Knights Templar in Scotland

This article is solely about the medieval Order in Scotland. The Modern Order is discussed in Scottish Knights Templar.

In 1128 the cousin of St Bernard of Clairvaux, Hugues de Payens, who served on the First Crusade with Henri St Clair, 2nd Baron of Roslin, [http://www.gbnf.com/genealog3/maclaren/html/d0392/I25445.HTM] [Sketch of the civil and traditional history of Caithness, from the tenth century by James Traill p.89] [Templars in America by Tim Wallace Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins p.13 ISBN 1-571863-317-6] [The Shadow of Solomon by Laurence Gardner p.159-161 Harper Element ISBN 0-00-720760-3] , and is sometimes connected to Catherine St Clair, met King David I in Scotland [http://www.philipcoppens.com/rosslyn_excursions.html The Stone Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel] . The Order established a seat at Balantrodoch, now Temple, Midlothian on the South Esk (River Esk, Lothian). In 1189 Alan FitzWalter, the 2nd Lord High Steward of Scotland was a benefactor of The Order.

In about the year 1187, William the Lion granted part of the Culter lands on the south bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, to the Knights Templar and between 1221 and 1236 Walter Bisset of Aboyne founded a Preceptory for the Knights Templar. In 1287 and 1288 they built a Chapel dedicated to Mary the Mother of Christ, known as St Mary's Chapel and in November 1309, the names of a William Middleton of the “Tempill House of Culter” was recorded [http://www.maryculterhousehotel.com/history.htmThe History of Maryculter House Hotel] [ [http://www.electricscotland.com/history/stirlingshire/chap7.htm Chapter VII. Religious Houses ] ] [ [http://www.skt.org.uk/Templars_Properties.html Scottish Knights Templar ] ] .

It has been claimed that in 1309 during the trial of the Templars in Scotland [The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber p 227 ISBN 0521856396] Bishop Lamberton of St Andrews, Guardian of Scotland 1299-1301 gave the Templars his protection, thought there is no evidence to support this. [ [http://www.scalan.co.uk/templarsinscotland.htm Home Page ] ] [http://heritage.scotsman.com/timelines.cfm?cid=1&id=41752005] [The Shadow of Solomon by Laurence Gardner p.116 Harper Element ISBN 0-00-720760-3] [Bruce's Secret Weapon by Archie McKerracher The Scots Magazine June 1991] . It should also be recorded that John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation [John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation edited by W F Skene ISBN 978-1897853054] a major Scottish mediaeval source makes no mention of the Templars at all.

The Knight Templars had considerable possessions in the County of Nairn, or Moray, in 1296. The following extract is taken from The History of Nairn:

In 1312 by the Papal Bull "Ad Providam" all assets of the Order of the Temple were given to Knights Hospitaller or Order of St. John except for Spain where they were succeeded by the Order of Montesa the Order of Calatrava, from which its first recruits were drawn, and Portugal where they became the Order of Christ and it has been claimed that in Scotland the Order combined with the Hospitallers and continued as The Order of St John and the Temple until the reformation, though there is no evidence to that effect. When Sir James Sandilands, Preceptor of the Order converted to Protestantism in 1553, the Order had been defunct for nearly 250 years. [Knights Templar: Their Rise and Fall, G.A. Campbell ISBN 0-7661-5658-3 page 335] .

ee also

*Scottish Knights Templar
*Rosslyn Chapel

References

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14493a.htm Knights Templar] Catholic Encyclopedia entry
* [http://www.templarhistory.com/ Templar History Magazine] Popular history of the Templars
* [http://sinclair.quarterman.org/who/henry2roslin.html] Sinclair Quarterman