For almost 7 centuries, until 2001, it was always believed that the Church and the Pope (in this case Pope Clement V) had forever excommunicated the Order of the Temple from the Catholic Church.
The discovery of the document in 2001
In September 2001 Barbara Frale, an Italian paleographer at the Vatican Secret Archives, discovered an ancient parchment which demonstrates that in 1308 Pope Clement V granted sacramental absolution to the Grand Master Jacques de Molay as well as the remaining majors of the Knights Templar , dragged into a trial organized by the King of France Philip IV the Fair using the medieval inquisition.
The Pope removed all excommunication and censure from them, readmitting them into the communion of the Catholic Church.
The parchment is dated Chinon, 17-20 August 1308 and was written on the orders of Berengar, cardinal priest of San Nereo ed Achille, Stefano, cardinal priest of San Ciriaco in Thermis, and Landolfo, cardinal deacon of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria; the Vatican holds the original and authentic copy of the documents of that investigation, with the archival signature Archivum Arcis Armarium D 217, while a second authenticated copy is kept at number D 218.
History hidden for over eight centuries
The Pope’s agents carried out an investigation to verify the claims against the accused in the castle of Chinon, located in the diocese of Tours.
According to the document, Pope Clement V instructed the cardinals to conduct the investigation into the accused Knights Templar. The Cardinals therefore «declare through this official report addressed to all those who wish to read it, that the Lord The Pope himself, desiring and intending to know the pure, complete and entire truth from the leaders of the said Order, nominally Brother Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar, Brother Raymbaud de Caron, Preceptor of the Commanderies of the Knights Templar Overseas, Brother Hugo de Perraud, Preceptor of France, Brother Geoffroy de Gonneville, Preceptor of Aquitaine and Poitou, and Geoffroy de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, he ordered and appointed us specifically and by his orally expressed desire so that we would diligently examine the truth by questioning the Grand Master and the aforementioned Preceptors one by one and individually, having summoned public notaries and witnesses worthy of faith.» (Chinon parchment dated 17-20 August 1308)
Raymbaud de Caron was the first to be interrogated, on August 17, 1308. « After this oath, by the authority conferred upon us specifically for this purpose by the Lord the Pope, we grant to the humbly requesting Brother Raymbaud, the grace of forgiveness, in a form accepted by the Church, from the verdict of excommunication which he had incurred due to his previous actions, bringing him back to unity with the Church and reintegrating him into the community of the faithful and the sacraments of the Church. »(Chinon parchment dated 17-20 August 1308)
The second to be interrogated on the same day was Geoffroy de Charney. The third to be interrogated on the same day was Geoffroy de Gonneville. Hugo de Perraud was the fourth to be interrogated, on 19 August 1308. The Grand Master was the last to be interrogated on 20 August 1308. According to the document, all interrogations of the accused which took place from 17 to 20 August 1308 always took place at presence of public notaries and assembled witnesses. The charges included sodomy, blasphemy against God, illicit kissing, spitting on the cross and worshiping an idol.
The body of the text reports the appearance of the accused, the oath of the accused, the charges against the accused and the manner in which the accused were interrogated. From Molay’s interrogation: «When he was asked whether he had confessed these things because he was solicited, for a reward, for gratitude, for courtesy, for fear, for hatred, for persuasion on the part of someone else, or for the use of force , or for fear of being subjected to torture, he replied no. When asked whether he had been subjected to interrogation or torture after being arrested, he replied no. »
The text subsequently lists the denunciations, requests for absolution, and the granting of absolution by the Pope’s agents; all this always happened in the presence of witnesses. An extract of the indulgences granted to Molay then reads «After this we came to the conclusion of extending the grace of forgiveness for those acts which Brother Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Order, in the form and manner described above had denounced in our presence , as well as for the heresies described and any other, and swore in person on the Holy Gospel of the Lord, and humbly asked for the grace of forgiveness (against excommunication), leading him back to union with the Church and re-aggregating him to the community of the faithful and to the sacraments of the church”. (Chinon parchment dated 17-20 August 1308).
The analysis of the Chinon parchment allowed Barbara Frale to recognize some of the secret initiation practices of the Templars. Although three of the accused admitted to having been asked by their superiors during initiation to deny the cross and spit on a crucifix, their stories are all inconsistent. Geoffroy de Gonneville admitted that, despite the threats, he did not give in to denying and spitting on the cross. Despite this, Geoffroy de Gonneville was still admitted into the order, which could mean that the refusal of the cross may have been some sort of trial. The others admitted that they “had denied only with words, not with spirit.” Gordon Napier believes that the practice of denying the cross was training in case of capture by the Saracens.
All denied practicing sodomy or having witnessed acts of sodomy; however, he was admitted to having given kisses as a form of respect only during the Templar initiation. Only Hugo de Perraud declared that during his initiation he was told «… to abstain from associating with women, and if he was not able to limit his lust, to consort with brothers of the order». Furthermore, only Hugo de Perraud claimed to have seen the head of an idolwhich the Templars were accused of worshiping, at Montpellier, in the possession of Brother Peter Alemandin, Preceptor of Montpellier. All the other Templars mentioned in the Chinon scroll denied having been encouraged to consort with other brothers, and none of them were asked about the idol. They all added that, as with every Catholic, any transgression against the Catholic faith was fully confessed to a priest or bishop, penance was administered, and absolution was granted.
The Chinon parchment was physically written by Robert de Condet, cleric of the diocese of Soissons, as well as apostolic notary. The apostolic notaries were Umberto Vercellani, Nicolo Nicolai da Benvenuto, Robert de Condet and maestro Amise d’Orléans le Ratif. Witnesses to the proceedings were Brother Raymond, abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Theofrew, in the diocese of Annecy, Master Berard (or Bernard?) of Boiano, archdeacon of Troy, Raoul de Boset, confessor and canon from Paris, and Pierre de Soire , supervisor of Saint-Gaugery of Cambresis.
Furthermore, according to the document, three further more detailed copies were drawn up by the other public notaries. All documents were sealed and signed by the participants. According to the document: «Their words and confessions were written exactly in the manner in which they are reported here by the notaries whose names are listed below in the presence of witnesses listed below. We also ordered that these things be written in official form and validated by the protection of our seals”. (Chinon parchment dated 17-20 August 1308).
The Chinon parchment records a failed attempt by the Pope to preserve the Templars from the machinations of the French king, Philip IV, by establishing that the order was not heretical and was capable of reforming under the aegis of the Church. The faults of the order consisted only of phenomena of serious malpractice, which however was not a serious and incurable fact like the heresy for which the Templars had been dragged into a trial. However, when it became apparent that Philip IV was determined to exterminate the order (and confiscate its considerable assets and properties within the kingdom) the Pope abandoned the Templars to their fate. Outside France the dissolution of the order was achieved with much less bloodshed, and the surviving members of the order were absorbed into other religious institutions.
Another version of the Chinon investigation
There is a further version of the Chinon inquiry, well known to historians, published by Étienne Baluze in 1693 and by Pierre Dupuy in 1751. This second version is not original but instead a copy, dated Chinon 20 August 1308 and was written by the cardinals Berenger Fredol Cardinal-priest of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Etienne de Suisy cardinal-priest of San Ciriaco in Thermis and Landolfo Brancaccio, Deacon of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria, in the form of a letter addressed to Philip IV of France, reporting that it had been granted the absolution to all those Templars who had confessed heresy, readmitting them to the Sacraments and union with the Church.