Quote:
Originally Posted by supernova1965
no do tell
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It has its origins in greed, revenge and intrigue. It came about after Phillipe IV of France (Phillipe the Fair.....hardly!!!, although that was in relation to his looks, not his demeanour.) managed to convince the Pope to proclaim a Papal Bull (notice) against the Knights Templar. It was actually all over money....Phillipe had none, owed the Templars a fortune and wanted their fortune for himself. So he put the hard word onto Pope Clement to declare the Templars heretics (I won't go into the details as it will take too long) and have their property seized. So, after being hunted down and murdered, it came down to the date: Friday 13th October 1314, when the last Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, and several of his lieutenants were put on trial and then burned at the stake. As he was burning, Jacques called out to Phillipe (who witnessed the execution) that both he and the Pope would stand at the pearly gates within the year, to face trial in front of God himself. Needless to say, both Phillipe and the Pope met their end within the year. Both died in suspicious circumstances....Phillipe was most likely poisoned and probably so was the Pope.
So, it's basically an unlucky day, in tradition, due to the bad luck that befell the Templars.
However, the Templars had the last laugh. Not only did many Templars get away, so did most of their money
