Pope Urbain II's call for a crusade in Clermont in 1095 was made against a backdrop of Gregorian reform. This call exalts the chivalrous ideal for the benefit of the Church and the Papacy, to repel heretics and barbarians in order to free the tomb of Christ and attempt to subdue the aristocracy.
What echo did this call have in Provence?
The high clergy of Arles, Archbishop Aicard and members of the chapter are present and instead support Raimon IV, Count of Toulouse.
The papacy sought support, as evidenced by the travels of Urban II during a council in Nîmes in 1096 and those of his successor Gregory VII.
Military Orders were present from the first crusade for the Hospitallers, but it was not until the second crusade that the Order of the Temple in Provence was mentioned.
The knight of Champagne, Hugues de Payns, is the founder of the Order in 1119 in the Holy Land. He received the approval of the rule in 1126 by Gregory VII. His proselytizing is the starting point of the missions to make the Order known throughout Christendom. It was at the Council of Troyes, which began on January 13, 1129, at the initiative of Bernard de Claivaux that this dissemination in Europe began. The Templar network was formed between the 12th and 13th centuries. Its establishment in Provence is due to the Catalan brother Arnaut de Bedos who received the first donations around 1136.
The Order is organized around a "religious house", "domus", a term which includes both the buildings that house the community, the land heritage, the rights attached to the seigneury under the authority of 'a brother. The mother houses are those of Arles and Saint Gilles, they will be called "commanderies" in the 14th century.
A network of commanderies linked to the founding parent companies is established in Basse Provence and Languedoc.
This is the case of Saint-Gilles, where the Hospitallers (1101), then the Templars (1135) settle. This place is both the starting point of the crusades and a stopover for pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, Rome and Jerusalem.
Two periods of land expansion show the spread of possessions around "villae" and "castra", seigneuries and coseigneuries, dependent on the commandery:
- Between 1160 and 1190, to the west, Le Caylar, Aimargues, Calvisson, Aubais, Générac; to the north of Nîmes; Meynes et Saliers in the diocese of Arles.
- In the second half of the thirteenth century, to the east, Bellegarde and the lands of the Argence farmhouse. Two secondary houses are founded: Monfrin and Saint Pierre de Campublic.
In Arles, the first "preceptor" was Bernat de Colador in 1146. Later, between 1188 and 1198, the land acquisitions of Arles and Avignon were grouped together under the authority of Commander Guilhem de Solliès.
During the arrest of the Templars in 1308, an inventory of the local possessions of the Order was made thanks to the 13th century cartulary which gathers the property titles of the Order:
- From 1145 and until 1230, the plain of Trébon was acquired in particular thanks to the donation against a substantial loan from Hugues V des Baux, viscount of Marseille with the meadow of Baussenc. The house of Lansac manages a secondary commandery formed by Tarascon and Laurade.
- From 1170, under Guilhem de Solliès, several acquisitions were made in the small Camargue, south of Arles, with Corrèges, Méjanes and Paulon then Saintes Maries de la Mer.
- Between 1216 and 1252 many lands were acquired, Hugues des Baux having committed all his property (villages and Méjanes) his son was unable to repay the Templar loan. He then cedes the "villa" of Méjanes, of which the Order becomes the owner. On the left bank, the Order has Rupta and La Vernède.
On October 13, 1307, the "Templars of France" were arrested on the order of Philippe le Bel. A similar order was issued by Pope Clement V on November 22 of the same year so as not to let the matter escape him. With the bull "Pastoralis praeminentie", the latter asks for the Church to place the property of the Templars under the supervision of the Church. These converging actions reveal the issues of power and the importance of the heritage possessed by the Order.
The Templars of Arles were arrested on January 24, 1308 by the viguier Peire de Forcalquier, accompanied by judges and notaries. It is on this occasion that the inventory of possessions is made. A letter from the King asks the tenants of the Temple and those who used their property to declare themselves.
The following year, Robert of Anjou, Count of Provence, ordered his Seneschal and a notary to take an inventory of the Temple's property in Provence for delivery to the royal court. The land patrimony was entrusted to lay prosecutors.
The Council of Vienna, which began on October 16, 1311, had as its program the Gregorian Reformation, the organization of a new crusade and finally the settlement of the "Temple affair". He had to decide on the fate of these goods: it will be the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem which will inherit it.
The Templars are tried by brothers inquisitors and accused of numerous crimes. Under Philippe IV le Bel, the great master Jacques de Molay was sentenced to life imprisonment after an unfair trial at the end of which he would have pronounced this sentence: "The Order is pure, confessions are absurd and lying ..." . He died tortured at the tip of the island of the city at the foot of the cathedral and the new bridge on March 13, 1314.
According to a legend, taken up by Maurice Druon in his novel "The accursed kings", the great Master, before dying burned, would have launched a curse: "Pope Clement! King Philippe! Before a year, I quote you to appear in the tribunal of God to receive your just chastisement there! Cursed! Cursed! All cursed to the thirteenth generation of your races! This is what happened: Pope Clement V died on April 20, 1314, and Philip the Fair on November 29 of the same year.
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