[351] Wordsworth.
[352] I may observe, however, that the ancient Templars were so dreadfully afraid of their virtue, that they forbad themselves the pleasure of looking in a fair woman’s face; at least the statutes attempted to put down this instinct of nature. No brother of the Temple was permitted to kiss maid, wife, or widow, his sister, mother, or any relation whatever. The statute gravely adds, that it behoves the knights of Jesus Christ to avoid the kisses of women, in order that they may always walk with a pure conscience before the Lord. I shall transcribe the statute in the original Latin, and I hope that it will not be perused with that levity which an allusion to it during Rebecca’s trial at Temple-stowe excited in the younger members of the valiant and venerable order of the Temple. The title is sufficiently ascetic,—Ut omnium mulierum oscula fugiantur. It proceeds thus:—“Periculosum esse credimus omni religioni, vultum mulierum nimis attendere, et ideo nec viduam, nec virginem, nec matrem, nec sororem, nec amitam, nec ullam aliam fœminam aliquis frater osculari præsumat. Fugiat ergo fœminea oscula Christi Militia, per quæ solent homines sæpe periclitari, ut pura conscientia, et secura vita, in conspectu Domini perenniter valeat conversare.” Cap. 72.
[353] Statutes, c. 51. 55.
[354] “I was a Scotsman ere I was a Templar,” is the assertion of Vipont in the dramatic sketch of Halidon Hill,—a sentiment confessedly borrowed from the story of the Venetian General, who, observing that his soldiers testified some unwillingness to fight against those of the Pope whom they regarded as father of the church, addressed them in terms of similar encouragement:—“Fight on—we were Venetians before we were Christians.”
[355] The Templars find no favour in the eyes of the author of Ivanhoe, and Tales of the Crusaders. He has imbibed all the vulgar prejudices against the order; and when he wants a villain to form the shadow of his scene, he as regularly and unscrupulously resorts to the fraternity of the Temple, as other novelists refer to the church, or to Italy, for a similar purpose.
[356] The Pope (Clement V.) committed the glaring absurdity of making a provisional decree to be executed in perpetuity. The bull which he issued at the council of Vienne, without asking the judgment of the assembled bishops and others, declares, that although he cannot of right, consistently with the Inquisition and proceedings, pronounce a definitive sentence, yet by way of apostolical provision and regulation, he perpetually prohibited people from entering into the order and calling themselves Templars. The penalty of the greater excommunication was held out as a punishment for offending.
[357] I add a complete list of the grand masters of the Temple, from the time of Jacques de Molai to these days. (Manuel des Chevaliers de l’Order du Temple. Paris. 1817.)
| A.D. | ||
| Johannes Marcus Larmenius, Hierosolymetanus | 1314 | |
| Thomas Theobaldus, Alexandrinus | 1324 | |
| Arnaldus de Braque | 1340 | |
| Johannes Claromontanus | 1349 | |
| Bertrandus Du Guesclin | 1357 | |
| Johannes Arminiacus | 1381 | |
| Bernardus Arminiacus | 1392 | |
| Johannes Arminiacus | 1419 | |
| Johannes Croyus | 1451 | |
| Bernardus Imbaultius, Vic. Mag. Afric. (Regens.) | 1472 | |
| Robertus Lenoncurtius | 1478 | |
| Galeatius de Salazar | 1497 | |
| Philippus Chabotius | 1516 | |
| Gaspardus de Salceaco, Tavannensis | 1544 | |
| Henricus de Montmorenciaco | 1574 | |
| Carolus Valesius | 1615 | |
| Jacobus Ruxellius de Granceio | 1651 | |
| Jacobus Henricus de Duroforti, Dux de Duras | 1681 | |
| Philippus, Dux de Aurelianensis | 1705 | |
| Ludovicus-Augustus Borbonius, Dux de Maine | 1724 | |
| Ludovicus-Henricus Borbonius, Condæus | 1737 | |
| Ludovicus-Franciscus Borbonius, Conty | 1741 | |
| Ludovicus-Henricus Timoleo de Cossé Brissac | 1776 | |
| Claudius Mathæus Radix de Chevillon, Vic. Mag. Europ. (Regens.) | 1792 | |
| Bernardus-Raymundus Fabré Palaprat | 1804 | |
[358] “I would fain know,” quoth Sancho, “why the Spaniards call upon that same St. James, the destroyer of the Moors: just when they are going to give battle, they cry, St. Jago and close Spain. Pray is Spain open, that it wants to be closed up? What do you make of that ceremony?”—“Thou art a very simple fellow, Sancho,” answered Don Quixote. “Thou must know, that heaven gave to Spain this mighty champion of the Red Cross, for its patron and protector, especially in the desperate engagements which the Spaniards had with the Moors; and therefore they invoke him, in all their martial encounters, as their protector; and many times he has been personally seen cutting and slaying, overthrowing, trampling, and destroying the Moorish squadrons; of which I could give thee many examples deduced from authentic Spanish histories.” Don Quixote, part ii. c. 58.
[359] The words are these:—Y asi mesmo hago voto, detener, voto defender, y guardar en publico, y en secreto, que la Vergen Maria Madre de Dios, y senora nuestra, fue concebida sin mancha de peccato original.