ABSTRACT
In recent years there have been some successful attempts to rehabilitate the Templars by considering de novo the evidence for the prehistory and development of the trial of their Order in 1308–11. An important element in these arguments is the nature of the testimonies submitted during the hearing in Cyprus where the Order established its headquarters after the fall of Acre in 1291. It is well known that all seventy-six extant Templar depositions from the inquiry in Nicosia rejected the accusations against the Order and that, from a total of fifty-six witnesses – knights, abbots, priests, canons, friars, monks, burghers – only the prior of the Hospital challenged this assertion of innocence. This data derives from the inquiries conducted in May–June 1310 and in 1311. 1 Malcolm Barber has suggested that a new trial, following Clement V's letters of August 1311, found against the Templars on the island, but it should be emphasized that no documentary evidence survives to prove this. 2 Yet there is one piece of evidence, also of Cypriot provenance, which offers some support for the Hospitaller prior's observations. Admittedly it is not contemporary, but it is nevertheless important since the author, Leontios Makhairas, is generally impartial when dealing with the Latins and their religious beliefs. Its importance 213appears to be even greater in view of the absence of this evidence from both the Chronique d'Amadi and Florio Bustron.
