226 ΤΠΕ Κ Ν Ili. ITS TEMPLARS. JîtT™ °^tnese ι Ρ08 'οη8 ant '6 'ι ^ replies sliould be furnished to each of the A. D. 130!*. bishops, and that the council should stand adjourned until the next day, to give time for deliberation upon the premises. On the following day, accordingly, (Wednesday, December the 3rd,) the council met, and decided that the inquisitors and three bishops should seek an audience of the king, and beseech him to permit them to proceed against the Templars in the way that should seem to them the best and most expedient for the purpose of eliciting the truth. On Sunday, the 7th, the bishops petitioned his majesty in writing, and on the following Tuesday they went before him with the inquisitors, and besought him that they might proceed against the Templars according to the ecclesiastical constitutions, and that he would instruct his sheriffs and officers to that effect. The king gave a written answer complying with their request, which was read before the council,* and, on the 16th of December, orders were sent to the gaolers, commanding them to permit the prelates and inquisitors to do with the bodies of the Templars that which should seem expedient to them according to ecclesiastical law. Many Templars were at this period wandering about the country disguised as secular persons, success fully evading pursuit, and the sheriffs were strictly commanded to use every exertion to capture them.y On Wednesday, the ecclesiastical council again met, and adjourned for the purpose of enabling the inquisitors to examine the prisoners confined in the castles of Lincoln and of York. In Scotland, in the mean time, similar proceedings had been instituted against the order.}' On the 17th of November, Brother Walter de Clifton being examined in the parish church of the Holy Cross at Edinburgh, before the bishop of St. Andrews and John de Solerio, the pope's chaplain, states that the brethren • Conci!. Mag. Uni., torn. ii. p. 313—314. t Acta Bymeri, trim. iii. p. 194,195. t Ibid., p. 1112.