The relations of the French King Philip IV with Pope Boniface VIII were bad. The monarch, in great need of funds, intended to make the clergy pay taxes, to which the pontiff refused. A bitter dispute arose over the attributions of the respective powers, aggravated by the rivalries that the pope maintained with many of his cardinals.
In 1301, the Gallic king sentenced to death a bishop who dared to criticize him, which raised papal anger. In an escalation of tension, Boniface VIII wrote a bull that excommunicated the French king. He responded by accusing the pope of being a heretic and capturing him. Although the prelate managed to escape, he would die shortly after. The bull was not published, but since it was not repealed it could see the light at any time, which represented a sword of Damocles for the king of France.
Clement V ascended to the throne of Saint Peter in 1305, after a long and highly disputed conclave. The new pontiff inherited the disputes with France, which also divided the curia. Nor were relations between the pope and the Temple at their best. The Church intended to add the Templars to the Hospitallers to reinforce both orders. Clemente saw in this a solution to quell the complaints.
The Templars were reluctant to accept the merger. They feared greater control by the Christian monarchies and, in particular, the Gallic ones. But Temple himself was divided into two factions: one, with its epicenter in France and very submissive to its king, focused on financial and political tasks; and another, in Cyprus, tried to keep alive the spirit of the crusade and the independence of the order.
Clemente would soon be trapped by difficult political circumstances and the limitations of his illness, which took away his drive. He was weak, although the label traitor is possibly too strong. In 1306 came the serious accusations of Philip IV against the Templars. Clemente started an investigation. It was clear that the order was increasingly becoming the object of dispute between Philip IV and the pope, and although the latter openly distrusted the French complaints, he could not turn a deaf ear to them either.
In 1307 the Gaulish king arrested the Templar leaders of France. He took advantage of a decree by Honorius III that allowed the Inquisition to investigate even orders subject exclusively to the papacy. Clement exploded with anger, but he knew that much of the cardinal curia supported Philip and had to gauge his protests if he wanted to avoid a schism.
In a tough tug-of-war he managed to hold a hearing in Chinon, from which the Templars were acquitted of the most serious charges after asking forgiveness for some misdeeds. The conclusion was that the order had to be reconverted and regenerated. But for Felipe it was not enough. In 1308 he accused the bishop of Troyes of witchcraft and had him burned at the stake, again defying Clement V. The pope saw the risk of schism increasingly approaching and decided to partially surrender to the French king.
In a political move, Clement dissolved the order in 1312 for indignity and bad habits, but absolved its members of heresy. With this he prevents them from being executed, although they are kept prisoner. Two years later, in the face of constant blackmail from Philip IV, the pope decreed life imprisonment for the grand master of the order, Jacques de Molay.
Upon finding out, the grand master and his fellow captive, Geoffroy de Charny, proclaim the Temple’s complete innocence. The monarch feared that the pontiff would back down and rehabilitate the order and acted quickly. He kidnapped Molay and his cellmate and took them to the stake.
The sources speak of the great serenity and courage with which both went to martyrdom. According to some testimonies, the grand master called both Philip IV, who had treacherously attacked them, and the pope, who had abandoned them, before the court of God. It was the end of the Temple and the beginning of the legend.
Clement V, in short, hesitated. He knew of the low interests of the King of France, but he also assumed that there was some basis in the criticism of the Templars, although not the nature or seriousness attributed to them. He could have done more in defense of the order, but the risk of schism, together with deteriorating health, prevented him from acting energetically before the French monarch.
Immersed in political events and worried about having to face a possible schism with the French Church, he could not, or did not know how, to make principles prevail over the compromises of power.
This text is part of an article published in number 497 of the magazine Historia y Vida. Do you have something to contribute? Write to us at redaccionhyv@historiayvida.com.
