A. D.1312.
On the 16th of October a general council of the church, which had been convened by the pope to pronounce the abolition of the order, assembled at Vienne near Lyons in France. It was opened by the holy pontiff in person, who caused the differentconfessions and avowals of the Templars to be read over before the assembled nobles and prelates, and then moved the suppression of an order wherein had been discovered such crying iniquities and sinful abominations; but the entire council, with the exception of an Italian prelate, nephew of the pope, and the three French bishops of Rheims, Sens, and Rouen, all creatures of Philip, who had severally condemned large bodies of Templars to be burnt at the stake in their respective dioceses, were unanimously of opinion, that before the suppression of so celebrated and illustrious an order, which had rendered such great and signal services to the christian faith, the members belonging to it ought to be heard in their own defence.[408]Such a proceeding, however, did not suit the views of the pope and king Philip, and the assembly was abruptly dismissed by the holy pontiff, who declared that since they were unwilling to adopt the necessary measures, he himself, out of the plenitude of the papal authority, would supply every defect. Accordingly, at the commencement of the following year, the pope summoned a private consistory; and several cardinals and French bishops having been gained over, the holy pontiff abolished the order by an apostolical ordinance, perpetually prohibiting every one from thenceforth entering into it, or accepting or wearing the habit thereof, or representing themselves to be Templars, on pain of excommunication.[409]
On the 3rd of April, the second session of the council was opened by the pope at Vienne. King Philip and his three sonswere present, accompanied by a large body of troops, and the papal decree abolishing the order was published before the assembly.[410]The members of the council appear to have been called together merely to hear the decree read. History does not inform of any discussion with reference to it, nor of any suffrages having been taken.
A few months after the close of these proceedings, Brother William de la More, the Master of the Temple in England, died of a broken heart in his solitary dungeon in the Tower, persisting with his last breath in the maintenance of the innocence of his order. King Edward, in pity for his misfortunes, directed the constable of the Tower to hand over his goods and chattels, valued at the sum of 4l.19s.11d., to his executors, to be employed in the liquidation of his debts, and he commanded Geoffrey de la Lee, guardian of the lands of the Templars, to pay the arrears of his prison pay (2s.per diem) to the executor, Roger Hunsingon.[411]
Among the Cotton MS. is a list of the Masters of the Temple, otherwise the Grand Priors or Grand Preceptors of England, compiled under the direction of the prior of the Hospital of Saint John at Clerkenwell, to the intent that the brethren of that fraternity might remember the antient Masters of the Temple in their prayers.[412]A few names have been omitted which are supplied in the following list:—
The only other Templar in England whose fate merits particular attention is Brother Himbert Blanke, the Grand Preceptor of Auvergne. He appears to have been a knight of high honourand of stern unbending pride. From first to last he had boldly protested against the violent proceedings of the inquisitors, and had fearlessly maintained, amid all trials, his own innocence and that of his order. This illustrious Templar had fought under four successive Grand Masters in defence of the christian faith in Palestine, and after the fall of Acre, had led in person several daring expeditions against the infidels. For these meritorious services he was rewarded in the following manner:—After having been tortured and half-starved in the English prisons for the space of five years, he was condemned, as he would make no confession of guilt, to be shut up in a loathsome dungeon, to be loaded with double chains, and to be occasionally visited by the agents of the inquisition, to see if he would confessnothing further![426]In this miserable situation he remained until death at last put an end to his sufferings.
A. D.1313.
James de Molay, the Grand Master of the Temple, Guy, the Grand Preceptor, a nobleman of illustrious birth, brother to the prince of Dauphiny, Hugh de Peralt, the Visitor-general of the Order, and the Grand Preceptor of Aquitaine, had now languished in the prisons of France for the space of five years and a half. The Grand Master had been compelled to make a confession which he afterwards disowned and stigmatized as a forgery, swearing that if the cardinals who had subscribed it had been of a different cloth, he would have proclaimed them liars, and would have challenged them to mortal combat.[427]The other knights had also made confessions which they had subsequently revoked. The secrets of the dark prisons of these illustrious Templars have never been brought to light, but on the 18th ofMarch,A. D.1313, a public scaffold was erected before the cathedral church of Notre Dame, at Paris, and the citizens were summoned to hear the Order of the Temple convicted by the mouths of its chief officers, of the sins and iniquities charged against it. The four knights, loaded with chains and surrounded by guards, were then brought upon the scaffold by the provost, and the bishop of Alba read their confessions aloud in the presence of the assembled populace. The papal legate then, turning towards the Grand Master and his companions, called upon them to renew, in the hearing of the people, the avowals which they had previously made of the guilt of their order. Hugh de Peralt, the Visitor-General, and the Preceptor of the Temple of Aquitaine, signified their assent to whatever was demanded of them, but the Grand Master raising his arms bound with chains towards heaven, and advancing to the edge of the scaffold, declared in a loud voice, that to say that which was untrue was a crime, both in the sight of God and man. “I do,” said he, “confess my guilt, which consists in having, to my shame and dishonour, suffered myself, through the pain of torture and the fear of death, to give utterance to falsehoods, imputing scandalous sins and iniquities to an illustrious order, which hath nobly served the cause of Christianity. I disdain to seek a wretched and disgraceful existence by engrafting another lie upon the original falsehood.” He was here interrupted by the provost and his officers, and Guy, the Grand Preceptor, having commenced with strong asseverations of his innocence, they were both hurried back to prison.
King Philip was no sooner informed of the result of this strange proceeding, than, upon the first impulse of his indignation, without consulting either pope, or bishop, or ecclesiastical council, he commanded the instant execution of both these gallant noblemen. The same day at dusk they were led out of their dungeons,and were burned to death in a slow and lingering manner upon small fires of charcoal which were kindled on the little island in the Seine, between the king’s garden and the convent of St. Augustine, close to the spot where now stands the equestrian statue of Henri IV.[428]
Thus perished the last Grand Master of the Temple.
The fate of the persecutors of the order is not unworthy of notice.
A year and one month after the above horrible execution, the pope was attacked by a dysentery, and speedily hurried to his grave. The dead body was transported to Carpentras, where the court of Rome then resided; it was placed at night in a church which caught fire, and the mortal remains of the holy pontiff were almost entirely consumed. His relations quarrelled over the immense treasures he left behind him, and a vast sum of money, which had been deposited for safety in a church at Lucca, was stolen by a daring band of German and Italian freebooters.
Before the close of the same year, king Philip died of a lingering disease which baffled all the art of his medical attendants, and the condemned criminal, upon the strength of whose information the Templars were originally arrested, was hanged for fresh crimes. “History attests,” says Monsieur Raynouard, “that all those who were foremost in the persecution of the Templars, came to an untimely and miserable death.” The last days of Philip were embittered by misfortune; his nobles and clergy leagued against him to resist his exactions; the wives of his three sons were accused of adultery, and two of them were publicly convicted of that crime. The misfortunes of Edward the Second,king of England, and his horrible death in Berkeley Castle, are too well known to be further alluded to.
To save appearances, the pope had published a bull transferring the property, late belonging to the Templars, to the order of the Hospital of Saint John,[429]which had just then acquired additional renown and popularity in Europe by the conquest from the infidels of the island of Rhodes. This bull, however, remained for a considerable period nearly a dead letter, and the Hospitallers never obtained a twentieth part of the antient possessions of the Templars.
The kings of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, created new military orders in their own dominions, to which the estates of the late order of the Temple were transferred, and, annexing the Grand Masterships thereof to their own persons, by the title of Perpetual Administrators, they succeeded in drawing to themselves an immense revenue.[430]The kings of Bohemia, Naples, and Sicily, retained possession of many of the houses and strongholds of the Templars in their dominions, and various religious orders of monks succeeded in installing themselves in the convents of the fraternity. The heirs of the donors of the property, moreover, claimed a title to it by escheat, and in most cases where the Hospitallers obtained the lands and estates granted them by the pope, they had to pay large fines to adverse claimants to be put into peaceable possession.[431]
“The chief cause of the ruin of the Templars,” justly remarks Fuller, “was their extraordinary wealth. As Naboth’s vineyard was the chiefest ground of his blasphemy, and as in England Sir John Cornwall Lord Fanhope said merrily, not he, but his stately house at Ampthill in Bedfordshire was guilty of hightreason, so certainly their wealth was the principal cause of their overthrow.... We may believe that king Philip would never have taken away their lives if he might have taken their lands without putting them to death, but the mischief was, he could not get the honey unless he burnt the bees.”[432]
King Philip, the pope, and the European sovereigns, appear to have disposed of all the personalty of the Templars, the ornaments, jewels, and treasure of their churches and chapels, and during the period of five years, over which the proceedings against the order extended, they remained in the actual receipt of the vast rents and revenues of the fraternity. After the promulgation of the bull, assigning the property of the Templars to the Hospitallers, king Philip put forward a claim upon the land to the extent of two hundred thousand pounds for the expenses of the prosecution, and Louis Hutin, his son, required a further sum of sixty thousand pounds from the Hospitallers, before he would consent to surrender the estates into their hands.[433]“J’ignore,” says Voltaire, “ce qui revint au pape, mais je vois evidemment que les frais des cardinaux, des inquisiteurs déléguès pour faire ce procès épouvantable monterent à des sommés immenses.”[434]The holy pontiff, according to his own account, received only asmall portionof the personalty of the order,[435]but others make him a large participator in the good things of the fraternity.[436]
On the imprisonment of the Templars in England, the Temple at London, and all the preceptories dependent upon it, with the manors, farms, houses, lands, and revenues of the fraternity, wereplaced under the survey of the Court of Exchequer, and extents[437]were directed to be taken of the same, after which they were confided to the care of certain trustworthy persons, styled “Guardians of the lands of the Templars,” who were to account for the rents and profits to the king’s exchequer. The bishop of Lichfield and Coventry had the custody of all the lands and tenements in the county of Hants. John de Wilburgham had those in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and there were thirty-two other guardians entrusted with the care of the property in the remaining counties of England.[438]These guardians were directed to pay various pensions to the old servants and retainers of the Templars dwelling in the different preceptories,[439]also the expenses of the prosecution against the order, and they were at different times required to provide for the exigencies of the public service, and to victual the king’s castles and strongholds. On the 12th of January,A. D.1312, William de Slengesby, guardian of the manor of Ribbestayn in the county of York, was commanded to forward to the constable of the castle of Knaresburgh a hundred quarters of corn, ten quarters of oats, twenty fat oxen, eighty sheep, and two strong carts, towards the victualling of the said fortress, and the king tells him that the same shall be duly deducted when he renders his account to the exchequer of the rents and profits of the said manor.[440]The king, indeed, began to dispose of the property as if it was wholly vested in the crown, and made munificent donations to his favourites and friends. In the month of February of the same year, he gave the manors ofEtton and Cave to David Earl of Athol, directing the guardians of the lands and tenements of the Templars in the county of York to hand over to the said earl all the corn in those manors, the oxen, calves, ploughs, and all the goods and chattels of the Templars existing therein, together with the ornaments and utensils of the chapel of the Temple.[441]
On the 16th of May, however, the pope addressed bulls to the king, and to all the earls and barons of the kingdom, setting forth the proceedings of the council of Vienne and the publication of the papal decree, vesting the property late belonging to the Templars in the brethren of the Hospital of St. John, and he commands them forthwith to place the members of that order in possession thereof. Bulls were also addressed to the archbishops of Canterbury and York and their suffragans, commanding them to enforce by ecclesiastical censures the execution of the papal commands.[442]King Edward and his nobles very properly resisted this decree, and on the 21st of August the king wrote to the Prior of the Hospital of St. John at Clerkenwell, telling him that the pretensions of the pope to dispose of property within the realm of England, without the consent of parliament, were derogatory to the dignity of the crown and the royal authority; and he commands him, under severe pains and penalties, to refrain from attempting to obtain any portion of the possessions of the Templars.[443]The king, indeed, continued to distribute the lands and rents amongst his friends and favourites. At the commencement of the year 1313, he granted the Temple at London, with the church and all the buildings therein, to Aymer de Valence earl of Pembroke;[444]and on the 5th of May of the same year he caused several merchants, from whom he had borrowed money, to be placed in possession of many of the manors of the Templars.[445]
Yielding, however, at last to the exhortations and menaces of the pope, the king, on the 21st of Nov.A. D.1313, granted the property to the Hospitallers,[446]and sent orders to all the guardians of the lands of the Templars, and to various powerful barons who were in possession of the estates, commanding them to deliver them up to certain parties deputed by the Grand Master and chapter of the Hospital of Saint John to receive them.[447]At this period, however, many of the heirs of the donors, whose title had been recognized by the law, were in possession of the lands, and the judges held that the king had no power of his own sole authority to transfer them to the order of the Hospital.[448]The thunders of the Vatican were consequently vigorously made use of, and all the detainers of the property were doomed by the Roman pontiff to everlasting damnation.[449]Pope John, in one of his bulls, datedA. D.1322, bitterly complains of the disregard by all the king’s subjects of the papal commands. He laments that they had hardened their hearts and despised the sentence of excommunication fulminated against them, and declares that his heart was riven with grief to find that even the ecclesiastics, who ought to have been as a wall of defence to the Hospitallers, had themselves been heinously guilty in the premises.[450]
At last (A. D.1324) the pope, the bishops, and the Hospitallers, by their united exertions, succeeded in obtaining an act of parliament, vesting all the property late belonging to the Templars in the brethren of the Hospital of Saint John, in order that the intentions of the donors might be carried into effect by the appropriation of it to the defence of the Holy Land and thesuccour of the christian cause in the East.[451]This statute gave rise to the greatest discontent. The heirs of the donors petitioned parliament for its repeal, alleging that it had been made against law and against reason, and contrary to the opinion of the judges;[452]and many of the great barons who held the property by a title recognised by the common law, successfully resisted the claims of the order of the Hospital, maintaining that the parliament had no right to interfere with the tenure of private property, and to dispose of their possessions without their consent.
This struggle between the heirs of the donors on the one hand, and the Hospitallers on the other, continued for a lengthened period; and in the reign of Edward the Third it was found necessary to pass another act of parliament, confirming the previous statute in their favour, and writs were sent to the sheriffs (A. D.1334) commanding them to enforce the execution of the acts of the legislature, and to take possession, in the king’s name, of all the property unjustly detained from the brethren of the Hospital.[453]
Whilst the vast possessions, late belonging to the Templars, thus continued to be the subject of contention, the surviving brethren of that dissolved order continued to be treated with the utmost inhumanity and neglect. The ecclesiastical council had assigned to each of them a pension of fourpence a day for subsistence, but this small pittance was not paid, and they were consequently in great danger of dying of hunger. The king, pitying their miserable situation, wrote to the prior of the hospital of St. John at Clerkenwell, earnestly requesting him to take their hard lot into his serious consideration, and not suffer them to come to beggary in the streets.[454]The archbishop of Canterbury alsoexerted himself in their behalf, and sent letters to the possessors of the property, reproving them for the non-payment of the allotted stipends. “This inhumanity,” says he, “awakens our compassion, and penetrates us with the most lively grief. We pray and conjure you in kindness to furnish them, for the love of God and for charity, with the means of subsistence.”[455]The archbishop of York caused many of them to be supported in the different monasteries of his diocese.[456]
Many of the quondam Templars, however, after the dissolution of their order, assumed a secular habit; they blended themselves with the laity, mixed in the pleasures of the world, and even presumed to contract matrimony, proceedings which drew down upon them the severe indignation of the Roman pontiff. In a bull addressed to the archbishop of Canterbury, the pope stigmatises these marriages as unlawful concubinages; he observes that the late Templars remained bound, notwithstanding the dissolution of their order, by their vows of perpetual chastity, and he orders them to be separated from the women whom they had married, and to be placed in different monasteries, where they are to dedicate themselves to the service of God, and the strict performance of their religious vows.[457]
The Templars adopted the oriental fashion of long beards, and during the proscription of the fraternity, when the fugitives who had thrown off their habits were hunted out like wild beasts, it appears to have been dangerous for laymen to possess beards of more than a few weeks’ growth.
Papers and certificates were granted to men with long beards, to prevent them from being molested by the officers of justice as suspected Templars, as appears from the following curious certificate given by king Edward the Second to his valet, who hadmade a vow not to shave himself until he had performed a pilgrimage to a certain place beyond sea.
“Rex, etc. Cum dilectus valettus noster Petrus Auger, exhibitor præsentium, nuper voverit quod barbam suam radi non faciat, quousque peregrinationem fecerit in certo loco in partibus transmarinis; et idem Petrus sibi timeat, quod aliqui ipsum, ratione barbæ suæ prolixæ fuisse Templarium imponere sibi velint, et ei inferre impedimenta seu gravamina ex hac causa; Nos veritati volentes testimonium pertulere, vobis tenore præsentium intimamus, quod prædictus Petrus est valettus cameræ nostræ,nec unquam fuit Templarius, sed barbam suam sic prolixam esse permittit, ex causa superius annotata, etc. Teste Rege, &c.”[458]
THE TEMPLE CHURCH.
The restoration of the Temple Church—The beauty and magnificence of the venerable building—The various styles of architecture displayed in it—The discoveries made during the recent restoration—The sacrarium—The marble piscina—The sacramental niches—The penitential cell—The ancient Chapel of St. Anne—Historical matters connected with the Temple Church—The holy relics anciently preserved therein—The interesting monumental remains.“If a day should come when pew lumber, preposterous organ cases, and pagan altar screens, are declared to be unfashionable, no religious building, stript of such nuisances, would come more fair to the sight, or give more general satisfaction to the antiquary, than the chaste and beautiful Temple Church.”—Gentleman’s Magazinefor May, 1808, p. 1087.
The restoration of the Temple Church—The beauty and magnificence of the venerable building—The various styles of architecture displayed in it—The discoveries made during the recent restoration—The sacrarium—The marble piscina—The sacramental niches—The penitential cell—The ancient Chapel of St. Anne—Historical matters connected with the Temple Church—The holy relics anciently preserved therein—The interesting monumental remains.
“If a day should come when pew lumber, preposterous organ cases, and pagan altar screens, are declared to be unfashionable, no religious building, stript of such nuisances, would come more fair to the sight, or give more general satisfaction to the antiquary, than the chaste and beautiful Temple Church.”—Gentleman’s Magazinefor May, 1808, p. 1087.
“After three centuries of demolition, the solemn structures raised by our Catholic ancestors are being gradually restored to somewhat of their original appearance, and buildings, which, but a few years since, were considered as unsightly and barbarous erections of ignorant times, are now become the theme of general eulogy and models for imitation.”[459]
It has happily been reserved for the present generation, after a lapse of two centuries, to see the venerable Temple Church, thechief ecclesiastical edifice of the Knights Templars in Britain, and the most beautiful and perfect relic of the order now in existence, restored to the simple majesty it possessed near seven hundred years ago; to see it once again presenting the appearance which it wore when the patriarch of Jerusalem exercised his sacred functions within its walls, and when the mailed knights of the most holy order of the Temple of Solomon, the sworn champions of the christian faith, unfolded the red-cross banner amid “the long-drawn aisles,” and offered their swords upon the altar to be blessed by the ministers of religion.
From the period of the reign of Charles the First down to our own times, the Temple Church has remained sadly disfigured by incongruous innovations and modernembellishments, which entirely changed the antient character and appearance of the building, and clouded and obscured its elegance and beauty.
Shortly after the Reformation, the Protestant lawyers, from an over-anxious desire to efface all the emblems of the popish faith, covered the gorgeously-painted ceiling of this venerable structure with an uniform coating of simple whitewash; they buried the antique tesselated pavement under hundreds of cart-loads of earth and rubbish, on the surface of which, two feet above the level of the antient floor, they placed another pavement, formed of old grave-stones. They, moreover, disfigured all the magnificent marble columns with a thick coating of plaster and paint, and destroyed the beauty of the elaborately-wrought mouldings of the arches, and the exquisitely-carved marble ornaments with thick incrustations of whitewash, clothing the whole edifice in one uniform garb of plain white, in accordance with the puritanical ideas of those times.
Subsequently, in the reign of Charles the Second, the fine open area of the body of the church was filled with long rows of stiff and formal pews, which concealed the bases of the columns, whilethe plain but handsome stone walls of the sacred edifice were encumbered, to a height of eight feet from the ground, with oak wainscoting, which was carried entirely round the church, so as to shut out from view the elegant marble piscina on the south side of the building, the interesting arched niches over the high altar, and thesacrariumon the eastern side of the edifice. The elegant gothic arches connecting the Round with the oblong portion of the building were filled up with an oak screen and glass windows and doors, and with an organ-gallery adorned with Corinthian columns and pilastres and Grecian ornaments, which divided the building into two parts, altogether altered its original character and appearance, and sadly marred its architectural beauty. The eastern end of the church was, at the same time, disfigured with an enormous altarpiece in theclassicstyle, decorated with Corinthian columns and Grecian cornices and entablatures, and with enrichments of cherubims and wreaths of fruit, leaves, and flowers, exquisitely carved and beautiful in themselves, but heavy and cumbrous, and quite at variance with the gothic character of the edifice. A huge pulpit and sounding-board, elaborately carved, were also erected in the middle of the nave, forming a great obstruction to the view of the interior of the building, and the walls and all the columns were thickly clustered and disfigured with mural monuments.
All these unsightly and incongruous additions to the antient fabric have, thanks to the good taste and the public spirit of the Masters of the Benches of the societies of the Inner and Middle Temple, been recently removed; the ceiling of the church has been repainted; the marble columns and the tesselated pavement have been restored, and the venerable structure has now been brought back to its antient condition.
The historical associations and recollections connected with the Temple Church throw a powerful charm around the venerablebuilding. During the holy fervour of the crusades, the kings of England and the haughty legates of the pope were wont to mix with the armed bands of the Templars in this their chief ecclesiastical edifice in Britain. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries some of the most remarkable characters of the age were buried in the Round, and their mail-clad marble monumental effigies, reposing side by side on the cold pavement, still attract the wonder and admiration of the inquiring stranger.
The solemn ceremonies attendant in days of yore upon the admission of a novice to the holy vows of the Temple, conducted with closed doors during the first watch of the night; the severe religious exercises performed by the stern military friars; the vigils that were kept up at night in the church, and the reputed terrors of the penitential cell, all contributed in times past to throw an air of mystery and romance around the sacred building, and to create in the minds of the vulgar a feeling of awe and of superstitious terror, giving rise to those strange and horrible tales of impiety and crime, of magic and sorcery, which led to the unjust and infamous execution at the stake of the Grand Master and many hundred Knights of the Temple, and to the suppression and annihilation of their proud and powerful order.
The first and most interesting portion of the Temple Church, denominated by the old writers “The Round,” was consecrated in the year 1185 by Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, on his arrival in England from Palestine, as before mentioned, to obtain succour from king Henry the Second against the formidable power of the famous Saladin.[460]The old inscription which formerly stood over the small door of the Round leading into the cloisters, and which was broken and destroyed by the workmen whilstrepairing the church, in the year 1695, was to the following effect:—
“On the 10th of February, in the year from the incarnation of our Lord 1185, this church was consecrated in honour of the blessed Mary by our lord Heraclius, by the grace of God patriarch of the church of the Resurrection, who hath granted an indulgence of fifty days to those yearly seeking it.”[461]
The oblong portion of the church, which extendeth eastwards from the Round, was consecrated on Ascension-day,A. D.1240, as appears from the following passage in the history of Matthew Paris, the monk of St. Alban’s, who was probably himself present at the ceremony.
“About the same time (A. D.1240) was consecrated the noble church of the New Temple at London, an edifice worthy to be seen, in the presence of the king and much of the nobility of the kingdom, who, on the same day, that is to say, the day of the Ascension, after the solemnities of the consecration had been completed, royally feasted at a most magnificent banquet, prepared at the expense of the Hospitallers.”[462]
It was after the promulgation,A. D.1162 and 1172, of the famous bullomne datum optimum, exempting the Templars from the ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and enabling them to admit priests and chaplains into their order, and appoint them totheir churches without installation and induction, and free from the interference of the bishops, that the members of this proud and powerful fraternity began to erect at great cost, in various parts of Christendom, churches of vast splendour and magnificence, like the one we now see at London. It is probable that the earlier portion of this edifice was commenced immediately after the publication of the above bull, so as to be ready (as churches took a long time in building in those days) for consecration by the Patriarch on his arrival in England with the Grand Master of the Temple.
As there is a difference in respect of the time of the erection, so also is there a variation in the style of the architecture of the round and oblong portions of the church; the one presenting to us a most beautiful and interesting specimen of that mixed style of ecclesiastical architecture termed the semi-Norman, and by some writers the intermediate, when the rounded arch and the short and massive column became mingled with, and were gradually giving way to, the early Gothic; and the other affording to us a pure and most elegant example of the latter style of architecture, with its pointed arches and light slender columns. These two portions of the Temple Church, indeed, when compared together, present features of peculiar interest to the architect and the antiquary. The oblong portion of the venerable fabric affords, perhaps, the first specimen of the complete conquest of the pointed style over the massive circular or Norman architecture which preceded its erection, whilst the Round displays the different changes which the latter style underwent previous to its final subversion.
The Temple Church is entered by a beautiful semicircular arched doorway, an exquisite specimen of the Norman style of architecture, still unfortunately surrounded and smothered by the smoke-dried buildings of studious lawyers. It is deeplyrecessed and ornamented on either side with columns bearing foliated capitals, from whence spring a series of arched mouldings, richly carved and decorated. Between these columns project angular piers enriched with lozenges, roses, foliage, and ornaments of varied pattern and curious device. The upper part of these piers between the capitals of the columns is hollowed out, and carved half-length human figures, representing a king and queen, monks and saints, have been inserted. Some of these figures hold scrolls of paper in their hands, and others rest in the attitude of prayer. Over them, between the ribs of the arch, are four rows of enriched foliage springing from the mouths of human heads.
Having passed this elegant and elaborately-wrought doorway, we enter that portion of the church called by the old writers
The Round,
which consists of an inner circular area formed by a round tower resting on six clustered columns, and of a circular external aisle or cloister, connected with the round tower by a sloping roof on the outside, and internally by a groined vaulted ceiling. The beauty and elegance of the building from this point, with its circular colonnades, storied windows, and long perspective of architectural magnificence, cannot be described—it must be seen.
From the centre of the Round, the eye is carried upward to the vaulted ceiling of the inner circular tower with its groined ribs and carved bosses. This tower rests on six clustered marble columns, from whence spring six pointed arches enriched with numerous mouldings. The clustered columns are composed of four marble shafts, surmounted by foliated capitals, which areeach of a different pattern, but correspond in the general outline, and display great character and beauty. These shafts are connected together by bands at their centres; and the bases and capitals run into each other, so as to form the whole into one column. Immediately above the arches resting on these columns, is a small band or cornice, which extends around the interior of the tower, and supports a most elegant arcade of interlaced arches. This arcade is formed of numerous small Purbeck marble columns, enriched with ornamented bases and capitals, from whence spring a series of arches which intersect one another, and produce a most pleasing and striking combination of the round and pointed arch. Above this elegant arcade is another cornice surmounted by six circular-headed windows pierced at equal intervals through the thick walls of the tower. These windows are ornamented at the angles with small columns, and in the time of the Knights Templars they were filled with stained glass. Between each window is a long slender circular shaft of Purbeck marble, which springs from the clustered columns, and terminates in a bold foliated capital, whereon rest the groined ribs of the ceiling of the tower.
From the tower, with its marble columns, interlaced arches, and elegant decorations, the attention will speedily be drawn to the innumerable small columns, pointed arches, and grotesque human countenances which extend around the lower portion of the external aisle or cloister encircling the Round. The more these human countenances are scrutinised, the more astonishing and extraordinary do they appear. They seem for the most part distorted and agonised with pain, and have been supposed, not without reason, to represent the writhings and grimaces of the damned. Unclean beasts may be observed gnawing the ears and tearing with their claws the bald heads of some of them, whose firmly-compressed teeth and quivering lips plainly denote intensebodily anguish. These sculptured visages display an astonishing variety of character, and will be regarded with increased interest when it is remembered, that an arcade and cornice decorated in this singular manner have been observed among the ruins of the Temple churches at Acre, and in the Pilgrim’s Castle. This circular aisle or cloister is lighted by a series of semicircular-headed windows, which are ornamented at the angles with small columns.
Over the western doorway leading into the Round, is a beautiful Norman wheel-window, which was uncovered and brought to light by the workmen during the recent reparation of this interesting building. It is considered a masterpiece of masonry.
The entrance from the Round to the oblong portion of the Temple Church is formed by three lofty pointed arches, which open upon the nave and the two aisles. The mouldings of these arches display great beauty and elegance, and the central arch, which forms the grand entrance to the nave, is supported upon magnificent Purbeck marble columns.
Having passed through one of these elegant and richly-embellished archways, we enter a large, lofty, and light structure, consisting of a nave and two aisles of equal height, formed by eight clustered marble columns, which support a groined vaulted ceiling richly and elaborately painted. This chaste and graceful edifice presents to us one of the most pure and beautiful examples in existence of the early pointed style, which immediately succeeded the mixed order of architecture visible in the Round. The numerous elegantly-shaped windows which extend around this portion of the building, the exquisite proportions of the slim marble columns, the beauty and richness of the architectural decorations, and the extreme lightness and airiness of the whole structure, give us the idea of a fairy palace.
The marble columns supporting the pointed arches of theroof, four in number on each side, do not consist of independent shafts banded together, as in the Round, but form solid pillars which possess vast elegance and beauty. Attached to the walls of the church, in a line with these pillars, are a series of small clustered columns, composed of three slender shafts, the central one being of Purbeck marble, and the others of Caen stone; they are bound together by a band at their centres and their bases, which are of Purbeck marble, rest on a stone seat or plinth, which extends the whole length of the body of the church. These clustered columns, which are placed parallel to the large central pillars, are surmounted by foliated capitals, from whence spring the groined ribs which traverse the vaulted ceiling of the roof. The side walls are thus divided into five compartments on either side, which are each filled up with a triple lancet-headed window, of a graceful form, and richly ornamented. It is composed of three long narrow openings surmounted by pointed arches, the central arch rising above the lateral ones. The mouldings of the arches rest upon four slender marble columns which run up in front of the stone mullions of the windows, and impart to them great elegance and beauty. The great number of these windows, and the small intervening spaces of blank wall between them, give a vast lightness and airiness to the whole structure.
Immediately beneath them is a small cornice or stringing course of Purbeck marble, which runs entirely round the body of the church, and supports the small marble columns which adorn the windows.
The roof is composed of a series of pointed arches supported by groined ribs, which, diverging from the capitals of the columns, cross one another at the centre of the arch, and are ornamented at the point of intersection with richly-carved bosses. This roof is composed principally of chalk, and previous to the late restoration, had a plain and somewhat naked appearance, being coveredwith an uniform coat of humble whitewash. On the recent removal of this whitewash, extensive remains of an ancient painted ceiling were brought to light, and it was consequently determined to repaint the entire roof of the body of the church according to a design furnished by Mr. Willement.
At the eastern end of the church are three elegant windows opening upon the three aisles; they are similar in form to the side windows, but the central one is considerably larger than any of the others, and has in the spandrels formed by the line of groining two small quatrefoil panels. The label mouldings on either side of this central window terminate in two crowned heads, which are supposed to represent king Henry the Third and his queen. These windows are to be filled with stained glass as in the olden time, and will, when finished, present a most gorgeous and magnificent appearance. Immediately beneath them, above the high altar, are three niches, in which were deposited in days of yore the sacred vessels used during the celebration of the mass. The central recess, surmounted by a rounded arch, contained the golden chalice and patin covered with the veil and bursa; and the niches on either side received the silver cruets, the ampullæ, the subdeacon’s veil, and all the paraphernalia used during the sacrament. In the stonework around them may be observed the marks of the locks and fastenings of doors.
These niches were uncovered and brought to light on the removal of the large heavy oak screen and altar-piece, which disfigured the eastern end of the church.
On the southern side of the building, near the high altar, is an elegant marblepiscinaorlavacrum, which was in like manner discovered on pulling down the modern oak wainscoting. This interesting remnant of antiquity has been beautifully restored,and well merits attention. It was constructed for the use of the priest who officiated at the adjoining altar, and was intended to receive the water in which the chalice had been rinsed, and in which the priest washed his hands before the consecration of the bread and wine. It consists of two perforated hollows or small basins, inclosed in an elegant marble niche, adorned with two graceful arches, which rest on small marble columns. The holes at the bottom of the basins communicate with two conduits or channels for draining off the water, which antiently made its exit through the thick walls of the church. In the olden time, before the consecration of the host, the priest walked to the piscina, accompanied by the clerk, who poured water over his hands, that they might be purified from all stain before he ventured to touch the body of our Lord. One of these channels was intended to receive the water in which the priest washed his hands, and the other that in which he had rinsed the chalice. The piscina, consequently, served the purposes of a sink.[463]
Adjoining the piscina, towards the eastern end of the church, is a small elegant niche, in which the ewer, basin, and towels were placed; and immediately opposite, in the north wall of the edifice, is another niche, which appears to have been asacrariumor tabernacle for holding the eucharist preserved for the use of the sick brethren.[464]
In the centre of the northern aisle of the church, a large recess has been erected for the reception of the organ, as no convenient place could be found for it in the old structure. Below this recess, by the side of the archway communicating with the Round,is a small Norman doorway, opening upon a dark circular staircase which leads to the summit of the round tower, and also to
THE PENITENTIAL CELL.
This dreary place of solitary confinement is formed within the thick wall of the church, and is only four feet six inches long, and two feet six inches wide, so that it would be impossible for a grown person to lie down with any degree of comfort within it. Two small apertures, or loopholes, four feet high and nine inches wide, have been pierced through the walls to admit light and air. One of these apertures looks eastward into the body of the church towards the spot where stood the high altar, in order that the prisoner might see and hear the performance of divine service, and the other looks southward into the Round, facing the west entrance of the church. The hinges and catch of a door, firmly attached to the doorway of this dreary prison, still remain, and at the bottom of the staircase is a stone recess or cupboard, where bread and water were placed for the prisoner.
In this miserable cell were confined the refractory and disobedient brethren of the Temple, and those who were enjoined severe penance with solitary confinement. Its dark secrets have long since been buried in the silence of the tomb, but one sad tale of misery and horror, probably connected with it, has been brought to light.
Several of the brethren of the Temple at London, who were examined before the papal inquisitors, tell us of the miserable death of Brother Walter le Bacheler, Knight, Grand Preceptor of Ireland, who, for disobedience to his superior the Master of the Temple, was fettered and cast into prison, and there expired from the rigour and severity of his confinement. His dead body was taken out of the solitary cell in the Temple at morning’sdawn, and was buried by Brother John de Stoke and Brother Radulph de Barton, in the midst of the court, between the church and the hall.[465]
The discipline of the Temple was strict and austere to an extreme. An eye-witness tells us that disobedient brethren were confined in chains and dungeons for a longer or a shorter period, or perpetually, according as it might seem expedient, in order that their souls might be saved at the last from the eternal prison of hell.[466]In addition to imprisonment, the Templars were scourged on their bare backs, by the hand of the Master himself, in the Temple Hall, and were frequently whipped on Sundays in the church, in the presence of the whole congregation.
Brother Adam de Valaincourt, a knight of a noble family, quitted the order of the Temple, but afterwards returned, smitten with remorse for his disobedience, and sought to be admitted to the society of his quondam brethren. He was compelled by the Master to eat for a year on the ground with the dogs; to fast four days in the week on bread and water, and every Sunday to present himself naked in the church before the high altar, and receive the discipline at the hands of the officiating priest, in the presence of the whole congregation.[467]
On the opposite side of the church, corresponding with the doorway and staircase leading to the penitential cell, there was formerly another doorway and staircase communicating with a very curious antient structure, called the chapel of St. Anne, which stood on the south side of the Round, but was removed during the repairs in 1827. It was two stories in height. The lower story communicated with the Round through a doorway formed under one of the arches of the arcade, and the upperstory communicated with the body of the church by the before-mentioned doorway and staircase, which have been recently stopped up. The roofs of these apartments were vaulted, and traversed by cross-ribs of stone, ornamented with bosses at the point of intersection.[468]This chapel antiently opened upon the cloisters, and formed a private medium of communication between the convent of the Temple and the church. It was here that the papal legate and the English bishops frequently had conferences respecting the affairs of the English clergy, and in this chapel Almaric de Montforte, the pope’s chaplain, who had been imprisoned by king Edward the First, was set at liberty at the instance of the Roman pontiff, in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of London, Lincoln, Bath, Worcester, Norwich, Oxford, and several other prelates, and of many distinguished laymen; the said Almeric having previously taken an oath that he would forthwith leave the kingdom, never more to return without express permission.[469]In times past, this chapel of St. Anne, situate on the south of “the round about walles,” was widely celebrated for its productive powers. It was resorted to by barren women, and was of great repute for making them “joyful mothers of children!”[470]
There were formerly numerous priests attached to the Temple church, the chief of whom was styledcustosor guardian of the sacred edifice. King Henry the Third, for the salvation of his own soul, and the souls of his ancestors and heirs, gave to the Templars eight pounds per annum, to be paid out of theexchequer, for the maintenance of three chaplains in the Temple to say mass daily for ever; one was to pray in the church for the king himself, another for all christian people, and the third for the faithful departed.[471]Idonea de Veteri Ponte also gave thirteen bovates of her land, at Ostrefeld, for the support of a chaplain in the house of the Temple at London, to pray for her own soul and that of her deceased husband, Robert de Veteri Ponte.[472]
Thecustosor guardian of the Temple church was appointed by the Master and Chapter of the Temple, and entered upon his spiritual duties, as did all the priests and chaplains of the order, without any admission, institution, or induction. He was exempt from the ordinary ecclesiastical authority, and was to pay perfect obedience in all matters, and upon all occasions, to the Master of the Temple, as his lord and bishop. The priests of the order took precisely the same vows as the rest of the brethren, and enjoyed no privileges above their fellows. They remained, indeed, in complete subjection to the knights, for they were not allowed to take part in the consultations of the chapter, unless they had been enjoined so to do, nor could they occupy themselves with the cure of souls unless required. The Templars were not permitted to confess to priests who were strangers to the order, without leave so to do.
“Et les freres chapeleins du Temple dovinent oyr la confession des freres, ne nul ne se deit confesser a autre chapelein saunz counge, car il ount greigneur poer du Pape, de els assoudre que un evesque.”
The particular chapters of the Master of the Temple, in which transgressions were acknowledged, penances were enjoined, and quarrels were made up, were frequently held on a Sunday morningin the above chapel of St. Anne, on the south side of the Temple church, when the following curious form of absolution was pronounced by the Master of the Temple in the Norman French of that day.
“La manere de tenir chapitre e d’assoudre.”
“Apres chapitre dira le mestre, ou cely qe tendra le chapitre. ‘Beaus seigneurs freres, le pardon de nostre chapitre est tiels, qe cil qui ostast les almones de la meson a tout e male resoun, ou tenist aucune chose en noun de propre, ne prendreit u tens ou pardoun de nostre chapitre. Mes toutes les choses qe vous lessez a dire pour hounte de la char, ou pour poour de la justice de la mesoun qe lein ne la prenge requer Dieu, e de par la poeste, que nostre sire otria a sein pere, la quele nostre pere le pape lieu tenaunt a terre a otrye a la maison, e a noz sovereyns, e nous de par Dieu, e de par nostre mestre, e de tout nostre chapitre tiel pardoun come ieo vous puis fere, ieo la vous faz, de bon quer, e de bone volonte. E prioms nostre sire, qe issi veraiement come il pardona a la glorieuse Magdaléyne, quant ele plura ses pechez. E al larron en la croiz mis pardona il ses pechez, e a vous face les vos a pardone a moy les miens. Et pry vous que se ieo ouges meffis oudis a mil de vous que vous depleise que vous le me pardonez.’”[473]
At the close of the chapter, the Master or the President of the chapter shall say, “Good and noble brethren, the pardon of our chapter is such, that he who unjustly maketh away with the alms of the house, or holdeth anything as his own property, hath no part in the pardon of our chapter, or in the good works of our house. But those things which through shame-facedness, or through fear of the justice of the order, you have neglected to confess before God, I, by the power which our Lord obtained from his Father, and which our father the pope, his vicar, hasgranted to the house, and to our superiors, and to us, by the authority of God and our Master, and all our chapter, grant unto you, with hearty good will, such pardon as I am able to give. And we beseech our Lord, that as he forgave the glorious Mary Magdalene when she bewailed her sins, and pardoned the robber on the cross, that he will in like manner mercifully pardon both you and me. And if I have wronged any of you, I beseech you to grant me forgiveness.”
The Temple Church in times past contained many holy and valuable relics, which had been sent over by the Templars from Palestine. Numerous indulgences were granted by the bishops of London to all devout Christians who went with a lively faith to adore these relics. The bishop of Ely also granted indulgences to all the faithful of his diocese, and to all pious Christians who attended divine worship in the Temple Church, to the honour and praise of God, and his glorious mother the Virgin Mary, the resplendent Queen of Heaven, and also to all such as should contribute, out of their goods and possessions, to the maintenance and support of the lights which were kept eternally upon the altars.[474]
The circular form of the oldest portion of the Temple Church imparts an additional interest to the venerable fabric, as there are only three other ancient churches in England of this shape. It has been stated that all the churches of the Templars were built in the circular form, after the model of the church of the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem; but this was not the case. The numerous remains of these churches, to be met with in various parts of Christendom, prove them to have been built of all shapes, forms, and sizes.
We must now say a word concerning the ancient monuments in the Temple Church.
In a recess in the south wall, close to the elegant marble piscina, reposes the recumbent figure of a bishop clad in pontifical robes, having a mitre on his head and a crosier in his hand. It rests upon an altar-tomb, and has been beautifully carved out of a single block of Purbeck marble. On the 7th of September, 1810, this tomb was opened, and beneath the figure was found a stone coffin, about three feet in height and ten feet in length, having a circular cavity to receive the head of the corpse. Within the coffin was found a human skeleton in a state of perfect preservation. It was wrapped in sheet-lead, part of which had perished. On the left side of the skeleton were the remains of a crosier, and among the bones and around the skull were found fragments of sackcloth and of garments wrought with gold tissue. It was evident that the tomb had been previously violated, as the sheet-lead had been divided longitudinally with some coarse cutting instrument, and the bones within it had been displaced from their proper position. The most remarkable discovery made on the opening of this tomb was that of the skeleton of an infant a very few months old, which was found lying at the feet of the bishop.
Nichols, the antiquary, tells us that Brown Willis ascribed the above monument to Silvester de Everdon, bishop of Carlisle, who was killed in the year 1255 by a fall from a mettlesome horse, and was buried in the Temple Church.[475]
All the monumental remains of the ancient Knights Templars, formerly existing in the Temple Church, have unfortunately long since been utterly destroyed. Burton, the antiquary, who was admitted a member of the Inner Temple in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, on the 20th of May, 1593, tells us that in the body of the church there was “a large blue marble inlaid with brasse,”with this circumscription—“Hic requiescit Constantius de Houerio, quondam visitator generalis ordinis militiæ Templi in Angliâ, Franciâ, et Italiâ.”[476]“Here lies Constance de Hover, formerly visitor-general of the order of the Temple, in England, France, and Italy.” Not a vestige of this interesting monument now remains. During the recent excavation in the churchyard for the foundations of the new organ gallery, two very large stone coffins were found at a great depth below the present surface, which doubtless enclosed the mortal remains of distinguished Templars. The churchyard appears to abound in ancient stone coffins.
In the Round of the Temple Church, the oldest part of the present fabric, are the famous monuments of secular warriors, with their legs crossed, in token that they had assumed the cross, and taken the vow to march to the defence of the christian faith in Palestine. These cross-legged effigies have consequently been termed “the monuments of the crusaders,” and are so singular and interesting, that a separate chapter must be devoted to the consideration of them.