JAMES OF MOLAY. - Last Grand Master of the Order of the Templars. Born probably near Cintrey (Haute-Saône) around 1244. Admitted into the Order of the Templars in 1265, he departed for the Holy Land around 1270. Visitor of the Templars in England in 1293, elected Grand Master in 1294, he resided in Cyprus, where the seat of the Order had been transferred after the loss of St. John of Acre (1291). Summoned before Clement V on 6 June 1306, he defended the Order against the plan for its fusion with the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem and declared himself a supporter of a new Crusade (see his memoirs of 1306-1307, S. Baluze-G. Mollat, Vitae Paparum Avenionensium, III, Paris 1921, pp. 145-54).

Arrested by order of Philip the Fair on 13 Oct. 1307, together with all the Templars of France, he had to answer for the infamous reports against the Order. Overcome by fear, on 24-25 Oct. 1307, before the Faculty of Theology of Paris and the King's people, he made declarations which he retracted in the following spring before the pontifical commissioners.

The Pope reserved to himself the continuation of the affair (Febr. 1308). But a campaign of libels, the accusations against the Order brought before the Assembly of Notables at Tours (11-20 May 1308), the interview at Poitiers with the King (27 June 1308) and new declarations of the detainees at Chinon (Aug. 1308) overcame the resistance of Clement V.

In Nov. 1309, G. did not renew his confessions, but he did not defend the Order. His contradictory attitude has given rise to controversies. It seems that he acted under the impulse of fear. Following the suppression of the Order of the Templars (3-11 March 1312) three cardinals condemned him to perpetual detention. The King's Council applied to him the torture of fire on 18 March 1314 in Paris, on the island of the city. G. expired declaring his Order innocent.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: P. Dugueyst, Essai sur J. de M. Positions de thèses, Ecole des Chartes, Paris 1906; P. Viollet, Les interrogatoires de M., ibid. 1909; A. Trunz, Zur Geschichte des letzten Templemeisters, Freiburg im Br. 1920. On the trial of the Templars, the essential of the literature in G. Mollat, Les Papes d'Avignon, 8th ed., Paris 1930, pp. 229-30. See in particular: J. Michelet, Procès des Templiers, 2 vols., Paris 1891; H. Finke, Papsttum u. Untergang des Temperordens, Münster 1907; G. Lizerand, Clément V et Philippe le Bel, Paris 1910, pp. 43-210, 250-347.

Clemente Schmitt

@incollection{ec6_giacomo_di_molay, author = {Schmitt, Clemente}, title = {Giacomo di Molay}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {329}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giacomo-di-molay} }

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James of Molay

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