1455

Dec. 15. Lateran. Pope Innocent III orders the patriarch of Jerusalem, the archbishop of Tyre and the bishop of Acre to release the Knights Templar from a sentence of excommunication improperly imposed on them by the bishop of Sidon. The bishop of Tiberias had complained that the magister and brothers of the militia Templi had held back 1300 besants and other goods of his diocese, which his predecessor had deposited with them. The pope had appointed the bishops of Sidon and Biblium as judge delegates in the case, but the Templars had sent some brothers to inform him that when they disembarked on a Wednesday at Tyre, having returned from the principality of Antioch where they had been involved in a war between the prince of Antioch and the [Muslim] lord of Aleppo, the bishop assigned the following day, the Thursday, for a hearing of the case. The magister could not attend but sent 2 brothers, who promised to respond to the complaint of the bishop of Tiberias and to observe any sentence delivered by the bishop of Sidon, even though the bishop of Biblium was absent. But the bishop of Sidon refused to hear any arguments and demanded the return of the besants to the bishop of Tiberias by the following Sunday; otherwise he would excommunicate all the Templars, in the West as well as in the East. The 2 brothers hurried to Acre and the magister appealed to the patriarch to settle the case and avoid scandal. But on the following Sunday the bishop of Sidon solemnly and publicly excommunicated the whole Order in the church of the Holy Cross in Tyre. The pope orders the patriarch to look into the matter and, if the bishop of Sidon is guilty, to suspend him from office until the papacy lifts the suspension and to absolve the Knights Templar.