CHAV. I.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

271

property confiscated to the crown, except in France.So much astute wickedness at the time renders ithard to affirm whether it was or not with Villaret’sfree consent; but certainly it has that appearance,and bears his name and signature in full, and thoseof divers of his chiefs, a power of attorney, with thevote of all the knights assembled in council by thesound of the bell at Rhodes, as is the custom,naming a commission to go to Europe and receivethe goods of the Templars. 1 2 It was in the ^second sessions of the Council of Vienna, onthe 3rd of April, 1312, that in the presence of theKing of France and his brother Valois, and threeroyal sons, the order of the Templars was abolished,and their property decreed to the Hospitallers f sothat whatever occurred up to that moment, couldhave been but a temporary expedient and almostprivate transaction in comparison. 3 In Englandthe order indeed was abrogated with a sigh; forEngland was Catholic, and what the Pope suppressed,it suppressed. But our king decided that |g^gtheir property should go to their natural

1 Cod. Dipl. Geros., ii., Num. xxix.—Appendix, cix.

2 Platina : iii. 190. Note M.— Bosio : par. ii., lib. i.,anno 1312.

3 Cod. Dipl. Geros., ii., Sum. iii. Giun. Vatic. Secret.—Appendix, cliv.