On 22 September 1307, the French Royal Council decided to arrest the Templar Order (“The Templars”). This ecclesiastical order, founded in 1199 to fight the “infidels” in Palestine, was fabulously rich and carried out its policy with fire and sword during the Crusades. Enemies of the Templars spread rumors that they worshipped the devil in the image of the Baphomet idol, burn babies on fire, arrange bloody orgies etc. King of France Philip IV the Fair, who had long dreamed of laying his hand on the Order’s property, did not fail to take advantage of the opportunity. In September 1307, with the blessing of the Pope, a rescript on the arrest of the Templars was signed (by the beginning of the XIV century, the number of the Order members reached 20 thousand people). For three weeks, preparations for this unprecedented police action were conducted in the strictest secrecy. Royal officials, military commanders and local inquisitors did not know until the very last moment what they were going to do: instructions were received in sealed packages that were allowed to be opened only on Friday, 13 October. The Templars were taken by surprise. No one thought of resisting. Numerous crimes against religion and morality were attributed to them: blasphemy and renunciation of Christ, the cult of the devil, sodomism and other perversions. The execution of 54 Templars who refused their confessions extracted earlier under torture had the appropriate effect on the other witnesses, discouraging them from speaking out in defense of the Order.
The judicial investigation lasted seven years. In May 1312, by decision of the Ecclesiastical Court, the Templar Order was dissolved. Their property – about 50 million thalers – was confiscated. On 18 March 1313, the head of the Order, Grand Master Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake in Paris.
Igor Dzhokhadze. The criminal chronicle of mankind
Translated by Elizaveta Ovchinnikova
