Europe's inner demons

It seems that Esquiu’s revelations reached the ears of Philip the Fair in the autumn of 1305, and that the king passed them on to the pope that winter. As a religious order, the Temple came under papal, not royal, jurisdiction, and any investigation ought by rights to have been carried out under papal auspices. But, as we have seen, the usually harmonious relations between king and Temple became less harmonious in the course of 1306, and Esquiu’s story acquired a new value for the king. It may also have acquired a new credibility. There was in Philip at least as much of the fanatic as of the cynic, and he may well have persuaded himself that an organization which was capable of thwarting his aims was capable of any iniquity. It is said that he even planted a dozen spies in the various French provinces of the Temple, in an effort to obtain confirmatory evidence — a vain effort as it turned out, for not one of these men was even called as a witness against the Temple.

However that may be, once Philip had decided to use Esquiu’s revelations to destroy the Temple, he took no chances. Late in August 1307 Pope Clement informed him that he proposed to carry out an investigation. Philip realized that a papal investigation, carried out while the Templars were still at liberty and able to conduct their defence, would be unlikely to result in the condemnation and suppression of the order. His misgivings must have been reinforced by the unperturbed behaviour of the grand master. Jacques de Molay knew of Esquiu’s charges, and his response was to urge the pope to investigate, so that the order could clear its name. On 11 September he visited the pope at Poitiers, where the two men discussed not the affairs of the Temple but plans for a possible new crusade. Clearly, if the order was to be destroyed, the king must take charge of the proceedings: the Templars must be got into the hands of the royal officials, without hope of escape. When Philip struck, he did so without asking the pope; and several weeks were to pass before he communicated with him at all.

The order for the arrest of the Templars was drawn up on 14 September and dispatched, in the king’s name, to officers of the crown throughout the kingdom. It is a model of the dehumanizing use of language. Each word is chosen with the object of setting the Templars outside the bounds of humanity:⁽⁷⁾

A bitter thing, a thing to weep over, a thing horrible to think of and terrible to hear, a detestable crime, an abominable act, a fearful infamy, a thing altogether inhuman, or rather, foreign to all humanity has, thanks to the report of several trustworthy persons, reached our ears, smiting us with grievous astonishment and causing us to tremble with violent horror; and, as we weigh its gravity, an immense pain rises in us, all the more cruelly because we cannot doubt that the enormity of the crime makes it an offence to the divine majesty, a shame for mankind, a pernicious example of evil and a universal scandal.... (These people) are like beasts of burden which have no understanding, indeed they surpass unreasoning beasts in their astounding bestiality, they expose themselves to all the supremely abominable crimes which even the sensuality of unreasoning beasts abhors and avoids.... Not only by their acts and their detestable deeds but even by their hasty words they defile the earth with their filth, they undo the benefits of the dew, they corrupt the purity of the air and bring about the confusion of our faith.

The royal missive goes on to detail the offences to which the Temple is supposed to be addicted, and concerning which the Templars are to be interrogated. These can be summarized as follows: