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The Trial of the Templars - The Folio Society

fearless knight . . . who, as the body is covered with iron, so is the soul by the defence of the faith . . . Fortified by both, he fears neither demon nor man . . .' Founded in 1119 to defend pilgrims in the Holy Land, the Knights Templar quickly became Christendom's foot soldiers, bankers and administrators, upholders of the Crusading ideal. But in October 1307, in the name of the Inquisition, King Philip IV of France charged the Templars with heresy. Thousands of members of the Order were arrested, accused of denying Christ, worshipping false idols, spitting on the crucifix and sodomy. 'They defile the land with their filth, remove the benefits of the dew and infect the purity of the air', Philip raged. Mass confessions were extracted under torture - many were later retracted - before a vigorous movement in defence of the Order, spearheaded by two Templar priests, Pierre de Bologna and Renaud de Provins, brought the medieval Church to the brink of schism.