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On November 27, 1309, during his own trial in Paris, Ponsard de Gisy,
Templar commander of Payens, mentioned three man as the main detonators of the Trials of the Knights Templar: Esquieu de Floyran, Guillaume Robert, Bernard Pelet and Gérard de Boyzol.
Esquieu de Floyran, probably a clerc, was a Benedictine prior of Montfaucon, dependance of the Abbey of Saint Martial in Limoges. He was a native from Béziers or, altenatively, Brulhois near Agen. The Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani portrayed him, possibly wrongly, as a renegade Templar, ‘a man of evil life and a heretic’, who was condemned to perpetual imprisonment for his crimes by the Templar Grandmaster. According to Villani, in prison he met one Noffo Dei, a Florentine ‘filled with every vice’, and these two men conspired together in the hope of financial gain and release from prison by denouncing the Templars to the king. 1)
Whatever the origin of De Floyran and his information, he first approached King James II of Aragon in 1305 with claims of heretical practices within the Templar Order. However, the Aragonese king was skeptical and did not act on the information. He seems even to have made fun of De Floyran, telling him that if he could prove what he was saying the King would give him 3000 pounds. After this failure, De Floyran turned to King Philip IV, who did act.
Esquieu de Floyran seems to have been driven
mainly by personal gain and likely resentment toward the Templars. Apparently he found the gain too small as he was not satisfied with the French king's reward: sources suggest that in 1308 he qualified as valet of the king. So in 1308 De Floyran wrote a letter to the king of Aragon James II. He reminded the King that when he (de Floyran) had visited him in Lerida in early 1305 he had given incriminating information about the Order, which had been proven, reminding the King of his promise of 3000 pounds in money and 1000 pounds in rents. In vain.
As said by Templar commander Ponsard de Gisy during his hearing in Paris, De Floyran was not alone in prosecuting the Templars. The others were Guillaume Robert, Bernard Pelet, and Gérard de Boyzol.
Guillaume Robert, a monk of unknown denomination, played a key role in the interrogations that followed the arrests. This role appears to be tied to his alignment with Philip IV’s regime. As a cleric and legal participant in the trials on behalf of the King, Robert was involved in extracting confessions from the Templars under duress and torture. His motivations likely stemmed from his loyalty to the crown and his desire to secure favor within Philip’s court.
Bernard Pelet was a former Templar and prior of Mas d’Agen and in October 1307 also King Philips' envoy to England, in an unsuccessful attempt to convince King Edward II of the Templars’ guilt. As such he was councillor of the King of England in the latters role as Duke of Aquitaine. Pelet’s testimony, as a former insider, added significant weight to the charges, but his motives remain unclear beyond speculation that he saw a personal advantage in betraying his former brethren. 1)
Gérard de Boyzol, a knight from Gisors though not for certain a Templar, was also involved in spreading false accusations. Historical sources suggest his motives were rooted in personal grievances and a damaged reputation. Like Pelet, he likely saw an opportunity for advancement or material gain in supporting the accusations against the Order, aligning himself with the powerful forces working to dismantle the Templars.
Finally, the involvement of Philip IV and his ministers, such as De Nogaret. Although Philip initially found concrete evidence lacking in the information provided by Esquieu de Floyran, he commissioned
his advisor Guillaume de Nogaret to investigate Esquieu's claims
further. The King authorised twelve men to enter the Order in various parts of
the kingdom as undercover agents. Information was gathered from discontented
elements within the Order, perhaps some of the men mentioned above. The agents told the king that the
accusations were true.
The predominant scientific opinion is that the main motivation of the King was a combination of political, financial and personal interests. The king was deeply indebted to the Templars and sought to confiscate their wealth. There may also have been a religious component at the root of Philips' behaviour. There seems to have been a shift in Philip's personal concerns toward a more religious bent, which probably took place after the death of this wife, Jeanne of Navarre, in April 1305. Jeanne's death struck Philip with great force and appears to have produced in him an almost fanatical desire to reform himself and his kingdom in the image of his holy grandfather, St. Louis. This intend to strengthen his religious purity and personal righteousness may have motivated Philip to act strongly on accusations of immoralities against the Templars. 2)
To conclude, scholarly research emphasizes the political maneuvering behind the arrest and trial, with many historians concluding that the charges against the Templars were fabricated for financial and political gain and also inspired by personal resentment. In addition royal religious motives may also have been present.
This blog is original work by TemplarsNow, combining information from many sources. Major sources were: 1) The Trial of the Templars, Malcom Barber, Cambridge University Press (2006); 2) This part quotes English translations by TN of occasionally slightly edited or rearranged quotes from p 91-97 of Les Templiers by Alain Demurger (2018), 127 pp, Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot. Illustration Arrest of the Templars - Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis (end 14th C), f.42v - BL Royal MS 20 C VII, source Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain,
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