ABSTRACT
The arrest and trial of the Templars between 1307 and 1312, and the canonical extinction of the order at the council of Vienne in March 1312 were among the highly significant turning points in the history of Latin Christendom, and they were also one of the most relevant series of events which marked the end of the period that historians have labelled as the central middle ages. The various episodes which epitomized that historical watershed held great significance and touched on all aspects of Latin societies at the time. Some of them, and most clearly those related to the order of the Temple, showed the triumph of territorial monarchies over universal powers, namely the Church of Rome, whose highest dignitary, the pope, had been abused at Anagni only a few years earlier by the compelling strength of the French King Philip IV. 2 The Temple and Montesa, its successor in the kingdom of Valencia, were both military orders but of a different nature. The first was linked to the universalist ambitions of the papacy, the second to the more limited though more realistic objectives of the king of Aragon, Jaime II.
