Remember the Templar, Friday the 13th
By
Stephen Dake, Eminent Commander
Robert Macoy Commandery #3
Madison, Wisconsin
October 12, 2017
Sir Knights, Attention!
Sir Knights,
Tonights is Thursday, October 12th. As we meet tonight in 2017, I want to draw your attention to an important date in our history over 700 years ago.
Let me take you to the year 1306 in France. Pressed by the high cost of the ten-year war with England along with multiple other conflicts, French finances were in dire trouble and King Philip IV’s credit was in jeopardy. The King desperately needed money. In an attempt to raise as much money as possible, he drove-out 100,000 Jews from France and seized all of their property and money in the process. He also debased the gold and silver content of the currency by adding copper to the coinage-- these actions resulted in a significant public outrage and riots.
Additionally, King Philip attempted to tax the clergy which resulted in strong disagreement over authority between King Philip and the Pope. The Pope at that time was Pope Boniface VII who responded by preparing a bull of excommunication against King Philip. Before the Pope could publish his edict, he was kidnapped and violently assaulted by French troops under orders of the King. Although the Pope was eventually rescued, he did not recover from his injuries; he died shortly after.
King Philip IV used his great influence to drive the election of Clement V of France as the next Pope. With the country on the verge of bankruptcy, and with the new Pope under his control, the King began another vile plan to rebuild his wealth. He now turned his attention to the Knights Templar.
By the early 1300s, the Knights Templar rivaled all of Europe in political influence, military strength and, more importantly, wealth. However, the Templars did not report to the King; rather, they answered only to the Church--more specifically, the Pope alone. In fact, at that time, the Paris commandery was the largest bank in Europe that included much of the treasury of the French government. King Philip envied the power and the wealth of these Knights, and he devised a plan to eliminate the Order and seize their wealth. Although the King did not have the authority to arrest the Templars, his power over the newly appointed Pope provided him the leverage he required.
Rumors had circulated for some time of strange practices and rituals engaged by this secretive Order of Knights, and the King worked relentlessly to collect and fabricate evidence against them while ensuring the worst of the rumors and accusations made their way to the ear of Pope Clement V. After the papal coronation, King Philip IV directed the Pope to investigate the Templars under the suspicions of blasphemy and heresy. Not wanting to relive the fate of the previous pontiff, Pope Clement conceded, and through deceit and coercion, the King and the Pope executed their plan to bring down the Templars and seize its fortune.
At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, throughout all of France, soldiers, bailiffs and officials simultaneously opened their sealed orders from King Philip commanding them to arrest all Knights Templar, charge them with heresy, confiscate all property and treasure, and to obtain confessions by any means necessary (i.e., torture). And yes, confessions were coerced through torture, and trials were fabricated. All Knights of the Temple were declared guilty of heresy. Many were burned at the stake, some were tortured for years, yet countless did escape.
On that Friday, October 13th, it is believed that over 600 arrests were made including the Grandmaster, the Treasurer, and various Officers. These knights were brutally tortured to extract confessions of heresy.
Pressured by King Philip, Pope Clement further issued arrest warrants for all Knights Templar throughout Europe. Although some countries ignored these orders, and others were reluctant to enforce them, it should be understood that for all intent, the official support of The Knights Templar ended on that day in 1307.
In France, during the later Templar trials, numerous Knight's recanted the bogus confessions extracted through torture. In 1310, to deter further rescinded confessions, King Philip ordered 61 Knights to be slowly burned alive.
Jacques De Molay, the Grand commander, and many other knights were sentenced to life imprisonment. After 6-years of imprisonment, On March 18, 1314, King Philip seized Jacques De Molay and his Preceptor, Geoffrey de Charny, from prison to place them on display for a public confession. In the open square before the cathedral church of Notre Dame, in Paris, the public was gathered to hear the confessions of the Grand Master and his chief officer. These Knights, loaded with chains and surrounded by guards, were led to the raised courtyard scaffold constructed for this special event. The papal legate read the charges to the people and turned to the Grand Master for his public confession. Jacque DeMolay stepped forward to the edge of the platform, raised his chained arms to the heavens and declared,
“ I do confess my guilt! Which consists in having, to my shame and dishonor, suffered myself, through the pain of torture and the fear of death, to give utterance to falsehoods, imputing scandalous sins and iniquities to an illustrious order, which hath nobly served the cause of Christianity. I disdain to seek a wretched and disgraceful existence by engrafting another lie upon the original falsehoods.”
At this point, he was immediately interrupted and quickly dragged back to prison. Within hours, King Philip commanded the execution of the Jacques De Molay and Geoffrey De Charney by slowly roasting them to death over charcoal on the island in the Seine river between the King's garden and the convent of St Augustine. It is told that just before his death, The Grand Master Jacques De Molay cursed the King and the Pope.
“Let evil swiftly befall
Those who have wrongly condemned us;
God will avenge our death.”
Pope Clement V, was dead 33 days later, and King Philip IV of France died within eight months.
So tonight, Sir Knights, the eve before the Friday the 13th massacre of the Knights Templar that began on October 13th, 1307, we honor our most famous grandmaster, Jacques DeMolay and remember the valiant and magnanimous Knights of the Temple.
(Sir Knights Un-Cover)
Join me in a moment of silence for our late Grand Master.
(Sir Knights Re-Cover)
Sir Knights, be seated.