Hugues de Pairaud (also Perraud, Peraudo, Peraut or Desperaut) was one of the leaders of the Knights Templar. He and Geoffroi de Gonneville (the Preceptor of Aquitaine) were sentenced to life imprisonment on March 18, 1314. They were spared the fate of

Jacques de Molay Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...

(Grand Master) and

Geoffroi de Charney Geoffroi de Charney,The first name was sometimes spelled Geoffrey, surname sometimes spelled de Charnay and de Charny. also known as Guy d'Auvergne, (died 11 or 18 March 1314) was preceptor of Normandy for the Knights Templar. In 1307 de Char ...

(Preceptor of Normandy), who were both burned at the stake, because they accepted their sentence in silence. In 1297 de Pairaud contested the election of Jacques de Molay as grand master. In 1304 Pairaud supported Philip IV of France against

Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...

The charges

The charges brought against Hugues de Pairaud are similar to those brought against all the others during the

Knights Templar Trial The Knights Templar trace their beginnings to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in when nine Christian knights, under the auspices of King Baldwin II and the Patriarch Warmund, were given the task of protecting pilgrims on the roads to Jerusale ...

. Pairaud was implicated in the worship of false idols by Raoul de Gizy, who claimed to have seen a mysterious head in seven Templar houses, some of them held by Hugues de Pairaud. Pairaud was accused of taking Jean de Cugy "behind an altar and kissing him on the base of the spine and the navel." De Cugy also claimed that Pairaud had threatened him with life imprisonment if he did not deny Christ and spit on a cross, and that Pairaud had told him that it was permissible for brothers to have sexual intercourse with other brothers (

sodomy Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sod ...

).Barber, Malcolm ''The Trial of the Templars'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978. p 57

In fiction

The persecution of the Templars (with Pairaud and Gonneville as supporting characters) is featured in ''Le Roi de fer'', the 1955 first installment of ''

Les Rois maudits ''The Accursed Kings'' (french: Les Rois maudits ) is a series of historical novels by French author Maurice Druon about the French monarchy in the 14th century. Published between 1955 and 1977, the series has been adapted as a miniseries twice ...

'' (''The Accursed Kings''), a series of historical novels written by

Maurice Druon Maurice Druon (23 April 1918 – 14 April 2009) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Française, of which he served as "Perpetual Secretary" (chairman) between 1985 and 1999. Life and career Born in Paris, France, Druon was the s ...

between 1955 and 1977. The novels were also adapted into two French television miniseries in 1972 and 2005.

References

{{Reflist Medieval Knights Templar members 14th-century French people