JAMJS m if by straitenings and confinement tliey would confess nothing A. n. lsVo. further, then the torture was to be applied ; but it was provided that the examination by torture should be conducted without the PERPETUAL MUTILATION OR DISAIJLING OP ANY LIMB, AND WITHOUT A VIOLENT EFFUSION OF BLOOD ! and the inquisitors and the bishops of London and Chichester were to notify the result to the archbishop of Canterbury, that he might again convene the assembly for the purpose of passing sentence, either of absolution or of condemnation. These resolutions having been adopted, the council was prorogued, on the following Saturday, de die in diem, until the feast of the Exaltation of tbe Holy Cross, A. D. 1311* On the uth of October, a fortnight after the above resolution had been formed by the council, the king sent fresh instructions to the constable of the Tower, and tbe sheriffs of London, directing them to deliver up the Templars, one at a time, or altogether, and receive them back in the same way, at tbe will of the inquisitore.f The gaolers of these unhappy gentlemen seem to have been more niercifnl and considerate than their judges, and to have manifested the greatest reluctance to act upon the orders sent from the king. On the 23rd of October, further and more prereuiptory commands were forwarded to the constable of the Tower, distinctly informing him that tbe king, on account of his respect for the holy apostolic see, had lately conceded to the prelates and inquisitore deputed to take inquisition against the order of the Temple, and the Grand Preceptor of that order in England, the power of ordering and disposing of the Templars * Et si per hujusmodi arctationes et aepamtioncs nihil oliud, quam priue, vellent contUeri, quod extunc qutxstionarentUT ; ita quod qitteetiones iilrefièrent ABSQUE MXTTTLAΤΊΟΚΒ ICT DtnaiTAI IONE ΓΒΠΡΪΤΐΛ AI.HT.rV* MBMHR1, RT SINK VIOLENTA SAKfìdMS KFFUSIOSK-— Cancii. Map. lirit., toni. ii. p. 334. t Acta ftjmicri, torn. iii. p. 227, 228.