244	THE &nj[ghts templars
Clement were agreeable, so strong and firmly entrenched an
Order could not be destroyed unless it had first been dis-
credited in the eyes of Christendom. Philip's confidential
advisers, William de Nogaret, William de Plasian, and
Enguerrand de Marigny worked out a plan of campaign.
The age of the lawyers was beginning in France. The law
had hitherto been largely the affair of the Church, but there
was now emerging a new class of men, who challenged the
ecclesiastical influence. These lawyers set up the old Roman
law as the civil law of the land and drove the clergy from
the courts. In the lawyers, the monarchy found its best
champions against the Church; their aim was to make the
royal prerogative supreme by crushing the authority of the
barons and enfeebling the papal power. Canon law alone was
to be reserved to the Church $ from all else the ecclesiastics
were excluded. The destruction of the Temple would be an
unprecedented blow at the authority of the Church, and
Philip's advisers were enthusiastic for the attack, especially
when they saw the chance to force the papacy to condemn
its own army.
For at least forty years, there had been rumours of
immorality and heretical practices among the Templars 5 but
such rumours were common enough about every religious
organisation. The Hospital, for example, had been accused
by Pope Gregory IX of immorality and treachery, and similar
charges were made against the Teutonic Knights as well as
the regular fraternities, such as the Franciscans. Philip
realised how the talk of scandalous practices in the Temple
could be turned to account. Definite accusations had been
made against the Order in 1305, though the circumstances
in which they were put forward are in some doubt. The most
reliable story seems to be that Sequin de Florian, a man eager
to enrich himself, made a statement to James II of Aragon,
accusing the Templars of the most horrible blasphemies and
the most disgusting atrocities, and declared that his informa-