Friday the 13th, The Death of the Templars

King Phillip of France ordered all Templars to be destroyed on Friday the 13th, what were his reasons for doing so?

In France, King Philip le Belle was struggling at the beginning of the 14th century. He was in great debt to the Templars, and there was no desire or ability to repay them. To extricate himself from the situation he hatched a plot that was as sinister as it was clever.


The opportunity for his plan to swing into operation came when he managed to get one of his close friends, Clement V, onto the papal seat. With a friendly Pope that owed him a favor for getting him where he was, the scene was set. The king had managed to extract from the Pope a decree that accused the Templars of being heretics.



King Philip knew that to defeat the Templars he would have to use cunning. On the grounds of discussing a pressing matter Philip invited the Grand master of the Templars, Jacques De Molay ,and his Hospitallier counterpart to visit him in Paris.



Either De Molay had no inclination of what was in store for him or he walked into the trap, sacrificing himself for the sake of the many knights that would escape what was to come. Once in the king’s hands, the rest of the plan was put into action.



On the night of the October 12, all seneschals (stewards) throughout France would open sealed instructions at the same time. The instructions were that on the morning of Friday the 13th, all Templars in their district should be arrested and charged with heresy.


The shocked regional authorities did as they were told and on Friday the13th of October, all Templars were arrested and thrown into prison. The king's guile appears to have caught them off guard. Or were they? For this is where more anomalies appear.



Part of the king's plan was to seize the Templars treasure from the Paris preceptory, but oddly enough there was none when he got there. Also odd, the Templar fleet melted into history, with no treasure falling into the hands of the king.



There are unsubstantiated stories that some of the Fleet left La Rochelle in France the night before the arrests, joining the ships that had been anchored in the Seine and disappearing with the treasures from Paris to Scotland and parts unknown.



When the total number of knights arrested, was calculated, only a relative handful had been captured. So where had everything and everyone gone? This is a mystery that still holds until this day, although the Templars did make a crucial appearance in the Battle of Bannockburn turning the tide, it is still a mystery that is being solved in parts.



Charged with spitting on the cross, worshipping a head named Baphomet, and sodomy, the Templars were questioned by the Inquisition and King Philips henchman, De Nogaret.



All methods known to the inquisition were used, no torture was ignored in the attempt to extract confessions, but few were forthcoming. The cruelty expended upon the unfortunate knights was immeasurable. Stories such as that of the knight that appeared in court carrying a small bag containing the bones from his feet, lost, after having them roasted over a brazier, were not uncommon.