Editing Knights Templar (section)

=== Chinon Parchment ===
{{main|Chinon Parchment}}

In September 2001, a document known as the [[Chinon Parchment]] dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in the [[Vatican Archives]] by [[Barbara Frale]], apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312, as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to [[Philip IV of France]], also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to [[heresy]] were "restored to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church". This other Chinon Parchment has been well known to historians,<ref>Charles d'Aigrefeuille, ''Histoire de la ville de Montpellier'', Volume 2, p. 193 (Montpellier:  J. Martel, 1737–1739).</ref><ref>Sophia Menache, ''Clement V'', p. 218, 2002 paperback edition {{ISBN|0-521-59219-4}} (Cambridge University Press, originally published in 1998).</ref><ref>[[Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix]], ''Oeuvres complettes de M. de Saint-Foix, Historiographe des Ordres du Roi'', p. 287, Volume 3 (Maestricht: Jean-Edme Dupour & Philippe Roux, Imprimeurs-Libraires, associés, 1778).</ref> having been published by [[Étienne Baluze]] in 1693<ref>Étienne Baluze, ''Vitae Paparum Avenionensis'', 3 Volumes (Paris, 1693).</ref> and by [[Pierre Dupuy (scholar)|Pierre Dupuy]] in 1751.<ref>Pierre Dupuy, ''Histoire de l'Ordre Militaire des Templiers'' (Foppens, Brusselles, 1751).</ref>

The current position of the [[Catholic Church]] is that the persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that [[Pope Clement V]] was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public [[Scandal (theology)|scandal]] and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frale |first=Barbara |year=2004 |title=The Chinon chart – Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay |journal=[[Journal of Medieval History]] |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=109–134 |doi=10.1016/j.jmedhist.2004.03.004 |s2cid=153985534}}</ref>