hilip's order of the arrests is dated
14 September 1307. The letter was remarkably well kept secret. In it Philip
poses as a defender of the Faith, at first reluctant to believe the heinous
crimes the Templars were said to have committed, but "as evidence mounted,
he had no chance but to start investigating the matter", as he put it. Philip
claimed that information of Templar crimes was passed on to him by pious
and righteous people who wanted to see the Faith purified of all blasphemous
and heretical tendencies in which the Order was said to excel. In the letter
Philip claimed to have Papal consent on the arrests after having consulted
the Pope on how to deal with the accusations. In reality, the Pope Clement
V was not aware of the impending operation. True, Philip had talked with
him on the Order, but in a general manner, with no indication of the upcoming
hunt.
t dawn on Friday 13 October, Philip's
men stormed every Templar installation in France. Given the less-than-perfect
communications network of the 14th century, the operation was a triumphal
success, with very few escaping the net. Even fewer dignitaries of the order
found an escape route - most of those who went
unaccounted for were servants and other less important figures. A distinct
demonstration of Philip's success of keeping the secret was that new recruits
were admitted into the Order even only a few days before the arrests.
hus the French Templars all were in
the King's custody, but foreign monarchs were less than enthusiastic about
attacking the Order. Philip wrote to his neighboring rulers trying to make
them act against Templars in their domains. Few responded, and those who
did apprehend Templars did not let the Inquisition sharpen its teeth on the
Order, as happened in France. Thus the captives were better off elsewhere.
Philip kept on claiming that the biggest cause of the operation was "vehement
suspicion against the Order" with very little meat on the bones, which of
course sounded a thin reason for such a large attack.
hilip's orders were very clear: All
Templar houses were to be investigated and a detailed inventory made of all
possible items. All those on the premises were to be arrested, well guarded
and isolated from each other. Confessions were to be extracted from all captives,
through torture if need be. To all those who confessed to the crimes Philip
had listed, the baillis were allowed to offer full pardon. Those who protested
their innocence often found themselves in the rack, which of course rearranged
things in their memories and dug up several crimes and heresies the Templars
had taken part in. It must be remembered that many Templars were from quiet
rural houses, agrarian workers and servants, who had never seen a live Muslim,
much less fought with one. The effect of Philip's operation was one of immediate
and desperate terror, which helped Philip gather many confessions even as
the raid was still under way.
hilip saw to it that Templars had
no contact with each other to ward off any attempts at defense. Single Templars
who ventured to claim innocence of either themselves or the Order as a whole
were most often tortured cruelly until they retracted their claims. In no
time, then, Philip was able to begin preparing for the upcoming trial.
