[Gocamino] Knight Templars exonnerated

[Sil]

During the 12th and 13th centuries the Knight Templars held fourteen
fortifications and two other properties in the Iberian Peninsula.  (Most
pilgrims are familiar with the massive Templar castle at Ponferrada).

The order eventually fell into disfavor with King Philip IV of France, who
wanted their money, or perhaps, wanted to cancel the debts he owed it. The
French king arrested members of the Knights and resorting to torture,
extracted confessions of heresy which resulted in them being put to death.

Now, due to what a Vatican archivist calls a "sketchy" error, a document
exonerating the Knights Templar of heresy is only now being made public.



"VATICAN CITY, OCT. 25, 2007

This morning in the Old Synod Hall, a number of Vatican officials and
laypeople presented "Processus Contra Templarios - Trial Against the
Templars", a compendium of reprints of the original acts of the hearings
against the Knights Templar, the group novelist Dan Brown linked to the Holy
Grail in "The Da Vinci Code."

The volume is the third in the "Exemplaria Praetiosa" series of the Vatican
Secret Archives, issued in collaboration with the Scrinium publishing house.

Despite its hefty price tag - $8,377 - the 799 available copies of the
volume have been sold to collectors, scholars and libraries from all over
the world and the 800th copy will be given to Benedict XVI.

The military order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of
Solomon was founded in Jerusalem in 1118 to protect Christians in the Holy
Land. In 1308, however, Pope Clement V decided to save the order, as
recorded by the "Parchment of Chinon." King Philip IV later pressured the
Pontiff to reverse the decision, and the order was suppressed in 1312. The
acts of the hearings against the Knights Templar (1308-1311) had been kept
in the Vatican Secret Archives, but until recently, had not been reviewed
since the early 20th century.

Barbara Frale, an official at the Vatican Secret Archives, found the
"Parchment of Chinon" in 2001. Frale told the Associated Press the
3-foot-wide document probably had been ignored because a catalog entry in
1628 was "too vague."

"Unfortunately, there was an archiving error, an error in how the document
was described. More than an error, it was a little sketchy."

The book reproduces all of the documentation of the papal hearings convened
after Philip IV arrested and tortured the Templars on charges of heresy and
immorality.  Frale said the parchment reveals the cardinals reached the
conclusion the Templars were guilty of abuses, but not "a real and true
heresy."



If anyone is interested in the Templars in Spain, you should read:

"The Knights Templar in the Golden Age of Spain - Their Hidden History on
the Iberian Peninsula" by Juan García Atienza.




-- 
Sil