The place Dauphine and the Knights Templar's stake
And also
The tops
A horrible smell of burnt flesh spread in all the Cité island. A black smoke, too.
The monstrous yells of the prisoners under sentence of death had just stopped, fortunately.
But their terrible curse still resounded...
Yes: in front of the number 27 of the place Dauphine stood the stake of Jacques de Molay, knights Templar’s grand master, burnt alive in 1314.
Richer than the king!
Hey... do you remember? King Philippe the Fair arrested those knights in October 1307.
Knights richer than him, richer than anyone on earth...
But who were the Templars? A religious order founded in 1119 in Jerusalem by a knight from Champagne (Eastern France).
Their role was to defend the holy city with Christ’s grave against enemies.
They were poor, at that time: they just maintained law and order, you see.
Bur soon, donations came from all Europe, and their power could spread. They became rich.
Until gossips said they were naughty heretics, sodomites, who spat on the Holy Cross...
The curse
So, in 1307, they arrested all the Order, including the grand master Jacques de Molay.
His stake was raised on the current place Dauphine: at that time, it was nothing than a wild island covered with trees...
And as the fire was about to kill him, Jacques shouted for the last time. His voice looked like a roar coming from Hell!
He sent a curse against his judges: the pope, sentenced to appear before God within 40 days and king Philippe within a year...
And he added: you are all cursed until the 7th generation...
Hey, you know what? The pope died in April 1314, the king in November...
Philippe’s sons, who succeeded him, tragically died, childless: it was the end of the Capetian!
All this story was included in the famous French novel written by Maurice Druon, Les Rois Maudits ("The Accursed Kings").
Hey, have you read it?