☩ The Trial of the Templars - Part 2: The Lies of a King ☩

October 13 1307 the king of France Philip IV issues orders for the mass arrest of the Knights Templar in the French realm across Christian Europe people are shocked how could this happen how could the Templars long celebrated as heroic selfless champions of the Christian faith be rounded up like common criminals to justify these arrests King Philip accuses the Templars of heresy of desecrating the Christian faith and engaging in Blasphemous initiation rituals could these charges be true could the Templars have been hiding a dark secret for all these decades immediately King Phillip's charges are widely doubted for it's well known that the king of France had long been close to the Templars working right alongside them in Paris furthermore Philip is in debt to the Templars who have lent the king enormous sums of money to finance his endless Wars against England to many Philip's charges seem too convenient if Philip can destroy the order he can cancel out his debts and take all of the rich property and Estates donated to the Templars by Pious benefactors from across Europe today on real Crusades history we'll explore the shocking arrest of the Templars in 1307 and try to understand whether King Philip's charges could be true or just the lies of a greedy corrupt King willing to do anything to increase his own wealth and power join us [Music] us guys before we jump into today's topic let's recognize the importance of language in history for me the study of languages deepens my connection to history for the past couple of months I've been using Babel to mind dut their best that is improve my German a language that's crucial to Europe's medieval past Babel is the world's errar op that's number one language learning app and it allows you to maintain your language Journey whether Alm computer or Alm mobile telephone for me Babel's convenience is huge I can open it anytime while I'm taking a break and get immersive language learning in ftin minen whatever time I've got at the moment Babel engages your pronunciation your reading and your comprehension quickly is constantly assessing where you are and what you need to review guys I've spent years of my life trying to hone linguistic skills and I've never found anything so helpful so consistently as Babble this spring you can use my link in the description to get 60% off your subscription leave me a comment below telling me which language you'd like to learn and why Babble is my solution to language learning and if you give it a try I think you will agree Al Che in 1306 King Phillip continued to dig himself into a deeper Financial hole his war against Edward Long Shanks had devastated the Royal Treasury and so Philip ordered the reduction of the gold content of his currency by 2/3 this policy caused open Revolt in the streets of Paris fleeing from crowds of citizens determined to hang him king philli and his court took refuge in the stronghold of the Templars later Legend states that Phillip on this occasion saw the wealth of the Templars and was so overcome with avarice that he decided then and there to destroy them and seize their property this tale is undeniably too simplistic and Theatrical for Philip already well knew the wealth in the custody of the Templars but it does allude to a clear truth Philip wanted the Templars out of the way and he wanted their money far more striking is the fact that the the Templars likely saved the life of the man who only a year later would order their destruction the Templars were about to learn a hard lesson Philip IV was loyal only to himself whatever the case Philip was determined to use Templar wealth to resolve his financial troubles he sent a letter to the Templar Treasurer Jean de latur and demanded 300,000 gold flines an enormous sum equal to the annual ual budget of Italian city states like Genoa or Venice this was a tough demand for the bulk of Templar wealth was the property of private creditors who relied on the Templars as a trustworthy banking institution nevertheless Jean did not hesitate to Grant the King's request Jean did not even ask for Securities to guarantee Philip's [Music] repayment in 1307 when grandmas Jac deole returned from the East and saw the huge shortage in the Templar funds he had once ordered Jean deor removed from his position and expelled from the order this might seem extreme but it was in keeping with the rule of the order which required that a Templar be expelled if he stole or concealed any of the order's funds in excess of four Dinars Jean deur appealed the grandmaster's ruling to the only man alive who could overturn it the pope himself King philli personally requested that Pope Clement V overturned de mole's ruling Clement complied the pope dispatched a message to jacqu deule ordering the restoration of Jean deur to the order one chronicler describes the grandmaster's rage at receiving this command jacqu was an old Templar purist a veteran of the order's most ferocious Wars who held firm to the letter of the rule Jean deur represented the seasoned bureaucrat he'd been born to one of the high highest ranks of the French aristocracy and was confident that he could get the grandmaster's ruling overruled jacqu smashed the letter from the Pope in his fist and threw it into the fire yet he obeyed the pope his master according to the Templar rule Jean deur was fully reinstated Barbara fril notes that this incident reveals the conflicting obligations pulling the Templar order in two directions could the Templars be both important power players in European politics and idealistic Warrior monks could they serve the cause of the Crusade and also the king of France perhaps most striking is Pope Clement V's unhesitating subservience to King philli ivth there's little question that jacqu had behaved in accordance with the Templar rule when he expelled J de Lor King Philip's personal Appeal on Jon's behalf had certainly been crucial to the Pope's decision a century earlier Pope Innocent iiii might have thrown the French King's message in the fire himself in 1307 Philip IV finally made his move against the Templars the order's leadership was normally based in Cyprus but that year Templar leaders were visiting Paris in a rapid maneuver Royal officials stormed Templar houses across France aside from the Paris stronghold virtually none of these houses were fortified and most of the Templars Staffing these facilities were lightly armed or unarmed career bureaucrats or older brothers who'd long retired from the active War zones France had always been the peaceful home front of the order no one had ever imagined that the Templars would need to be ready for battle in the very heart of the order's operations and yet on October 13 1307 Templars across France found themselves attacked by the very agents of King Phillip some managed to escape and flee but many were arrested and imprisoned torture and interrogation began almost immediately above all Philip's agents wanted to secure confessions from these men to legitimize this shocking and seemingly Lawless Mass raid Philip quickly moved to propagate his charges against the order his actions he insisted were only the honest efforts of a Pious King to discipline a corrupt order Philip claimed that the Templars were conducting heretical initiation ceremonies in which they spat on a crucifix and denied Christ he claimed that as part of this ritual the Templars defiled one another sexually and worshiped a satanic Idol what evidence did Philip have for these claims did he have documents did he have physical evidence of the rituals did he have in his possession a satanic Idol used by the Templars in one of these supposed initiations no he had none of these which is why he wanted confessions from the brothers to extract these confessions the king's inquisitors employed torture torture of course is likely to produce a confession regardless of whether a man is guilty or innocent Philip was not disappointed between October and November only four of the 138 arrested Templars refused to admit to any of the charges leveled by the king's torturers many held out for some time but after repeated torture sessions finally broke Malcolm Barber points out the bizarre nature of this situation especially given the French Crown's closeness to the order for decades the Templars had operated right alongside French Royal officials their churches and houses were integrated into Royal establishments and in Paris their highest offices and sacred spaces were literally steps away from the king's own dwellings and sanctums this order whose officials were closer to the French King than many of France's highest ranking Aristocrats is suddenly being accused of practicing outright Satanism literally in the midst of the Royal Court in effect the king of France was admitting to harboring the most despicable of organizations in the very bosom of Paris the instructions given to Philip's inquisitors show exactly why they were able to extract so many confessions they read you are to promise them pardon and favor if they confess the truth but if not you are to assure them that they will be condemned to death so the Templar brothers were told that the only way they could obtain pardon was to admit to these charges otherwise they would face unspeakable brutality and what sort of tortures were employed against these unfortunate Brothers one was the fire torture in which the victim's legs were greased with fat and then roasted over an open flame like a piece of meat so painful was this method that the victim often went mad others had their arms bound behind their backs then were raised off the ground and dropped until their shoulders dislocated the brothers were also starved deprived of sleep and imprisoned in freezing temperatures without clothing or BL blankets so began the great ordeal of the Templars in France throughout the first month shock at the development spread across Europe how could the Templars long lionized as the heroes of the Crusades Stand Accused of such blasphemies for the average European at the time it was Unthinkable that the Templars could actually be guilty of such things this is why the confessions were critical to Phil 's campaign he wanted to wave these confessions in front of Christendom assuring that he was acting justly but would the confessions be believed how would the whiter Christian World [Music] react we will continue to find out next time in part three of this series with cloud the dust of dead St [Music]