Friday 13th October 1307 A.D. – Paris

Jacques was an old man now, in his mid sixties. He’d had a tough life. A lot of it had been spent in the Holy Land and the years in the sun had left deep crevices etched into his face. He was heavily built and he’d always had an immense presence on the battlefield.

His hair, once long, flowing brown locks was now thinning. What he had left was silver but grown long, to hang round his shoulders. A huge straggly beard that was starting to turn grey framed his face. Despite his age, Jacques still managed to exude confidence and composure. He still retained a lot of his strength. He was going to need all of it.

The knock came at dawn when he wasn’t really expecting it. Well not exactly a knock. It was more of a crashing blow. A crowd of the King’s men, headed by William of Nogaret rushed into the house in which he was staying and placed Jacques de Molay under arrest. He was taken, ironically, to the Paris Temple where along with many other Templars he was placed in a locked room, and secured to the wall in heavy iron chains.

Several of the Templar officers were already in the room as de Molay was roughly thrown to the floor and his chains fastened to the wall hoops. After the guards left, they told the Master of the offences of which they were charged.

Jacques listened carefully as the alleged crimes were described. This was going to be difficult. The King had mixed some truth, particularly on the initiation ritual, with some heretical gossip. But there was enough fact in there to damn the entire Order. It was immediately apparent that the future of the Templar movement itself was under the most serious threat.

On the following Thursday the inquisitors began their work. Philip’s Chief Inquisitor Guillame de Paris had prepared the ground for the affair. The previous month he had written to the inquisitors of Toulouse and Carcassonne, requesting their assistance in an enquiry against the Templars. They were all now assembled in Paris, ready to carry out the King’s instructions.

Jacques tried his best to retain his usual tranquil mind-set. But it was impossible. Hideous screams echoed through the basement of the Temple buildings, day and night. Periodically, the door to the cell would be thrown open and another wreck of a man returned to them.

The inquisitors were not really interested in the truth they just wanted the Templars to verify Philip’s charges. Whether they were in fact true, was of complete irrelevance to them.

Throughout the terrible next few days, it became clear that there was no way of holding out against the rack and the fire of their tormentors. One of the problems was that many of the captured Templars were not actually fighting knights. The Order had expanded and a large number of Templars were just involved in administering their various estates.

By the Wednesday of the following week, Jacques was determined to stop the incessant torture and requested a personal audience with their inquisitors. There was no alternative, but to confess to the charges both for himself and the entire Templar organisation. At least this way he could gain some time. And he needed some breathing space to figure out a plan. Jacques gave the word for capitulation. So confessions were obtained from the greatest, the Grand Master, down to the most humble, Roland de Grandeville, who merely took care of the ploughs at Mont Soissons.

The admissions of guilt, all revolved around the abuse of the cross during reception into the Order. The basic facts of the ceremony were told by each of the knights when they confessed. But they had not given the reason for the rite. For better or worse, only a few of the knights now knew this, and they knew better than to make any revelation. Apart from those who had been tortured, none confessed to the other charges. This was primarily because they were a complete fabrication. Even in his troubled state of mind, the Grand Master wondered what on earth possessed Philip to accuse the Order of worshipping cats

Regarding the secret purpose of the Order, de Molay, had the comfort of knowing he had already sent word to England. But he could not be sure of the mission’s success. He was very aware that he had dispatched his knights to England without the proper documents. Jacques could but hope, that they would be able to argue their case with enough passion to overcome this problem.