The pope of the day, Clement V (r. 1305–14), was a Gascon-born milksop who had been elected under French political pressure in the expectation that he would be directly biddable from Paris; he spent his whole reign in France.* But even Clement could not be seen to simply roll over and allow the Templars to be destroyed by a secular prince. Clement therefore attempted to stall Philip’s assault by claiming the investigation into Templar corruption as his own, and extending it to every sovereign territory in western Christendom.
