Chinon Parchment

Chinon Parchment

Creation Date:	Between August 17 and 20, 1308
File:	Download PDF

The Chinon Parchment is a historical document discovered in the Vatican archives in 2001 that shows Pope Clement V privately absolved the leaders of the Knights Templar of heresy in 1308. This document significantly complicates the history of the Knights Templar' suppression, which was driven by King Philip IV of France.

Discovery and content

• Discovery: The parchment was found by Italian paleographer Barbara Frale in the Vatican Secret Archives. The document had been misplaced for centuries.
• Date and location: The document was written in Chinon, France, between August 17 and 20, 1308. It records the proceedings of a papal investigation into the charges of heresy brought against the Templar leadership.
• Absolution: The parchment records the interrogation of prominent Templars, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay. The papal commission concluded that the Templars had confessed to certain offenses but were repentant. The commission then granted them absolution from the excommunication imposed on them.

Historical significance

• Conflict between Pope and King: The Chinon Parchment highlights the political conflict between Pope Clement V and King Philip IV of France. While the king sought to destroy the Templars and seize their wealth, the Pope initially wanted to reform and preserve the order.
• Papal intentions: The document shows Pope Clement V's original intention to reintegrate the Templars into the Church. He believed they were not hardened heretics but had confessed under duress and deserved forgiveness.
• Failed effort: Ultimately, the Pope succumbed to pressure from Philip IV, and the absolution had little effect on the Templars' final fate. The King continued his campaign, and the Order was officially dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1312.
• New perspective: The parchment provides crucial context for the final years of the Templars, challenging the traditional narrative that they were simply condemned as heretics. It shows that the papacy attempted to save them before ultimately giving in to political pressure.

Publication

• Limited edition: In 2007, the Vatican published a limited, high-quality edition of the Templar trial documents, including the Chinon Parchment, under the title Processus Contra Templarios.
• Library of Congress: One of the 799 numbered copies is held by the Law Library of Congress in the United States.

Chinon Parchment Discovered

Chinon Parchment-In September 2001, Barbara Frale discovered a copy of the Chinon Parchment dated 17–20 August 1308 in the Vatican Secret Archives, a document that indicated that Pope Clement V absolved the leaders of the Order in 1308. Frale published her findings in the Journal of Medieval History in 2004

In 2007, The Vatican published the Chinon Parchment as part of a limited edition of 799 copies of Processus Contra Templarios. Another Chinon parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to Philip IV of France, well known to historians, stated that absolution had been granted to all those Templars that had confessed to heresy "and restored them to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church".

The Guilt of the Gnostic Knights Templar: The Chinon Parchment

The recently discovered Chinon Parchment of the Vatican Library in 2001 has brought a level of redemption to the Knights Templar. It does not discount their “heretical” activities, which were entirely gnostic in nature and reveal Johannite and Sufi influences on the Knights. But it does absolve them of these “crimes.”

The History of the Parchment

When Pope Clement V summoned many of the accused Knights Templar to his residence in Poitiers, France to determine the truth of the heretical allegations against them, some of the highest ranking knights, including Grandmaster Jacques de Molay, were diverted to Chinon, where they were met by three cardinals.

Their subsequent meeting in Chinon—including confessions by the Knights and an ensuing absolution of their crimes by the Church—comprise the text of the Chinon Parchment.

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The Chinon Parchment is explicit in revealing that De Molay and the high ranking Templar official questioned by the cardinals confessed to the heretical charges against them, including sodomy, denouncing Jesus, illicit kissing, trampling and spitting on the cross, and worshiping an idolized head.

States the Parchment: “When he (de Molay) was asked whether he had confessed to these heretical allegations due to a request, reward, gratitude, favor, fear, hatred or persuasion by someone else, or the use of force, or fear of impending torture, he replied that he did not. When he was asked whether he, after being apprehended, was submitted to any questioning or torture, he replied that he did not.”

“After this,we (the cardinals) concluded to extend the mercy of pardons for these acts to Brother Jacques de Molay, the Grandmaster of the said Order, who in the form and manner described above had denounced in our presence the described and any other heresy, and swore in person on the Lord’s Holy Gospel, and humbly asked for the mercy of pardon [from excommunication], restoring him to unity with the Church and reinstating him to communion of the faithful and the sacraments of the Church.”

~Chinon Parchment dated August 17–20, 1308