The Henson Journals
Sun 15 December 1929
Volume 49, Pages 18 to 19
[18]
3rd Sunday in Advent, December 15th, 1929.
A bright, mild morning, cheating the birds into the belief that spring, not winter, is at hand! When I went over to S. Anne's at 8 a.m., they were singing hilariously, & some hallucinated rooks were starting a nest! I celebrated the Holy Communion. The communicants included Ella, Alexander, and John.
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I wrote to William, sending him (£10) for the purchase of a wedding present. Also, to Lord Londonderry, sending him the extract from the Act of 1836 which constitutes the King 'Count Palatine of Durham', & leaves the Bishop of Durham nakedly & conventionally episcopal!
Having finished Milman's account of the destruction of the Order of the Temple, I proceeded to read through the very careful and critical version of the facts given by H. C. Lea in his History of the Inquisition. Both agree that the proceedings were an abominable travesty of justice, & that, on the evidence, the Templars must be acquitted. I remember hearing Bishop Stubbs express the opinion that the Suppression of the Templars was "the blackest crime of the Middle Ages".
[19]
Sir John Macdonell includes the trials of the Templars in his "Historic Trials", and decides emphatically for their innocence. His is a particularly weighty judgment. "I have examined the original documents: I have come to their perusal with no preconceived opinion: and I have tried to look at the long–standing controversy chiefly from the point of view of a lawyer, applying the ordinary canons of evidence". Döllinger appears to have taken the same view as Milman, Lea, Stubbs, & Macdonell. "If", he wrote, "I were to name one day in the whole extent of world–history which appears to me to be in very truth dies nefasto, I wd. name no other than the 13th October 1307". Macdonell comments: "A strong statement, but one for the truth of which much may be urged".
Ella motored with me to Felling, where I dedicated a vestry–door, and confirmed 98 persons in the parish Church. There was a large congregation, & a service which was both "hearty" and sincere. Belts, the present Vicar has only held office for 9 months, and the church has been transformed. He is young, capable, determined, and ambitious. I think he is also sincerely religious. If the newspapers will leave him alone, he may do some really good work in that squalid parish.