THE TEMPLARS. 263 that he had confessed and recommending them to do the same, as having been deceived by ancient error. As soon as he and other chiefs of the Order were thus committed, the masters and students of all the faculties of the university were summoned to meet in the Temple ; the wretched victims were brought before them and were required to repeat their confessions, which they did, with the addition that these errors had prevailed in the Order for thir- ty years and more.* The errors charged against them were virtually five : I. That when a neophyte was received the preceptor led him behind the altar, or to the sacristy or other secret place, showed him a crucifix and made him thrice renounce the prophet and spit upon the cross. II. He was then stripped, and the preceptor kissed him thrice, on the posteriors, the navel, and the mouth. III. He was then told that unnatural lust was lawful, and it was commonly indulged in throughout the Order. IV. The cord which the Templars wore over the shirt day and night as a symbol of chastity had been consecrated by wrapping it around an idol in the form of a human head with a great beard, and this head was adored in the chapters, though only known to the Grand Master and the elders. Y. The priests of the Order do not consecrate the host in celebrating mass. When, in August, 1308, Clement sent throughout Europe a series of articles for the interrogation of the accused, drawn up for him by Philippe, and varying according to different recensions from eighty-seven to one hundred and twenty-seven in number, these charges were elaborated, and varied on the basis of the im- mense mass of confessions which had meanwhile been obtained. The indecent kisses were represented as mutual between the re- ceptor and the received ; disbelief in the sacrament of the altar was asserted ; a cat was said to appear in the chapters and to be worshipped ; the Grand Master or preceptor presiding in a chap- ter was held to have power of absolving from all sin ; all brethren
- Joann. de S.Victor (Bouquet, XXL 649-50).— Contin. Guill. Nangiac. ann.
1307. — Chron. Anon. (Bouquet, XXL 137). — Schottmuller, op. cit. I. 131-33 — Zurita, Anales de Aragon, Lib. v. c. 73.— Proces des Templiers, II. 6, 375, 386, 394. — Du Puy, pp. 25-6, 88-91, 101-6.— Rayuouard, pp. 39-40, 164, 235-8, 240-5.— Proces des Templiers, I. 36, 69, 203, 301 ; II. 305-6.— Ptol. Lucens. Hist. Eccles. Lib. xxrv. (Muratori S. R. I. XL 1230).— Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1307.— Chron. Anon. (Bouquet, XXL 149).
