Temple on Bodmin Moor, 2016

"Just before the days of the Crusades, a small body of men might have been seen standing on the then desolate an uninhabited ridge of what is now called Temple Moor. They were warrior-priests. Their dress was curious: they were attired in white, with a red Cross on the breast. They were a little band of Knights Templar, sent as an advance guard to reconnoitre a spot for the erection of an Abbey and Church, to be used as a resting place for pious pilgrims who had made vows to visit the Holy Land.

The result of that visitation was the erection in after years of the little Church of Temple, and the small abbey now long ago passed to ruin."

J. R. Brown, History of Temple Church, Near Bodmin, Cornwall. Built by the Knights Templar. 4th edition, 1905. Reprinted from the original by Temple Association in 2002 with new foreword.

The anomaly of the date recorded by Mr. Brown for this historical moment notwithstanding—The First Crusade was in 1096-99 whilst the Templar Order wasn't inaugurated till around 1119—there is no question that the little church on Bodmin Moor called Temple was originally a Templar House. Perhaps not a Commandery, but the remnants of the long-quashed order are still there to be seen within the church which was restored in the early 1880s.

A little more history of Temple Church can be found here.

And the Church of England page with information can be found here.

As the destruction of the Templar Order plays a major role in the novel, I had to pay our bit of local Templar history a visit. I dragged along my patient and forbearing husband who really does not have any penchant for history.

The Templars' demise crucially affected Marguerite's story. The Inquisitor of France, Guillaume de Paris (or Guillaume Humbert) was the same man who instigated their arrests on Friday October 13th, 1307, about a year before Marguerite's arrest. 

It's well-known that the Templars were tortured and so confessed to everything the King of France, Philippe le Bel wanted them to confess to so that he could confiscate their wealth - the fact they had a powerful standing army was another reason for his desire to quash them. 

Interesting that no Templar in any other realm confessed to the heinous crimes of sodomy, idolatory and heresy -  neither were any of them tortured or executed.

To read an aricle I wrote on the 700th anniversary of the execution of the last Grand Master of the Templars (18th March 1314) click here:  Still burning bankers after 700 years?

Here are some old Christian symbols hewn in stone on the side of the building shown above. They were found amongst the ruins and used in the rebuilding in the 1880s.

After the Order of the Poor Soldiers of Christ and The Templer of Solomon (to give the Templars their full name) was disccolved at the Council of Viennes 1311-12, the Templar House here on Bodmin Moor passed into the control of the Knights Hospitaller (Saint John). This happened to many of their land holdings.

So Philippe le Bel didn't quite get all he wanted, and within months of the execution of the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, the king himself was dead - he had a massive stroke whilst out hunting.

Inside the restored St Catherine's chapel.

The chapel is very well cared for (there are apparently bats in the belfry but we didn't see any).

I made a vow to come back for a service one day.