26O THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
which they denied in their hearts, he said that the statutes
of the Order called for such avowals and acts. At first
de Payraud contested the allegation that other Receivers used
the same procedure on the entry of recruits, but he appeared
later in the same day before the tribunal and, pleading that
he had misunderstood the question, he corrected his answer
and said that all the recruits were received in the same way.
He deposed further that he and the other brethren adored
an idol at a chapter, but said that he had done so with his
lips and not in his heart. He described the idol as a head
with four feet, two before and two behind, but could give no
further particulars.
Most of the prisoners were sergeants and menials;
less than half were of knightly caste. Even among the
knights the majority was illiterate, soldiers whose life had
been spent in war and who were at a grave disadvantage
when being heard before a tribunal of expert examiners.
The inhuman tortures and privations of prison had broken
the spirit of men who had so recently been proud warriors,
boastful of their membership of a great Order, convinced that
the Temple would ensure them comfort and even luxury
until the end of their days and had the power to protect them
from any interference by the secular power. They came
before the tribunal, shaking with fear, willing to admit almost
anything, and the record of their examination shows a succes-
sion of demoralised men whose evidence carries no conviction.
Almost every Templar confessed to one at least of the prin-
cipal charges. More than three-quarters of the prisoners
admitted that on their reception they had denied Christ
thrice—nearly all hastened to add, however, that they denied
him only by their lips and not in their hearts* They acknow-
ledged that they had been commanded to spit on the cross—
most of them explained that they spat over it or under it or
beside it and not on the cross. Indecent kisses to the
Receiver on entry into the Order were also generally