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THE TEMPLARS. 393 obedience. It was not to much purpose that, on December 30 of the same year, he wrote to the Duke of Austria to arrest all the Templars in his dominions, and commissioned the Ordinaries of Mainz, Treves, Cologne, Magdeburg, Strassburg, and Constance as special inquisitors within their several dioceses, while he sent the Abbot of Crudacio as inquisitor for the rest of Germany, ordering the prelates to pay him five gold florins a day. It was not until 1310 that the great archbishops could be got to work, and then the results were disappointing. Treves and Cologne, in fact, made over to Burchard of Magdeburg, in 1310, their authority as com- missioners for the seizure of the Templar lands, and Clement con- firmed this with instructions to proceed with vigor. As regards the persons of the Templars, at Treves an inquest was held in which seventeen witnesses were heard, including three Templars, and resulting in their acquittal. At Mainz the Archbishop Peter, who had incurred Clement's displeasure by transferring to his suf- fragans his powers as commissioner over the Templar property, was at length forced to call a provincial council, May 11, 1310. Suddenly and unbidden there entered the Wild- and Eheingraf, Hugo of Salm, Commander of Grumbach, with twenty knights fully armed. There were fears of violence, but the archbishop asked Hugo what he had to say : the Templar asserted the inno- cence of the Order ; those who had been burned had steadfastly denied the charges, and their truth had been prcved by the crosses on their mantles remaining unburned — a miracle popularly believed, which had much influence on public opinion. He concluded by appealing to the future pope and the whole Church, and the arch- bishop, to escape a tumult, admitted the protest. Clement, on hearing of these proceedings, ordered the council to be reassembled and to do its work. He was obeved. The Wildoraf Frederic of Salm, brother of Hugo and Master of the Ehine-province, offered to undergo the red-hot iron ordeal, but it was unnecessary. Forty- nine witnesses, of whom thirty-seven were Templars, were exam- ined, and all swore to the innocence of the Order. The twelve non-Templars, who were personages of distinction, were emphatic in their declarations in its favor. Among others, the Archpriest John testified that in a time of scarcity, when the measure of corn rose from three sols to thirty-three, the commandery at Mostaire fed a thousand persons a day. The result was a verdict of acquit-