THE TEMPLARS. 261 This was all strictly in accordance with inquisitorial practice, and the result corresponded with the royal expectations. Under the able management of Guillaume de Nogaret, to whom the di- rection of the affair was confided, on October 13 at daybreak the arrests took place throughout the land, but few of the Templars escaping. Nogaret himself took charge of the Paris Temple, where about a hundred and forty Templars, with de Molay and his chief officials at their head, were seized, and the vast treasure of the Order fell into the king's hands. The air had been thick with presages of the impending storm, but the Templars under- rated the audacity of the king and had made no preparations to avert the blow. Now they were powerless in the hands of the unsparing tribunal which could at will prove them guilty out of their own mouths, and hold them up to the scorn and detestation of mankind.* Philippe's first care was to secure the support of public opinion and allay the excitement caused by this unexpected move. The next day, Saturday, October 14, the masters of the university and the cathedral canons were assembled in Notre Dame, where Guil- laume de Nogaret, the Prevot of Paris, and other royal officials made a statement of the offences which had been proved against the Templars. The following day, Sunday the 15th, the people were invited to assemble in the garden of the royal palace, where the matter was explained to them by the Dominicans and the royal spokesmen, while similar measures were adopted through- out the kingdom. On Monday, the 16th, royal letters were ad- dressed to all the princes of Christendom announcing the dis- covery of the Templar heresy, and urging them to aid the king in the defence of the faith by following his example. At once (Chron. Fran. Pipini c. 49 ap. Muratori S. R. I. IX. 749-50). The bull Faciens misericordiam, of August 12, 1308, gives the inquisitors throughout Europe in- structions to participate in the subsequent proceedings (Mag. Bull. Rom. IX. 136). In fact, the whole matter was strictly inquisitorial business, and it is a note- worthy fact that where the Inquisition was in good working order, as in France and Italy, there was no difficulty in obtaining the requisite evidence. In Castile and Germany it failed ; in England, as we shall see, nothing could be done until the Inquisition was practically established temporarily for the purpose.
- Dom Bouquet, XXI. 448. — Vaissette, IV. 139. — Chron. Anon. (Bouquet,
XXI. 137, 149).— Cont. Guill. Nangiac. ann. 1307.— Joann. de S.Victor. (Bouquet, XXI. 649).— Proces des Templiers, I. 458; II. 373.
