‘Yes . . . yes . . .’ He waved a hand. ‘However, there are . . . details . . . The sacred college of cardinals, my dear Count, is not immune to influences . . . far be it for me to mention what is obvious and plain, namely, that the Temple has many powerful friends all over Europe, who assert, quite naturally, by means of one avenue or another, a degree of persuasion . . . The perplexities are manifold . . .’
‘Without doubt, your sublimity, without doubt!’ the count said. ‘However, the papacy is irrevocably committed before all Europe by the bull of November. Understandably your Holiness prevented the inquisitors from continuing with their work of interrogating the accused until you understood the matters at hand. Now that you are informed, your Holiness, there should be nothing to prevent you from restoring their powers, and it is simply, if I may say so, a question of the terms on which your Holiness will allow the entire affair to proceed.’
‘As easy as that, Count! If only it were so.’ He scowled and a dull gleam appeared in his cloudy eyes.
‘For his part the King is willing,’ the other man offered, ‘to remit Templar property to special curators appointed to administer it until the completion of the trials. The overall surveillance should be the responsibility of the bishops in whose diocese the goods are situated. Good, faithful persons, who are discreet and prudent shall be named by both the Holy See and the King, accountable to the King’s officers and the prelates. He suggests that your Holiness might provide superintendents to inspect the entire account annually, whose safekeeping would be the responsibility of the Kingdom of France – of course. Meanwhile he proposes that the persons of the Templars should be placed into your hands, Holy Father; however, as it is impossible for the Church to safely guard so many men – being ill prepared for such an arduous undertaking – the King will extend the courtesy of his prisons and guards, at the request of the Church. The prelates, your Holiness, should then be allowed to do what concerns them.’
Clement was silent, listening beyond the outer skin of words. What the King was in fact offering him was a way to do what they had conspired to do all along – Clement would hear the confessions with his cardinals; they would all be suitably enraged and disgusted, after which, none could contest his consent to a reopening of the inquiry, and, when all was said and done, the King would remain in control of the Templars, their gold and their property. Clement knew that, in turn, he must squeeze what little juice he could from the lemon himself.
He said nothing for a long time. He looked to the tapestries on his walls, to his canopied bed framed in sumptuous silk, but he was not perusing the grandeur of his apartment, he was measuring his words.
‘This proposal goes against my honour,’ he said finally, taking a cup of warm spiced wine that had been prepared for him. He sipped it slowly. It made his gut move like a snake.
‘How so, your Sublimity?’ gasped Charles of Valois, blanching to the roots of his sparse grey hair.
Did you believe that you had me where you wanted me? thought Clement, suffused with satisfaction. Then aloud: ‘I shall be short and blunt, my dear Count of Romagne, hoping that you should hear what I say and return it unchanged forthwith to your brother. Perhaps this tiresome affair might be over at last . . . hmm? Now I cannot take any decision whatever concerning the inquiry until all the members are handed over to me. Having said that, the Church may require, from time to time, the use of the King’s prisons, this would be agreeable as long as the Templars are at my every disposal. And as to Templar property, I may also require the King’s assistance in its safekeeping. However, like the members of the Order it is to be made available to the Holy See at all times. My own men shall be responsible for auditing all accounts – not the King and the men in his counting house. My bishops shall appoint curators of the properties belonging to the Templars for each diocese, whose task will be to administer the goods on behalf of the Order until a decision is made about their future. As to the fate of the entire Order, I will say once again that I am not in a position to condemn it if only the Templars of France are heretics. Think of Spain, Portugal, England! No, it is out of the question entirely.
‘Should I decide to restore the powers of the inquisitors, they will act on behalf of provincial councils formed to make inquiry against individual Templars. Each metropolitan will then be responsible for those Templars who belong to this province. At the same time I will set up a commission to make inquiry against the Order as a whole. Eight commissioners will go personally to the city province and diocese of Sens and make a separate inquiry of the truth with diligence, on our authority. After all things are taken into consideration, all confessions extracted and all evidence given, then both the provincial councils and the commission will bring their findings to a general council at Vienne where the fate of the Order shall be decided, two years from now. If the Order is suppressed, and I say if, all goods are to be dispatched at my discretion.’ He said this with no sign of the inner triumph he felt. Clement had bought himself time.