256	THE   KNIGHTS   TEMPLARS
suffering was too great to inflict upon the captives. Some
of them were starved and most of the others were allowed
only bread and water; they were kept in filthy cells, robbed
of their few remaining belongings and even their clothing
by the gaolers, and denied the consolations of the Church.
Almost immediately after their arrest, the Templars were
put to the question, and submitted to the most fiendish
penalties when they proved " obstinate ". A cord round
his feet or which bound his hands behind his back would be
pulled over a pulley so that a Templar was hanging from
the air; then the cord would be suddenly released. The
Templar would come crashing towards the floor. He was
halted before he reached it, sometimes at the expense of
dislocated joints. This was usually the first step in the
process of breaking a man's resistance. He might next have
fire applied to the soles of his feet, his legs crushed in iron
boots until the bones broke, or wedges of wood driven into
the nails of his fingers or toes. Some of the Templars were
left spreadeagled for days; heavy weights might be attached
to the leg or arm or even the navel of the Templar as he
swung suspended from the air; teeth were pulled out and
the nerves probed, thumbscrews were used, water was poured
into the mouth through a funnel until a prisoner choked.
William Imbert conducted the examination of the brethren
in their own headquarters, the Temple in Paris. Although
alleged to be in the care of the Inquisition, the Templars
were lodged in royal prisons and their questioning proceeded
in the presence of Philip's representatives—the king himself
is said to have attended some of the examinations. The
Templars knew themselves to be in the power of a pitiless
enemy who was resolved to destroy them. They recognised
William Imbert as Philip's creature, and, although the
examination affected to be conducted in the name of the
Inquisition, they felt that they were being tried by servants
of the Crown. They could not look for aid from the Pope,