Got $8,333 plus the ability to compete with the other 798 people and institutions in the world vying for the soon-to-be-published court documents of the trials against the Knights Templar in the 14th century?
Knights Templar win heresy reprieve after 700 years
So detailed as to include stains on parchment, the documents are to be published in a leather case with a large book including reproductions of original parchments in Latin, scholarly commentary, and replicas of the wax seals used by 14th-century inquisitors. Only 799 numbered copies are available.
The Knights Templar have many legends that grew up around them, particularly after the French king persecuted them to cancel his debts to the order. Since some went into hiding, many people think that the order continued in secret with esoteric knowledge. Many people had never heard of the order until Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code came out.
These documents do not shed light on the occult activities of the Knights, but there is one that was miscatalogued (bad librarian!) until 2001 that showed that the Pope absolved the Knights of heresy, the charge for which many were burnt by the king's men. He acknowledged there were those among the order who had sinned, but did not endorse the heresy charge. The Knights Templar were eventually disbanded officially by the Church, however.
Anyway, the mediaeval historian in me goes, wow, this is so cool! And I could read it so long as I had time and a good dictionary. I wonder if UK could even hope to acquire this? Somehow I doubt it. They'll go to universities with very strong mediaeval programmes, I'm sure. Still...wouldn't it be great to see?
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