logo
livingroom

decorative bar

biographies


corner Last update of this page: August 13th 2004 corner
Jacques de Molay
(1244 - March 18, 1314) France

Jacques de Molay

Last Grand Master of Templars

separator

Jacques de Molay was born in an area called Vitrey, Department of Haute Saone, France. Little is known of his childhood, but what is known is that in 1265 at the age of twenty-one, he joined the Knights Templar. Twenty-one years of age was the youngest a candidate for admission into that Order of knighthood could be.

De Molay rose through the ranks quite quickly and spent a great deal of time in Britain. He was first appointed the position of Visitor General and latterly to the post of Grand Preceptor of all England.

Jacques de MolayOn the death of the 22nd Grand Master, Theobald Gaudin, De Molay was installed as the head of the Order. Almost immediately he moved from England to the island of Cyprus, which the Knights Templar had owned at one point. It would be on the island of Cyprus that De Molay would remain until Philip IV and Clement V summoned him to France in the autumn of 1307.

The Knights attracted the attention of powerful lords, who were interested in obtaining their wealth and power. In 1305, Philip IV the Fair, King of France, who was heavily indebted with the Templar Order, set about to obtain control of the Knights Templars. They had been accountable only to the Church. To prevent a rise in the power of the Church, and to increase his own wealth, Philip set out to take over the Knights.

The year 1307 saw the beginning of the persecution of the Knights. Jacques DeMolay, along with hundreds of others, were seized and thrown into dungeons. For seven years, DeMolay and the Knights suffered torture and inhuman conditions.

Jacques de MolayThe inquisitors would go to any means to extract the confessions that would damn the order in the eyes of the people and the Catholic Church. While the Knights did not end, Philip managed to force Pope Clement V to condemn the Templars. Their wealth and property were confiscated and seized by the king or given to Philip's supporters.

Although de Molay confessed to denying Christ and trampling on the Holy Cross, he steadfastly denounced the accusations that the initiation ritual consisted of homosexual practices. De Molay was led out before the people to publicly confess his and the order's sins.

He recanted his earlier confessions and said the only crime he was guilty of was lying about his Brethren to relieve his own tortures. He was then taken to the Ile de la Cité on the Seine, and burned alive, along with Geoffrey de Charney the Preceptor of Normandy.

separator

Click on the letter M to go back to the list of names

corner © Matt & Andrej Koymasky, 1997 - 2008 corner