Jacques de Molay

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"Pope Clement, hear me! Before this year is out, you will answer for your crimes before God almighty. And you, King Philip, no punishment is too heinous for the great evil you have inflicted upon the Temple. I curse you! Curse you to the thirteenth generation of your blood! You shall be cursed!"

―Jacques de Molay's dying words, 1314.

Jacques de Molay (c. 1244 – 1314) was the last publicly recognized Grand Master of the Templar Order, and presumably a Sage. Upon his execution, the Templars fled and went underground.

Biography

Jacques led the Templars from April 20, 1292 until 1312. Around this time, he possessed the Shroud of Eden, but passed it on to a fellow French Templar, Geoffroy de Charny.

During the early 14th century, even as Jacques led his Order into their Golden Age, the Assassin Order influenced the French King Philip le Bel to turn against them. The Templars were branded heretics, their fortress was stormed, and hundreds of them were arrested.

As their Grand Master, Jacques understood that the Templars could no longer survive in a public image, and decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. Before his inevitable death, he sent nine of his most trusted men - who possessed "knowledge of the Ancients" - out into the world to continue his work.

In 1314, Jacques allowed himself to be interrogated, then burned at the stake. By doing so, he saved the lives of his brethren, and made their enemies believe that the Order had died along with him, though they had merely moved underground.

Jacques was later commemorated in 1937 by the Templar Order's new public front, Abstergo Industries. There, an image of him was displayed prominently in the room accessible only to members of the Order's Inner Sanctum.

In 2001, researchers at the Vatican Secret Archives uncovered a document written in 1308 by Pope Clement which absolved Jacques de Molay of all charges. The parchment was later mysteriously lost.

Trivia

• Contrary to other known Sages, Jacques de Molay did not appear to be affected with heterochromia.
• Jacques de Molay is somewhat of a grand hero to the Templars, considered their messiah and greatest savior in history; similarly to what Altair Ibn La 'Ahad is to the Assassins.
  • Some even speculate that Jacques is the "Father of Understanding" that the Templars worship. However, this isn't likely, as the Templars have been reciting "May the Father of Understanding guide us" since the Third Crusade -- approximately 50 years before Jacques de Molay was born, and about 120 years before he died.

Gallery

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  Jacques de Molay as he appears in Assassin's Creed: Memories
• Jacques' ordination as Grand Master
  Jacques' ordination as Grand Master
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  Jacques' interrogation
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  Jacques being burned at the stake
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  Jacques de Molay's tombstone