284

THE HISTORY OE THE ORDER OF [book ill.

of all independence, and dispose of his dignify him-self, which eminently agrees with the mysteriousterms wherein he writes to the King of France , 1 aswell as that appearance of pleading the Hospitallers’right to the property of the Templars in the bullto the King of Sicily; but finishes by approving ofhis Majesty’s determination, though he could notbut have known full well it was to confiscate thechief part of it to the Sicilian crown, as in-deed he did . 2 Nor is not the same evilintention observable in the bull to the King ofSpain, in which he assents to the formation of theMontese Concordat consigning the Moorish war toanother to be chosen, and the Yalencian property ofthe Templars to maintain that new knighthood, andthe Arragonese property given to the Hospitallers,with the accompaniment of what was sure to eat itup, the united expenses of that entire operation . 3Up to this date, it is clear that the commanderswere mere administrators, removable at will uponthe smallest sign, who retaining the value of theirown dress and food, paid all the rest into the com-mon treasure ; and likewise it is laid down formally

1 Cod. Dipl. Geros., ii., and Hum. xli.

2 Id., Id. Hum. xl., xlvii.—Appendix, cxxi.

3 Cod. Dipl. Geros., ii. Hum. xxxvii. and Hum. xxxviii.