The Vatican on Thursday published documents shedding light on the bloody demise of the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages.
The documents, and one in particular, detail how Pope Clement V absolved the Christian military order of the charges of heresy which led to its dismantlement and the burning of its leader at the stake.
The crucial document, the Chinon Parchment, had lain forgotten in the Vatican's Secret Archive for seven centuries when it was noticed by a historian in 2001. Since then it has only been seen by a few specialist historians.
Lavish reproductions of the Templar heresy trial documents, including the Chinon Parchment, are now being published in a limited edition aimed at museums and research centres.
Only 799 copies of the 300-page volume, "Processus Contra Templarios," - Latin for "Trial against the Templars" - have been produced. They will go for 5,900 euros each.
At the presentation on Thursday, Vatican officials were keen to stress that this was not an attempt by the Church to give the Knights Templar, whose saga has spawned dozens of colourful myths, a belated reprieve.
"We have no intention of celebrating or rehabilitating the Order of the Knights Templar. Our job does not go beyond historical studies," said Monsignor Sergio Pagano, head of the Vatican's Secret Archive.
The Templars were founded in 1119 by knights sworn to protect Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. Legends of their hidden treasures and secret rituals and power have featured in films and bestsellers such as The Da Vinci Code.
The Templars left the Middle East when Muslims reconquered the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century. But they remained powerful and were seen as a threat by some European rulers.
Some historians believe that French king Philip IV owed the Templars money and accused them of blasphemy and heresy in order to destroy the order and resolve his debt problems.
In fact, Philip had the Templar leaders arrested and tortured, thereby extorting confessions of heresy.
The Chinon Parchment of 1308 details a bid by Clement to save the Templars and their order. It shows that he absolved the Templar leaders of the heresy charge, although he accepted they were guilty of other sins, including sexual misconduct.
BURNED AT THE STAKE.
Presumably under pressure from Philip, Clement suppressed the order anyway in 1312. Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, was burned at the stake in 1314.
"The trial of the Knights Templar was forced on Pope Clement," said Msgr Padano. "He sacrificed the Order to avoid a schism and to save the unity of the Church".
The head of the Archive denied that the parchment containing the 14th century pope's absolution of the Templars had been kept secret, noting that it had been catalogued in the Secret Archive.
The Vatican Secret Archive is called 'secret' not because the documents in it are classified but because they are private. To view them, historians must go through an application process, proving their credentials and outlining their research project.
"You can't talk about discoveries. All the texts were already known about, including the Chinon parchment," Msgr Padano said.
