This week in Christian history: Pope Urban VI dies, Knights Templar arrested, Martin Luther debates cardinal

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 11, 2020

Knights Templars arrested – Oct. 13, 1307

A group of Knights Templar being burned at the stake. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when hundreds of members of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or the Knights Templar for short, were arrested.

The arrest orders came from King Philip IV of France, who claimed that members of the powerful Knights Templar order engaged in a variety of blasphemous and immoral activities.

Around 600 Knights Templar, including Grand Master Jacques of Molay, were arrested. Many were forced to confess through extreme torture and around 50 were burned at the stake.

Pope Clement V, who had been elected largely through Phillip’s influence, eventually issued a papal bull calling for additional arrests and he officially dissolved the order soon after.

Because the date of the mass arrest fell on a Friday, many have speculated that this event was the origin of the common modern day superstition that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day.