Case file · Folklore / legend
The curse of Jacques de Molay
On 18 March 1314, the last Grand Master of the Templars was burned on an islet of the Seine in Paris; legend says he summoned the pope and the king to God's judgement within a year.
1314 CE · 48.86, 2.34 · status: legend
The account
Pope Clement V died a month later and Philip IV in November 1314, which fed the story of the 'accursed kings'. The Templars had been accused of idol worship ('Baphomet') and obscene rites, charges extracted under torture.
The sceptical view
The curse is first recorded decades later; the deaths of an ailing pope and a king in a hunting accident do not need a curse.