from France. Pope Boniface VIII issued another Bull,

known as the “Unam Sanctam” ascertaining the superiority of the papacy over all secular rulers.

When Philip IV received the decree, he burned it (Reed 255-258).

In retaliation to the papal Bull, Philip IV tried Pope Boniface VIII in abstention on a

variety of charges, saying that Boniface VIII was “unfit to sit on the throne of Peter,” Pope

Boniface VIII then ex-communicated Philip IV as a result. Pope Boniface VIII died three days

later, at the age of 70 under duress, after being kidnapped by men under the charge of Guillaume

de Nogaret that Philip IV had arranged. Pope Boniface VIII was succeeded by Pope Benedict XI

(Wasserman 147).

It is surmised that Philip IV, feeling that this new Pope was not going to be beneficial to

his ruler ship of France, arranged for Pope Benedict XI to be poisoned. Meanwhile, Philip IV

arranged for Bernard de Goth (1264-1314), Archbishop of Bordeaux to be named Pope Clement

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V, knowing that this is what Bordeaux wanted most of all; Philip IV used this to his advantage to

gain Clement V’s loyalty although there had been times that they had disagreed in the past (In

Rebus).

All the while Philip IV taking over an already debt ridden state, coursing through war,

and the need to quench the fires of personal gain became a borrower of an even more astonishing

debt to none other than one of the wealthiest organization of the times, the Templar Order.

Philip IV’s monarchy itself was at risk. There was great dissatisfaction among the people

and riots were breaking out everywhere. Philip IV needing funding to pay for his military

expenditures went to the Order to borrow more funding and it is said that this is when Philip IV

had the revelation of the great wealth that the Templar Order controlled. However, to his dismay

he was refused more funds. This is when the real conspiracy to take down the Templars began.

Philip IV relished the thought of not owing the debt to the Templars and their riches becoming

his own. The real trouble was figuring out how to legally steal the fortune that he desired to

make his own (Reed 252-258).

Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, had been called to Poitiers,

France, for the purpose of discussing with the pope a new crusade to retake the Holy Land. For

almost two years, he shuttled back and forth between the pope and King Phillip, essentially

stamping out various diplomatic fires, such as the proposal to merge all the military orders (Reed

259-261).

In June 1307, de Molay rode into Paris at the head of a column of his knights, with a

dozen horses laden with gold and silver, to begin the financing of the new Crusade. For the next

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several months, Phillip treated the aging Grand Master with interest and diplomacy, and de

Molay believed he and the Order were at a new turning point (Reed 264-275).

Noffo Dei and Squin Flexian were two leaders of a riot that were captured. In their

attempt to avoid the wrath of Philip IV they claimed that they were formerly Templar Knights

and filled the king’s ears with tales of the Templar Knights acts of heresy and disloyalty to the

Pope. Philip IV saw this as his opportunity and with the aid of Guillaume de Nogaret they

conceived a list of allegations to present to Pope Clement V. The list included only those crimes

that were religious in nature so that they could not be contested by witnesses but, the list was

short by no means, as it contained almost countless heinous acts.

On October 13, 1307, Philip the Fair ordered the arrests of the Templar Knights.

According to Moeller, “In this inquiry torture, the use of which was authorized by the cruel

procedure of the age in the case of crimes committed without witnesses, was pitilessly employed.

Owing to the lack of evidence, the accused could be convicted only through their own confession

and, to extort this confession, the use of torture was considered necessary and legitimate.” And

Hodapp continues “In an outburst of courage and remorse, most of the arrested Templars

subsequently recanted their confessions and proclaimed to Church officials that their statements

were made under the pain of torture and threat of death. To intimidate the remaining Templars,

Phillip ordered 54 of the knights to be burned at the stake in 1310, for the sin of recanting their

confessions” (Hodapp 126-129). Among them was Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the

Knights Templar, who while being burned at the stake cursed King Philip IV and Pope Clement

V and within a year they both joined him in death.

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The recent rediscovery of the Chinon Parchment by Dr. Barbara Frale, a historian who

was conducting research in the Secret Vatican Archives, appears to show the Pope at the time of

the Templars suppression, Clement V, actually exonerated some of the senior Templars from the

crimes of which they were accused. Historians have long maintained that the confessions

obtained through the use of torture were merely a means for Philip IV to avoid payment of his

debt (In Rebus).

According to the Chinon Parchment translation of the church trial of The Templar

Knights the following exchange took place on August 17-20, 1308:

Then Raymbaud said that the next day he revealed this to the bishop of Carpentras

When asked about the sin of sodomy, he said that he never was a part of it neither

performing or enduring, and that he never heard that knights Templar engaged in this sin,

apart from those three knights who had been punished by perpetual incarceration in

Castle Pilgrim. When asked whether the brothers of the said Order were received into the

order in the same manner he was received into it, he replied that he did not know that,

because he never initiated anyone himself and did not see anyone being accepted in the

Order other than two or three brothers. Regarding them he did not know whether they

denounced Christ or not. When he was asked about the names of these brothers he said

that one had the name of Peter, but that he did not remember his family name. When he

was asked how old he was when he was made brother of the said Order he replied that he

was seventeen years of age or thereabouts. When he was asked about the spitting on the

cross and about the worshipped head, he said that he knew nothing, adding that he had

never heard any mention of that head until he heard the lord Pope Clement speak of it this

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past year. When he was asked about the practice of kissing, he replied that the

aforementioned brother Roncelin kissed him on the mouth when he received him as a

brother; he said that he knew nothing about other kisses. When he was asked whether he

wanted to maintain what he had said during the confession, whether it was done

according to the truth, and whether he had added anything untruthful or withheld

anything that is truthful, he replied that he wanted to maintain what he had previously

said in his confession, that it was truthful and that he neither added anything that was

untruthful nor omitted anything that was truthful. When he was asked whether he had

confessed due to a request, reward, gratitude, favor, fear, hatred or persuasion by

someone else, or the use of force, or fear of impending torture, he replied that he did not.

Afterwards, this very brother Raymbaud standing on his knees with his hands

folded asked for our forgiveness and mercy regarding the abovementioned deeds. And as

he pleaded so, brother Raymbaud denounced in our presence the abovementioned heresy,

as well as any other heresy. For the second time he took an oath with his hand upon the

Holy Gospel of our Lord in that he will obey the teachings of the Church, that he will

maintain, uphold and observe the Catholic faith which the Roman Church maintains,

upholds and proclaims, as well as teaches and requires of others to observe it, and that he

will live and die as a faithful Christian. After this oath, by the authority of lord Pope

specifically granted to us for that purpose, we extended to this humbly asking brother

Raymbaud, in a form accepted by the Church the mercy of absolution from the verdict of

excommunication that had been incurred by the aforementioned deeds, restoring him to

unity with the Church and reinstating him for communion of the faithful and sacraments

of the Church (In Rebus).

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The image of a Templar Knight is that of part lion, part lamb, and in great times of need

the identity of humanity itself in the form of which God intended. This is the light in which the

travelers of the time saw them. They were God’s protectors of the innocent, they were bankers,

and they were men unjustly tortured and accused by those same people that they endured to help.

The Templars followed God’s commandments with the innocence of a child in daily prayer and

duties, and finally at their end they gave their lives defiantly in the face of evil itself. With the

release of Chinon Parchment the Knight Templars tarnished past has been redeemed, they were

found to be absolved of all false charges against them and they were innocent!

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Works Cited

Decoding the Past: The Templar Code. Narr. Timothy Watson. Perf. Sean Martin, Alan Butler,

Marilyn Hopkins, Karen Ralls, Edward Herrman, Timothy Wallace-Murphy. History

Channel, 7, Nov. 2005. Television.

Hodapp, Christopher, Von Kannon, Alice, The Templar Code for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons

Inc., 2007. Print.

In Rebus. 28 Oct.2011. Web. 28 Oct. 2011 < http://www.inrebus.com/chinon.php>.

Moellar, Charles. The Knights Templars. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York, Robert

Appleton Co., 1912. Print.

Olson, Oddvar, ed. The Templar Papers. New Jersey, New Page Books a Division of The Career

Press, INC., 2006. Print.

Reed, Piers Paul. The Templars. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Da Capo Press. 1999. Print.

Wasserman, James. An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar. Rochester, Vermont, Destiny

Books. 2006. Print.