The Trial of the Templars

Malcolm Barber

The Trial of the Templars

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New preface by the author.

Bound in full cloth, blocked with a design by Simon Noyes.

Set in Sabon with Clairvaux display.

22 pages of plates printed in colour and black & white.

Map endpapers.

9½" x 6¼"., 384 pages.

'A fearless knight . . . who, as the body is covered with iron, so is the soul by the defence of the faith . . . Fortified by both, he fears neither demon nor man . . .'

Founded in 1119 to defend pilgrims in the Holy Land, the Knights Templar quickly became Christendom's foot soldiers, bankers and administrators, upholders of the Crusading ideal. But in October 1307, in the name of the Inquisition, King Philip IV of France charged the Templars with heresy. Thousands of members of the Order were arrested, accused of denying Christ, worshipping false idols, spitting on the crucifix and sodomy. 'They defile the land with their filth, remove the benefits of the dew and infect the purity of the air', Philip raged. Mass confessions were extracted under torture - many were later retracted - before a vigorous movement in defence of the Order, spearheaded by two Templar priests, Pierre de Bologna and Renaud de Provins, brought the medieval Church to the brink of schism.

The persecution and suppression of the Knights Templar - certainly the most famous, and arguably the most powerful of the military religious Orders - marks a defining moment in the history of the Middle Ages. But was there ever any substance to the allegations levelled at the Templars of 'detestable, execrable, abominable' crimes? Or to medieval minds steeped in superstition, was there something about the Templars that made them the perfect scapegoat for the failure of the Crusades? In this enthralling account of the trial, Malcolm Barber weighs the evidence, looks at what motivated the key figures, particularly Philip IV and Pope Clement V, and traces the sequence of events that culminated in the burning at the stake of Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars, on an island in the river Seine on 18 March 1314.

‘I wrote this book . . . because I believe that the event has some relevance to the modern world, so many of whose peoples have been, and continue to be, oppressed by regimes which use terror and torture to enforce conformity of thought and action’
Malcolm Barber