passed his
successor in Peter's chair, Pope Clement V., revoked all his bulls and
censures, expunged them from the papal register, solemnly condemned
his memory and restored the Colonna family to all their honours.
Dante, who hated Boniface as cordially as Philip did, and cast him
into hell, was yet revolted at the cruelty of the "new Pilate, who had
carried the fleur-de-lys into Anagni, who made Christ captive, mocked
Him a second time, renewed the gall and vinegar, and slew Him between
two living thieves." But the "new Pilate was not yet sated." The
business at Anagni had only been effected _spendendo molta moneta_;
the disastrous battle of Courtrai and the inglorious Flemish wars had
exhausted the royal treasury; and the debasement of the coinage
availing nought, Philip turned his lustful eyes on a once powerful lay
order, whose chief seat was at Paris and whose wealth and pride were
the talk of Christendom.

After the capture of Jerusalem and the establishment there of a
Christian kingdom, pilgrims flocked to the holy places. Soon, however,
piteous stories reached Jerusalem of the cruel spoliation and murder
of unarmed pilgrims, on their journey from the coast, by hordes of
roving lightly-armed Bedouins, against whom the heavily-armed Franks
were powerless. The evil was growing well-nigh intolerable when, in
1118, two young French nobles, Hugh of Payens and Godfrey of St. Omer,
with other seven youths of highest birth, bound themselves into a lay
community, with the object of protecting the pilgrims' way. They took
the usual vows of poverty, charity and obedience; St. Bernard drew up
their Rule--and we may be sure it was austere enough--pope and
patriarch confirmed it. Their garb was a mantle of purest white linen
with a red cross embroidered on the shoulder. The order was housed in
a wing of the palace, which was built on the site of Solomon's Temple,
hard by the Holy Sepulchre, and its members called themselves the Poor
Soldiers of Christ and of Solomon's Temple. Their banner, half of
black, half of white, was inscribed with the device "_non nobis
Domine_." Their battle-cry "Beauceant," and their seal, two figures on
horseback, have not been satisfactorily interpreted--the latter
probably portrays a knight riding away with a rescued pilgrim. Soon
the little band of nine was joined by hundreds of devoted youths from
rich and noble families; endowments to provide them with arms and
horses and servants flowed in, a