''Vox in excelso'' ("A voice on high") is a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

issued by

Pope Clement V Pope Clement V (; – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled ''de Guoth'' and ''de Goth''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his death, in April 1314. He is reme ...

on 22 March 1312. The directives given within the bull were to formally dissolve the Order of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

, effectively removing papal support for them and revoking the mandates given to them by previous popes in the 12th and 13th centuries.Malcolm Barber, ''The Trial of the Templars''. Cambridge University Press, 1978. The issue of this bull followed a five-year period of suppression and trials of the Templars during which time they were accused of a variety of blasphemous and heretical crimes. However, the confessions were extracted with the use of torture and other methods developed by the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

. Other bulls involving Templars include '' Pastoralis Praeeminentiae'' and '' Ad providam''.

References

Knights Templar 1312 works 14th-century papal bulls Documents of Pope Clement V {{RC-Canon-law-stub

See also

References