Warriors and Bankers: Lesson 4
“The Retreat to Scotland”
Please read the Chapter 4 entitled “The Retreat to Scotland” of Butler andDafoe’s book, The Warriors and The Bankers. Then answer the questionsand try the exercise following the essay below.
Many historians believe the Templars retreated to Scotland following theirexile from France, but as we’ve looked at in earlier chapters this theoryis disputed by other scholars. Perhaps only a few or even none of the fleeingFrench Templars ever made it to Scotland. There was already a strong Templarpresence there before 1307 because the Templars had strong ties to Scotland.History tells us that Hughes de Payens – the first Grand Master of the Templars- was married to Catherine St. Clair, niece of Baron Henri St. Clair of Roslin.It was on Sinclair (St. Clair) land that the first Templar establishmentoutside either France or the Holy Land was built. Today it is the villageof Temple, so named after the Templars, which is southeast of Edinburgh.
Because of their ties to Baron St. Clair, the Templars became close to thenobility and royalty of Scotland. Then the English took over the Scottishthrone. Finally, a hero of Scotland – though of Norman descent, not Scottish- named Robert the Bruce, was able to take back the throne. There is a lotof evidence that Robert the Bruce was very interested in Templarism, thathe may have even been a Templar. His whole life was spent battling the English,but he longed for the Crusades. “So much so that at his death he had leftinstructions that his heart should be taken on Crusade, and buried in Jerusalem.”(p. 33) This was indeed attempted – by a St. Clair, no less – but it didn’tget any further than Spain, and is now back in Scotland at Melrose Abbey.
It had been said that Templars leaving France were fighting at the side ofRobert the Bruce. This is a fantastic and romantic tale, but as illustratedearlier, it’s probably not true. However, it is generally accepted that thereWERE Templars fighting there. It’s only logical to assume that these Templarswere Scottish Templars, which only goes to show how widespread the orderwas at the time. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the Templarswere in Scotland – especially after the finding of a Templar graveyard inArgyllshire by authors Baigent and Leigh.
Even though Robert the Bruce was threatened with excommunication from theRoman Catholic Church if he didn’t persecute the Templars, he very likelyallowed them to fight at his side anyway. He had everything to lose to theEnglish already, so excommunication from a church that was now deemed corruptand secular by the Templars was probably not at the forefront of his mind.He was probably focusing more on the threat of losing Scotland to the English,and the Bruce must surely have known that a Templar presence would increasehis odds of maintaining control.
The St. Clairs have now come to be called the Sinclairs. It was Henry Sinclairwho made the famous trip to the New World, lending more evidence to the ideathat the Templars knew where the New World was and fled to it when persecutedby the Roman Catholic hierarchy. It was also Henry’s grandson, William Sinclair,who built Rosslyn Chapel, which stands on Templar land south of Edinburgh.It is certainly not like a conventional church, and experts all seem to agreeit is the location where Templarism spawned Freemasonry.
Rosslyn Chapel was never completed, which lends evidence to the theoriesof authors Knight and Lomas. They believe that William Sinclair deliberatelyleft the chapel unfinished, in remembrance of the Templars’ famous excavationof the Temple mount in the Holy Land. If this is the case, it’s obvious thatTemplarism thrived in Scotland as late at the 15th century.
It is suggested that there were secrets locked in the structure of RosslynChapel, and possibly underneath the chapel as well. This is due to the sacrednature of Gothic architecture. These may have been the same secrets foundburied beneath the Temple mount in Jerusalem, though the secrets have yetto be discovered by historians and archaeologists.
Regardless of the meaning of the structure of Rosslyn Chapel, all of thesethings lend evidence to the widely accepted theory that the Templars werepresent in Scotland before 1307, during the campaign of Robert the Bruce,and even afterward.
Please copy and paste the following questions into an e-mail, insert youranswers, then send to the TemplarOfficers with the subject line: “W & B Lesson 4 Answers from______________ (your Templar name)”
1. T/F – The Templars in Scotland had to be French Templars.
2. Whom did Hughes de Payens marry?
3. T/F – The village of Temple is southeast of Edinburgh.
4. Which authors found a Templar graveyard in Argyllshire? [Extra credit:Which Mystery School textbook are these authors famous for?]
5. T/F – Robert the Bruce was Scottish.
6. Explain why Robert the Bruce wouldn’t have been particularly afraid ofbeing excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, and why he would havewanted / needed a Templar presence in Scotland.
7. T/F – The Gothic structure of Rosslyn Chapel may hold sacred secrets.
8. Explain why William Sinclair may have left Rosslyn Chapel deliberatelyunfinished.
9. T/F – The evidence says Templarism was eradicated worldwide after theFall of the Templars in 1307.
10. Which Sinclair made a trip to the New World? How is this significantwhen studying the Templars?
Essay 1. The chapter deals a little with Freemasonry, which wasn’t coveredin the above essay. Scotland was also one of the first countries to acceptCalvinism and to denounce the Roman Catholic Church. In a paragraph or two,explain how the Templar/Freemason connection may have influenced the denunciationof the Church.
Essay 2. You are an initiate of the New Knights Templar, so you are familiarwith some sacred geometry. As you can see from the reading, it was very importantto Templars of old, as well. It can be found in Rosslyn Chapel, and probablyin other Templar structures. Think back and describe some of the sacred geometryused in your initiation, or other sacred geometry in your life.
Exercise – Do you have any Gothic structures near you? If you do, and it’saccessible, we highly encourage you to go and meditate near the structure.Walls do talk, and many of the sacred geometrical secrets are hidden in otherGothic structures, not just Rosslyn Chapel. Go and meditate at one of thesestructures, and see if anything regarding the Templars comes to you. If youdon’t have a Gothic structure near you, try to find a picture of one, NotreDame Cathedral or even Rosslyn Chapel! You can look online, print it out,then meditate on the picture. Try to “go” there. Focus on the building andmentally construct it in front of you in 3D. Feel free to enhance it a little.Build it. This is part of the “craft” of freemasonry, the “building” of templesand sacred structures. So stare at the picture, try to “enter” it, and seehow it “feels” inside. Do you see anyone, sense any presence, smell or feelanything? Write out your impressions.
Compiled by Sir Mark Raines
