the charges which I have mentioned were enough to make the
Templars generally disliked, they were not the worst charges against
them. It was said that during the latter part of their time in the Holy
Land they had grown friendly with the unbelievers, whom they were bound
to oppose in arms to the uttermost; that from such company they had
taken up opinions contrary to the Christian faith, and vices which were
altogether against their duty as soldiers of the Cross, or as Christians
at all; that they practised magic and unholy rites; that when any one
was admitted into the order, he was required to deny Christ, to spit on
the cross and trample on it, and to worship an idol called Baphomet (a
name which seems to have meant the false prophet Mahomet).

Philip the Fair was always in need of money for carrying on his
schemes, and at one time, when some tricks which, he had played on the
coin of his kingdom had provoked the people of Paris to rise against
him, he took refuge in the house of the Templars there. This house
covered a vast space of ground with its buildings, and was finer and
stronger than the royal palace; and it was perhaps the sight which
Philip then got of the wealth and power of the Templars that led him to
attack them, in the hope of getting their property into his own hands.

Philip set about this design very craftily. He invited the masters of
the Templars and of the Hospitallers (whom you will remember as the
other great military order)[84] into France, as if he wished to consult
them about a crusade. The master of the Hospital was unable to obey the
summons; but the master of the Temple, James de Molay, who had been in
the order more than forty years, appeared with a train so splendid that
Philip's greed was still more whetted by the sight of it. The master was
received with great honour; but, in the meantime, orders were secretly
sent to the king's officers all over the kingdom, who were forbidden to
open them before a certain day; and when these orders were opened, they
were found to require that the Templars should everywhere be seized and
imprisoned without delay. Accordingly, at the dawn of the following day,
the Templars all over France, who had had no warning and felt no
suspicion, were suddenly made prisoners, without being able to resist.

[84] See page 209.

Next day, which was Sunday, Philip set friars and others to preach
against the Templars in all the churches of Paris; and inquiries were