I think also that Schottmüller (Der Untergang des Templer-Ordens, Berlin, 1887, I. 66, 99; II. 38) sufficiently proves the incredibility of the story of the immense treasure brought to France by de Molay, and he further points out (I. 98) that the preservation of the archives of the Order in Malta shows that they could not have been removed to France.
[265] Perhaps the most detailed and authoritative contemporary account of the downfall of the Templars is that of Bernard Gui (Flor. Chronic. ap. Bouquet XXI. 716 sqq.). It is impossible to doubt that had there been anything savoring of Catharism in the Order he would have scented it out and alluded to it.
[266] Wilcke, Geschichte des Ordens der Tempelherren, II. Ausgabe, 1860, II. 51, 103-4, 183.—Chron. Anonyme (Bouquet, XXI. 149).—Villani Cron. VIII. 92.—Mag. Chron. Belgic. (Pistor. III. 155).—Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1307.—Règle et Statuts secrets, p. 64.—Real-Encyklop. XV. 305.—Havemann, Geschichte des Ausgangs des Tempelherrenordens, Stuttgart, 1846, p. 165.—Schottmüller, op. cit. I. 236, 695.
[267] Procès des Templiers, I. 144.—Raynald. ann. 1307, No. 12; ann. 1311, No. 53.—Schottmüller, op. cit. I. 465.—Ferreti Vicentini Hist. (Muratori S. R. I. IX. 1018).—Matt. Paris, ann. 1244 (p. 417).—Dom Bouquet, XXI. 545.—Chassaing, Spicilegium Brivatense, pp. 212-13.
An illustration of the exaggerations current as to the Templars is seen in the assertion, confidently made, that in Roussillon and Cerdagne the Order owned half the land, while an examination of its Cartulary shows that in reality it possessed but four lordships, together with fragmentary rights over rents, tithes, or villeins in seventy other places. A single abbey, that of St. Michel de Cuxa, possessed thirty lordships and similar rights in two hundred other places, and there were two other abbeys, Arles, and Cornella de Conflent, each richer than the Templars.—Allart, Bulletin de la Société Agricole, Scientifique et Littéraire des Pyrénées Orientales, T. XV. pp. 107-8.
[268] Du Puy, Hist. du Differend, Preuves, pp. 136-7.—Baudouin, Lettres inédites de Philippe le Bel, p. 163.—Maillard de Chambure, p. 61.—Grandes Chroniques, V. 173.—Raynouard, pp. 14, 21.—Rymer, I. 30.—Regest. Clement. PP. V. T. I. p. 192 (Ed. Benedict. Romæ, 1885).—Prutz, pp. 23, 31, 38, 46, 49, 51-2, 59, 76, 78, 79, 80.—Règle et Statuts, § 29, p. 226; § 58, pp. 249, 254; § 126, pp. 463-4.—Thomas, Registres de Boniface VIII. T. L. No. 490.—Baudouin, op. cit. p. 212.
Schottmüller (Der Untergang des Templer-Ordens, Berlin, 1887, I. 65) conjectures that the loan of five hundred thousand livres to Philippe is probably a popular error arising from the intervention of the Templars as bankers in the payment of the dowry.
[269] D’Argentré I. I. 280.—Wilcke, op. cit. II. 304-6.
[270] Guill. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1306.—Vaissette, IV. 135.—Raynouard, p. 24.
[271] Villani, Cron. VIII. 92.—Amalr. Augerii Vit. Clem. V. (Muratori S. R. I. III. II. 443-44).—S. Antonini Hist. (D’Argentré I. I. 281).—Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1307.—Raynald. ann. 1307, No. 12. The best-informed contemporaries, Bernard Gui, the Continuation of Nangis, Jean de S. Victor, the Grandes Chroniques, say nothing about this story.