IMC 2007: Sessions

Session 608: The Trial of the Templars, 1307-2007, II: The Background to the Trial (ii)

Organiser:	Helen J. Nicholson, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University
Moderator/Chair:	Paul Crawford, Ancient & Medieval History Department, California University of Pennsylvania
Paper 608-a	The Election of the Templar Master Jacques de Molay (Language: English) Anthony Thornton Luttrell, Independent Scholar, Bath Index terms: Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism
Paper 608-b	Jacques de Molay Reconsidered (Language: English) Sophia Menache, Department of History, University of Haifa Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 608-c	Could Alleged Templar Malpractices Have Remained Undetected for Decades? (Language: English) Alan Forey, Independent Scholar, Oxford Index terms: Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism, Religious Life
Abstract	This second of eight sessions in commemoration of the arrest of the Templars in 1307, considers the internal, personal, and constitutional background to the order's trial. Testimonies given during the trial indicated that the election of Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the order during the trial, had been hotly contested. The figure of the Grand Master remains deeply controversial among historians of the Order. How far was he personally to blame for the Order’s destruction? Was the Order – as King Philip IV of France and his ministers claimed – riddled with malpractice? If so, why had Jacques de Molay not reformed the Order?