Hugues de Pairaud

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Hugues de Pairaud (* before 1250, † after 1321) was a high French Knight Templar , last visitator of the order in France.

Life

He came from a noble family in the Burgundy region ( Lyonnais , Beaujolais , Forez ) and came to the order in Lyon around 1263 through his uncle Humbert de Pairaud, who was temporarily general visitor to France and England . He had never been to Palestine or the Orient (“ outre mer ”). From 1280 to 1284 he was Komtur von Épailly near Courban in Burgundy and then the Ballei von Bures, also in the north of what is now the Côte-d'Or department . It was only relatively late that he assumed a higher office (mentioned in 1293 as Master of France, the last time in 1300) and in 1294 or 1295 he was mentioned as General Visitator of France, from May 1294 of England, i.e. the provinces "this side of the sea" ( “Deca mer”, France and England), that is, representative of the Grand Master in these provinces and thus practically second in the ranking after Grand Master Jacques de Molay . Many new admissions of Templars were later carried out by Pairaud and not by the Grand Master, he led meetings of Templars and inspected their branches. In the Templar trial it was mentioned several times that the brothers in the West wanted to elect him as Grand Master. There was therefore a tension between Molay and Pairaud, which prototypically continued until the end of the Templar trial, when on March 18, 1314 Molay revoked his confessions and Pairaud remained silent.

Former Templar branch Epailly

There is a letter from Pierre de Castillon, probably written in Torres in December 1304, which reports that Hugues de Pairaud was recalled as a visitor to France and made master of France. A little later, however, he is mentioned again as a visitor. In February 1307 he was mentioned as a visitor, in June (letter from De Molay on June 7, 1307) he was mentioned again as a master of France and not as a visitor. In the later trial files, especially in the final judgment of 1314, he is again mentioned as a visitor. According to Demurger, however, no profound conflict between Pairaud and the Grand Master Molay can be inferred from this, for example because Pairaud was particularly close to the French King Philip IV .

According to a Templar de Faur from the Limousin in the interrogation of the Templars in 1311, Pairaud was the opposing candidate in the election of Grand Master de Molay in 1292 (in Cyprus) and Molay was only chosen through skillful manipulation. According to Barbara Frale , who considered this to be credible, Pairaud was already the head of a pro-French party and Molay was the representative of a party that was attached to the traditional aims of the order in the Orient. This is denied by Demurger as untenable, he even considers it impossible that Pairaud was an opponent at all at the time, since he was far too insignificant at the time and came from the western district. The conflict between the French king and the Pope was not in the foreground at that time, but rather the defense against further advance of the Saracens after the fall of Acre in 1291.Pairaud later had excellent relations with the French king, whom he was in his fight against Pope Boniface VIII . supports and therefore receives special privileges from King in August 1303, Pairaud was also officially entrusted with duties relating to tax receipts and payments for the royal administration. It has therefore also been suggested that he was secretly in league with the French king in the removal of the Templars. Rumor has it that before the Templars were arrested in September 1307 a coin treasure was brought to safety by his nephew Hugues de Chalons (also a Templar) with his knowledge (see also Templar Treasure ).

He was arrested in 1307 with about 15 other Templars in Poitiers , where they were staying with the Pope who was there, and was brought to Loches and later to Paris . The official accusations were the same as with others in the Templar trials (homosexuality, heresy, etc.) and the witnesses were mostly pressed through torture, but Pairaud also confessed on November 9, 1307. At a hearing before the cardinals in 1308, he revoked in the meantime, to then to confess again later. At the final sentencing to life imprisonment in the trial of the Supreme Templars in March 1314 in Paris, he was silent, as did Godefroi de Gonneville (Master of the Order of Aquitaine ) in contrast to Jacques de Molay and the Master of Normandy Geoffroy de Charnay , both of whom therefore were burned immediately afterwards on the direct orders of the king. Pairaud was still in custody in 1321 and probably following the verdict until the end of his life.

literature

  • Malcolm Barber: The trial of the Templars . Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Alain Demurger: The Templars. Rise and Fall 1120–1314. CH Beck, Munich 1991 (French original Les Templiers , Seuil 2008).
  • Alain Demurger: The last Templar. The life and death of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay. dtv, Munich 2007 (French original Jacques de Molay , Payot 2002), on Pairaud p. 230 ff.
  • Andreas Meyer: The last Templars. The Knights Templar and the Templar Trial from the perspective of historical research. Volume 1, Basel, ILV 2014.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Demurger, Die Templer, p. 106. The following biographical details of his career from Demurger.
  2. ↑ 1257 Commander of Ponthieu, 1261 to 1264 Master of France, then Master of England and then General Visitator of the provinces on this side (France and England). He accepted the Grand Master Jacques de Molay into the order.
  3. ↑ Demurger, The Last Templar, p. 49
  4. ↑ So until 1300 he held the offices of Master of France as well as Visitor General of France, after which he is only Visitor General of France and probably of England. Gérard de Villiers became champion of France. Data based on Demurger's The Last Templar , p. 231
  5. ^ Meyer, Die last Templer, Vol. 1, Templer, pp. 97–115 (Portrait Molay and Pairaud).
  6. ↑ Demurger, The Last Templar, p. 232
  7. ↑ Demurger, The Last Templar, p. 235
  8. ↑ The exact date is not known but before April 20, 1292 according to a document from Aragon
  9. ↑ Demurger, Die Templer, p. 108
  10. ↑ Malcolm Barber, The trial of the templars, p. 54
  11. ^ Demurger, The Last Templar, p. 234
  12. ↑ Malcolm Barber, The trial of the templars, p. 81
  13. ↑ Barber, p. 119. Statements of the Templar Jean de Chalon. Another high Templar who escaped earlier was Gerard de Villiers, the Order's Preceptor for France.
  14. ↑ Barber p. 88
  15. ↑ Barber, p. 72
  16. ↑ Barber, p. 82. Kiss of the buttocks, navel and mouth by Pairaud and renouncing Christ and spitting on the cross as a ritual of reception, adoration of an idol in Montpellier.
  17. ↑ Barber pp. 93, 142
  18. ↑ Demurger, Les Templiers, 2005, p. 483
personal data
SURNAME Pairaud, Hugues de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Templar
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH 14th Century