Note 347 — Chapter V · POLITICAL HERESY UTILIZED BY THE STATE. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Godefroi de Paris, v. 6131-45. Cf. 3876-81, 3951-2.—Procès des Templiers, II. 195.
Some of the contemporaries outside of France who attribute the affair to the greed of Philippe and Clement are—Matt. Neoburg. (Albert Argentinens.) Chron. ann. 1346 (Urstisii II. 137).—Sächsische Weltchronik, erste bairische Fortsetzung, ann. 1312 (Mon. Germ. II. 334).—Stalwegii Chron. ann. 1305 (Leibnit. III. 274).—Bothonis Chron. ann. 1311 (Leibnit. III. 374).—Chron. Comitum Schawenburg (Meibom. 1. 499).—Jo. Hocsemii Gest. Episcc. Leodiens. (Chapeaville, II. 345-6).—Chron. Astens. c. 27 (Muratori S. R. I. XI. 192-4).—Istorie Pistolesi (Ib. XI. 518).—Villani Chron. VIII. 92.
Authorities who assume the guilt of the Templars are—Ferreti Vicentini Hist. (Muratori S. R. I. IX. 1017-18).—Chron. Parmens. ann. 1309 (Ib. IX. 880).—Albertin. Mussat. Hist. August. Rubr. x. (Ib. X. 377).—Chron. Guillel. Scoti (Bouquet, XXI. 205).—Hermanni Corneri Chron. ann. 1309 (Eccard. II. 971-2). The old German word Tempelhaus, signifying house of prostitution, conveys the popular sense of the license of the Order (Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1307).
Henri Martin assumes that the traditions of the north of France are adverse to the Templars, and that those of the south are favorable. He instances a Breton ballad in which the “Red Monks,” or Templars, are represented as ferocious debauchees who carry off young women and then destroy them with the fruits of guilty intercourse. On the other hand, at Gavarnie (Bigorre), there are seven heads which are venerated as those of martyred Templars, and the popular belief is that on the night of the anniversary of the abolition of the Order a figure, armed cap-a-pie and bearing the white mantle with a red cross, appears in the cemetery and thrice cries out, “Who will defend the holy temple; who will liberate the sepulchre of the Lord?” when the seven heads answer thrice, “No one, no one! The Temple is destroyed!”—Histoire de France, T. IV. pp. 496-7 (Éd. 1855).