The Persecution of the Templars

Scandal, Torture, Trial

Alain Demurger, Teresa Lavender Fagan

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781781257869
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782833291
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

The trial of the Knights Templar is one of the most infamous in history. Accused of heresy by the king of France, the Templars were arrested and imprisoned, had their goods seized and their monasteries ransacked. Under brutal interrogation and torture, many made shocking confessions: denial of Christ, desecration of the Cross, sex acts and more.

This book follows the everyday reality of the trial, from the early days of scandal and scheming in 1305, via torture, imprisonment and the dissolution of the order, to 1314, when leaders Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay were burned at the stake. Through first-hand testimony and written records of the interrogations of 231 French Templars, this book illuminates the stories of hundreds of ordinary members, some of whom testified at the trial, as well as the many others who denied the charges or retracted their confessions.

A deeply researched and immersive account that gives a striking vision of the relentless persecution, and the oft-underestimated resistance, of the once-mighty Knights Templar.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Also by Alain Demurger
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Tables and Maps
• Translator’s Note
• Introduction
• 1. Prelude (1305–1307)
• 2. The Arrests (13 October 1307)
• 3. The King and the Inquisition (October–November 1307)
• 4. At Notre-Dame de Paris (?) (24 or 26 December 1307)
• 5. Power Struggle (January–June 1308)
• 6. Compromise: Poitiers–Chinon (June–August 1308)
• 7. Clermont: The Diocesan Commissions (June 1309)
• 8. The Papal Commission Gets Off to a Slow Start (August–November 1309)
• 9. The Papal Commission at Work (1309–1311)
• 10. The Templars’ Revolt (February–May 1310)
• 11. The Council of Sens: The Revolt Is Quelled (11–12 May 1310)
• 12. Interlude: In the Prisons of Senlis (June 1310–1312)
• 13. The Second Phase of Interrogations (Paris, 1311)
• 14. The Council of Vienne and the Burning of Jacques de Molay (1311–1314)
• Conclusion
• Appendices
• Notes
• Sources and bibliography
• Index of places
• Index of people
• Also from Profile Books