ren of the highest rank were thus kept in prison
for five years. They were then taken to Notre Dame in Paris, and
required to give verbal assent to the confessions which had been
extorted from them under torture. But the grand master, James de Molay,
the grand preceptor, and some others seized the opportunity of declaring
their innocence, and disowning the alleged confessions as forgeries. The
old veterans stood up in the church before the assembled multitude, and,
raising their chained hands to heaven, declared that whatever had been
confessed to the detriment of the illustrious order was only forced from
them by extreme agony and fear of death, and that they solemnly and
finally repudiated and revoked all such admissions.

On hearing of this, Philip ordered their immediate execution, and the
same evening the last grand master of the Temple and his faithful
comrades were burned to death at a slow fire.

Impartial men had formed their own judgment, and a very strong feeling
prevailed that justice had not been done. It was remarked that those who
had been foremost in the proceedings against the Templars came to a
speedy and miserable end. The Pope, the kings of France and of England,
and others, all soon followed their victims and died violent or shameful
deaths.

We have somewhat anticipated the order of events, and must return to the
earlier stage of the proceedings against the Templars. As soon as Philip
had determined upon his own course of action, he desired to find
countenance for it by stirring up other sovereigns to imitate it. He
therefore wrote letters to the kings of other European states, informing
them of his discovery of the guilt of the Templars, and urging them to
adopt a similar course in their own dominions. The Pope, too, summoned
the grand master to France, but with every mark of respect, and so got
him into his power before the terrible proceedings against the members
of his order were made public.

The King of England, Edward II, acted with prudence. He expressed his
unbounded astonishment at the contents of the French King's letter, and
at the particulars detailed to him by an agent specially sent to him by
Philip, but he would do no more at the time than promise that the matter
should receive his serious attention in due course.

He wrote at the same time to the kings of Portugal, Aragon, Castile, and
Sicily, telling them of the extraordinary information he had received
respecting the Templar