On the Extinction of the Order of the Templars

"Tyrant Clement, since there is now no one left among mortals to whom I may appeal regarding the heavy death with which you unjustly afflict me, I appeal to the righteous Christ, who redeemed us. I summon you before His tribunal, together with King Philip, the instigator of such great evil, so that you may appear before Him within a year and a day, where I shall set forth my case, so that justice may be administered without wicked bias." original: "Clemens tyranne... jus ſine pravo affectu miniſtrabitur." This is the legendary "curse" of Jacques de Molay, who summoned Pope Clement V and King Philip IV of France to meet him before God's judgment seat within a year. Both died in 1314, shortly after the execution. From the Dialogues of Fulgosius, Book 1, as cited by Camerarius in Hours of Leisure, century 3, page 132; and Busjeres in History of France, Book IX, page 230. However, you should observe that judgment regarding this prophecy varies. This author denies and continues to deny the outcome; that one, on the contrary, affirms that the deaths of the King and the Pope followed at the appointed time. Truly a marvel, he says, for the time which had been spoken of by the knight did not pass by before Clement was suddenly seized by death, and not much later Philip also perished. This history is also related by Natalis Alexander in Ecclesiastical History, 14th Century, Dissertation X, page 400. Antoninus writes in part 3 of his History, leaf 111, and Nauclerus on leaf 244, that many misfortunes at the very least befell the King and the Pope because of the imprisonment and extinction of the Templars The Knights Templar, a wealthy and powerful military order abolished by the Pope in 1312..

But although the Templars were thus miserably slaughtered in France, a no small number of Templars nevertheless remained in England, as well as in Germany and Italy. For when all had confessed in the Provincial Council established at London, but were unable to sufficiently clear themselves of the crimes attributed to them, they were thrust into monasteries Places of religious seclusion where they were meant to live as monks. for a sentence of perpetual penance. They were distributed such that no more than two, or at least only one (as the author of the treatise On the Extirpation of the Albigensian Heresy for the year 1311 holds), were admitted into any one monastery. Since they had the necessary means of sustaining life there, they conducted themselves most excellently in all things, as Thomas Walsingham writes in Edward II, page 99. Furthermore, if we consult the English Monasticon here, it is clear...