August 1308 A.D. – Chinon – The Deputation

Events were weighing heavily on the mind and shoulders of Jacques de Molay. The knights he had sent to England had been unavailable to return to him in person, as they would have been subject to immediate arrest in France.

But they had sent word of the refusal of the Abbot at Furness to work with them in any way. Without either a letter in the exact format required, or personal correspondence from Pope Clement himself, there would be no release of valuables from storage. Neither of those was likely to be forthcoming. With Clement in office, there would be no papal communication. And the complex form of words required in a letter of release, was kept in the Templar Headquarters on Cyprus. There was no chance at all of retrieving it under the current circumstances.

The previous month, the Grand Master had at last been released from the clutches of the infamous inquisitors in Paris. Although shackled together in wagons, the Grand Master, four of his officials and seventy-two Knights and sergeants had been told they were en route to Poitiers. There, they were to be released into the custody of the Church. And were to be granted an audience with the Pope Clement V.

But for Jacques and his officials it was not to be. Some distance short of Poitiers, they were unceremoniously taken off the wagons at Chinon. It was made clear to them that at that moment they were still under the control of the French King Philip. They were locked in the round keep, the Tour de Coudray.

Then, two days ago, Jacques had received news that three cardinals had arrived at Chinon. They were, Etienne of Suisy, Landalfo Brancacci and Berenger Fredol, the Pope’s cousin. The Grand Master was now waiting for the three cardinals to form a special apostolic commission of enquiry. At last there would be a proper hearing for the Templars, instead of the mockery of the investigation performed by the King’s Parisian inquisitors.

The Grand Master could not understand why Clement had taken so long to remove him from the iron grasp of Philip’s thugs, after the meeting with the cardinals at the end of last year. Jacques had thought he had displayed enough contrition and told enough of the truth, to allow the Pope to give a pardon. And let the work of the Templars continue. Starting with resolving the problem in the north of England.

The three cardinals returned to the papal residence with the news that de Molay was being consistent in his story. The Templars’ initiation ceremony did indeed involve spitting on a representation of the cross. But beyond that, it was the Grand Master’s opinion that the Templars, were to a man, devoted Christians. Given his confession to the initiation ceremony, the Grand Master and the other officials had been granted absolution by the cardinals.

The seventy-two Templars who had left Paris with the senior members of the Order were subsequently questioned at Poitiers. All their testimony was in entire agreement with that of the Grand Master. Pope Clement was therefore able to conclude that the Templar Order itself should continue. But that it required reform, to rid itself of the rites of initiation. Philip, however strongly disagreed with this opinion and the stage was set for a long drawn out conclusion.