was wrong ( dixit sibi quod male credebat ), because He was not God, He was a false prophet ( quia falsus propheta erat, nec erat Deus ). Some added that they were then shown an idol or a bearded head which they were told to worship ; one added that this was of such "a terrible aspect that it seemed to him to be the face of some devil, called in French un maufé , and that whenever he saw it he was so overcome with fear that he could hardly look at it without fear and trembling." All who confessed declared that they had been ordered to spit on the crucifix, and very many that they had received the injunction to commit obscenities and to practise unnatural vice. Some said that on their refusal to carry out these orders they had been threatened with imprisonment, even perpetual imprisonment; a few said they had actually been incarcerated ; one declared that he had been terrorized, seized by the throat, and threatened with death.
Since, however, a number of these confessions were made under torture, it is more important to consider the evidence provided by the trial of the Knights at the hands of the Pope, where this method was not employed.
Now, at the time the Templars were arrested, Clement V., deeply resenting the King's interference with an Order which existed entirely under papal jurisdiction, wrote in the strongest terms of remonstrance to Philippe le Bel urging their release, and even after their trial, neither the confessions