Secret Vatican archive now at Sydney
The University of Sydney has purchased Australia's only copy of the recently released manuscripts of the trials of the Knights Templar - a $10,000 reproduction of a document that rehabilitates the medieval Christian military order.これは、ちょっと前に採り上げましたが、バチカンがテンプル騎士団の裁判に関する文書を799部複製して、販売しましたが、そのうちの300番のものをシドニー大学が購入したという記事です。
The Knights, recognisable by the white robes with a red cross they wore over their chain mail, guarded pilgrims visiting the Holy Lands. In the early 14th-century King Philip IV of France accused the knights of heresy and sodomy, and many of the order's leaders were burnt at the stake.
"The crux of these trial documents is that Pope Clement V didn't think the Templars were guilty of heresy," says Neil Boness, Rare Book librarian at the University's Fisher Library. It is "very unusual" for the Vatican to release a reproduction of material from the Secret Archives such as this, known as the Processus Contra Templarios - Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars, he added.
According to John Pryor, Associate Professor for Medieval Studies at Sydney, there was "significant pressure" exerted on the Pope by the King's agents to find the order guilty.
"Several thousand of the order survived in Spain and elsewhere, but mainly they disappeared into society," says Pryor. He hopes the documents will assist potential PhD students: "There is a huge scholarly interest in the trials."
The order was popularised by Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code, and has been the subject of all sorts of myths and legends over the years. The Knights have been linked to the modern-day Freemasons, and portrayed as guardians of the Holy Grail.
The key document in the reproduction is known as the Chinon Parchment and it shows that the Pope absolved the Knights of heresy charges. It was "misplaced" in the Vatican archives until it was discovered by a researcher in 2001.
The elaborate reproduction is bound in an ornate leather case, and includes scholarly notes and reproductions of the original parchments - mould stains and all - as well as the wax seals used by their inquisitors. Only 799 copies were made: Pope Benedict was given the first copy, and the University owns copy number 300.
"We had to apply to the publishers to buy a copy," Boness says. As the home of Australia's "largest group of experts in medieval studies," it is appropriate that Australia's only copy of the trial is housed at the University of Sydney, Pryor notes.
当時の法王が、フランス王の圧力のもとでテンプル騎士団の裁判を行ったこととか、テンプル騎士団が現代のフリーメイソンに結び付くとか、まあ散々他の記事で書かれたことを、また述べています。
この裁判は学問的にも大いに興味深い、そうですが・・・何かそこからまた新しい発見とかあるといいですね。大いに研究して欲しいものです！！
日本の大学は買わないのかなあ～。ICUとかに一冊ぐらいあっても良さそうなんだけどね。
ブログ内関連記事
中世キリスト教史上の謎「テンプル騎士団」の異端審問記録、700年を経て公開
バチカン法王庁、テンプル騎士団の宗教裁判の史料を700年ぶりに公開
テンプル騎士団員の消滅に関するローマ教皇庁の本
