On the Extinction of the Order of the Templars

[tortures] were applied to the upper parts of the body original: "perioribus admovebatur," likely completing "superioribus," referring to the application of torture to the limbs or upper body., as Antoninus has it in Part 3 of his History, leaf 111), they were able to move them to confession. Conversely, in the midst of the flames, they cleared themselves and said that crimes had been falsely imposed upon them. See Antoninus in the place cited; Godfrey in the Chronicle for the year 1307. Historians make special mention of Jacques de Bourgogne Historically known as Jacques de Molay (c. 1240–1314), the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. The author here uses a variant name., Master and Prince of the Order of Templars, who, having confessed all offenses before the Pope, denied everything once brought back to Paris. Consequently sentenced to the most intense tortures of the flames, having cast aside all hope of his life and any offered comforts, he spoke these words:

I now, in these my final moments, since it would be a sin to give place to a lie, confess from my soul and in truth that I have committed a great crime against myself and my people, and have deserved the final punishments with the greatest torture. For I lied—to please those whom I least should have, and out of the sweetness of life—feigning all the outrages and crimes under torture against my Order, which has deserved very well of the Christian religion; nor do I now need a life that is precarious and retained by a new lie.

See the Appendix of Memorable Things by the Abbot of Ursberg, page 263; Antoninus, Part 3 of his History, leaf 111; Godfrey’s Chronicle for the year 1307. It is written that this speech and the steadfastness of Jacques moved many so deeply that they collected and venerated his bones as if he were some kind of martyr. See Bruetius in the Annals for the year 1118. Regarding the devoted reception of the bodies and bones of others as well, see Antoninus in the place cited and Nauclerus, leaf 244.

The prophecy of the Master of the Knights and of Guy, the brother of the Dauphin of Vienne, must by no means be passed over with a dry foot original: sicco pede; a Latin idiom meaning to pass over something quickly or without due attention., by which it is written that they summoned both the Pope and the King to the tribunal of Christ. For having been led to the fire to be burned alive like the others, with Pope Clement V and Philip the Fair, King of the French, looking on from the windows in the city of Bordeaux While the historical Jacques de Molay was executed in Paris, some traditions or sources cited by the author place this event in Bordeaux. in Gascony, the Master (an Italian by nation and a Neapolitan by birth) Historical records typically identify Jacques de Molay as being from Burgundy, but the author here identifies him as Neapolitan. broke out into these words especially: Most cruel...