"The cardinals dallied with their duty until 18 March 1314, when, on a scaffold in front of Notre Dame, Jacques de Molay, Templar Grand Master, Geoffroi de Charney, Master of Normandy, Hugues de Peraud, Visitor of France, and Godefroi de Gonneville, Master of Aquitaine, were brought forth from the jail in which for nearly seven years they had lain, to receive the sentence agreed upon by the cardinals, in conjunction with the Archbishop of Sens and some other prelates whom they had called in. Considering the offences which the culprits had confessed and confirmed, the penance imposed was in accordance with rule—that of perpetual imprisonment. The affair was supposed to be concluded when, to the dismay of the prelates and wonderment of the assembled crowd, de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney arose. They had been guilty, they said, not of the crimes imputed to them, but of basely betraying their Order to save their own lives. It was pure and holy; the charges were fictitious and the confessions false. Hastily the cardinals delivered them to the Prevot of Paris, and retired to deliberate on this unexpected contingency, but they were saved all trouble. When the news was carried to Philippe he was furious. A short consultation with his council only was required. The canons pronounced that a relapsed heretic was to be burned without a hearing; the facts were notorious and no formal judgment by the papal commission need be waited for. That same day, by sunset, a pile was erected on a small island in the Seine, the Isle des Juifs, near the palace garden. There de Molay and de Charney were slowly burned to death, refusing all offers of pardon for retraction, and bearing their torment with a composure which won for them the reputation of martyrs among the people, who reverently collected their ashes as relics." (Note: the account varies by one day, not unusual for chronicles of the middle ages)[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_Molay
Meant to post this a few days ago. This stain haunted the French Monarchy until the revolution, which was viewed in some circles as their appropriate comeuppance. Not certain of the validity of the story that when the guillotine fell on Louis XVI someone jumped onto the scaffold, flung his blood over the crowd, and shouted "Jacques de Molay, thou art avenged!" After the order was banned any of the Templars simply shaved their beards, went underground and melted with their traditions into the western mystical tradition. In Spain and Portugal, they simply changed their names to the Knights of Christ, and their sea-faring knowledge made possible the exploits of Henry the Navigator. The Templars naval flag, a white skull and crossbones on a solid black base, became the jolly roger. And they themselves became a symbol of the martyrdom of unorthodox thought against oppression. Vivat!