JAUW* DX On the 26th of December the king wrote to the Pope, in- A. » . 1308. forming his holiness that he would carry his commands into execution in the best and speediest way that he could ; and on the 8th of January, A. D . 1308, the Templars were suddenly arrested in ell parts of England, and their property was seized into the king's hands.* Brother William de la More was at this period Master of the Temple, or Preceptor of England. He succeeded the Master Brian le Jay, who was slain, as before mentioned, in the battle of Falkirk, and was taken prisoner, together with all his brethren of the Temple at London, and committed to close custody in Canterbury Castle. He was afterwards liberated on bail at the instance of the bishop of Durham.f On the 12th of August, the Pope addressed the bull faciens misericordiam to the English bishops as follows :—" Clement, bishop, servant of the servants of God, -to the venerable brethren the archbishop of Canterbury and his suffragans, health and apostolical benediction. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, using mercy with his servant, would have us taken up into the eminent mirror of the apostleship, to this end, that being, though unworthy, his vicar upon earth, we may, as far as human frailty will permit in all our actions and proceedings, follow his footsteps." He describes the rumours which had been spread abroad in France against the Templars, and his unwillingness to believe them, " because it was not likely, nor did seem credible, that such religious men, who particularly often shed their blood for the name of Christ, and were thought very frequently to expose their persons to danger of death for his sake ; and who often showed many and great signs of devotion, as well in the divine offices as in fasting and other observances, should be so unmindful of their salvation as to perpetrate such things ; we were un * Knyghtm, apnd X. script, cel. 2494,2S3I. + Acta Hymen, torn. iii. p. 83.