Ronan O’Reilly - From London to Limassol: The Trial of the Templars in Britain, Ireland and Cyprus
The trial of the Templars, which occurred between 1307-1312, saw the brothers of one of the largest global organisations of the medieval world, arrested, imprisoned, interrogated and subsequently disbanded following accusations of heresy. The trial centred around the Templars’ behaviour primarily regarding malpractice during the initiation of new brothers into the Order. During the trial and in response to such serious allegations many of the brothers grounded their defence in their long-established way of life as a means of demonstrating their innocence.
The trial not only saw the interrogation of Templar witnesses but also non-Templar witnesses in an effort to established the guilt or innocence of the brothers. Consequently there is an abundance of source material that has survived regarding the trial from both these sets of witnesses. This paper, therefore seeks to argue that by examining the depositions of the trial of the Templars in Cyprus, Britian and Ireland we can gain insight into the wider mentality of the Templars during the time of the trial, as well as establish some of the wider attitudes towards the Order amongst the general populace from the far reaches of Christendom.
Ronan O’Reilly graduated with a First Class Honours degree in History and Celtic Civilisation from University College Dublin (UCD) in 2018 before going on to complete an MA in Crusader Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London in 2019. He subsequently worked as a history tutor and guest lecturer in UCD as well as working as an independent researcher for the Irish Historic Towns Atlas project for the town of New Ross before returning to Royal Holloway in 2021 to begin his PhD, where he examines the social memory and historical traditions of the military orders.
All welcome- this seminar is free to attend but booking in advance is required.
Book here: https://www.sas.ac.uk/events/london-limassol-trial-templars-britain-ireland-and-cyprus
