On the Extinction of the Order of the Templars

...[appealed] original: "perio-sus," likely the end of "appellationis," completing the phrase for "lodging an appeal." against this Pope Clement Pope Clement V (reigned 1305–1314), who, under pressure from the French King, oversaw the suppression of the Templars., to be heard at a future Council under the next Pope; we ask that you now make this known to the clergy present here. For our cause is such that we do not fear a just and fair judge. The Archbishop, receiving him with the kindest words, promised not only that he would intercede most effectively on their behalf before the Pope, but he actually fulfilled this promise. To the letters of intercession written to the Pope, the Pontiff soon replied most graciously and consented to the total absolution A formal release from guilt or punishment. of the Templars of the Diocese of Mainz. See the detailed description of this history in H. Mutius in the Chronicles of German History, pages 211 and 212; Nauclerus, folio 244; Brouwer and Masen in the Antiquities and Annals of Trier, book 17, for the year 1313; and Camerarius in Leisure Hours, Volume 3, page 340. Nor were the Templars acquitted only in this Synod of Mainz, but also in Italy, at the Synod celebrated in Bologna; since they steadfastly denied the crimes charged against them, they were pronounced free from all guilt. See Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals for the year 1310.

However, just as the Templars had experienced a milder fate in Germany and certain other places, an even more bitter lot awaited them in France. For as Paulus Aemilius of Verona testifies in his Deeds of the French regarding Philip IV (also known as Philip the Fair), page 256, all of them there were wiped out, and the majority were burned at the stake. Meanwhile, a truly admirable steadfastness was seen in these Templars. For although they were offered the hope of life and every comfort to sustain it if only they would confess to the crimes of which they were accused, they nevertheless persisted so firmly in asserting the innocence of their Order that neither the most solemn pleas of their friends nor the severity of the tortures they foresaw could break them. (For they were tied to stakes and, with their feet bared, fire was placed beneath them, which then slowly spread to their shins and limbs...)