Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/152

126 the tone of which shewed a strong disbelief in the imputations cast upon the Templars. He distinctly refused to take any active measures in the matter without a strict preliminary inquiry. It may be assumed that the result of this investigation was favourable to the accused, since we find Edward writing to the kings of Aragon, Castile, Portugal, and Sicily, on the 4th of December in the same year, requesting them to pay no attention to the accusations then being brought against the fraternity. He at the same time wrote to the Pope, stating his conviction that these rumours of foul and discreditable practices were utterly without foundation. Unfortunately for the Templars, the Pope had just addressed a bull to Edward, dated the 22nd of November, which must have reached him within a few days after he had despatched his own letter. In this document his Holiness reiterated all the accusations that had been previously brought forward, and which, he asserted, were confirmed by the confessions extorted from the knights who were prisoners in France. He therefore directed Edward, in that tone of arrogant superiority with which the pontiffs in those days were wont to address the monarchs of Europe, to cause all the Templars in his dominions to be taken into immediate custody, and their property to be lodged in the hands of trustees, that it might be held in safety until he should send further instructions on the subject.

Whether this bull had really the effect of convincing Edward of the justice of the accusatons, or whether he felt himself unable to cope with his ecclesiastical superior, or, again, whether he foresaw, in the impending dissolution of the Order, a prospect of securing for himself or for some of his unworthy favourites a goodly slice of that fair patrimony which the Templars had so long enjoyed within his dominions, and whose broad acres seemed now likely to fall a prey to the strongest arm, whichever of these reasons influenced the king, it is very certain, that in obedience to the orders of the Pope, all the brethren in England, save such as were fortunate enough to elude the grasp of the law, were seized within their preceptories on the 8th of January, 1308. The number thus made prisoners amounted to 229. It will not be necessary to enter into any details of the proceedings which were carried on in the two