After the final collapse of Outremer in 1291, the Templars had lost some clout and a great deal of face. There is no doubt that the fortune and power amassed since their humble beginnings two centuries earlier, had made many monarchs and citizens jealous. It was this jealousy, combined with greed and a nearly bankrupt nation, that prompted Phillip to make his move on October 13th, 1307 – arresting all the Templars in France. Under the inquisitor’s torture methods, all sorts of confessions were extracted. Clement using these confessions to his own ends was able to suppress the order of the Templars in 1312. What follows are the Papal Bulls that crushed the Knights Templar.

As the Templars were free of all authority save for that of the Papal Throne, the only way Philip could lawfully seize Templar assets was to accuse them of magic and heresy, which he did through his right hand man, Guillaume de Nogart, who has King Philip’s chancellor. An interesting side note to Guillaume is that the lawyer’s parents had been burned at the stake as Albigensian heretics.

He had four brothers and three sisters, the first of which died at a young age. Of the remainder; Henry was named heir to the English throne, Richard was to succeed his mother’s Aquitaine and Geoffrey was to inherit Brittany. John was the poorest to fair out, receiving nothing from his father. It is this action that gave him the name John Lackland.

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