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Article NOTITIÆ TEMPLARIÆ, No. 3. Page 1 of 3 →
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Notitiæ Templariæ, No. 3.
NOTITIiE TEMPLARIiE , No . 3 .
FATE OP THE ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE TEMPLARS . ALMOST simultaneously with the unfortunate French Templars , the members of the Brotherhood in England were arrested by virtue of a papal mandate , and placed in durance vile . At length , the same tyrannic decree extended to Scotland and Ireland . laced in the
All the property ancl treasures of the Order were p royal keeping till the issue of their trial . More than a year and a half was suffered to elapse before their case was brought under judicial cognizance , during ivhich protracted period the Grand Prior , or head of the Order in England , was allowed two shillings a-day , and each of his knights fourpence a-day for their personal provision . It is but justice nrst
to Edward the Second to record , that reluctant as he was trom tne to obey the Pope ' s bull , he directed his officers to treat the injured knig hts with as much leniency as possible . Certainly , compared to the barbarous treatment experienced by the French and other continental cavaliers , the English Templars fared more tolerably ; but their condemnation was equally pre-determined . After they had lain a year ancl a half in prison , the Archbishop of Canterbury , by direction of Pope Clement the Fifth , issued orders for special courts of commission to assemble at London , York and Lincoln , for their final examination
and trial . Forty-seven knig hts were examined before the Bishop of London ancl the papal legates , all of whom declared upon oath that they were innocent of the crimes of heresy , idolatry , & c . which were laid to their charge . William de la Moore , the Grand Prior of England , particularly distinguished himself by the courage and consistency with which he
maintained his integrity and the honour of the Order . No menaces , no entreaties could induce him to swerve for a moment from his firm avowal of absolute and unconditional innocence ; and when pressed to make even a general confession on some of the minor points , he replied with heroic determination , that as he was utterly unconscious of having practised sanctioned departure from orthodoxy in the Order
or any under his charge , he could not , ancl never would submit to make confessions of guilt which had no real existence : rather than do so he preferred to die in prison . Humbert cle Blancke , a distinguished knight , in like manner refused to abjure pretended errors , upon which he was ordered to be shut up in the very vilest dungeon , to see it he would still make some avowal of criminality * . To the honour ot
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notitiæ Templariæ, No. 3.
NOTITIiE TEMPLARIiE , No . 3 .
FATE OP THE ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE TEMPLARS . ALMOST simultaneously with the unfortunate French Templars , the members of the Brotherhood in England were arrested by virtue of a papal mandate , and placed in durance vile . At length , the same tyrannic decree extended to Scotland and Ireland . laced in the
All the property ancl treasures of the Order were p royal keeping till the issue of their trial . More than a year and a half was suffered to elapse before their case was brought under judicial cognizance , during ivhich protracted period the Grand Prior , or head of the Order in England , was allowed two shillings a-day , and each of his knights fourpence a-day for their personal provision . It is but justice nrst
to Edward the Second to record , that reluctant as he was trom tne to obey the Pope ' s bull , he directed his officers to treat the injured knig hts with as much leniency as possible . Certainly , compared to the barbarous treatment experienced by the French and other continental cavaliers , the English Templars fared more tolerably ; but their condemnation was equally pre-determined . After they had lain a year ancl a half in prison , the Archbishop of Canterbury , by direction of Pope Clement the Fifth , issued orders for special courts of commission to assemble at London , York and Lincoln , for their final examination
and trial . Forty-seven knig hts were examined before the Bishop of London ancl the papal legates , all of whom declared upon oath that they were innocent of the crimes of heresy , idolatry , & c . which were laid to their charge . William de la Moore , the Grand Prior of England , particularly distinguished himself by the courage and consistency with which he
maintained his integrity and the honour of the Order . No menaces , no entreaties could induce him to swerve for a moment from his firm avowal of absolute and unconditional innocence ; and when pressed to make even a general confession on some of the minor points , he replied with heroic determination , that as he was utterly unconscious of having practised sanctioned departure from orthodoxy in the Order
or any under his charge , he could not , ancl never would submit to make confessions of guilt which had no real existence : rather than do so he preferred to die in prison . Humbert cle Blancke , a distinguished knight , in like manner refused to abjure pretended errors , upon which he was ordered to be shut up in the very vilest dungeon , to see it he would still make some avowal of criminality * . To the honour ot