Wood — The Templars in Ireland. 



347 



thereof, and by some lawful men of the same counties ; and that all 

 their lands, tenements, goods, and chattels, as well ecclesiastical as 

 temporal, be seized and taken into the hands of the said King, 

 together with the charters, writings, and muniments of all kinds 

 belonging to the said brethren, and that of those goods and chattels 

 and of the value thereof be made a lawful inventory and indenture 

 (in presence of the keeper of eveiy of the places of the said brethren, 

 whoever he be, a brother, namely, of that Order or another person, 

 and in presence of two lawful men neighbouring and nearest to the 

 said place who can conveniently be present), one part whereof shall 

 remain with the said keeper and the other with the sheriff^ under the 

 seal of him who shall have caused those goods and chattels to be 

 so seized, and that those goods and chattels be placed in safe and 

 secure custody, and that the cattle and beasts of the said brethren 

 be well kept and maintained out of the goods aforesaid, as shall 

 seem most convenient to be done, and that their lands be cultivated 

 and sowed out of the issues thereof, to the best advantage and profit 

 which can be done, and that the bodies of the said Templars 

 be kept safely, securely, and faithfully, in a suitable place, 

 elsewhere than in their own dwellings, so that their keepers 

 may be sure of the bodies of the said brethren, provided, however, 

 that they be not in a cruel and loathsome prison, until the King 

 shall think fit to make other order thereon, and that reasonable 

 sustenance be found for the said brethren, as becomes their 

 rank, out of the things and goods so to be seized by the commands 

 of the said King, in competent manner. Which things being per- 

 formed, let the Sheriffs make known by their letters to the Treasurer 

 and Earons of the Exchequer at Westminster, how many brethren 

 and whom they shall have caused to be arrested, and their names, 

 and where and under what custody they shall have placed them, and 

 let them send transcripts of the indentures which shall be made 

 thereof to the said Treasurer and Barons, and let them make known 

 to the same distinctly and plainly what lands and what tenements 

 of the said brethren shall have been so seized, together with their 

 whole proceedings in this behalf, so that the said Treasurer and 

 Barons on the morrow of the Purification of the Blessed Mary next 

 •coming may be fully certified thereof by the said Sheriffs. " 



Then follows a description of the manner in which the ordinance 

 was executed in England. The King first sent down writs to the 

 sheriffs to warn ten or twelve lawful men of their bailiwick to be 

 in a certain place in the county on a certain date, and to be present 



