The Suppression Of The Templars In England.

To the venerable fathers in Christ , the Pati-iarohof Jerusalem , the Bishops of London and Chichester , to the Abbot of Lagny , of the Diocese of Paris , to Master Sicard de Vanr , Canon of Narhonne , John by Divine permission Bishop of Lincoln , greeting . Occupied as I am in many ways by the arduous affairs of our Chnrcb , and by the pressing needs thereof , which cannot be avoided , aud hindered by the infirmities of the Body of Christ , I cannot perform the Apostolic commands with that assiduity which I could wish . Wherefore , though being ready to attend to the Inquisition against the . persons and the Order of the Militia of the Temple , committed to you and to me by the Apostolic See , when I can , I desire our kindness to excuse my absence whenever I am unable to come .

Similar excuses are entered m the register as having been sent in the two following years , 1310 and 1311 . It is clear , therefore , that Bishop Dalderby deliberately withdrew from taking part in the trial of the Templars . It is certain also that this was clone after an inquiry held . For whether or no the bishop was present at the first inquiry , held in London in October , 1308 , it is certain that he himself held an inquiry at Lincoln , during- the earlier part of the year 1309 . For we haveunder the date of March 18 th of that yeara

, , letter addressed by him to his fellow-commissioners dated from the Old Temple ( the house of the see of Lincoln iu London ) , stating that be should be unable to be present at a meeting to be held by them for making out an inventory of the Templars' goods to be returned to the Pope , because he was obliged to be in Lincoln about the same time to conduct an examination of certain Templars there . This examination was to be held on the Monday after the Sunday on

which " Lcetare Hierusalem" was sung ( Mid-Lent Sunday ) , ancl on succeeding Mondays as was required . Bishop Dalderby , therefore , had certainly enjoyed good opportunities of investigating the charges against the Templars , and he may be presumed to have also had personal knowledge of them . For a famous precejDtory of theirs at Temple Bruer was within ten miles of his cathedral city . It is fairthereforeto assume that his practical retirement from the

in-, , quiry , which was allowed to drag on its tedious length for some three years , was clue to his being satisfied in bis own mind that there was " no case . " Ancl itis certainly not to wondered at that any fair-minded man should have shrunk from an investigation where such testimony as the following was allowed to be produced ancl gravely received . One witness averred that he had heard that

in the East a Knight apostatized to Mohammedanism . Another had heard that , at a great banquet at York , some of the Knights had worshipped a calf . Another Knight had a book in his possession which contained unorthodox sentiments . Another witness , a Franciscan , had heard a chaplain of the Order say to some of the brethren , " The Devil will burn you ! " Another had heard a Templar exclaim as he walked , "Alas ! that ever I was born . I must deny Christ and worship the Devil . " Another Franciscan had heard that a

Templar bad killed bis son for refusing to be a Templar . Another , an Augustinian , had heard that a Templar had declared that a man died like a dog ancl had no soul . Another witness said he had heard a sermon addressed to the Templars telling them how to get rich . Another , a Franciscan , had heard that the Order possessed four idols . At length three witnesses were found who had belonged , to the Order ancl had left it . These

men bad fled away from an inquiry which was in the hi ghest degree perilous to them . If they'had been able , truthfully , to depose against the Order they had no temptation to fly ; but having nothing really to allege against it they fled for fear of the torture . That the torture was applied to at least two of them there can be little doubt . Stephen Staplebridge , after making some important admissionsthrew himself on the ground with tears

, , groans , and shrieks , imploring mercy . What could this mean but that he had been tortured to make him admit what he had done ? And he now prayed that these admissions might be held to be sufficient , and that he might be tortured no more . Another , Theroldeby , declared that the Abbot of Lagny had threatened that he would make him confess before he had done with him .