On the Extinction of the Order of the Templars

-wing original: "mine," likely the conclusion of "in limine," meaning "at the threshold" or "at the opening" immediately of this Council (whether it should be called Ecumenical A universal council representing the whole Christian world. or, according to Osiander in his Compendium of Church History, cent. 14, book 3, ch. 1, merely Provincial, is debated elsewhere), three main items for deliberation were proposed, among which the case of the Knights Templar held no minor place. And indeed, right at the start, there was a huge disagreement among the Bishops: some affirmed that the Templars ought to be heard before being condemned, while others felt the Order should be abolished without delay, on the grounds that it had presented a massive scandal to Christianity. Therefore, the Pope, to provide a remedy for this trouble, summoned his Cardinals and Prelates to a specific private consistory, in which he completely abolished the Order of the Templars. In the second session of this Council, the Bull of Condemnation (the summary of which Puteanus Claude Dupuy, a 17th-century scholar who published documents on the Templar trial. provides on page 59) was published, in which the Pope himself confesses,

that he rejected the Order of the Templars not indeed by law, but by
the fullness of Apostolic power. original: "non quidem de jure, de Plenitudine tamen potestatis Apostolicae rejecerit." This indicates the Pope was acting on his supreme authority rather than through a formal legal conviction based on evidence.

This Council lasted nearly two years, namely from the [thirteen hundred and] eleventh year until the thirteenth; concerning this and other matters, see Raynaldus for the years 1308 and 1310; Paul Lang in the Chronicle of Zeitz for the year 1311, Pistorius edition; the Tract on the Extirpation of the Albigensian Heresy in volume 5 of the Historical Writers of France, Du Chesne edition; and Jean Tillet Johannes Tilius in his Chronicle of the Kings of France for the year 1306, where it is likewise expressly asserted,

that the Order of the Templars was abolished by way of provision
rather than by way of condemnation. original: "per provisionis potius, quam condemnationis viam." This distinction suggests the Order was suppressed as an administrative necessity for the peace of the Church, rather than a definitive judicial ruling on their guilt.

The Great Belgian Chronicle, p. 284, Pistorius edition; the Supplement of the Abbot of Ursperg, p. 263; The Patterns of Normandy Hypodigma Neustriae, a historical work by Thomas Walsingham, p. 444; Bruetius's Annals of the World for the year 1311, p. 205, part 3, vol. 2; Osiander, cent. 14, book 1, ch. 3; Zwinger in the Theater of Human Life, vol. 5, book 4, p. 1325; Jean de Bussières’s History of France, book 9, p. 228; Hondorff in the Theater of History, p. 753, Latin edition. Whoever desires more should consult Puteanus's treatise on the Trial Against the Templars. Otherwise, Natalis Alexander A prominent French Dominican historian. states that the Council lasted only seven months, not two yea-