Note 340 — Chapter V · POLITICAL HERESY UTILIZED BY THE STATE. (continued 2)

Hefele, Conciliengeschichte I. 66.—Franz Ehrle, Archiv f. Litt.-u. Kirchengeschichte, 1886, p. 353.—The apologetic tone in which it was felt necessary to speak of the acts of the council with regard to the Templars is well illustrated by a Vatican MS. quoted by Raynaldus, ann. 1311, No. 54.

Only fragments have reached us of the vast accumulation of documents respecting the case of the Templars. In the migrations of Clement V. doubtless some were lost (Franz Ehrle, Archiv für Litt.-u. Kirchengesch. 1885, p. 7); others in the Schism, when Benedict XIII. carried a portion of the archives to Peniscola (Schottmüller, I. 705), and others again in the transport of the papers of the curia from Avignon to Rome. When, in 1810, Napoleon ordered the papal archives transferred to Paris, where they remained until 1815, the first care of General Radet, the French Inspector-general of Rome, was to secure those concerning the trials of the Templars and of Galileo (Regest. Clement. PP. V., Romæ, 1885, T. I. Proleg. p. ccxxix.). During their stay in Paris Raynouard utilized them in the work so often quoted above, but even then only a few seem to have been accessible, and of these a portion are now not to be found in the Vatican MSS., although Schottmüller, the most recent investigator, expresses a hope that the missing ones may yet be traced (op. cit. I. 713). The number of boxes sent to Paris amounted to 3239, and the papal archivists complained that many documents were not restored. The French authorities declared that the papal agents to whom they had been delivered sold immense quantities to grocers (Reg. Clem. V. Proleg. pp. ccxciii.-ccxcviii.).