uffered
naught for what he had said. The rugged old master, Jacques de Molay,
scarred by honourable wounds, the marks of many a battle with the
infidel, was brought before the court and his alleged confession read
to him. He was stupefied, and swore that if his enemies were not
priests he would know how to deal with them. A second time he was
examined and preposterous charges of unnatural crimes were preferred
against the order by the king's chancellor, Guillaume de Nogaret. They
were drawn from a chronicle at St. Denis, and based on certain
statements alleged to have been made by Saladin, Sultan of Babylon
(Egypt). Again he was stupefied, and declared he had never heard of
such things. And now the Templars' courage rose. Two hundred and
thirty-one came forward, emaciated, racked and torn; among them one
poor wretch was carried in, whose feet had been burnt by slow
fires.[75] Nearly all protested that the confessions had been wrung
from them by torture, that their accusers were perjurers, and that
they would maintain the purity of their order _usque ad mortem_ ("even
unto death"). Many complained that they were poor, illiterate
soldiers, neither able to pay for legal defence nor to comprehend the
charges indicted in Latin against them. It was Philip's turn now to be
alarmed, but the prelates were equal to the crisis. The archbishop of
Sens, metropolitan of Paris and brother of the king's chief adviser,
convoked a provincial court at his palace in Paris, and condemned to
the stake fifty-four of the Knights who had retracted their
confessions. On the 10th of May the papal commissioners were appealed
to: they expressed their sorrow that the episcopal court was beyond
their jurisdiction, but would consider what might be done. Short time
was allowed them. The stout-hearted archbishop was not a man to show
weakness; he went steadily on with his work, and in spite of appeals
from the papal judges for delay, the fifty-four were led forth on the
afternoon of the 12th[76] to the open country outside the Porte St.
Antoine, near the convent of St. Antoine des Champs, and slowly
roasted to death. They bore their fate with the constancy of martyrs,
each protesting his innocence with his last breath, and declaring
that the charges alleged against the order were false. Two days later,
six more were sent to the stake at the Place de Greve. In spite of
threats, the prelates went on with their grim work of terror. Many of
the bravest Temp