The Powerful Curse of Jacques de Molay, The Last Grand Master of the Templar Order
Complied By & Credit Given To: Kiki Ferguson
The Templars were famous for having a legendary treasure. The royals and nobles of Europe believed that they were very wealthy and some even thought that during the visit to the Middle East the Templars had rediscovered the treasure of King Solomon and took it for themselves.
Listening to these rumors, king Philip IV of France, decided to borrow money from the Order, believing he could do so without limits. The Templars were good in money management, but when they lent it to someone, they expected it back.
Philip IV didn’t mean to pay back his debt to the Order. Instead of giving the money back to the Templars, he decided to take advantage of the situation. He asked for the support of pope Clement V, and on Friday, October 13, 1307, 60 Templars, including Jacques de Molay, were arrested in France. The nightmare of the tortures to receive false confessions proving that the Templars collaborated with the devil began.
The Execution of the Templars
Due to the orders of Philip IV, one by one, the men tortured by the Medieval Inquisition, gave false confessions to stop their suffering. Nonetheless, the brave Grand Master retracted his confession and Philip decided to burn him on the island in front of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. After 7 long years, Jacques de Molay ended the daily pain of tortures and the Cardinals agreed upon the death sentence for him on March 18, 1314. According to the eyewitnesses of the execution, de Molay showed no sign of fear, and he tried to not show pain during his slow death on the burning stake.
Most of the pyres were prepared in such a way that the victims would die quickly. However, in the case of De Molay, they prepared a pyre which would burn slowly. Before he died, he made his voice heard loudly once more. The results of the speech may have led the king and the Cardinals to regret not allowing him to die within a few minutes, like the other Knights.
A Curse Which Scared All of Europe
While burning De Molay cursed Philip IV, his descendants, Pope Clement V, & everyone else who supported his death. De Molay said that within a year, Clement V and Philip IV would die. He also said Philip’s bloodline would never reign in France. It happened as De Molay said, and death came for Clement first. He died of a disease on April 20, 1314. Shortly after the Pope, Philip died of a stroke while hunting. Tragic deaths were the destiny for all of Philip’s successors. Between 1314 and 1328 all 3 sons and grandsons of Philip died. Within 14 years of the death of De Molay the House of Caped no longer existed – after it had stood for 300 years.
Was De Molay’s curse real? Or did his Knights get revenge for the Grand Master? The story of the last Grand Master & his horrible curse became a shock in all of the European courts. It also ruined the politics of France because some of the rulers were afraid of collaboration with the cursed royal family.
HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH
The trial of the Templars between 1307 and 1312 was marked by a battle of political wills between King Philip IV on the one hand and Pope Clement V on the other. After the French Templars had been taken into royal custody in October 1307, Clement quickly realised that he could have no influence on the outcome until he could gain access to the Templars themselves, especially the leaders. In June 1308, at Poitiers, after a long struggle, he finally achieved his goal, hearing the confessions of 72 selected Templars, whom he then absolved. However, the king still retained the leaders, holding them at Chinon castle rather than allowing them to appear before the papal Curia. Eventually, in late August 1308, a papal commission did hear the leaders, although until now the evidence for this was indirect, contained in a letter preserved in the French Chancery. The recent discovery of the papal documents containing the record of these hearings, which culminated in the absolution of the leaders, places them in a completely new light and suggests that the views of Clement V and other principals in the trial need to be radically reappraised.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.jmedhist.2004.03.004