The Knights TemplarsAddison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
History
The Knights Templars
Addison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
Templars
On Saturday, the 25th of June, Brother Thomas Tocci de Thoroldeby,
serving brother of the order of the Temple, described as an apostate
who had escaped from Lincoln after his examination at that place by
the papal inquisitors, but had afterwards surrendered himself to
the king’s officers, was brought before the bishops of London and
Chichester, the archdeacon of Salisbury, and others of the clergy in
St. Martin’s Church, in Vinetriâ; and being again examined, he repeated
the statement made in his first deposition, but added some particulars
with regard to penances imposed and absolutions pronounced in the
chapter, showing the difference between sins and defaults, the priest
having to deal with the one, and the Master with the other. He declared
that the little cords were worn from honourable motives, and relates a
story of his being engaged in a battle against the Saracens, in which
he lost his cord, and was punished by the Grand Master for a default
in coming home without it. He gives the same account of the secrecy
of the chapters as all the other brethren, states that the members
of the order were forbidden to confess to the friars mendicants,
and were enjoined to confess to their own chaplains; that they did
nothing contrary to the christian faith, and as to their endeavouring
to promote the advancement of the order by any means, right or wrong,
that exactly the contrary was the case, as there was a statute in the
order to the effect, that if any one should be found to have acquired
anything unjustly, he should be deprived of his habit, and be expelled
the order. Being asked what induced him to become an apostate, and
to fly from his order, he replied that it was through fear of death,
because the abbot of Lagny, (the papal inquisitor,) when he examined
him at Lincoln, asked him if he would not confess anything further,
and he answered that he knew of nothing further to confess, unless
he was to say things that were not true; and that _the abbot, laying
his hand upon his breast, swore by the word of God that he would make
him confess before he had done with him!_ and that being terribly
frightened, he afterwards bribed the gaoler of the castle of Lincoln,
giving him forty florins to let him make his escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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