The Knights TemplarsAddison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
History
The Knights Templars
Addison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
Templars
the prisons of Aldgate, Ludgate, Newgate, Bishopgate, and Crepelgate,
the house formerly belonging to John de Banguel, and the tenements
once the property of the brethren of penitence.[160] It appears that
some French monks were sent over to administer the torture to the
unhappy captives, and that they were questioned and examined in the
presence of notaries whilst suffering under the torments of the rack.
The relentless perseverance and the incessant exertions of the foreign
inquisitors were at last rewarded by a splendid triumph over the powers
of endurance of two poor serving brethren, and one chaplain of the
order, who were at last induced to make the long desired avowals.
On the 23rd of June, Brother Stephen de Staplebrugge, described as
an apostate and fugitive of the order of the Temple, captured by the
king’s officers in the city of Salisbury, deposed in the house of
the head gaoler of Newgate, in the presence of the bishops of London
and Chichester, the chancellor of the archbishop of Canterbury, Hugh
de Walkeneby, doctor of theology, and other clerical witnesses, that
there were two modes of profession in the order of the Temple, the one
good and lawful, and the other contrary to the christian faith; that
he himself was received into the order by Brother Brian le Jay, Grand
Preceptor of England, at Dynneslee, and was led into the chapel, the
door of which was closed as soon as he had entered; that a crucifix
was placed before the Master, and that a brother of the Temple, with
a drawn sword, stood on either side of him; that the Master said to
him, “Do you see this image of the crucifixion?” to which he replied,
“I see it, my lord;” that the Master then said to him, “You must deny
that Christ Jesus was God and man, and that Mary was his mother; and
you must spit upon this cross;” which the deponent, through immediate
fear of death, did with his mouth, but not with his heart, and he spat
_beside_ the cross, and not on it; and then falling down upon his
knees, with eyes uplifted, with his hands clasped, with bitter tears
and sighs, and devout ejaculations, he besought the mercy and the
favour of holy church, declaring that he cared not for the death of the
body, or for any amount of penance, but only for the salvation of his
soul!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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