Keywords

Trial of the Templars; Islamophobia; Heresy; Philip IV, France; Papacy

Abstract

This thesis investigates the existence of anti-Muslim rhetoric within documents produced by the French monarchy and papacy during the Trial of the Templars (1307-1312). When French King Philip IV accused the Templars of heresy in 1307, he issued orders for their arrest in an unofficial document which employed anti-Muslim rhetoric against them, even though they were an order of Latin Christian warrior-monks who fought against Muslims in the Middle East. Pope Clement V later reflected this rhetoric in his papal bull Pastoralis praeeminentiae, an official order to arrest the Templars­— evidence of Philip IV’s influence over the papacy during the trial. There is a gap in historical research on rhetoric employed in the trial documents. This thesis fills that gap by offering an analysis of Philip IV’s desire to control the papacy throughout his reign. By comparing King Philip IV’s unofficial document, Pope Clement V’s papal bull Pastoralis praeeminentiae, and earlier crusader rhetoric from Pope Urban II and French King Louis IX, conclusions can be drawn from Philip IV’s treatment of the Templars in light of previous anti-Muslim crusader rhetoric to further influence the trial. The influence of the anti-Muslim rhetoric on Clement V’s papal bull reveals the intertwined relationship between the secular-political and religious spheres of fourteenth-century France in which the papacy’s position vis-à-vis the monarchy was weakening—a dynamic that continued into the early modern period. The Trial of the Templars in France can be used as a case study of the changing relationships between popes and secular rulers in the late medieval and early modern periods, as well as how Islamophobic rhetoric has been deployed for political purposes in the Western world in ways that continue to be perpetuated in the present.

Thesis Completion Year

2026

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Hardy, Duncan

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

History

Thesis Discipline

History

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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