The Templars' Last Days (10 page)

The two men walked silently side by side, looking straight ahead at the altar, both seemingly oblivious of the crowded pews or of each other. Arriving in front of the altar, they both knelt simultaneously and after receiving the blessing of the Archbishop, rose together, turned and took their seats.

At the end of the service, both men rose, turned and again in complete silence strode side by side back out into the square. The King waited on the Queen joining him, before they both climbed into the royal coach. The Grand Master climbed back onto his horse, and flanked by his Templar Knights rode the convoy back to his preceptor, the crowds still yelling their excitement as they passed by.

Now that the King thought that the treasure was safely in Paris, the first phase of Jacques’ plan was complete.

At this juncture, Giles suggested that I now take the opportunity to carry on with the report. I was thankful that Giles had been so detailed in his report as it certainly would make my task much easier, and I now picked up the story.

We were sure that the King would try and outwit the young Grand Master Foulques in order to win over the Knights of St. John, and through him the Pope. So, whilst at the meeting in Cyprus, our Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, had briefed Foulques on what to expect if he were ever to be summoned to the palace by King Philip, but more importantly that he was to acquiesce to the demands the King would make on him whilst alone in his company, no matter what was asked of him. For we would be sure that the King would try to isolate the Knights of St. John in some way, so that he only then had to persuade the Pope to dissolve the Knight Templars to claim his prize.

Before we had departed to come here to this meeting, I had left a scroll with our Grand Master with explicit instructions to have the scroll forwarded here to me should news be received that the King had invited Foulques to the palace. That note was received last night and so we have to assume that Foulques has done his job in convincing the King that he and the Order of St. John were with him and he could rely on their support.

The Pope, Matthew and Guy seemed to be as happy with the progress we had made, as much as we were with the good work they had done at their meeting with William.

It was agreed around the table that the Pope should lead in the thanks to the Almighty for his guidance and protection which had resulted in the good progress made by each side, that our plan was on schedule and the King was exactly where we wanted him to be.

Already, it had been a long hot afternoon, and so we took this moment to take in some refreshment and stretch our legs, agreeing to reconvene in an hour to conclude our arrangements. Whilst Giles and Jon would take full advantage of this time to try and relax, to reflect on the proceedings and to gather their thoughts for the final part of the day, I knew that the Papal party and myself would take in some refreshment and then retire to the Chapel to again offer thanks for what has been achieved and to ask for further strength and guidance to overcome all that still lay ahead.

This hour seemed to slip through our fingers and we quickly found ourselves once more in the Common room huddled around the circular table as we had been all day. Once more I was thankful to our Holy Father for leading the prayers before labours restarted.

The rest of the day was spent in discussion regarding the various options we felt were open to the King in his pursuit of his goal, and how we could best counter any of those options, in the most favourable manner in the pursuit of a conclusion to our own agenda.

We all continued in the struggle of the most difficult and still unresolved issue, which was to find a way of persuading the King to lead the Crusade, whilst at the same time to ensure that the two Holy Orders remained independent and only answerable to the Pope.

Our problem was further compounded by the added dimension of how best to protect the Pope from the anger and threats of the King against his person, if the Pope was not appearing to be following the King’s instructions in uniting the Orders. For everyone in the room knew that any direct attack, either politically or militarily, from the King on the Papacy would not be easily dealt with.

As the distant sound of the dinner bell grew louder, summoning an ending to our discussions, the Pope took everybody by surprise by enquiring about the Church's Holy relics, where they were, and what preparations had been made for their future security. Before I replied, Matthew sat forward as if this was what he had been waiting all day to hear, whilst Giles and Jon looked at me with some distress on their faces.

What, or who, had prompted his Holiness to ask this question? One which I must answer – but held within that answer lay many dangers for all who heard it.

Chapter 7

The days of July quickly passed into the long sultry days of August, but William was far too busy making the final arrangements for the downfall and total destruction of the Knight Templars to really notice.

William’s fight against time was necessitated by two major factors: one being the natural impatience and urgency of the King and the other being the need to fill the royal treasury with the Templar fortunes before the country itself finally ran out of money.

Over the last two years, William had been ruthless in his pursuit of extra income for the treasury. Amongst many other acts, he was responsible for the expulsion of almost the entire Jewish population from France, thus allowing the King to seize their estates, lands and incomes. As well as seizing all of these assets, the King had also acquired ownership of any loans due to the expelled Jewish moneylenders, and was quick to have those repayments transferred to his tax collectors, whilst at the same time Philip wrote off all of his own substantial and still outstanding debts to these people.

Buoyed by this success, but still well short of sufficient funds, William repeated this same annexation programme with the Lombard merchants from whom the King had also made extensive and large borrowings. Further to this, and once more in the name of the King, William imposed severe taxes on the rich Abbots who held lands within King Philip’s jurisdiction.

All of these measures, and even a devaluation of the currency which caused the French peasants to riot on the streets, was not enough to either repair the finances of the King nor
satisfy his avaricious appetite for wealth. Now William had no other sources of finance left to turn to, other than the vast Templar lands, income and wealth.

This was now a fight for the survival of the French Monarchy. For King Philip the thought of any Crusade to the Holy Lands was simply not on his agenda; he had to acquire the assets of the Knight Templars or go bust.

In order to provoke the Pope into handing over the total assets of the Knight Templars within the short timeframe William had left, he would have to provide the papacy with the necessary proof of heresy having been committed by the Knight Templars. William’s quest was to find any ex-member of that Holy Order who had been expelled, for whatever reason, and who held a burning grudge to avenge themselves against both, or either of, the Holy Order in general and Jacques de Molay in particular. William's search for such individuals finally led him to the prison located in the town of Chinon.

Once the news reached William as to the whereabouts of those he sought, he lost no time in making his way to Chinon in order to fulfil his promise to King Philip – that he would put into the King's hands a signed oath of the acts of heresy practised by the Knight Templars.

Chateau de Chinon was a large imposing castle which dominated both the bank of the river Vienne and the town itself. Originally built as a fortress to keep out any invading forces, it now proved to be as equally efficient at keeping prisoners in. The Chateau itself consisted of three separate but interlocking castles, which had been constructed over the centuries.

The original Castle, the Chateau du Milieu, was first extended to the east by King Henry II of England and is known as the Fort Saint-Georges, whilst to the west, King Philip II subsequently built the Fort du Coudray. Both extensions are separated from the original Chateau du Milieu, for defensive reasons, by a deep ditch which was crossed in times of peace by a drawbridge. However, should an invader succeed in taking any one part of the castle, the bridges could be raised, thus isolating the invader’s forces.

King Philip II had built his own royal quarters in the south-west corner of the Chateau du Milieu and it had its own private access to the Fort du Coudray. That part of the castle which now formed the prison was to be found opposite the royal quarters, on the north wall and within the turret known as the Tour de Chiens.

William arrived at the Chateau towards the beginning of August, and he was keen to complete his business there in as timely a manner as circumstances would allow. He had decided to travel in his coach, rather than by horseback, for the journey from his home to Chinon. Even though it proved to be both a sultry and uncomfortable trip, William comforted himself with the knowledge that travelling by horseback would be an even worse experience. It was on the afternoon of what felt the hottest day yet, that his destination was finally reached.

As his coach made its way through the castle's main entrance, William was pleased to see that his old friend Robert du Chiens was waiting to personally welcome him to the town where he had been appointed as the royal administrator by King Philip. Robert was invited to join William, and as he climbed into the coach he barked to the driver directions which would steer him through the extensive grounds to that part where William was to stay whilst a guest in Chinon.

Once at the entrance to the royal quarters, the two men disembarked from the coach, and William was guided by Robert into the extensive and opulent accommodation that would be his home for the next few days. The entrance hall itself was rather small and ordinary, which belied the grandeur of the main rooms which lay on both of its sides.

Although it had been some time since William last visited Chinon, he did recognise that he was being taken into the royal accommodation and stopped momentarily in the hallway. Robert, sensing his unease, assured him that instructions had been received from King Philip and that he was carrying out those commands. Feeling reassured, Robert gestured that William should follow him through the double wooden doors on the right, which were opened by the two doormen.

A rather dull plain hall gave way to the brightness of a well-lit gallery of splendid grandeur. The main wall on the south was dominated by large windows which allowed the summer light to flood the whole gallery. Looking through the windows William could not help but be impressed by the magnificent sight of the forests and fields that spread out as far as the eye could see, whilst in the foreground the rushing waters of the river Vienne cut its path through the lush countryside.

The gallery had several large chandeliers hanging along the middle of the ceiling, whilst the furniture, which covered the length of the gallery floor, was no less impressive. At the end of the gallery, the double doors were swung open by two doormen as William and Robert approached, to reveal a cavernous square lounge furnished in equal splendour.

William was pleased that Robert had had the foresight to have arranged
for a tray of chicken, fruit and wine to be placed on the large square table situated in front of the fireplace which dominated the west wall. Gesturing to Robert to stay and sit down and join him, the two chatted well into the evening catching up on the news but, more importantly, the background of the ex-Templars who William would be interrogating in the morning.

Sitting in my room at the Paris Temple my mind was pre-occupied with the enormity and difficulty of the task that lay ahead of Jon and myself, which, at the best of times, would have been one of staggering proportions, but to conduct it under the noses of King Philip’s agents and spies and in an atmosphere of complete secrecy, would be almost impossible. But without such secrecy the whole plan would fail.

The meeting between our Grand Master, Giles, Jon and myself that followed our return from Avignon to the Templar preceptory in Paris was one of grim satisfaction. The Grand Master was not unmoved by the appeals of the Pope and Foulques du Villaret to seek another path, but in the absence of such an option being put forward and to be considered as feasible in its outcome as the option he favoured, then there was no other path to follow and we simply must continue with the plan that all parties had now agreed upon.

Our Grand Master brought his vast military expertise to bear down on the difficulties which lay before him. He approached the task in hand as if it were yet another battle to be won. This was after all our Grand Master's greatest skill, one that he had exercised over many years and countless victorious battles. So by planning each stage of this campaign as if he would a military assault on the enemy, success would be his. Every last single detail, no matter how large or small, would be considered, explored, agreed upon and then put into the correct part of the battle plan before any of the operations were started.

We were all conscious that time was of the essence for we knew that across Paris the King would be putting the final details to the plan we had left him with no other option but to follow. Our success now depended on getting everything ready, on time and actioned before the King would make his strike against our Order.

The work was split into two parts, with the Grand Master and Giles organising those parts which the Templar Knights and their squires would play, whilst Jon and I would organise all the other work.

It took several long days of comings and goings, with progress meetings and alterations to the many details, before the Grand Master felt that he was happy with both the plan and the proposed method of its execution.

Under normal battle arrangements, our Grand Master, with his preceptory Masters by his side, would lead the Knight Templars into battle. They would be dressed in the finest fighting armour, Beauseant waving, sword in hand and charging fearlessly headlong into the enemy. But these were not normal times, nor was this a battle like any other the Knight Templars had faced or fought before or will ever fight again. Nor had the costs of failure ever been higher, for without success it would be the end of both the Knight Templar Order and the Catholic Church forever.