226 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
have donned the insignia of the Empire before the pilgrims
and declared himself to be Caesar, parading with two swords
carried before him in token of the spiritual and temporal
powers of the papacy, and calling upon the people to acknow-
ledge the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ as the
highest authority in Christendom.
Emboldened by the triumph of the jubilee, Boniface
returned to his contest with France. Philip the Fair had
seized lands belonging to the Church j he had supported
Albert of Austria, who had defeated the Emperor, Adolph
of Nassau, and, in defiance of the Church, had mounted the
throne $ and he had shown sympathy with Boniface's great
foes, the Colonna. The Pope issued rebukes, then com-
mands, and his tone became violent. He considered that
Philip held France only by the grace of the pontiff and he
demanded the king's unconditional acceptance of the pre-
tensions of the Church. Open war broke out when Philip
seized Bernard Saisset, Bishop of Pamiers, and one of the
Pope's closest friends. Saisset, who detested Philip, had
spoken against the king on several occasions and was believed
to have tried to foment rebellion. At the end of 1301, he
was made prisoner, and charged with treason, blasphemy,
simony, heresy, fornication, and a long list of other crimes,
Philip claimed that Saisset had even dared to call " our holy
father Boniface " " a devil incarnate ", but Boniface was not
impressed with this apparent care for his reputation. He
issued Bull after Bull protesting against the seizure of the
bishop, and, when these were ignored, he accused Philip of
robbing the Church and his subjects. He called the clergy
of France to meet him at Rome on November ist, 1302, to
deliberate upon the matters in dispute, and warned Philip
not to attempt to interfere with this summons.
Bernard Saisset, the enemy of Philip, had been sent by
the Pope to confer with the king 5 now Philip sent Peter de
Flotte, a man in whom he had great confidence but who was