Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The brutal execution for heresy of Jacques de Molay, the twenty-third and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, in front of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, on March 19, 1314, was unjust but politically expedient. . . . The order owned extensive property and was run as an efficient business and money-lending organization. When, after the fall of Acre in 1291, it was forced out of Syria and lost its crusading purpose, resentment at its wealth surfaced, and rumors circulated of corruption (or worse) within the order. Philip IV of France, heavily in debt to the Templars, saw in these stories a way out of his financial difficulties. On October 12, 1307, he ordered the arrest of all of the Templars in France, charging them with performing acts of blasphemy, such as spitting or trampling on the Cross, during their secret initiation rites. . . . Philip had dozens of Templars burned at the stake in 1310. The king put increasing pressure on Pope Clement V to disband the order, which he reluctantly did in 1312." [Furtado: 1001 Days] Clement V "initiated the persecution of the Knights Templar with the bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae under pressure from King Philip IV of France." [Wikipedia]