Othon de Grandson: A Friend to the Templars

A question I asked myself in writing ‘Othon de Grandson: Edward I’s Loyal Knight of Renown’ was exactly what was the Savoyard knights’ relationship with the Knights Templar? The relationship of Edward’s friend and envoy with the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon is a long one and indeed began over a century before he was born.

Ancestral Ties to the Crusader Order

Otto I de Grandson, detail from his effigy in Lausanne Cathedral

Othon’s ancestor Barthélémy de Jura, treasurer of Reims and then Bishop of Laon in Picardy, was there at the very beginning of the Crusader order. Barthélémy was at the 1128 Council of Troyes, chaired by Bernard of Clairvaulx, which ratified the rule of the Templars. He was a kinsman, through his mother, of Bernard of Clairvaulx, and would later retire as a monk to the Cistercian abbey he helped found at Foigny. Another ancestor was another Barthélémy who took up the cross and joined the Second Crusade. He is reported to have departed this life in Jerusalem in 1158. So, when Othon de Grandson accompanied his liege, the Lord Edward, on the Ninth Crusade in 1271, his family was no stranger to crusading.

Escape from Acre and the Rise of Jacques de Molay

But the story of Othon de Grandson’s close association with the Templars begins in earnest with his flight from Acre, accompanying Templar knight Jacques de Molay in 1291. Grandson had likely been sent to Acre in 1290 as preparation for a crusade by King Edward I that never came to pass. They were all overtaken by Al Ashraf Khalil, the sultan of Egypt, who successfully led a Mamluk assault on the last Crusader outpost in Outremer. King Henry II of Cyprus, the gravely wounded Master of the Hospitallers Jean de Villiers, the soon-to-be Master of the Templars Jacques de Molay, and Othon de Grandson washed up on the shore of Cyprus as refugees from Acre. The Templars needed a new Grand Master, and it is said that Othon de Grandson was “involved” in the election of Jacques de Molay. The idea of being ‘involved’ came from a declaration given later during the suppression of the order; a Templar, Hugh de Fauro, gave testimony that Jacques de Molay had sworn before the Master of the Hospital and ‘coram domino Odone de Grandisono milite,’ that is, ‘before the knight Sir Othon de Grandson.’ We then hear from Hethum of Corycus that Grandson and Jacques de Molay had had a hand in affairs and the better reordering of the kingdom of Cilician Armenia to meet the Mamluk threat and preserve it as a base for ongoing crusading ventures. Grandson’s relationship with Molay and the Templars does seem to stem from this time at Acre, on Cyprus, and in Armenian Cilicia between 1291 and 1294.

Financial Bonds with the Templars

Former Templar Commanderie at Épailly in Burgundy

We then meet the financial entanglement of the grandson with the Templars. Evidence of this comes not only from payments from the Templars to Grandson but also from grants in the other direction. When both Molay and Grandson were back in the west, on 14 July 1296, Othon would grant the Templars 200 Livres from his salt revenues at Salins-les-Bains in the Franche Comté, a source of revenue he had used to similarly grant the monks of Saint-Jean Baptiste in Grandson before he had left for the Holy Land. The first grant was, in essence, for prayers of safe return; the second grant looks like thanks for a safe return. The great salt works of Salins belonged to the Count of Burgundy; they were also known as the Seigneurs de Salins, and the works and their grander Enlightenment-era equivalent today enjoy UNESCO-listed status. The grant to the Templars was in consideration of the great help Othon had received from ‘mes chiers amis en dieu freres Jaques de Molai,’ that is, ‘my dear friend in God, brother Jacques de Molay,’ and he referred to the help which ‘li freres du celle meismes Relegion ont fait a mes accessors, e a moi deca mer et de la mer en la sainte terre e ne cesse encore de faire,’ or ‘the brethren of that same order have given to my ancestors and myself in the West and the East in the Holy Land, and continue to give.’ His reference to his ancestors is likely to mean Barthélémy de Grandson, who had, as we saw, died in 1158 in Jerusalem.

A Question of Dates and Generosity

The reverse Templar ongoing and enormous financial commitment to Grandson is confirmed to us in a papal confirmation of 17 August 1308 by Pope Clement V. Upon suppression of the order, Grandson was keen that Templar payments continue, since they were the tremendous annual sum of 2,000 Livres Tournois, equating to £500 at the time, and over £350,000 in today’s money. The pension arrangement was made by a Grand Master named Jacques de Molay and variously dated to 1277, 1287, or 1296–97. French Templar historian Alain Demurger wrote: ‘Fault lay with the editor of Clement V’s records … The editor put the date 1277, while M. L. Bulst-Thiele transcribed it as 1297, whereas the original, very clearly and without abbreviations or deletions, says 1287.’ In his notes to this assertion, he cites the Vatican Archives date as ‘Anno millesimo duecentesimo octuagesimo septimo’ or ‘In the year one thousand two hundred and eighty-seven.’ Now, of course, Molay did not succeed Beaujeu until 1292, which renders the dating of the award problematic. Demurger suggested that it was not Molay who made the award despite specific reference to him, ‘Jacobus de Mollay,’ but his predecessor, Beaujeu—in short, that the date was correct but the master’s name incorrect. Alan Forey argued the contrary, writing that it was ‘more likely that the grant was made by James of Molay and that the date was wrongly copied’. Given Molay’s 1292 election as Grand Master, this would suggest 1296–97—in short, the date was incorrect, but the master’s name was correct. Demurger acknowledged in his notes that ‘a new problem arose … Grandson and the Temple were already connected in 1287: where, how and for what reason?’ Indeed, Demurger’s dating would create such questions, while Forey’s dating would place them squarely in the context of the Fall of Acre and his time in the east with Molay. This ‘compensare’ was given by the Templars for ‘operibus virtuosis’ or ‘virtuous actions’ rendered by Othon in support of the order, but surely more likely post-Fall of Acre than before.

Final Rewards and Enduring Ambiguities

In confirmation of the pension, Clement V granted Othon three former Templar houses in France as a part of the continuing settlement: those at Thors, Épailly, and Coulours, an act unlikely to have been undertaken at the time in favour of a knight of the order. And so, the ‘virtuous works’ referred to by Pope Clement would appear to date from Grandson’s time in Acre in 1291. So, the date of 1277 attached to the payments by the transcription of them is certainly mistaken, and for the 1287 dating of the original 1308 manuscript, we should read 1296–97. Demurger gives 1296 clearly as the date for Molay’s meeting with Grandson in Paris and the Salins grant. Othon de Grandson’s intimate links with the Templars continue to intrigue, but in Cyprus and Armenia from 1292 to 1294, as at Acre in 1291, and here with his pension payments, they point to a significant and close ally in matters Outremer rather than a member of the order itself, of which there is no mention.

The Absence of Defence

Grandson was a close friend of the Templars, having fought alongside them at Acre in 1291, been there in Cyprus as a part of Molay’s election as Grand Master, and been in receipt of a handsome annual pension from the order. So, at Philippe de Bel’s suppression of the order and Molay’s arrest and the rumours swirling around France, the scandal would have touched upon him directly. But at no point can we find Grandson implicated in events, other than petitioning Pope Clement for the maintenance of his pension. But nowhere can we find him leaping to the defence of Molay, his former friend and ally, at least not in a way that has left any trace. As Demurger said in conversation with the author of this book, Grandson did not try to defend Molay. A character flaw? Demurger went on to affirm that one cannot speculate about possible motives. Grandson was by now seventy years of age; had discretion become the greater part of valour?

A Friend, But Never a Templar

It is because of his avoidance of implication in the suppression of the Templars that, despite his Templar connections, we can be as certain as certain can be that Othon de Grandson was a friend, ally, indeed fellow traveller of the Templars, but not a member of the doomed order. As Alain Demurger said unequivocally to the question, was Grandson a Templar? – Non. What were the enormous payments from the Templars to Othon de Grandson for? What were the “operibus virtuosis”? It’s only speculation, but what did Grandson have that might be valuable to the Order? – better access than anyone to Edward I’s ear and access to the English court.