JîtoTiY* Among the prisoners absolved at the above chapel were many Α. η. 1811. old veteran warriors in the last stage of decrepitude and decay. " They were so old and so infirm," says the public notary who recorded the proceedings, " that they were unable to stand;" their confessions were consequently made before two masters in theology; they were then led before the west door of the chapel, and were publicly reconciled to the church by the bishop of Chichester; after which they were brought into the sacred building, and were placed on their knees before the high altar, which they devoutly kissed, whilst the tears trickled down their furrowed cheeks. All these penitent Templars were now released from prison, and directed to do penance in different monasteries. Precisely the same form of proceeding was followed at York : the reconciliations and absolution being there carried into effect before the south door of the cathedral.* Thus terminated the proceedings against the order of the Temple in England. Similar measures had, in the mean time, been prosecuted against the Templars in all parts of Christendom, but no better evidence of their guilt than that above mentioned was ever discovered. The councils of Tarragona and Aragon, after applying the torture, pronounced the order free from heresy. In Portugal and in Germany the Templars were declared innocent, and in no place situate beyond the sphere of the influence of the king of France and his creature the pope was a single Templar condemned to deatli.t On the 10th of October a general council of the church, which had been convened by the pope to pronounce the abolition of the order, assembled at Vienne near Lyons in France. It was opened by the holy pontiff in person, who caused the different • Condi. Mag. Brit., torn. ii. p. 391—101. t Concilia Hispaniat, torn. v. p. 2.13. Zurita, lib. τ. c. 73- 101. Mariana, lib. XT. cip. 10. Mutins, chron. lib. xxii. p. 211. Baynouard, p. 199—20*.