Chinon Parchment - History

History

An investigation was carried out by agents of the Pope to verify claims against the accused in the castle of Chinon in the diocese of Tours. According to this document and another Chinon Parchment (see below), Pope Clement V instructed cardinals to conduct the investigation of the accused Knights Templar. The cardinals therefore

declare through this official statement directed to all who will read it . . . the very same lord Pope wishing and intending to know the pure, complete, and uncompromised truth from the leaders of the said Order, namely Brother Jacques de Molay, Grandmaster of the Order of Knights Templar, Brother Raymbaud de Caron, Preceptor the commandaries of Templar Knights in Outremer, Brother Hugo de Pérraud, Preceptor of France, Brother Geoffroy de Gonneville, Preceptor of Aquitania and Poitou, and Geoffroy de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, ordered and commissioned us specifically and by his verbally expressed will in order that we might with diligence examine the truth by questioning the grandmaster and the aforementioned preceptors one-by-one and individually, having summoned notaries public and trustworthy witnesses. (Chinon Parchment dated August 17-20, 1308)

Raymbaud de Caron was the first to be interrogated, on August 17, 1308.

After this oath, by the authority of lord Pope specifically granted to us for that purpose, we extended to this humbly asking Brother Raymbaud, in a form accepted by the Church, the mercy of pardon from the verdict of excommunication that had been incurred by the aforementioned deeds, restoring him to unity with the Church and reinstating him to the communion of the faithful and the sacraments of the Church. (Chinon Parchment dated August 17-20, 1308)

Also interrogated on August 17th were Geoffroy de Charney and, third, Geoffroy de Gonneville. On August 19, 1308, Hugo de Pérraud was the fourth Templar to be interrogated. The Grandmaster was interrogated last, on August 20, 1308.

According to the document, all interrogations of the accused, spanning August 17th to 20, 1308, were always in the presence of the notaries public and the gathered witnesses. Among the accusations were sodomy, denouncing God, illicit kisses, spitting on the cross, and worshiping an idol.

The body of the text details the appearances of the accused, their swearings-in, the charges against them, and the modes of questioning to which they were subjected. In the interrogation of de Molay,

When he was asked whether he had confessed to these things due to a request, reward, gratitude, favor, fear, hatred or persuasion by someone else, or the use of force, or fear of impending torture, he replied that he did not. When he was asked whether he, after being apprehended, was submitted to any questioning or torture, he replied that he did not.

The text further details the denunciations, requests by the accused for absolution, and the granting of absolution by the agents of the pope. All this was always in the presence of witnesses. Part of the pardons given to Molay thus reads:

After this, we concluded to extend the mercy of pardons for these acts to Brother Jacques de Molay, the Grandmaster of the said Order, who in the form and manner described above had denounced in our presence the described and any other heresy, and swore in person on the Lord’s Holy Gospel, and humbly asked for the mercy of pardon, restoring him to unity with the Church and reinstating him to communion of the faithful and the sacraments of the Church. Chinon Parchment dated August 17-20, 1308)

Analysis of the Chinon Parchment enabled Barbara Frale to establish some of the secret initiation practices of the Templars. While three of the accused admitted to having been asked by their receptors during their initiation to denounce the Cross and spit upon the crucifix, their stories are inconsistent. Geoffroy de Gonneville, for example, stated that he had not succumbed under duress to denouncing and spitting on the Cross; despite this, he was admitted to the order, implying that the denial of the cross may have been a test of some sort. The other accused men admitted to "denouncing in words only, not in spirit". Gordon Napier thinks that the practice of the denial of the cross was training for what the new knights might later face, were they taken prisoner by Saracens.

All the accused denied practicing sodomy or ever witnessing it; However, kisses were admitted, having been given as a sign of respect only during Templar initiation.

Hugo de Pérraud alone stated that, during his initiation, he had been told "to abstain from partnership with women, and, if they were unable to restrain their lust, to join themselves with brothers of the Order". And only Hugo de Pérraud claimed to see the "head of an idol" the Templars were accused of worshiping, in Montpellier, in the possession of Brother Peter Alemandin, Preceptor of Montpellier. All other Templars mentioned in the Chinon Parchment denied being encouraged to "join" with other brothers, and none of the others was asked about an idol.

All added that, as with any Roman Catholic, any transgressions of the Roman Catholic faith were fully confessed to a priest or bishop, penances made, and absolutions granted.

The Chinon Parchment itself was prepared by Robert de Condet, cleric of the diocese of Soissons and an apostolic notary; the other apostolic notaries public were Umberto Vercellani, Nicolo Nicolai de Benvenuto, and Master Amise d’Orléans le Ratif. Witnesses to the proceedings were Brother Raymond (abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Theofred, in the diocese of Annecy), Master Berard (or Bernard?) de Boiano (archdeacon of Troia), Raoul de Boset (confessor and canon from Paris), and Pierre de Soire (overseer of Saint-Gaugery in Cambresis). According to the surviving Parchment, the other notaries public made three other, more detailed copies. All documents were sealed and signed by the participants. According to the Parchment,

Their words and confessions were written down exactly in the way that they are included here by the notaries whose names are listed below, in the presence of witnesses listed below. We also ordered that these things be drawn up in this official form and validated by the protection of our seals. (Chinon Parchment dated August 17-20, 1308)

The Chinon Parchment details a failed attempt by the Pope to preserve the Templars from the machinations of King Philip IV of France, through establishing that the Order was not heretical and was capable of reform under the aegis of the Church. However, as it became apparent that Philippe had determined upon the extermination of the Order (and the confiscation of its considerable wealth and property within his kingdom), the Pope abandoned the Templars to their fates. Outside France, the dissolution of the Order was achieved with far less bloodshed, and surviving members of the Order were absorbed into other religious institutions.