History of Knights Templar: Part IV.

Outside France The first king to act against the Templars outside of France - on his own initiative, before receiving the Pope's order - was James II of Aragon in Spain. Here, uniquely, the Templars put up some resistance. (Because of the Moorish threat, the Templars of Spain were the most used to military action in Europe, possessing the most strongly fortified castles.) After a few stand-off sieges, however, the Templars agreed to surrender to …

…der's collective guilt (as opposed to that of individual members). He declared that the evidence did not justify the Order's complete condemnation, but that the scandal had so tainted it that the resulting loss of confidence meant that it could no longer function. In the words of Stephen Howarth in The Knights Templar (1982), 'In a few sentences and in a few minutes he [Clement] had succeeded where all the armies of Islam had failed.'