The Seal(69)

Clement heard the thinly veiled threat. There was a silence, thick and deceitful, even affable. The speaker had finished and the King smiled at Clement from across the way.

It was time for Clement to give his answer. His head suddenly cleared and although a gasp escaped his lips and there was a trickle of sweat over his brow, he found the strength to speak. He glanced about at the strong military presence in the room, said a silent Ave, and began.

‘It is necessary to hate evil... for the prophet Malachi tells us that we must tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of our feet. It is necessary to hate evil...for Amos tells us that all sinners shall die by the sword. It is necessary for all men to hate evil, but it is incumbent upon all prelates and especially the Vicar of Christ, the Lord’s advocate, to do so. However, it pleases God that it must be done justly, for we are also told we must love the good.’

He paused to wait for another spasm to pass. His hands trembled. His knees were melting like wax left out in the sun. He held his breath a moment. He could hear whispers. He could see faces, twisted in hatred and contempt. The King coughed, it echoed in the large hall. Then the Capetian leant to one side, whispering into the ear of his lawyer. Clement saw the other man smile. From out of the corner of his eye he saw his attendant, unforthcoming. The man never knew when he was needed.

The spasm passed and Clement swallowed hard. He could taste bile. He put a hand to his brow and found it now hot and dry. ‘Before my election as pope, I had known very little of the Templars, for there were few nobles of my native region who had entered the Order. Since my

appointment to the throne of Peter I have come to know many of them, valuing them as good men. However, let me make it clear to this assembly that if it is shown to me that the Order is guilty of such things as have been spoken of it, I and my cardinals will act quickly, though we shall not act precipitously, but honestly and steadfastly, as exemplified by our Lord when he was confronted by evil. It is true there were some discussions on the subject of the Templars in Lyons between the King and I, before the arrests, but then I had not believed the accusations and, to tell the truth, I could not even tell you what in particular was discussed. But in no way did I send letters authorising the King to arrest the Order.’

There was a general stir and he waited, hoping another spasm would not rack him before he finished.

‘As Pope I am head of the Church founded firstly on the blood of Christ and secondly on the blood of the martyrs, and despite my status, my precious robes, my sumptuous jewellery that make up the exterior aspects of my office, I bear a burden. I cannot sanction and take part in the destruction of an Order that has, up until recently, shed its blood freely and unselfishly for Christ, not without clear evidence and great deliberation.

‘I believe the King has acted out of piety, out of a desire to hunt down lasciviousness wherever it is found, and not out of greed, since – as was said by the King’s lawyer a moment ago – he does not intend to appropriate the Order’s goods, but that the goods be placed at the disposal of the Church in the matter of the Holy Land.’ He paused, looking directly into Philip’s fixed eyes, elated that he, by his own cunning, had turned the tables. ‘And as I see the urgency of this matter I will give a forty-day indulgence to whosoever will say five times per day one Pater Noster and seven times an Ave Maria, that God might grant me to proceed in such a way that it might be to His pleasing.’

He rose, encumbered by heavy robes, the apparel of which was worked in gold and embroidered with ornaments of stones, and continued out of the hall with difficulty, accompanied by his cardinals.

Once in his chambers he removed his pontifical robes and, ushering out his servants, sat upon his chamber-pot and discharged, in pain and difficulty, the contents of his bowels.





31


THE POPE AND CHARLES OF VALOIS

This is a slight unmeritable man, Meet to be sent on errands.

William Shakespeare, JULIUS CAESAR


Poitiers, June 1308

The evening was cool and pleasant, but Clement paced his apartment wearing a frown and fondling his rosary, recalling de Plaisians’ words during a second meeting of the public consistory. In a nutshell he had suggested that the Pope was to become another Anastasius – that pontiff struck down by God and repulsed by the clergy for condoning heresy – if he did not move on the Templars.

Clement longed to be away from Poitiers and the King’s long shadow. Soon he and a small number of cardinals would flee, firstly to Bordeaux and then hopefully to Avignon – a city bought by Pope Gregory for the use of the papacy. He was putting his tail between his legs and running, he knew that much, but he hoped the distance between France and his curia might ease the King’s hold on his testicles.