I’ve been investigating the fate of the last English Templar Grand Master, Walter de la More. What happened to him when the orders went out from Pope Clement V to all the crowned heads of Europe demanding the arrest and interrogation of all Knights Templar? Did he survive? Was he captured?
My search for the truth took me on a drive through the Lincolnshire countryside in the East Midlands of England on a very cold December day at the end of 2024. I had visited the ancient city of Lincoln, which dates back to the Roman period, and seen the huge medieval cathedral where local Templar knights were initially questioned after their arrest – in the very beautiful chapter house within the cathedral.
But I now needed to journey down to a place called Temple Bruer. My video here then read on below for more details of what I found out.
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We took our car across some very bumpy and icy terrain to get to the tower. Once more, Google Maps let me down! But maybe there really isn’t an easier way to get there. Suddenly, the tower loomed forth, in front of me, and what a sight. In far better condition than I could have imagined. An architectural marvel of the twelfth century.
On October 13, 1307, the King of France – Philip IV – served arrest warrants on every Templar in his realm. He got the lukewarm support of Pope Clement V as he moved in for the kill. In England, King Edward II displayed some initial reticence – as did other monarchs in Europe. They found it hard to believe the outlandish charges of heresy and sodomy being made against the knights. But eventually, after pressure from the pope was applied, they fell into line and the Templars were rounded up.
Fate of the English Templar Grand Master revealed
Temple Bruer was the second richest Templar preceptory in England and its boss – Walter de la More – was also the grand master of all the Templars in the country. Within the Templar organisation, you had the top grand master in charge of everything but under him, were a number of regional grand masters, with England being one of those regions.
The king’s men turned up at Temple Bruer and got lucky. They were able to arrest both Walter, grand master of England, and Himbert Blanc, commander of the Auvergne region in modern France. He was visiting to discuss the possibility of a new crusade. Clearly, some knights weren’t reading the mood music correctly. The pope and the monarchs of Europe were no longer interested in trying to retake the Holy Land – they were looking at Templar assets and wondering how much they were worth.
When Walter arrived at the Tower of London, he was not given a posh suite as upper class nobles could usually expect. Instead, the English grand master and other Templars were dumped in the cellar dungeons. The reason being that the English had already filled up the prison cells with Scottish and Welsh nobles who they were busy fighting. This led to the health of many older Templars deteriorating rapidly leading to their deaths behind bars.
Like many Templars across Europe, Walter was subjected to rounds of questioning – and maybe some torture. The pope was very insistent that he wanted detailed information to be fed back to the papal inquisition to build his case against the order. Then in 1312, Pope Clement officially shut down the Templars at the Council of Vienne, and it was at the end of this year, just before Christmas Day, that William died in jail.
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Templar Bruer today
Heritage Lincolnshire, the organisation that used to look after Temple Bruer, did an amazing digital reconstruction of the site in the video below, still on YouTube. It shows that the remaining tower, the South Tower, was once one of two towers attached to a circular Templar church. Now as you know, Templar churches were often built in this shape, referencing the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem – the site of both the crucifixion and burial of Jesus.
What now looks like an external door to the tower was once an internal door from a side chapel leading into the tower. As the church was demolished during the Reformation, you get the mutilated remains of the tower, which require some imagination to figure out.
If you would like to know more about the Knights Templar, then get your hands on a copy of my book: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. Published by Pen & Sword and available on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. Don’t miss out on your copy!
Absolutely fascinating thank you.