Sodomy, Politics, and Male-Male Desire

Abstract

The Order of the Knights Templar, once a highly respected military order, came under serious attack in the early fourteenth century and in the course of a few years was disbanded.1 Historians unanimously agree that the motivation of Philip IV of France, who led the persecution of the order, was economic and political. Boswell notes that with the Templars’ “international treasury” sitting in Paris, it is not surprising that Philip “cast his eye hungrily upon the prosperous order.”2 Malcolm Barber sums up Philip’s position: “the Templars were particularly obnoxious to Philip the Fair as a wealthy, exempt and predominantly aristocratic enclave in a country whose king had made considerable progress towards subduing the pretensions of the feudal nobility”3 Barber also observes that because charges of heresy and indecent acts were at the center of the subsequent trials of the Templars, Philip was evidently tapping into the ongoing persecution of “sodomitical heretics.”4 Boswell maintains that the current harsh penalties for those found guilty of committing sodomy made it the most politically effective accusation to bring against the order. He goes on to point out that in France, “mere suspicion of the act was considered sufficient to warrant such torture that many of the knights died under it.”5 James Given asserts that “King Philip the Fair … used and abused inquisitorial procedures to destroy the Knights Templar.”6KeywordsFourteenth CenturyIntimate FriendInitiation CeremonyEarly Fourteenth CenturyLate Fourteenth CenturyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.