Editing Philip IV of France (section)

==Suppression of the Knights Templar==
[[File:Templars on Stake 02.jpg|thumb|Templars burned at the stake. Painting made in 1480.]]
Philip was substantially in debt to the [[Knights Templar]], a monastic [[Military order (society)|military order]] whose original role as protectors of Christian pilgrims in the [[Latin East]] had been largely replaced by banking and other commercial activities by the end of the 13th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nicholson |date=2004 |first=Helen |title=The Knights Templar: a New History |pages=164, 181 |publisher=Sutton Pub. |isbn=978-0-7509-3839-6 }}</ref> As the popularity of the Crusades had decreased, support for the military orders had waned, and Philip used a disgruntled complaint against the Knights Templar as an excuse to move against the entire organization as it existed in France, in part to free himself from his debts. Other motives appear to have included concern over perceived heresy, the assertion of French control over a weakened Papacy, and finally, the substitution of royal officials for officers of the Temple in the financial management of the French government.{{sfn|Nicholson|2004|p=226}}

Recent studies emphasize the political and religious motivations of Philip the Fair and his ministers (especially [[Guillaume de Nogaret]]). It seems that, with the "discovery" and repression of the "Templars' heresy", the Capetian monarchy claimed for itself the mystic foundations of the papal theocracy. The Temple case was the last step of the process of appropriating these foundations, which had begun with the Franco-papal rift at the time of Boniface VIII. Being the ultimate defender of the Catholic faith, the Capetian king was invested with a Christ-like function that put him above the pope. What was at stake in the Templars' trial, then, was the establishment of a "royal theocracy".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Théry |date=2013 |first=Julien |title=A Heresy of State: Philip the Fair, the Trial of the 'Perfidious Templar's', and the Pontificalization of the French Monarchy |journal=[[Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures]] |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=117–148 |doi=10.5325/jmedirelicult.39.2.0117 |jstor=10.5325/jmedirelicult.39.2.0117 |s2cid=159316950 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4120353 }}</ref>

At daybreak on Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of Templars in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, to be later tortured into admitting heresy in the Order.{{sfn|Barber|2012|p=1}} The Templars were supposedly answerable only to the Pope, but Philip used his influence over [[Clement V]], who was largely his pawn, to disband the organization. Pope Clement did attempt to hold proper trials, but Philip used the previously forced confessions to have many Templars burned at the stake before they could mount a proper defence.

[[File:Philippe IV le Bel.jpg|thumb|right|Philip IV the Fair from ''Recueil des rois de France'', by [[Jean du Tillet, sieur de La Bussière|Jean du Tillet]], 1550]]
In March 1314, Philip had [[Jacques de Molay]], the last Grand Master of the Temple, and [[Geoffroi de Charney]], Preceptor of Normandy, burned at the stake. An account of the event goes as follows:
{{Blockquote|The cardinals dallied with their duty until March 1314, (''exact day is disputed by scholars'') when, on a scaffold in front of Notre Dame, [[Jacques de Molay]], Templar Grand Master, [[Geoffroi de Charney]], Master of Normandy, [[Hugues de Pairaud|Hugues de Peraud]], Visitor of France, and [[Geoffroi de Gonneville|Godefroi de Gonneville]], Master of Aquitaine, were brought forth from the jail in which for nearly seven years they had lain, to receive the sentence agreed upon by the cardinals, in conjunction with the [[Archbishop of Sens]] and some other prelates whom they had called in. Considering the offences, which the culprits had confessed and confirmed, the penance imposed was in accordance with rule – that of perpetual imprisonment. The affair was supposed to be concluded when, to the dismay of the prelates and wonderment of the assembled crowd, de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney arose. They had been guilty, they said, not of the crimes imputed to them, but of basely betraying their Order to save their own lives. It was pure and holy; the charges were fictitious and the confessions false. Hastily the cardinals delivered them to the [[Provost of Paris|Prevot of Paris]], and retired to deliberate on this unexpected contingency, but they were saved all trouble. When the news was carried to Philippe he was furious. A short consultation with his council only was required. The canons pronounced that a relapsed heretic was to be burned without a hearing; the facts were notorious and no formal judgment by the papal commission need be waited for. That same day, by sunset, a stake was erected on a small island in the [[Seine]], the [[Ile des Juifs]], near the palace garden. There de Molay and de Charney were slowly burned to death, refusing all offers of pardon for retraction, and bearing their torment with a composure which won for them the reputation of martyrs among the people, who reverently collected their ashes as relics.<ref>Stemler, Contingent zur Geschichte der Templer, pp. 20–21. Raynouard, pp. 213–214, 233–235. Wilcke, II. 236, 240. Anton, Versuch, p. 142</ref><ref>"An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy", "Superstition and Force", "Studies in Church History"; ''A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages'', Vol III, by Henry Charles Lea, NY: Hamper & Bros, Franklin Sq. 1888 p. 324</ref>|sign=|source=}}

After a little over a month, Pope Clement V died of a disease thought to be [[lupus]], and in eight months Philip IV, at the age of forty-six, died in a hunting accident. This gave rise to the legend that de Molay had cited them before the tribunal of God, which became popular among the French population. Even in Germany, Philip's death was spoken of as a retribution for his destruction of the Templars, and Clement was described as shedding tears of remorse on his deathbed for three great crimes, namely the poisoning of [[Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor]], and the ruin of the [[Templars]] and [[Beguines]].<ref>''A History of the Inquisition'' Vol. 3, Henry Charles Lea, Ch. 326, "Political Heresy – The State", p. 2.  Not in copyright</ref> Within fourteen years the throne passed rapidly through Philip's sons, who died relatively young, and without producing male heirs. By 1328, his male line was extinguished, and the throne had passed to the line of his brother, the [[House of Valois]].