24:8 POLITICAL HERESY. — THE STATE. arms against the Latin princes of Greece, ravaged cruelly the shores of Thrace and the Morea, and returned with immense booty, hav- ing aroused enmities which were an element in their downfall. In contrast to this the Hospitallers were acquiring fresh renown as the champions of Christ by gallantly conquering, after a four years' struggle, the island of Rhodes, in which they so long main- tained the cause of Christianity in the East. In 1306 Clement Y. sent for de Molay and Guillaume de Villaret, Grand Master of the Hospitallers, to consult about a new crusade and the often dis- cussed project of the union of the Orders. He told them to come as secretly as possible, but while the Hospitaller, engrossed with preparations for the siege of Rhodes, excused himself, de Molay came in state, with a retinue of sixty knights, and manifested no intention of returning to his station in the East. This well might arouse the question whether the Templars were about to abandon their sphere of duty, and if so, what were the ambitious schemes which might lead them to transfer their headquarters to France. The Teutonic knights in withdrawing from the East were carving out for themselves a kingdom amid the Pagans of northeastern Europe. Had the Templars any similar aspirations nearer home *
- Raynald. arm. 1306. No. 3-5, 12.— Regest, Clement. PP. V. (Ed. Benedict. T.
I. pp. 40-46: T. II. p. 55, 58, Romse, 1885-6).— Mansuet, op. cit. II. 132.— Ray- nouard, Monuments historiques relatifs a la Condamnation des Chevaliers du Tem- ple, Paris, 1813, pp. 17,46. The summons to the Grand Master of the Hospital is dated June 6. 1306, (Regest. Clem. PP. V. T. I. p. 190). That to de Molay was probably issued at the same time. From some briefs of Clement, June 13, 1306, in favor of Humbert Blanc, Preceptor of Auvergne, it would seem that the latter was engaged in some crusading enterprise (Ibid. pp. 191-2), probably in connection with the attempt of Charles of Valois. When Hugues de Peraud, however, and other chiefs of the Order were about to sail, in November, Clement retained them (lb. T. II. p. 5). It has rather been the fashion with historians to assume that de Molay trans- ferred the headquarters of the Order from Cyprus to Paris. Yet when the papal orders for arrest reached Cyprus, on May 27, 1308, the marshal, draper, and treas- urer surrendered themselves with others, showing that there had been no thought of removing the active administration of the Order. — (Dupuy, Traitez concernant FHistoire de France, Ed. 1700, pp. 63, 132). Raimbaut de Caron, Preceptor of Cyprus, apparently had accompanied de Molay. and was arrested with him in the Temple of Paris (Proces des Templiers, II. 374), but with this exception all the principal knights seized were only local dignitaries. I think also that Schottmuller (Der Untergang des Ternpler-Ordens, Berlin,
