Order Of The Knights Templar Essay
WHY WERE THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR ACCUSED OF HERESY? WHAT DOES THEIR DEMISE TELL US ABOUT THE NATURE OF HERETICAL ACCUSATIONS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY?
The fall of the Order of the Knights Templar was far more complex than a simple accusation of heresy and inquisitorial trial. Though the investigation and trial followed a relatively standard process, the circumstances of the Order’s collapse were extraordinary; INNOCENCE POLITICS WHATEVER. That being said, an apparently extraordinary case is relatively revealing about the nature of fourteenth century heretical accusations; BONIFACE, TORTURE, STOCK-STANDARD CHARGES.
It would be easy to list the charges that the Templars faced as the reason why they were accused of heresy; it would also be wrong. …show more content…
The Templars, by 1307, were both wealthy and unpopular – following the loss of Acre and thus Christendom’s holdings in the Holy Land in May 1291, the Order was increasingly unpopular and their usefulness was being brought into question (the charge of heresy and sin would later be provided by some as an explanation for this loss) . This argument is supported by contemporaries at the time of the events, such as Genoese politician Cristiano Spinola, who believed that Philip had arrested the Templars to seize their wealth and combine the Order with that of the Knights Hospitaller. Spinola was also likely correct in this assessment; Philip first raised the issue of combining the Orders at the second Council of Lyon in 1274, frustrated with the Templars’ lack of conformity to crusading policies and wishing to bring the Order under French royal jurisdiction. By fusing the Orders and thus bringing the Church-controlled Templars under his authority, Philip also sought to assert his dominance over the Catholic Church and the newly-instated Pope Clement V; Julien Théry refers to this as the “pontificalisation of the French monarchy. Philip’s fractured relationship with the Catholic Church and the power struggle between the two bodies dated back to his conflict with Pope Boniface VIII and his arrest of the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard
The fall of the Order of the Knights Templar was far more complex than a simple accusation of heresy and inquisitorial trial. Though the investigation and trial followed a relatively standard process, the circumstances of the Order’s collapse were extraordinary; INNOCENCE POLITICS WHATEVER. That being said, an apparently extraordinary case is relatively revealing about the nature of fourteenth century heretical accusations; BONIFACE, TORTURE, STOCK-STANDARD CHARGES.
It would be easy to list the charges that the Templars faced as the reason why they were accused of heresy; it would also be wrong. …show more content…
The Templars, by 1307, were both wealthy and unpopular – following the loss of Acre and thus Christendom’s holdings in the Holy Land in May 1291, the Order was increasingly unpopular and their usefulness was being brought into question (the charge of heresy and sin would later be provided by some as an explanation for this loss) . This argument is supported by contemporaries at the time of the events, such as Genoese politician Cristiano Spinola, who believed that Philip had arrested the Templars to seize their wealth and combine the Order with that of the Knights Hospitaller. Spinola was also likely correct in this assessment; Philip first raised the issue of combining the Orders at the second Council of Lyon in 1274, frustrated with the Templars’ lack of conformity to crusading policies and wishing to bring the Order under French royal jurisdiction. By fusing the Orders and thus bringing the Church-controlled Templars under his authority, Philip also sought to assert his dominance over the Catholic Church and the newly-instated Pope Clement V; Julien Théry refers to this as the “pontificalisation of the French monarchy. Philip’s fractured relationship with the Catholic Church and the power struggle between the two bodies dated back to his conflict with Pope Boniface VIII and his arrest of the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard