The Templars' Last Days

by David Scott

  Guy started the negotiations with the Pope’s counter-proposals, which was an explanation of how the Pope now fully understood and appreciated the seriousness of the accusations. He explained that it was felt to be of vital importance both for the public and political image of the Papacy that it continued to be seen as remaining independent of any one Christian Monarch, even though Pope Clement V would in private and in practice remain the vassal of King Philip IV. The Pope also felt that it was important that any accusation of heresy against the Holy Order of the Knight Templars should be seen to be coming from the Papacy and should also to be seen to follow the normal Papacy investigation process adopted in such cases.

  This was music to William’s ears and these concessions were much more than he had ever imagined he would get. So he encouraged Guy to continue for there was still one vital element missing from the proposal that had so far been put on the table.

  Although the Pope could not dissolve the Holy Order instantly, he was prepared to place into the safe keeping of King Philip the Knight Templar treasure held in the preceptories, throughout his lands, pending the outcome of such an inquisition. Further, should the accusation of heresy be proven, then the lands and estates of that Holy Order would be relinquished to the Papacy.

  If these terms were felt to be agreeable, then, for his part, William needed to put forward a proposition as to how such a proclamation could be actioned simultaneously across King Philip’s land in order that as many Templar Knights as possible could be captured and interrogated.

  William could hardly believe what he was hearing – there before him was everything King Philip desired; however, such meetings were no place for giving away any sort of indication of victory. So he rose from his chair and paced the room for a few minutes, gesturing as if he was considering the pros and cons of what was being proposed. He had the money in his hands, and was confident that in time he would secure the estates and lands but they were not important today. Finally, he gave his assurance that such a proposition would be in the hands of the Pope within the next hour or so.

  At that Guy rose and thanked William for his understanding and made his way back to the quarters of the Pope, where he related that William had agreed to all the conditions. More importantly he would deliver the how and when the King would strike our preceptories simultaneously into our hands later that day.

  There was nothing more that could now be done, the trap was set, the mouse had taken the cheese and in a few hours’ time a series of events would be put into motion that would change the lives of everybody. The world as we knew it today would be gone forever. I joined the Holy Father and the Grand Master in prayer at the Baptistère Saint-Jean and gave thanks to God for allowing this plan to succeed so far, and for his continued strength and guidance in its completion.

  Guy remained alone in the Pope's quarters awaiting William’s communication with only his private thoughts and the rhythm of the rain for company.

  William had already prepared the Pope’s proclamation; however, in light of the meeting with Guy, it would require some minor alterations which he set to immediately. Pleased with the changes, he sought an audience with the King to communicate that all was well, and for his approval of the amendments. The King was beyond himself in delight, and quickly put his signature and seal to the document. Nothing could now get in his way.

  An hour later, the document had reached the Pope, who read out the contents to Jacques, Guy and myself.

  Philip, by the Grace of God, King of the French, to his beloved and faithful knights, etc,etc

  A deplorable and most lamentable matter, full of bitterness and grief, a monstrous business, a thing that one cannot think on without affright, cannot hear without horror, transgressions unheard of, enormities and atrocities contrary to every sentiment of humanity, etc, etc, have reached our ears.

  That Order known as the Knight Templars have been seen and heard to insult our Lord Jesus Christ, to make him endure suffering even more than in the days before he was put to the cross, have renounced the Christian religion. Of mocking the sacred image of the Saviour: of sacrificing to idols: and of abandoning themselves to impure practices and unnatural crimes.

  They are like ravishing wolves in sheep's clothing, a perfidious, ungrateful, idolatrous society, whose words and deeds were enough to pollute the earth and infect the air: to dry up the sources of the celestial dewy, and to put the whole Church of Christ into confusion.

  We have been charged with the maintenance of the Faith: after having conferred with the Pope, the prelates, and the barons of the kingdom, at the instance of the inquisitor, from the informations already laid, from violent suspicions, from probable conjectures, from legitimate presumptions, conceived against the enemies of heaven and earth: and because the matter is important, and it is expedient to prove the just like gold in the furnace against the rigorous examination, have decreed that the members of the order who are our subjects shall be arrested on 13 October in the year of our Lord 1307, and detained to be judged by the church, and that all their real and personal property shall be seized into our hands and be faithfully preserved.

  Signed this day, 9 September in the year of our Lord 1307

  King Philip IV

  As he put the scroll down, our Papa looked each of us in the eye. I had never felt so bad in victory! The King was doing exactly what we wanted; he believed the Pope to be his vassal, and the Holy Order which we all are so proud of would be exterminated, that certainly did not feel like a victorious outcome to any battle we have ever fought.

  The silence in the room was only broken by the beating rhythm of the rain which continued in its endless tune. After a few minutes, the Grand Master expanded his huge chest outwards as signifying his acceptance of his organisation’s fate, and inquired of the Pope as to the content of the second scroll that William had sent to him.

  It took the Holy Father a few more moments to recover his composure before he continued to read:

  Philip, by the Grace of God, King of the French, to his beloved and faithful knights, etc, etc

  Each baillis and seneschals are to inform themselves, in great secrecy, and without exciting suspicion, of the number of the houses of the Temple within their jurisdiction: they are then to provide an armed force sufficient to overcome all resistance, and on the said day of 13 of October, at the hour of 5 before noon, are to surprise the Templars in their preceptories, and make them prisoners.

  Before proceeding with the inquiry you are to inform the Templars that the Pope and ourselves have been convinced, by irreproachable testimony, of the errors and abominations which accompany your vows and profession: you are to promise them pardon and favour if they confess the truth, but if not, you are to acquaint them that they will be condemned to death.

  You are to use whatever means needed, including torture, in pursuit of the truth.

  Signed this day, 9 September in the year of our Lord 1307

  King Philip IV

  Once more the Pope's voice faded into the silence that sat on the room; even though this was exactly what we all had been working towards over the last few months, the reality of being on the cusp of the plan coming to pass was still difficult to reconcile.

  The Grand Master rose first, and in doing so looked in my direction to follow his lead. Recognising that the Pontiff and Guy still had to face King Philip later that night over dinner to give their final approval to his demand, they would require what time was left in quiet contemplation and prayer – whilst he and I had no time to lose in putting the second phase of our plan into action.

  I felt that it would not be until next day before William issued his orders, which gave us the advantage of the time left this day and most of tomorrow in notifying our preceptory Masters what lay ahead of them. The orders had been written out some weeks ago, and it was now just a simple matter of inserting the relevant dates, and having the Grand Master seal the scrolls. One scroll had the instruction to be opened immedi
ately, whilst the other was not to be opened until 1 of October.

  We carried out the task in silence, for we each knew that we were signing the death warrants of our beloved Holy Order. As we worked I silently prayed for the Grand Master and all our gallant Templar Knights whose lives we were now handing over to an almost certain death, for none would ever confess to those ridiculous charges brought by Philip.

  I knew that each Templar Knight was prepared and willing to lay down his life in battle to save the Church, but this was to be a battle won by them by not raising a sword in anger. The Grand Master carried into every battle the knowledge that many of his Templar Knights would not return and bore that burden of responsibility with an inevitable certainty, but to witness the demise of nearly 2000 Templar Knights and the whole organisation in this manner must be a burden that he could only carry with the help of God.

  It was important that the timing of the dispatches was such that those preceptories furthest from any Templar port received their orders first, and so we took advantage of the few hours’ start that Philip’s over-confidence had given to us, to ensure that the first despatch riders went to the furthest outposts within King Philip’s lands.

  Although I was relatively sure that William’s agents would not be active here in Poitiers – after all why should they be? – I could not take any chances. So each rider was instructed not to leave until 30 minutes had passed since the last rider left. I was thankful that the rain and darkness seemed to be providing perfect cover for this operation, so I was confident that all was well.

  The Grand Master and I bid a fond farewell to our Holy Father and Guy with a certainty that we would never see one another again, donned our plain black cloaks and hoods, and headed out into the rain and darkness for Paris.

  That evening, the Pontiff and Guy deliberately arrived late at the royal chateau, and once inside the hallway, they were guided by the butlers towards the ballroom. The butler left them once they reached the entrance to the ballroom. Both stood bewildered for a moment at the top of the five steps, which would lead them down to ballroom floor, whilst they took in the scene that was below them. The large and decadent ballroom was alive with music, light conversation and boisterous laughter.

  Each of the walls of the ballroom were light blue in colour, broken only by the heavy gilt framed portraits of past Kings and noblemen of France. The double doors, which would normally be opened to allow the guests to spread out onto the terrace, seemed too fragile to protect the room from the heavy storm that continued to rage outside, but somehow they managed to fulfil their purpose with apparent ease. The room was illuminated by the light which came from the four large and magnificently decorated chandeliers suspended from the ceiling, assisted by the matching over large wall lights, which were positioned between the portraits.

  The music which reverberated around their ears was coming from the troubadours found to their right, and the floor before them, on all sides, was but a sea of bodies made up of the cream of Poitiers society. Around the room were positioned innumerable butlers, each supporting a large silver tray. On some were goblets, no doubt filled with fine wine, whilst on the others, were assorted fruit and cakes.

  Both the Pope and Guy were taken aback at the sight before them. For what they saw seemed to them to represent the very worst of the King's hedonistic indulgences. Refusing the offer of wine from the butler, it took them a few moments to recover from what they saw in front of them. As the revellers became aware of the Pope’s presence, they stopped dancing to acknowledge him with a reverential silence, which rippled across the room until the music stopped and the King turned to find out why.

  After all that had happened, the King behaved as if nothing had occurred today, for he swept across the ballroom floor and knelt to kiss the Pope's ring. Which, although respectful, his arrogant demeanour only served to further alienate him from the Pope. William, who was just behind his King, sensing that all was not well between them, quickly moved forward to suggest that they retire to where supper awaited them.

  William led the way, across the marbled floored hall and to the other side of the chateau. Although nothing was spoken, the tension between the two parties was palpable, and William for one was relieved to reach the small and intimate study where supper was to be served.

  Understandably, neither the Pope nor Guy enjoyed the food or the hospitality shown to them that night by a clearly jubilant King Philip and William, who by the end of the supper had adopted an equally annoying condescending attitude, now that they had the result they wanted. So conversation between the two parties was reduced to all but the required niceties that such a gathering demanded. Once again William pressed the point about Matthew being absent, and once again Guy fobbed him off with the reply that he was busy in Avignon on Papal business.

  After the light supper was finished, and in order to avoid any misinterpretation of rudeness, the Pope and Guy waited until a decent amount of time had passed, before they gave their excuses to leave. As protocol demanded, the King and William escorted their guests to the main doors of the Chateau, where the Pope's carriage was waiting.

  Not a word was exchanged between the Pope and Guy on the short journey back to his quarters, whilst at the Royal chateau nobody could stop the King from his enjoyment. The Bull from the papacy was now firmly in his possession, and the inquisition against the Order of Knight Templars was his to command.

  Victory was his and how sweet it tasted.

  Chapter 11

  Each of the remaining days of September seemed to be as long as a month, even though events kept me busy from dawn to dusk. As each day passed, I received confirmation from one preceptory then another that they were progressing well in the transportation of their treasury holdings to the nearest Templar port. I also received regular updates from Admiral Thibaud as to the number of Templar vessels that were now moored and in which port they were located.

  My instructions to each preceptory Master had been very specific regarding the value of the assets to be stored in the newly commissioned barrels. The orders also guided them as to when six barrels were filled they were to be loaded onto a carriage, covered with a cloth, and transported to the nearest Templar port, with no more than one carriage load per day and a gap of two days before the next load was to be despatched. I had calculated that we would be leaving behind around 10% of our assets within each preceptory, which was hoped would satisfy King Philip’s avarice, as even that small residue would be more money than he would have ever imagined or seen before.

  There continued to be a fierce debate between the Grand Master and Giles as to who should accompany the Holy relics and myself on their journey to their new home. Giles was insistent that it was the duty of our Grand Master to be the one to guard this precious cargo, whilst Jacques saw it the opposite way around. It took some days of conversation, which sometimes became very heated and animated, before Giles accepted the inevitable logic of him being the one to accompany me on the journey.

  As September neared its close, it was time for Giles and me to leave Paris with the Holy relics, and head for La Rochelle. Although there was great need for this to be done in the most inconspicuous manner, I had failed to find one. And so I had to decide upon taking the risk of sending three carriages out at the same time. Two of the carriages would be loaded with the round barrels which appeared to be just simple wine carriers, and they would be uncovered, whilst the third carriage was enclosed and loaded with crates, for there was no other means of transporting the Ark of the Covenant other than to enclose it in a crate.

  I prayed for a long time in my chapel, the one in which I felt most in touch with God, but one I would never see again. Both Giles and myself said goodbye to the Grand Master who wished us both well and reminded us once more that the future of the Church and the Holy Order of the Knight Templars was now in our hands.

  Giles and I waited for the cover of darkness before the convoy began its journey out of Paris, and I could onl
y pray that King Philip’s agents and spies were too busy with their own arrangements to be watching our every movement. Thankfully, after several anxious days travelling, we reached La Rochelle, mercifully without any incident, and met up with the ever cheerful Admiral Thibaud; and I must admit that I found his upbeat manner a most welcome relief from the stress of the last few days on the road, that came from carrying such a priceless and irreplaceable cargo without any guards.

  The King and William, having drunk well into the small hours, were understandably late in rising the next day. However, their mood was still upbeat and over a very congenial late breakfast/lunch chatted over their next move. Eventually, they decided that it was time for some work and they left for the King’s office.

  William had instructed his scribes to work through the night to ensure that there were sufficient copies of the two orders ready for the King to sign next morning. As the King and William entered into the bright and airy room which acted as the King’s office when at his chateau here in Poitiers, the large desk was already awash with the scrolls which now required his signature and seal.

  After satisfying himself that the copies were in order, William made his leave in order to muster as many despatch riders as he could, for they needed to be distributed to the baillis and seneschals as quickly as possible. He also instructed the royal butlers to make ready for the trip back to Paris.

  Due to the sheer number of documents that required the King’s signature and seal, it had turned dark by the time his task was completed, but, even this laborious and tediously repetitive process could not dampen the good mood of the King. For his mind was spent in daydreaming about all that money which was about to become his. Money and wealth beyond his wildest dreams, and with this money would come power, the power which would now allow him as the supreme ruler, the King of France, to influence and control every Christian Monarch throughout the known world.

  After another day spent at Poitiers the royal family and entourage finally headed back towards Paris.