Mole, Jacques de

The exact date and place of birth is unknown. However, judging by the statements made at the trial, Jacques de Molay was born around 1250 in the commune of Molay in the Haute-Saone department, nowadays located in the Franche-Comté region.

In 1265, he was ordained a Templar in the presence of two high-ranking ministers of the order - Amber de Peyro, general visitor to England and France, and Amaury de La Rocha, master of France ^[1] . Since 1275, Mole participated in campaigns of the order in the Holy Land ^[2] . In 1292 he was elected Master of the Order ^[3] .

The colors present on his coat of arms originate from the coat of arms of the French kings - gold lilies on a blue background. The blue color is a symbol of the holy Bishop of Tour Martin, patron saint of France, who lived in the 4th century. Martin, according to legend, having met a beggar with a sword, cut off half of his blue cloak and gave it to him. For a long time, the Franks had a banner in the form of a blue banner, reinforced with a red cord on the cross. Golden - from a stylized image of yellow iris, which meant the Virgin in the Middle Ages. The golden stripe, the so-called “Bandage on the right” symbolizes special merits. After joining the order, images of 2 Templar crosses located diagonally were added to the personal coat of arms of Jacques de Molay.

In 1291 , after the fall of Acre , the Templars moved their headquarters to Cyprus . Thus, the order left the Holy Land, for the protection of which it was created.

Jacques de Molay set himself two important tasks ^[4] : first, he had to reform the order ^[5] , and secondly, to convince the pope and European monarchs to equip a new crusade on the Holy Land ^[6] . To solve these problems, Molay visited Europe twice: in 1293–1296. and in 1306-1307. ^[2]

At the same time, in anticipation of a large crusade, Jacques de Molay was trying to regain his lost ground in the Holy Land. To this end, in 1301, the Templars captured the island of Arvad (Ruad), which was located off the Syrian coast . However, they could not hold him and in 1302 Arvad was surrendered to the Saracens .

Failures of the order contributed to an increase in criticism of him. As early as 1274, for the first time, the question arose of combining the two leading military monastic orders - the Temple and the Hospital . In 1305, Pope Clement V again proposed combining the orders. In his letter to Clement Mollet, he criticized this proposal ^[7] .

During his second visit to Europe, Mole learned about the intrigues of King Philip IV of France against the Templars. The unrestrained stiffness of the master may have predetermined the sad end of his order. On October 13 (Friday), 1307, Molay was arrested in Temple , the residence of the order on the outskirts of Paris. Three weeks later, Philip IV sent secret instructions to his officials, after which the mass arrests of the Templars began throughout the country ^[8] . A logical continuation of the reprisal was a loud multi-year trial over the order.

During the trial, under the most severe torture, Mole changed his testimony several times. In October 1307, he recognized that there was a custom in the order to renounce Christ and spit on the cross . However, on Christmas Day of that year, before the papal commissioners, the master refused his testimony. In August 1308, in Chinon , Molay again returned to his original testimony, and in 1309 he practically refused to defend the order. Apparently, he was hoping for an audience with the pope, which never took place. At the last hearing in March 1314, Mole disavowed all his testimony and stated that the Templar Order was innocent. It was burned at the stake on March 18, 1314 in Paris, as if it had again fallen into heresy ^[9] .

The personality of the last master of the Knights Templar did not receive an unambiguous assessment of historians. ^[10]

Marie-Louise Bulst-Thiele believes that Jacques de Molay was an ambitious person, but he did not enjoy the trust of his predecessor and the convention of the order. ^[11] .

Malcolm Barber believes that the decision to elect Molay to the post of master of the order was unsuccessful. “He found himself in conditions that he did not understand ... He could never realize that, together with his order, he became an anachronism in a changing world,” writes the historian ^[12] .

Alain Demurge is more loyal to the master. He believes that in no case can he be considered narrow-minded or stupid ^[13] . Moreover, according to the historian, it was difficult to find a better candidate for the post of master, than Mole. However, he was unable to reform the order. His resistance to unification with the Order of the Hospitallers could become one of the prerequisites for the dissolution of the Templars ^[14] .

There is a legend about the curse of de Molay. According to Geoffrey of Paris , on March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, ascending the fire, summoned the French king Philip IV , his adviser Guillaume de Nogaret and Pope Clement V. Already shrouded in puffs of smoke, the Templar promised the king, counselor and pope that they would survive him for no more than a year ^[15] :

Clement V died April 20, 1314 , Philip IV - November 29, 1314 . Concerning the causes of their death, to date, there are various versions - from ordinary physical to occult. Guillaume de Nogaret's personality appears in this legend by mistake. Nogare died a year before these events, in March 1313 . ^[16]

In addition, there is a legend that, before his death, Jacques de Molay founded the first Masonic lodges, in which the forbidden order of the Templars was to remain underground, although they were somewhat different from their modern designs. The main goal of Freemasonry generated by the Templars (according to legend) was the revenge and destruction of the Christian church and the monarchy. This legend is actively supported by the lodges of the so-called Scottish ritual . ^[17]

In 1919, the Order of DeMolay was founded in Kansas City , Missouri, as a paramason initiative organization for children aged 12 to 21, whose fathers are members of the Brotherhood of Freemasons . Immediately after its foundation, the Order becomes an international youth movement. Since 1990, the organization is known as the "International Order of de Molay".

Musical Theater

• "Jacques de Molay" - rock opera, musical theater " Temple " (2000).

Literature

• “ Cursed Kings " is a series of historical novels by the French writer Maurice Druon (1955-1977).
• Foucault 's Pendulum is a science fiction novel by the Italian writer Umberto Eco (1988).

Jacques de Molay in the movie

• The Cursed Kings / Les Rois Maudits (France, 1972) - a six-part mini-series directed by , in the role of Jacques de Molay Xavier Depraz .
• The Cursed Kings / Les Rois Maudits (France, Italy 2005) - five-part mini-series directed by Jose Diane , in the role of Jacques de Molay Gerard Depardieu .
• The Fall of the Order / Knightfal (USA, Czech Republic 2017) - a drama television series directed by David Petrarch , Douglas McKinnon , Metin Hussein , in the roles of Jacques de Molay Robert Pugh (season 1) and Matthew Marsh (season 2).

Computer Games

• Jacques de Molay is one of the key characters in the prologue of the computer game " Assassin's Creed Unity " - from the Assassin's Creed (2014) series.

• Mole, Jacob-Bernard // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Barber Malcolm. The process of the Templars. - M .: Aletheia, 1998 .-- 496 p. - ISBN 5-89321-020-4 .
• Demurge Alain. Jacques de Molay. Grand Master of the Knights Templar. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2009 .-- 416 p. - Series “Historical Library”. - ISBN 978-5-8071-0322-2 , 9785807103222
• Zharinov E.V. Prophecies of the Grand Master of the Templars. - M .: Eterna, 2013 .-- 176 p. - Series “History is Interesting!” - ISBN 978-5-480-00275-1
• Lobe M., Fo G. The tragedy of the Knights Templar / Per. with fr. D.A. Zhuravleva. - M., St. Petersburg: Veche, Eurasia, 2007 .-- 224 p. - Series "Clio".
• Pal lin background. Secrets of the Templars. - M .: AST LLC 2007. - 286 p. - Series "All the secrets of the Earth."
• Barber M. James of Molay, the Last Grand Master of the Order of the Temple // Studia Monastica 14 (1972).
• Barber M. James of Molay // The Crusades. An Encyclopedia / Ed. AV Murray. Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2006.
• Bulst-Thiele M.-L. Sacrae Domus Militiae Templi Hierosolymitani Magistri: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Templerordens, 1118 / 9-1314. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974.
• Demurger A. Jacques de Molay: Le crépuscule des Templiers. Paris: Payot et Rivages, 2007.
• Demurger A. The Last Templar: The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay, Last Grand Master of the Temple. London: Profile, 2004.
• Menache S. The Last Master of the Temple: James of Molay // Knighthoods of Christ: Essays on the History of the Crusades and the Knights Templar / Ed. Housley N. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007.
• E. Zharinov. Great prophets. Master Jacques de Molay. M.: AST, 1999