The Knights Templars.

pointed as governor , and Hugo de la Celle and William de Marsilly appear in this dishonourable office . Under the governors , certain men of quality were placed as subalterns , who appear from records to have been belted Knights . These

were Philip Coquerel , Gerard Robert , William de Bretignj 7 , John de Boisemont , Imberfc de Saint-Jara , and John Pitard . These appointments Avere all made by the king . Over the governors , again , Philip placed as inspector-general his confessor ,

William Imbert , a Dominician and Inquisitor of the Faith , one of an Order inured in Languedoc to blood , and profoundly versed in all inquisitorial arts and practices . * He was an extremely learned man , possessed of the complete confidence of the

king , and blindly devoted to his interests . The Avishes of the unprincipled monarch were a law to the director of his soul . William Avas perfectly cognisant of the king ' s intentions towards the Templars . He had a personal interest in the destruction ofthe Order , as the Templars intercepted the wealth which the Dominicians desired to direct

into their own coffers . The King likewise appointed , as assistants to Imbert , his unscrupulous chancellor , Nogaret , and William Plasian , who had taken part in the capture of Pope Boniface , and afterwards swore , before an assembly of the peers

and prelates of France , that Boniface was an atheist and a sorcerer , and had a familiar demon . The whole Order of St . Dominic , stirred up by Imbert , went hand in hand in the work , and , as we shall afterwards show , Avith complete success .

In charging the Templars with heresy , the king had acted wisely ; for treason , or any other political charge , would have fallen unheeded upon the public ear , while the charge of heresy acted like a trumpet-blast , and roused the people into a

fury of passion and hate . The day succeeding the arrest , the doctors of the University of Paris and several canons assembled , with the ministers of the king , in the Church of Notre-Dame , when Nogaret read 0 A er the

charges upon which the Templars had been seized . On the 15 th they again met at the Temple , when some of the Templars were examined , and are said to have confessed the crimes imputed to the Order , and which they declared had prevailed in it for the last forty years .-j- Upon this the king

The Knights Templars.

ordered the act of accusation to be published . This was a furious document , and evidently the work of Imberfc . In it the Templars are styled " deA r ouring wolves in sheeps' clothing , a perfidious and idolatrous society , whose deeds and whose

very Avords are sufficient to pollute the earth and infect the air . " To aid the effect of Imberfc ' s eloquence , the Parisians Avere assembled in the royal gardens , when the king's agents spoke against the accused . The pulpits , too , were filled

with Dominicans , who thundered forth curses against the unfortunate Templars . Upon the 13 th of October , the very day of the arrest , Philip Avrote to his son-in-law , Edward II . of England , who had just ascended the throne ,

urging upon him to follow his example , and to seize the Templars in his territories . This letter he sent by a confidential agent , a priest , named

Bernard Peletus , who was instructed to use every means in his power to influence Edward to destroy the Order . Edward replied to this letter , on the 30 th of the same month , that he had considered the matter very seriously , and had listened

to the statements of that " discreet man , " Master-Bernard Peletus ; that he had furthermore caused Peletus to detail the charges made against the Templars before himself and many of his prelates and nobles , but found them so monstrous as to be

incredible ; that such abominations and execrable deeds had never before been heard of by the king , the prelates , or the nobles , and it was therefore unjust to expect that they should give them credence . He added , however , that he would

consult with the seneschal of Agen , and then take Avhat steps he might think fit for the punishment of the guilty , and the protection of the Catholic faith . *

ihe violent proceedings of the king had mortified the Pope , who bitterly complained of not being consulted in the matter , and of the manner in which his name had been introduced ; but Philip easily overcame his scruples , and the

command was given to proceed Avith the examination of the Templars . This Avas left entirely in the hands of Imbert and Dominicans . A writer in

the Quarterly Review has admirably sketched the character of this Order . Although of so recenfc creation , for the Franciscans and Dominicans date from the Sixth Crusade , it had already won a fearful name in Christendom , and the members .