A pontifical commission was appointed on December 22, 1313. It was made up of three cardinals and lawyers from the King of France and was to decide on the fate of the four dignitaries of the Order. Before this commission, they reiterated their confessions.
On March 11 or 18, 1314, the four Templars were brought to the forecourt of Notre-Dame de Paris to have the sentence read to them. It was there that Jacques de Molay, Master of the Order of the Temple, Geoffroy de Charnay, tutor from Normandy, Hugues de Pairaud, visitor from France and Geoffroy de Goneville, tutor in Poitou-Aquitaine learned that they were condemned to the life imprisonment.
However, Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay proclaimed their innocence. They had thus lied to the judges of the Inquisition, were declared relapsing and had to undergo another sentence. Here is the description of it, in his Latin chronicle, Guillaume de Nangis, a chronicler of the time:"But when the cardinals thought they had put an end to this affair, suddenly and unexpectedly two of them they, the grand master and the master of Normandy, stubbornly defended themselves against the cardinal who had delivered the sermon and against the archbishop of Sens (Philippe de Marigny), going back on their confession and on all that they had confessed.
The next day, Philip the Fair summoned his council and, ignoring the cardinals, condemned the two Templars to the stake. They were taken to the island of the Jews to be burned alive.
Geoffroi (or Godefroi) of Paris was an eyewitness to this execution. He wrote in his metrical chronicle (1312-1316), the words of the master of the order:"(...)I see here my judgment where to die freely suits me; God knows who is wrong, who has sinned. He will soon befall those who wrongly condemned us:God will avenge our death (...)" Proclaiming his innocence and that of the order to the end, Jacques de Molay therefore referred to divine justice. and it was before the divine tribunal that he summoned those who on Earth had judged him. The two condemned asked to turn their faces towards Notre-Dame Cathedral to pray. They died with the greatest dignity. Guillaume de Nangis added:"We saw them so resolved to undergo the torture of fire, with such a will, that they aroused the admiration of all those who witnessed their death...".
The royal decision had been so quick that it was discovered afterwards that the small island where the stake had been erected was not under the royal jurisdiction, but under that of the monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The king therefore had to confirm in writing that the execution in no way affected their rights on the island.