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Article THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. ← Page 3 of 6 Article THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. Page 3 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Templars.
proclaimed by sound of trumpet ; at the same time forbidding the Erench clergy , under severe penalties , to leave the kingdom . The Pope again summoned the clergy to repair to Rome , to deliberate upon the means of preserving the liberties
of the Church . Several abbots and prelates complied with the summons , whereupon the king seized their possessions . In this critical state of things , Philip resorted to a most important measure . He convoked a national assembly at Paris ,
in which , for tbe first time , their appeared deputies of the Third Estate , who willingly expressed their resolution to stand by their monarch in defence of his ri ghts ; and the clergy present readily denied the temporal jurisdiction of the Pope
The king was thus recognised by his people and his clergy as an independent sovereign in his own kingdom , and as having complete and absolute power in all temporal matters in France . This was ofthe utmost importance to him in his subsequent proceedings against the Templars .
The Pope menaced with deprivation all those of the clery who had not attended his summons , and in his famous Bull Unam Sanctum , he asserted that Jesus Christ had granted a twofold power or sword to his church , a spiritual and a temporal ;
that the whole human race was subject to the Pontiff , and that all who dissented from this doctrine were heretics , and could not expect to be saved . A subsequent Bull declared that every person , whatever his rank might be , was bound
to appear personally at Rome , when summoned . Philip forbade the publication of these Bulls , and again assembled the Estates General , when through his Chancellor , William de Nogaret , he publicly accused the Pontiff of heresy , simony , magic , and
other enormities , and urged the calling of a General Council for deposing the guilty Pope . Upon this the Estates General appealed to a General Council against the decrees of Boniface . This was the commencement of the undermining
and weakening of the Papal power , for the proud Philip for the first time taught the Europeans , what Emperors had in vain attempted , that the Roman Bishops could be vanquished ancl laid under restraint . Commissioners were sent through
France to procure the adhesion of the clergy to this act . Most of them readily agreed , while those who at first were refractory , were either bribed or compelled to g ive their assent . The king , on his part , solemnly pledged himself to stand by those who sided with him in resisting
The Knights Templars.
the demands of the Pope , and this pledge was also given by his wife and eldest son . The Pope at last fulminated the sentence of excommunication against the king , but Philip intercepted the Bull , and so prevented its publication . Boniface , as a
last measure offered the crown of France to Albert , Emperor of Austria . The firm adherent and adviser of the king through the whole of his conflict with Boniface , was the Chancellor , William de Nogaret . This man was a fit tool for the
unscrupulous Philip ; bold , unprincipled , and heartless , he had no will but that of the king , no desire but to rise though his means to the greatest power . He left no stone unturned to gain this object , stooping to perform the most villanous
of services , ancl embuitig his hands in oceans of innocent blood . Matters having gone so far , the king resorted to an act , which for temerity is almost unparalled in the annals of Christendom . He had afforded
an asylum at his court to some members of the Colonna family , who were the personal enemies of the Pope . He despatched William de Nogaret and some of the Italian exiles , attended by a force of three hundred horse to Italy . They took up their abode at a castle between Sienna and Florence
under pz-etext of its being a convenient situation for carrying on negociations with Rome . The Popo was at this time residing at his native town of Agnani . Nogaret by means of bribes and liberal promises , soon acquired a considerable
number of partisans from among the disaffected and impoverished inhabitants of that region , and early on the morning of the 7 th September , 1303 , he appeared at the head of a large force before the gate of Agnani , which was thrown open
to him by a traitor . The conspirators thereupon spread through the streets , shouting as they went , " Long live Philip : death to Boniface . " They entered the palace of the Pope without opposition and while tbe French went off in search of
plunder , the Colonnas thought only of vengeance . The Pope , on hearing the shouts of the conspirators , knew that his death hour had arrived Never , in the course of his long life , for Boniface was now eighty-six years of age , did he display
greater courage or devotion . Clothing himself in his pontifical robes , he knelt before au altar in prayer , waiting there for the arrival of his murderers . With fierce shouts and bloody imprecations , Sciarra Colonna and his myrmidons bur ^ t into the chapel ; but at the sight of the vener-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Templars.
proclaimed by sound of trumpet ; at the same time forbidding the Erench clergy , under severe penalties , to leave the kingdom . The Pope again summoned the clergy to repair to Rome , to deliberate upon the means of preserving the liberties
of the Church . Several abbots and prelates complied with the summons , whereupon the king seized their possessions . In this critical state of things , Philip resorted to a most important measure . He convoked a national assembly at Paris ,
in which , for tbe first time , their appeared deputies of the Third Estate , who willingly expressed their resolution to stand by their monarch in defence of his ri ghts ; and the clergy present readily denied the temporal jurisdiction of the Pope
The king was thus recognised by his people and his clergy as an independent sovereign in his own kingdom , and as having complete and absolute power in all temporal matters in France . This was ofthe utmost importance to him in his subsequent proceedings against the Templars .
The Pope menaced with deprivation all those of the clery who had not attended his summons , and in his famous Bull Unam Sanctum , he asserted that Jesus Christ had granted a twofold power or sword to his church , a spiritual and a temporal ;
that the whole human race was subject to the Pontiff , and that all who dissented from this doctrine were heretics , and could not expect to be saved . A subsequent Bull declared that every person , whatever his rank might be , was bound
to appear personally at Rome , when summoned . Philip forbade the publication of these Bulls , and again assembled the Estates General , when through his Chancellor , William de Nogaret , he publicly accused the Pontiff of heresy , simony , magic , and
other enormities , and urged the calling of a General Council for deposing the guilty Pope . Upon this the Estates General appealed to a General Council against the decrees of Boniface . This was the commencement of the undermining
and weakening of the Papal power , for the proud Philip for the first time taught the Europeans , what Emperors had in vain attempted , that the Roman Bishops could be vanquished ancl laid under restraint . Commissioners were sent through
France to procure the adhesion of the clergy to this act . Most of them readily agreed , while those who at first were refractory , were either bribed or compelled to g ive their assent . The king , on his part , solemnly pledged himself to stand by those who sided with him in resisting
The Knights Templars.
the demands of the Pope , and this pledge was also given by his wife and eldest son . The Pope at last fulminated the sentence of excommunication against the king , but Philip intercepted the Bull , and so prevented its publication . Boniface , as a
last measure offered the crown of France to Albert , Emperor of Austria . The firm adherent and adviser of the king through the whole of his conflict with Boniface , was the Chancellor , William de Nogaret . This man was a fit tool for the
unscrupulous Philip ; bold , unprincipled , and heartless , he had no will but that of the king , no desire but to rise though his means to the greatest power . He left no stone unturned to gain this object , stooping to perform the most villanous
of services , ancl embuitig his hands in oceans of innocent blood . Matters having gone so far , the king resorted to an act , which for temerity is almost unparalled in the annals of Christendom . He had afforded
an asylum at his court to some members of the Colonna family , who were the personal enemies of the Pope . He despatched William de Nogaret and some of the Italian exiles , attended by a force of three hundred horse to Italy . They took up their abode at a castle between Sienna and Florence
under pz-etext of its being a convenient situation for carrying on negociations with Rome . The Popo was at this time residing at his native town of Agnani . Nogaret by means of bribes and liberal promises , soon acquired a considerable
number of partisans from among the disaffected and impoverished inhabitants of that region , and early on the morning of the 7 th September , 1303 , he appeared at the head of a large force before the gate of Agnani , which was thrown open
to him by a traitor . The conspirators thereupon spread through the streets , shouting as they went , " Long live Philip : death to Boniface . " They entered the palace of the Pope without opposition and while tbe French went off in search of
plunder , the Colonnas thought only of vengeance . The Pope , on hearing the shouts of the conspirators , knew that his death hour had arrived Never , in the course of his long life , for Boniface was now eighty-six years of age , did he display
greater courage or devotion . Clothing himself in his pontifical robes , he knelt before au altar in prayer , waiting there for the arrival of his murderers . With fierce shouts and bloody imprecations , Sciarra Colonna and his myrmidons bur ^ t into the chapel ; but at the sight of the vener-