ROME, Italy (AP) -- The Vatican has published secret archive documents about the trial of the Knights Templar, including a long-lost parchment that shows that Pope Clement V initially absolved the medieval Christian order from accusations of heresy, officials said Friday. The 300-page volume recently came out in a limited edition -- 799 copies -- each priced at $8,377, said Scrinium publishing house, which prints documents from the Vatican's secret archives. The order of knights, which ultimately disappeared as a result of the heresy scandal, recently captivated the imagination of readers of the best-seller "The Da Vinci Code," in which the author Dan Brown linked the Templars to the story of the Holy Grail. The work reproduces the entire documentation on the papal hearings convened after King Philip IV of France arrested and tortured Templar leaders in 1307 under charges of heresy and immorality. The military order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon was founded in 1118 in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land following the First Crusade. As their military might increased, the Templars also grew in wealth, acquiring property throughout Europe and running a primitive banking system. After the Templars left the Middle East with the collapse of the Crusader kingdoms, their power and secretive ways aroused the fear of European rulers and sparked accusations of corruption and blasphemy. Historians believe that Philip owed debts to the Templars and seized on the accusations to arrest their leaders and extort confessions of heresy under torture as a way to seize the order's riches. The publishing house said the new book includes the "Parchment of Chinon," a 1308 decision by Clement to save the Templars and their order. The document was misplaced for centuries in the archives and found again by researchers in 2001. According to the Vatican archives Web site, the parchment shows that Clement absolved the Templar leaders of the heresy charge, though he did recognize they were guilty of immorality, and he planned to reform the order. However, pressured by Philip, Clement later reversed his decision and suppressed the order in 1312. Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, was burned at the stake in 1314 along with his aides. Surviving monks fled, with some absorbed by other orders, and over the centuries, some groups have claimed to have descended from the Templars. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/10/12/knights.pardon.ap/index.html
why in da hell would anyone pay 8 grand for that??? ill just download it so way, people who would buy that are the same as the iphone geeks, and ps3 guys that payed full msrp.
This is just stuff discovered under torture by the church, this is not a tell all from the Templers themselves, now THAT would be more interesting. DD
fun reading... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers), were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders.[3] The organization existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages. It was founded in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096, to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who made the trek to Jerusalem after its conquest. Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1129, the Order became a favored charity across Europe, and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, easily recognizable in their white mantle with a distinct red cross, were some of the best-equipped, best-trained, and most disciplined fighting units of the Crusades.[4] Non-warrior members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, inventing or adapting many financial techniques that were an early form of banking,[5][6] and building numerous fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land. The Templars' success was tied closely to that of the Crusades. When the Holy Land was lost and the Crusaders suffered crushing defeats, support for the Order's existence faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, began pressuring Pope Clement V to take action. On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip had many of the Order's members in France arrested, coerced through torture into giving false confessions, and burned at the stake.[7] In 1312, Pope Clement, under continuing pressure from King Philip, forcibly disbanded the entire Order. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the "Templar" name alive in modern fiction.
whatever floats your boat, i can think of better things to buy with 8 grand than give it to the church
