Sources of the accusations

On order of the king Philip IV, all the Templars were arrested in France, on Friday 13th October 1307.
In a letter, the king claimed he took this decision after consulting the pope, and he gave instructions that, if necessary, torture should be applied to find out if the Templars were guilty of the horrible accusations he has heard of:

the Templars deny the Christ and have taken the religion of Mahomet
they have betrayed the Christian princes and Saint Louis
they adore a speaking cat or head as idol
they burn their death and mix the ashes with their meat
they procreate children, then roast them on fire, and oint their idols with the grease

The accusations did not come from the king's mind or imagination, but from several sources:
Exactly the same fantasies were spread a hundred years before against the Cathars.
In 1303, Esquin de Florian who was imprisoned together with another renegate Templar and condamned to death, asked to speak the king and revealed that his coprisoner made the above revelations to him.
Esquin de Florian was commander of the Templar Order at Montfaucon, he lost his title for apostasy. Because he was refused a new function, he killed the sous-prieur of Mont Carmel: that is the reason why he was in prison in Toulouse! He made his revelations first to the king James of Aragon who did not believe him, then to Nogaret, chancelor of king Philip IV, who communicated the results to the pope, who again did not believe these revelations. But Florian's "confession" was water on Nogaret's mill and he continued his investigations or conspirations ... Note that both Florian and his coprisoner were liberated, and Florian even participated later actively in the inquisition sessions against his ex-Templar friends.
The king's chancelor Guillaume de Nogaret searched testimonies of Templars excluded from the Order for various crimes, and he planted twelve spies in Templar commanderies. These persons were questioned by Guillaume Imbert (called Guillaume de Paris), dominican monk and personal confessor the king, and the results were carefully documented. Most historians overlook these testimonies comprising accusation of practice of witchcraft, one of the spies even admitted the witchcraft of the Baphomet.
First, you certainly know that Nogaret was grandson of a Cathar that has been executed. Nogaret was excommunicated by pope Boniface VIII because he applied violence on him (as a result of which, the pope died of humiliation). So much said for the partiality of Nogaret! Now, for the credibility of the testimonies, how much worth is the word of those that have been expelled from the Order because of their crimes?

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