7 - The Charges

Summary

When, on 14 September 1307, Philip IV had issued his secret orders for the arrest of the Templars, he had justified his action on three main grounds: the denial and the spitting, obscene kissing and homosexuality, and idol worship. In July 1308 Clement V finally agreed to reopen the proceedings which had been suspended the previous February, and on 12 August 1308 a fuller and more systematic list of charges was drawn up. This runs to 127 articles, which can be summarised under seven main headings. Firstly, that when a new Templar was received, he denied Christ and sometimes the Holy Virgin and the saints, an act instigated by those receiving him. He was told that Christ was not the true God, that he was a false prophet who had not been crucified for the redemption of the human race, but on account of his sins. There was therefore no hope of receiving salvation through Christ. The new member was then made to spit on a crucifix or on an image of Christ and, in some receptions, to trample or to urinate on it. Secondly, that the Templars adored idols, specific mention being made of a cat and a head, the latter sometimes having three faces. This head was worshipped as a saviour and venerated as a giver of plenty which could make the trees flower and the land germinate.