Books on the Templars tend to refer to Jacques de Molay as ‘the last Templar’ – indeed there are at least two books with that as a title. The idea is the Order died with him when he was executed after 7 years captivity, in 1314. He had been kept alive for interrogation purposes, so that he could make a public endorsement of the confession he had made under torture. (Instead he retracted his confession, causing him to be at once roasted alive.) Many other Templars of course did not last that long, the effects of torture shortening their lives. Other were left maimed or crippled, in no shape to carry on the Order in disguise. Some are recorded as having died prematurely after their mistreatment, such as the head of the English order, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Recent books insist some escaped to fight their enemies, but there’s no record of any named Templars doing so – the ‘survival hypothesis’ seems a back-formation to support the Roslyn-as-Templar-chapel scenario. Now, a case study in English local history has come up with a named and historically attested Templar who seems to have survived until around 1350, when he was buried in an unusual tomb [see photo]. As it’s an even more complicated story than usual for this subject area, I’ve covered it on a separate page:‘On The Trail Of England’s Last Templar’ [read feature]
