Introduction

Like that staple opening of so many films, it began with a funeral. On 12 October 1307, James of Molay, master of the Temple, was one of a number of distinguished personages who held the cords of the pall spread over the coffin of Catherine of Courtenay, wife of Charles of Valois, brother of King Philip the Fair of France, during her funeral ceremony in the cathedral of Notre-Dame in paris. Molay’s role was an entirely appropriate reflection of his status and importance: he was the head of a great military order with preceptories (also known as commanderies) and estates in every country in Latin Christendom, an order which for nearly two centuries had taken a leading role in the war against the Islamic enemy both in the East and in Iberia. He was, indeed, a figure of European stature, consulted by the pope and apparently trusted by the French king, the most powerful monarch in the West.