f Boniface VIII.; and he
revealed to him the sixth, that "important and secret one which he kept
to himself to make known to him in clue time and place;" and it was the
persecution and abolition of the order of the Templars. The pontificate
of Clement V. at Avignon was, for him, a nine years' painful effort, at
one time to elude and at another to accomplish, against the grain, the
heavy engagements he had incurred towards the king.

He found the condemnation of Boniface VIII. rather an embarrassment than
a danger. He shrank, on becoming pope, from condemning the pope his
predecessor, who had appointed him archbishop and cardinal. Instead of
an official condemnation, he offered the king satisfaction in various
ways. It was only from headstrong pride and to cloak himself in the eyes
of his subjects that Philip clung to the condemnation of the memory of
Boniface; and, after a long period of mutual tergiversation, it was
agreed in the end to let bygones be bygones. The principal promoter of
the assault at Anagni, William of Nogaret, was the sole exception to the
amnesty; and the pope imposed upon him, by way of penance, merely the
obligation of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he never
fulfilled. On the contrary he remained, in great favor, about the person
of King Philip, who made him his chancellor, and gave him, in Languedoc,
some rich lands, amongst others those of Calvisson, Massillargues, and
Manduel. For Philip knew how to liberally reward and faithfully support
his servants.

And he knew still better how to persecute and ruin his foes. He had no
reason, of a public kind, to consider the Templars his enemies. It is
true that they had given him a merely qualified support on his appeal to
the council against Boniface VIII.; but, both before and after that
occurrence, Philip had shown them marks of the most friendly regard. He
had asked to be affiliated to their order; and he had borrowed their
money. During a violent outbreak of the populace at Paris, in 1306, on
the occasion of a fresh tax, he had sought and found a refuge in the very
palace of the Temple, where the chapters-general were held and where its
treasures were kept. It is said that the sight of these treasures
kindled the longings of Philip, and his ardent desire to get hold of
them. At the time of the formation of the order, in 1119, after the
first crusade, the Templars were far from being rich. Nine knights had
joined together t