In October 1307 all the brothers of the military religious Order of the Temple in France were arrested on the instructions of King Philip IV and charged with heresy. In November, Pope Clement V instructed King Edward II of England to do likewise. This volume provide the first full translation of the four surviving texts of the trial proceedings that followed in Britain and Ireland, complementing the edition published in volume 1. The trial of the Templars was the first major heresy trial in the British Isles, and the proceedings reveal the Episcopate's attempts to deal with this unprecedented situation, the varying procedures followed in different countries, and how testimonies were recorded and summarised for the Church Councils which eventually decided the fate of the Order of the Temple. The testimonies given during the trial contain a wealth of information about religious beliefs among the lay population of the British Isles (both the Templars and outsiders who gave evidence during the trial), national and international mobility of lay religious, the social function of the order of the Temple in the British Isles and its relations with society at large, and the organisation and operations of the Order of the Temple at a local, national and international level. Detailed introductions to each volume describe the manuscripts and how the material was compiled and arranged, and discuss the course of the proceedings and the value of the evidence they contain. Appendices in this volume also list the names of all the Templars mentioned during the proceedings, Templar houses and the locations of the proceedings in London.

An order of warrior monks founded to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem, the Templars were among the wealthiest and most powerful bodies in the medieval world. Yet two centuries later, they were arrested, accused of blasphemy, heresy and orgies, and their leaders were burnt at the stake. Part guide, part history, this book investigates the Templar legends and legacy - from the mysteries of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, via nineteenth century development of the Freemasons, through to Templar appearances in Dan Brown and Indiana Jones. This book explains the whole context of Templar history, including the recent evidence discovered by the Vatican that the Templars were not guilty of heresy. It also features a guide to Templar castles and sites.