s vilely
slain and destroyed, yet would not one of them confess, but with
weeping and cries they defended themselves as being innocent and
faithful Christians, calling upon Christ and S. Mary and the other
saints; and by the said martyrdom all burning to ashes they ended
their lives. And the master was reserved, and the brother of the
dauphin of Auvergne, and Brother Hugh of Peraud, and another of the
leaders of the Order, which had been officers and treasurers of the
king of France, and they were brought to Poitiers before the Pope, the
king of France being present, and they were promised forgiveness if
they would acknowledge their error and sin, and it is said that they
confessed something thereof; and when they had returned to Paris there
came thither two cardinal legates to give sentence and condemn the
Order upon the said confession, and to impose some discipline upon the
said master and his companions; and when they had mounted a great
scaffold, opposite the church of Notre Dame, and had read the
indictment, the said master of the Temple rose to his feet, demanding
to be heard; and when silence was proclaimed, he denied that ever such
heresies and sins as they had been charged with had been true, and
maintained that the rule of their Order had been holy and just and
catholic, but that he certainly was worthy of death, and would endure
it in peace, forasmuch as through fear of torture and by the
persuasions of the Pope and of the king, he had by deceit been
persuaded to confess some part thereof. And the discourse having been
broken off, and the sentence not having been fully delivered, the
cardinals and the other prelates departed from that place. And having
held counsel with the king, the said master and his companions, in the
Isle de Paris and before the hall of the king, were put to martyrdom
after the same manner as the rest of their brethren, the master
burning slowly to death and continually repeating that the Order and
their religion was catholic and righteous, and commending himself to
God and S. Mary; and likewise did the brother of the dauphin. Brother
Hugh of Peraud, and the other, through fear of martyrdom, confessed
and confirmed that which they had said before the Pope and the king,
and they escaped, but afterwards they died miserably. And by many it
was said that they were slain and destroyed wrongly and wickedly, and
to the end their property might be seized, which afterwards was
granted in privile