jAMï b D I European states to be expended in a distant warfare in which A, D. 1302. Christendom now took comparatively no interest. Shortly after the fall of Acre, and the total loss of Palestine, Edward the First, king of England, seized and sequestered to his own use the monies which had been accumulated by the Templars, to forward to their brethren in Cyprus, alleging that the property of the order of the Temple had been granted to it by the kings of England, his predecessors, and their subjects, for the defence of the Holy Land, and that since the loss thereof, no better use could be made of the money, than by appropriating it to the maintenance of the poor. At the earnest request of the pope, however, the king afterwards permitted their revenues to be t transmitted to them in the island of Cyprus in the usual man' ner.* King Edward had previously manifested a strong desire to lay hands on the property of the Templars. On his return from his victorious campaign in Wales, finding himself unable to disburse the arrears of pay due to his soldiers, he went with Sir Robert Waleran and some armed followers to the Temple, and culling for the treasurer, he pretended that he wanted to see his mother's jewels, which were there kept. Having beeu admitted into the house, he deliberately broke open the coffers of the Templars, and carried away ten thousand pounds with him to Windsor Castle.'!' Edward the Second, on his accession Hi" son to the throne, committed a similar act of injustice. He went with his favourite, Piers Gavaston, to the Temple, and took away with hira fifty thousand pounds of silver, with a quantity of gold, jewels, and precious stones, belonging to the bishop of Chester.:): * Acta rfymrri, tom. 11. p. 683. ad ann. 1296. f Chron. Dunmaw. Annals of St. Augustin. Rapin. t Ipse vero Rex et Petrus theuauriiin ipsluB episcopi, apud Novum Templum Lon dnuiia leconditum, cepeiunt, ad sununam quinquagiuta niiliia librarum argenti, priclerauir.ni maltuin, jocalia et lapides preciosos. . . . Erant enim ambo prswentes, cum cista: frangerentur, et adbuc non emt sepultum. corpus patrie sui.—Jiemìngford, p. 244.