Geoffroi de Charney, (first name sometimes spelled Geoffrey, surname sometimes spelled de Charnay and de Charny), was Preceptor of Normandy for the Knights Templar. Charney was accepted into the Order of Knights Templar at a young age by brother Amaury de la Roche, the Preceptor of France. Present at the ceremony was brother Jean le Franceys, Preceptor of Pédenac. He was burned at the stake for heresy in 1314.
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Through the course of their 200-year history, the Templars, as an officially endorsed charity of the church, had received massive donations of money, land, businesses and other property, from European nobles who were interested in helping with the Crusades and the fight in the Holy Land. As the Crusades wound down though, and the Crusaders were eventually expelled from the area, European support for the Crusades dwindled, though the Templars were still a massive and wealthy organization, as were the Knights Hospitaller. Further, the Templars, by order of the Pope, were exempt from all taxes, and had many other privileges, such as being able to pass freely through all borders. They were effectively an international banking organization, and had loaned large sums of money to many nobles, including the Kings of both England and France. These debts certainly contributed to Philip's motivations, as he was deeply in debt to the order.[1][2] As an example, in 1299, the Order loaned him the substantial sum of five hundred thousand livres for the dowry of his sister. Philip was also in dire need of funds to meet the endless drain of the Flemish War. He had imposed taxes until some of his subjects were in revolt, and others were on the verge of it. He had debased the coinage, leading to a popular insurrection in Paris. Ironically, Philip was defended at the time by the Templars, who gave him refuge in their fortress. Philip then constructed a plan to have the Templars arrested, and their wealth confiscated. His ministers and agents such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny were in support, and collected a list of charges of heresy which were quite similar the list of charges which had earlier been directed by Philip against the uncooperative Pope Boniface VIII. Charges were drawn from the testimony of disgruntled expelled Templars, and sometimes made up entirely. As it was the time of the Inquisition, heresy was a convenient charge to bring against anyone, as no proof was required — rumor alone was sufficient to justify arrest and trial.[3]
There were five initial charges lodged against the Templars. The first was the renouncement of Christ and spitting on the cross during initiation into the Order. The second was the stripping of the man to be initiated and the thrice kissing of that man by the preceptor on the navel, posteriors and the mouth. The third was telling the neophyte (novice) that unnatural lust was lawful and indulged in commonly. The fourth was that the cord worn by the neophyte day and night was consecrated by wrapping it around an idol in the form of a human head with a great beard, and that this idol was adored in all chapters. The fifth was that the priests of the order did not consecrate the host in celebrating Mass. Many of these charges were made against Boniface before his capture, escape and eventual death shortly thereafter in 1308. They were also accompllished using the same agents of the French King of France, not by accident, since many of these and similar charges had worked in the past on prior enemies of the King. [4] On August 12, 1308, the charges would be increased and would become more outrageous, one specifically stated that the Templars worshipped an idols, specifically made of a cat and a head, the latter having three faces. The lists of articles 86 to 127[3] would add many other charges.[5] [6]
Sadly, at this time, we know almost as much about this man's imprisonment and death, as we know of his life, except that in his imprisonment and death, he showed tremendous courage. His exact day of death in disputed by scholars. This source records his death as follows: (Note: The day varies by one day, not unusual for the chronicles of the middle ages): "The cardinals dallied with their duty until March 19, 1314, when, on a scaffold in front of Notre Dame, de Molay, Geoffroi de Charney, Master of Normandy, Ilugues de Peraud, Visitor of France, and Godefroi de Gonneville, Master of Aquitaine, were brought forth from the jail in which for nearly seven years they had lain, to receive the sentence agreed upon by the cardinals, in conjunction with the Archbishop of Sens and some other prelates whom they had called in. Considering the offences which the culprits had confessed and confirmed, the penance imposed was in accordance with rule—that of perpetual imprisonment. The affair was supposed to be concluded when, to the dismay of the prelates and wonderment of the assembled crowd, de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney arose. They had been guilty, they said, not of the crimes imputed to them, but of basely betraying their Order to save their own lives. It was pure and holy; the charges were fictitious and the confessions false. Hastily the cardinals delivered them to the Prevot of Paris, and retired to deliberate on this unexpected contingency, but they were saved all trouble. 'When the news was carried to Philippe he was furious. A short consultation with his council only was required. The canons pronounced that a relapsed heretic was to be burned without a hearing; the facts were notorious and no formal judgment by the papal commission need be waited for. That same day, by sunset, a pile was erected on a small island in the Seine, the Isle des Juifs, near the palace garden. There de Molay and de Charney were slowly burned to death, refusing all offers of pardon for retraction, and bearing their torment with a composure which won for them the reputation of martyrs among the people, who reverently collected their ashes as relics'. [7] [8]
The fact that, in little more than a month, Pope Clement V died in torment of the loathsome disease thought to be lupus, and that in eight months Philip IV of France, at the early age of forty-six, perished by an accident while hunting, necessarily gave rise to the legend that de Molay had cited them before the tribunal of God. Such stories were rife among the people, whose sense of justice had been scandalized by the whole affair. Even in distant Germany, Philippe's death was spoken of as a retribution for his destruction of the Templars, and Clement was described as shedding tears of remorse on his death-bed for three great crimes, the poisoning of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor and the ruin of the Templars and Beguines. [9]
Malcolm Barber has researched this legend and concluded that it originates from La Chronique métrique attribuée à Geffroi de Paris (ed. A. Divèrres, Strasbourg, 1956, pages 5711-5742). Geoffrey of Paris was "apparently an eye-witness, who describes Molay as showing no sign of fear and, significantly, as telling those present that God would avenge their deaths".[10][11]