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Domestically, his reign was marked by struggles with the Jews and the Knights Templar. In heavy debt to both groups, Philip saw them as a "state within the state" and a recurring threat to royal power. In 1306 Philip expelled the Jews from France, followed by the total destruction of the Knights Templar in 1307.
The Knight Templar defended and gave the king refuge during the incident. [23] But Philip had a history of seizing property and persons when it suited his needs, such as from the Lombards in 1291 and the Jews in 1306. [ 14 ]
The arrests of the Knights Templar, coupled with the previous defiance of the Colonna cardinals and Philip IV against Pope Boniface VIII, convinced Clement V to call for a general council. The Council of Vienne convened on October 16, 1311.
The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that Pope Clement was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.
Just before the crisis broke, Philip had been engaged in the liquidation of the order of the Knights Templar in France. By 1314, however, he was financially overstretched and in an increasingly difficult domestic political situation, and some have suggested that his weakened position contributed to the subsequent royal crisis. [4]
Coat of arms of Jacques de Molay. Jacques de Molay (French: [də mɔlɛ]; c. 1240–1250 [1] – 11 or 18 March 1314 [2]), also spelled "Molai", [3] was the 23rd and last grand master of the Knights Templar, leading the order sometime before 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1312.
On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France, an action apparently motivated financially and undertaken by the efficient royal bureaucracy to increase the prestige of the crown. Philip IV was the force behind this move, but it has also embellished the historical reputation of Clement V.
The arrests of the Knights Templar, coupled with the defiance of the Colonna cardinals and Philip IV against Pope Boniface VIII, convinced Clement V to call a general council. [2] Though the site of Vienne was criticised for its lack of neutrality (being under the control of Philip), Clement nevertheless chose it as the site for the council. [3]