Scottish Knights Templar

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The Eight Pointed Cross of The Scottish Knights Templar from the Scottish Knights Templar website [1]
The Eight Pointed Cross of The Scottish Knights Templar from the Scottish Knights Templar website [1]

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 and Portugal where they became the Order of Christ and in Scotland the Order combined with the Hospitallers and continued as The Order of St John and the Temple until the reformation. When Sir James Sandilands, Preceptor of the Order converted to Protestantism, the Order is thought to have ceased.

While there are myths, legends and anecdotes connecting the Knights Templar in Scotland to the Battle of Bannockburn they are derived from The Legend of Bruce and the Legend of D'Aumont. The Order of Knights of St. Andrew or of the Thistle was not created by Bruce in 1314, but by James II in 1440. Degrees in Freemasonry like the Royal Order of Scotland allude to the story of Rosslyn and the Scottish Knights Templar. The fable is supposed to have been created by Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay in the 18th century. Masonic Historian D Murray Lyon wrote "The fraternity of Kilwinning never at any period practiced or acknowledged other than the Craft degrees; neither does there exist any tradition worthy of the name, local or national, nor has any authentic document yet been discovered that can in the remotest degree be held to identify Robert Bruce with the holding of Masonic Courts, or the institution of a secret society at Kilwinning."

The St Clair, later Sinclair, Earls of Rosslyn or Roslin have also been connected to Templarism in Scotland, but Mark Oxbrow and Ian Robertson in their recent book, 'Rosslyn and the Grail', note that the St Clair of Rosslyn testified against the Templars at their trial in Edinburgh in 1309. Historian Louise Yeoman also says the Rosslyn/Knights Templar connection is false and that Rosslyn Chapel was built by William Sinclair so that Mass could be said for the souls of his family. The Sinclair well documented connections are with Scottish Freemasonry which has a Templar degree. William St Clair, (William Sinclair) 3rd Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin and 1st Earl of Caithness built Rosslyn Chapel. A later William Sinclair of Roslin became the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. See Masonic Knights Templarand Clan Sinclair.

John Graham of Claverhouse, "Bonnie Dundee", was killed at the Battle of Killiecrankie on 27th July 1689. He is said to have been the Grand Master of a Jacobite "Convent" the Temple in the Montrose area, on the authority of Dom Calvet and was found to be wearing the Grand Cross of the Order under his breast plate. After his death the Mar is said to have held the office, and then Atholl.

Templarism experienced a revival of interest in the eighteenth century through Freemasonry with a Scottish influence. The first record of this is in Ramsay's Oration in Paris in 1737. Andrew Michael Ramsay was tutor to the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward Stuart. He claimed that Freemasonry had begun among crusader knights and that they had formed themselves into Lodges of St John. The next development was with Karl Gotheif, Baron Von Hund, and Alten-Grotkau, who had apparently been introduced to the concept by the Jacobite Lord Kilmarnock, and received into a Templar Chapter by a mysterious "Knight of the Red Feather". Baron von Hund established a new Masonic rite called the "Strict Templar Observance". The "Knight of the Red Feather" has been identified subsequently as Alexander Seton better known as Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton, a prominent Freemason in the Jacobite movement.

The modern revival of Templarism in Scotland starts with Alexander Deuchar. The records of one of Scottish Freemasonry's most prestigious lodges, the St Mary's Chapel Lodge of Edinburgh, describe the visit of a "...deputation from the Grand Assembly of the High Knights Templar in Edinburgh… headed by their most worshipful Grand Master, Alexander Deuchar...the first time for some hundred years that any Lodge of Freemasonry had been visited by an assembly of Knights Templar, headed by their Grand Master." This implies that there was an Order in existence 100 years earlier. In 1811 with a Charter from the Templar Grand Master in England, the Duke of Kent, Alexander Deuchar established the Grand Conclave of Knights of the Holy Temple and Sepulchre, and of St. John of Jerusalem. Controversially in 1836 "...it was proposed that non-Masons be admitted to the Order, at the same time the ritual was adapted in order to allow this to happen. Previously only Royal Arch Masons in Good Standing were allowed to join. Only the Royal Grand Conclave was allowed to admit non-Masons and these men were never members of any Encampments, only of Grand Conclave." This lead to a schism and a subsequent legal dispute which resulted in the disappearance of the Order known as Militae Templi Scotia [citation needed]. The modern non Masonic Order Militi Templi Scotia claims descent from Alexander Deuchar.

As in Europe with OSMTH Templarism in Scotland has developed as a non-Masonic Order. The Masonic Movement is the Royal Order of Scotland. There are today a number of small Groups of non-Masonic Knights Templar in Scotland, though not all claim descent from either the medieval Knights Templar in Scotland or Alexander Deuchar. There is no current affiliation from Scotland to the International Association of OSMTH.

While Knights Templar Internationally use the Cross pattée, the Scottish Knights Templar currently use the Eight Pointed Cross coloured red more commonly known as the Maltese Cross, of the Knights Hospitaller or Order of St. John. The current Scottish Templar use of this cross probably dates to the 1960s although the Cross itself is much older.

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Edward Corp (Editor) ISBN 0-7546-3324-1 page 104

"In 1811-1812, Alexander Deuchar, Eminent Commander of Edinburgh Encampment, No 31, under the Early Grand Constitution, established what is termed a schismatic body with the style and title of the Supreme Grand Conclave of Scotland. He is said to have assumed the Office of Grand Master for life, notwithstanding the displeasure of his associates. The Conclave appears to have been moribund in 1830. In 1836 it was remodelled, vacating its Masonic position and admitting non-Masons to membership, including the Bishop of Aberdeen and the Duke of Leeds."
  • The Royal Masonic Cyclopedia 1877 by Kenneth R H MacKenzie Page 156 ISBN 076612610
"DEUCHAR CHARTERS.-So called from Alexander Deuchar, an engraver, who was the principal mover in the establishment of the Grand Conclave of Knight Templar in Scotland, and its first Grand Master in the early part of this century. Deuchar seems to have become acquainted with Knights Templarism, in consequence of communications he had with Fratres serving in the Shropshire Militia, who had been dubbed under a warrant emanating from Dublin. This corps was quartered in Edinburgh in 1798 ; and from the Fratres of this corps it is most probable that the first Grand Assembly of Knights Templar was opened in Edinburgh ; this, however gave place to the Grand Assembly of High Knights Templar, working Under a charter No 31 from the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland, of which Deuchar was Grand Master. But these Deuchar Charters were clearly extra-Masonic, as they authorised Encampments to install Knights Templar and Knights of St John of Jerusalem, on the one condition that that such Encampments should not hold any communion or intercourse with any Chapter or Encampment, or body assuming that name, holding meetings of Knights Templar, under a Master Mason's Charter This body, however, lost its authority, in consequence of having nothing over which to exercise it, about 1837."

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