The Outrage of Anagni is presented as an earlier demonstration of the political strategy available to Philip the Fair and his advisers: pressure the papacy, exploit public scandal, and turn rumor into a weapon. The episode is not narrated as a full scene; it appears in the account of the campaign against the Templars, where its memory helps explain the king’s confidence in acting against powerful institutions.

Political Background

The Templars had wealth and influence, and hostile stories about them circulated: they were accused of sexual misconduct, heresy, idolatry, and dealings with the Assassins. Philip and his advisers put these rumors to use. The account identifies Guillaume de Nogaret, the king’s chancellor, as the strategist behind the 1303 incident at Anagni, in which Sciarra Colonna struck Pope Boniface VIII. The pope died less than a month later, described as dying of humiliation.

Connection to the Templar Campaign

The Anagni episode is linked to Nogaret’s later role not through a claim that the same action was repeated, but through his continuing place beside Philip in the struggle over authority. Along with Marigny, Nogaret is called one of the king’s two evil geniuses. Marigny ultimately took control of the Templar treasury on the king’s behalf, administering it until it passed to the Hospitalers; the account pointedly leaves uncertain who received the interest. Anagni thus precedes a campaign in which political pressure, formal inquiry, and the disposal of institutional wealth converge.

Papal Inquiry and the Unresolved Enigma

After Esquin de Floyran’s sensational accusations became depositions before a magistrate, Philip transmitted them to Pope Clement V. Clement believed some of the charges but knew intervention in the Temple’s affairs would be difficult. In 1307 he agreed to open an official inquiry. The grand master Molay was informed and declared his conscience clear, continuing to appear at official ceremonies beside the king. Although Clement seemed to be stalling, Philip suspected that the pope was giving the Templars time to disappear; instead, they continued drinking and blaspheming in their commanderies, apparently unaware of the danger. The narration calls this contrast the first enigma. Against that later uncertainty, Anagni stands as a remembered instance of direct political violence against papal authority, while the Templar affair proceeds through rumor, inquiry, and contested motives.