Few regulators have been as ardent as Philip IV of France. He owed money to the Templars, and they refused to forgive his debts. So in 1307, on the site of what is now the Temple stop on the Paris Métro, King Philip launched a raid on the Paris Temple—the first of a series of attacks across Europe. Templars were tortured and forced to confess to any sin the Inquisition could imagine. The order of the Templars was disbanded by Pope Clement V. The London Temple was rented out to lawyers. And the last grandmaster of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, was brought to the center of Paris and publicly
...more
