Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars

ADMIRAL SIR SIDNEY SMITH.

Engraved by W. Greatbatch from a picture by F. Opie R.A.

Thus the very ancient and sovereign Order of the Temple is in full and chivalric existence, like those Orders of Knighthood which were either formed in imitation of it, or had their origin in the same noble principles of chivalry. It has mourned as well as flourished, but there is in its nature and constitution a principle of vitality which has carried it through all the storms of fate; its continuance, by representatives as well as by title, is as indisputable a fact as the existence of any other chivalric fraternity. The Templars of these days claim no titular rank, yet their station is so far identified with that of the other Orders of Knighthood, that they assert equal purity of descent from the same bright source of chivalry; nor is it possible to impugn the legitimate claims to honourable estimation, which the modern brethren of the Temple derive from the antiquity and pristine lustre of their Order, without at the same time shaking to its centre the whole venerable fabric of knightly honour.

After this short account of the continuation of the Order, which we have extracted from Mill's Chivalry, it may be interesting to describe the present nature and objects of the Institution; and we shall accordingly make a brief abstract of the statutes established by the Convent-General held at Versailles in 1705, under the Grand Mastership of the Regent Duke of Orleans, and by succeeding General Convocations, so far as they relate to these subjects. The Order of the Fellow Soldiers of the Temple consists of two distinct classes, termed a Superior and Inferior Militia; the former comprising all Knights consecrated according to rites, rules, and usages, with their Esquires; and the latter, the humbler brethren or persons admitted propter artem, and the candidates, or as they are designated, the postulants for the honours of Chivalry. Except as a serving brother,29 no one is eligible even to the lower grade, who is not of distinguished rank in society, which in Great Britain is understood to imply that station in life which would entitle a gentleman to attend the Court of his Sovereign. The Candidate must moreover be strongly recommended by Sponsors as a Christian of liberal education, eminent for virtue, morals, and good breeding, and in no case is a scrutiny into these qualifications dispensed with, unless the aspirant be a Knight of Christ, a Teutonic Knight, or the descendant of a Knight Templar. Should he be ambitious of the rank of Novice Esquire, which usually precedes Knighthood, he is farther called on to produce proofs of nobility in the fourth generation; and a deficiency in this requisite can only be supplied by a formal decree of the Grand Master, conferring on him the nobility necessary for his reception. Considerable fees are paid by all entrants; and members, on being promoted to the equestrian honours of the Order, are expected to make an oblation to the Treasury, the amount of which cannot be less than four drams of gold,30 but generally very far exceeds that sum. Before receiving the vow of profession, which is still administered to all Chevaliers,31 the Candidate makes a solemn declaration either that he does not belong to the Order of Malta,32 or that he abjures the spirit of rival hostility which actuated the Knights of St. John in former days against the Templars. These preliminaries being arranged, his petition is finally decided on, either in a Conventual house, or by the special legate of the Grand Master, in whose name only his reception can be proclaimed, and once armed a Knight, and consecrated a Chevalier of the Temple, he cannot on any pretence whatever renounce the Order.33

At the head of the Hierarchy of the Order, ranks the Convent-General, or assembly of the Knights, but the executive power is vested in the Grand Master, whose authority is almost unbounded. He is elected for life from among the Knights, and it is declared impious to substitute a successor to him unless he be deceased, or shall have voluntarily abdicated; he may even nominate his successor by testament or otherwise to the Convent-General. He can create new houses and dignities on the Order, cancelling those already constituted, remit penalties, and confer all benefices and offices, the collation to which is not specially provided for in the statutes. He confirms all Diplomas of profession and patents of appointment, and may send legates possessing powers delegated by himself to different countries. His interpretation of the laws is valid, even against a statute of the Convent-General, and he alone has the power of proposing alterations in the rules to that assembly.

Next in honour to the Grand Master, unless he has publicly appointed a delegate or successor, are his four Deputes, or Vicarii Magistrales, who are nominated by himself, and removable at his pleasure. After these follow the Members of the Grand Council, which consists of the Supreme Preceptor, and eight Grand Preceptors, the Primate of the Order, and his four Coadjutors General, with all the Grand Priors, Ministers, and other principal dignitaries that may be present at the Magisterial City. Each nation of the Order is presided over by its Grand Prior, appointed for life, whose language comprises the various subordinate divisions of Bailiwicks or Provinces; Commanderies; Convents of Knights and Noviciate Esquires; Abbeys of Ladies and Canonesses; Chapters of Postulants, and Conclaves of Initiation. Except in special cases, no Chevalier is eligible for a Commandery before the expiration of two years from his having obtained the honours of knighthood, and in like manner no Commander can be appointed a Bailli, nor any Bailli a Grand Prior, before the same period has intervened.

In order that the objects of the Institution may be distinctly understood, we shall now proceed to translate a decree by the present Grand Master, bearing date the 4th September 1826, in explanation of the Vow of Profession which has been already referred to, observing, at the same time, that the Order of the Temple, being exclusively devoted to the Christian religion, cannot be considered in the slightest degree connected with Free Masonry, which, it is well known, welcomes equally to its bosom the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahommedan, requiring from each only a belief in a Divine Being, with a just sense of moral rectitude and conscientious obligation.

The decree alluded to states, that as the Vow contains many dispositions which, misconstructed, might appear incompatible with the advance of knowledge and manners of the age, it is declared that Candidates sign it under the following interpretation: —

1st, That by the Vow of Poverty, the Order does not mean to submit the Chevaliers to an absolute poverty, but to remind them that they ought always to be ready to share their fortune with the unfortunate, and to sacrifice it for the wants of the Order.

2d, That the vow of chastity, and of abhorring lewdness, is the solemn engagement of fulfilling the obligation that society imposes on all men to labour to overcome their vicious propensities, in order not to outrage either decency or morality.

3d, That the obedience due to the Grand Master, and to the dignitaries of the Order, does not exclude the duty imposed on every chevalier of conforming himself, as a man, to natural right, and of obeying, as a citizen, the government of his country.

4th, Lastly, That the Templars are not actuated by the desire of material conquests, – that their principal aim is not to recover the dominions of which the Order was despoiled, or the earth which received the body of Jesus the Christ, but to reconquer to the doctrine for which was precipitated into the tomb that divine preceptor of men, – the empire which it always had over the people when it was revealed to them in all its purity, – in a word, that the Templars are not ambitious of subduing the physical universe to their domination, but the nations that cover it to Christian morality.

It has frequently been asserted, that the Templars have always professed a religion peculiar to themselves, and much at variance with almost every religious creed at present in existence, but on this subject it is only necessary to say here, that although they possess many religious documents of an extraordinary nature, and, amongst others, a very ancient Greek manuscript of Evangile and the Epistle of St. John, differing from the version contained in the vulgate, yet no chevalier is obliged to subscribe to them unless he be a candidate for certain offices in the Order. This subject is fully explained in a work lately published at Paris, "Recherches Historiques sur les Templiers et sur leurs Croyances Religieuses par J. Plivard, officier superieur d'Artillerie;" and, for the present, we are unwilling to enter upon it, not having as yet received the proces verbal of the Convent-General of the Order, lately assembled at Paris, to which the following question, under the authority of the Grand Master, was submitted: – "L'ordre etant Cosmopolite, et d'après le veu de profession dans la Chevalerie, est il convenable de laisser subsister dans les statuts des dispositions par lesquelles certains officiers de l'Ordre ne pouvent être choisis que parmis les Chevaliers professant la religion Johannite?"

The habit of the Order34 consists, as formerly, of the white tunic and mantle, with the red cross on the left breast; a white cap with a red feather; a white silk sash fringed with red; white pantaloons, buff-boots, gold spurs and an equestrian sword with a silver hilt. The dress differs somewhat according to the rank of the individual, but every Chevalier is bound to wear the gold ring of profession, with the Cross of the Order, and the letters, P. D. E. P.35 together with his own name, and the date of his reception engraven thereon. Each Knight also is decorated with the conventual cross or jewel of the Order, which consists of a gold cross of eight points enamelled white, surmounted by the Grand Master's crown, and bearing on its centre a cross pattee enamelled gules.

In concluding these observations, we regret to say that the Order of the Temple, notwithstanding its undeniable claims to honourable distinction, has never enjoyed much consideration amongst our countrymen. Its exclusive character, together with the great expense and difficulty which attend admission into its ranks, no Englishman being legitimately eligible, unless formally recommended by the illustrious Grand Prior of England, has raised against it a host of enemies. Hence, calumnies have been propagated against it, and an institution perfectly unconnected with politics, and actuated by the purest principles of Christian Philanthropy, 36 has been represented as engendering false notions of Government and wild infidelity. But the registers of the Temple contain the respected names of Massillon and Fenelon; Frederick the Great, and Napoleon37 sanctioned its ceremonies, and honoured its officers; and even in these days, princes of the blood, and some of the most illustrious nobles, of our own and other countries, have not disdained to display the humble ring of profession, along with the gorgeous decorations of the Garter and the Golden Fleece. Scattered over the mighty empire of Great Britain, there are not more than forty subjects of Her Majesty who are Knights Templars; and the whole Members of the Order do not probably at this moment exceed three hundred; but we assert, without fear of contradiction, that no institution equally limited can boast of a greater number of distinguished and honourable associates.

TEMPLARS OF SCOTLAND

CHAP. V.

The Knights Templars of Scotland

The Knights of the Temple were introduced into Scotland before 1153 by King David the First, who established them at Temple on the Southesk,38 and who was so attached to the brotherhood, that we are told by an old historian "Sanctus David de prœclara Militia Templi optimos fratres secum retinens, eos diebus et noctibus morum suorum fecit esse custodes."39 Malcolm, the grandson of David, conferred on the brethren "in liberam et puram Elymosynam unum plenarium Toftum in quolibet Burgo totius terræ," which foundation was enlarged by his successors, William the Lion and Alexander the Second. The charter of the latter is still in the possession of Lord Torphichen, whereby he grants and confirms "Deo et fratribus Templi Salomonis de Jerusalem omnes illas rectitudines, libertatis et consuetudines quas Rex David et Rex Malcolm et decessus pater meus Rex Willielmus eis dederunt et concesserunt, sicut scripta eorum authentica attestant." This curious document, after enumerating certain of these rights and liberties, scilicet, – the king's sure peace; the privilege of buying, selling, and trading with all his subjects; freedom from all tribute and toll, &c. proceeds "Et nullus eis injuriam faciat, vel fieri consentiat super meam defensionem, Et ubicunque in tota terra mea ad judiorum (q. judicium) venerint, causa eorum primum tractata, et prius rectum suum habeant, et postea faciant. Et nullus ponat hominem predictorum fratrum nostrorum ad foram judicii si noluerint, &c. Et omnes libertates et consuetudines quas ipsi per alias regiones habent in terra mea ubique habeant."

These general privileges, throughout Europe, were very extensive. The Templars were freed from all tythes to the church, and their priests were entitled to celebrate mass, and to absolve from sins to the same extent as bishops, a privilege which was strongly objected to by the latter. Their houses possessed the right of sanctuary or asylum for criminals. They could be witnesses in their own cause, and were exempted from giving testimony in the cause of others. They were relieved by the papal bulls from all taxes, and from subjection and obedience to any secular power. By these great immunities, the Order was rendered in a manner independent, but it would appear, nevertheless, that both the Templars and Hospitallers considered themselves subjects of the countries to which they belonged, and took part in the national wars, for we find by the Ragman Roll, "Freere Johan de Sautre, Mestre de la Chevalier del Temple en Ecoce," and another Brother, swearing fealty to Edward I. in 1296; and the author of the Annals of Scotland, taking notice of the Battle of Falkirk, 12th July 1298, informs us, that the only persons of note who fell were Brian le Jay, Master of the English Templars, and the Prior of Torphichen in Scotland, a Knight of another Order of religious soldiery. The former of these Chevaliers met his death by the hand of the redoubted Sir William Wallace, who advanced alone from the midst of his little band, and slew him with a single blow, although the historian adds, that Sir Brian le Jay was a Knight Templar of high military renown, who had shewn himself most active against the Scots.40

Little is known of the farther History of the Knights Templars in Scotland from the time of Alexander II. down to the beginning of the 14th century, excepting that their privileges were continued to them by succeeding Kings, whose bounty and piety were in those ages continually directed towards the religious Orders. By their endowments, and the bequests of the nobles, the possessions of the Order came to be so extensive, that their lands were scattered "per totum regnum Scotiæ, a limitibus versus Angliam, et sic discendo per totum regnum usque ad Orchades." Besides the House of the Temple in Mid-Lothian, the following Establishments or Priories of the Order may be enumerated, viz. St. Germains, in East Lothian; Inchynan, in Renfrewshire; Maryculter, in Kincardineshire; Aggerstone, in Stirlingshire; Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire; Derville or Derval, in Ayrshire; Dinwoodie, in Dumfriesshire; Red-abbey-stedd, in Roxburghshire, and Temple Liston, in West-Lothian.

The date of the spoliation of the Templars of Scotland, corresponds of course with that of the persecution of the Order in other countries, and it is to the credit of our forefathers that we can obtain no account of any Member of the Brotherhood having been subjected to personal torture or suffering amongst them; their estates, however, appear to have been duly transferred to the possession of their rivals, the Knights Hospitallers; into which Order it is not improbable that, like their Brethren in England, a number of the Templars entered.

In November 1309, John de Soleure, the Papal Legate, and William, Bishop of St. Andrews, held an Inquisitorial Court at the Abbey of Holyrood to investigate the charges against the Templars, but Walter de Clifton, Grand Preceptor of the Order in North Britain,41 and William de Middleton, were the only two Knights who appeared before the Tribunal, the proceedings of which, as recorded at length in Wilkins' Consilia, make no allusion to any punishment being inflicted, so that we may fairly conclude they were soon set at liberty. The Preceptor, in his examination, readily confessed that the rest of the Brethren had fled, and dispersed themselves propter scandalium exortum contra ordinem, and we are told by a learned French writer, that having deserted the Temple, they had ranged themselves under the banners of Robert Bruce, by whom they were formed into a new Order, the observances of which were based on those of the Templars, and became, according to him, the source of Scottish Free Masonry.42 This statement corresponds with the celebrated Charter of Larmenius already referred to, in which the Scottish Templars are excommunicated as Templi desertores, anathemate percussos; and along with the Knights of St. John, dominiorum Militiæ spoliatores, placed for ever beyond the pale of the Temple, extra gyrum Templi nunc, et in futurum; and it is likewise supported in some measure by the authority of the accurate historian of Free Masonry, M. Thory, who, in his "Acta Latomorum," states that Robert Bruce founded the Masonic Order of Heredom de Kilwinning, after the Battle of Bannockburn, reserving to himself and his successors on the Throne of Scotland, the office and title of Grand Master. Scottish tradition has, moreover, always been in favour of this origin of the Ancient Mother Kilwinning Lodge, which certainly at one time possessed other degrees of Masonry besides those of St. John; and it is well known to our Masonic readers, that there are even in our own days at Edinburgh, a few individuals claiming to be the representatives of the Royal Order established by Bruce, which, though now nearly extinct in this country,43 still flourishes in France, where it was established by Charter from Scotland, and even by the Pretender himself, in the course of last century, and is now conferred as the highest and most distinguished grade of Masonry, sanctioned by the Grand Orient, under the title of the Rose Croix de Heredom de Kilwinning. It may be interesting to add, that the introduction on the Continent of this ancient branch of our national Masonry, has been commemorated by a splendid medal struck at Paris, bearing, amongst other devices, the Royal Arms and Motto of Scotland; and that the Brethren of the Lodge of Constancy at Arras, still preserve with reverence an original charter of the Order, granted to their Chapter in 1747, by Charles Edward Stuart, and signed by that unfortunate Prince himself as the representative of the Scottish Kings.44 Nor can any thing indicate more strongly the high estimation in which the chivalry of the Rosy Cross of Kilwinning is held in France, than the fact that the Prince Cambaceres, Arch-chancellor of the Empire, presided over it as Provincial Grand Master, (the office of supreme head being inherent in the Crown of Scotland,) for many years; and that he was succeeded in his dignity, if we mistake not, by the head of the illustrious family of Choiseul.

But whether the Scottish Templars really joined the victorious standard of Robert Bruce, and with him, as our countrymen would fain hope, fought and conquered at Bannockburn, or whether the majority of them transferred themselves along with the possessions of the Order, to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, certain it is, that from the time of the persecution, the Order of the Temple, together with all its wealth, became merged in that of the Hospitallers, though certainly not to such a degree as to obliterate all distinct traces of the Red Cross Knights. On the contrary, we find by a public document recorded entire in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, and dated two centuries after the incorporation of the Orders, that King James the Fourth confirmed all former grants sancto Hospitali de Jerusalem, et fratribus ejusdem militiæ Templi Salomonis, – a satisfactory proof that the Order, although proscribed by the Pope, was still retained conjointly with that of the Hospital, in law papers at least.45

The Knights of St. John had also been introduced into Scotland by King David the First, and had a charter granted to them by Alexander the Second, two years after that to the Templars. The Preceptory of Torphichen, in West Lothian, was their first, and continued to be their chief residence, and by the accession of the Temple lands and other additions, their property at the time of the Reformation came to be immense. When that event took place, the chief dignitary or Grand Preceptor of the Order in Scotland, with a seat as a Peer in Parliament, was Sir James Sandilands, a cadet of the family of Calder, whose head, as is well known to readers of Scottish History, was the private friend of John Knox, and one of the first persons of distinction to embrace the reformed religion. We might suspect, that even before the promulgation of the statute 1560, prohibiting all allegiance within the realm to the See of Rome, the former personage had become indifferent to the charge confided to him by the Order; for a rescript from the Grand Master and Chapter at Malta, dated so early as the 1st of October 1557, and addressed to him, is still on record, wherein they complain "that many of the possessions, jurisdictions, &c. were conveyed or taken away from them contrary to the statutes and oaths, and to the damnation of the souls, as well of those who possessed them, as of those who, without sufficient authority, yielded them up; producing thereby great detriment to religion and the said Commandery;" but be this as it may, we are certain that the conversion of Sir James Sandilands, or as he was termed, the Lord of St. John of Jerusalem in Scotland, was followed by his surrender to the Crown of the whole possessions of the combined Templars and Hospitallers, which having been declared forfeited to the State on the ground that "the principal cause of the foundation of the Preceptory of Torphichen, Fratribus Hospitalis Hierosolimitani, Militibus Templi Salomonis, was the service enjoined to the Preceptor on oath to defend and advance the Roman Catholic Religion," were by a process of transformation well understood by the Scottish Parliament of those days, converted into a Temporal Lordship, which the unfortunate Queen Mary, then only twenty years of age, and newly established amongst her Scottish subjects, in consideration of a payment of ten thousand crowns of the Sun, and of his fidele, nobile, et gratuitum, servitium, nobis nostrisque patri et matri bonæ memoriæ, conferred on, or rather retransferred to the Ex Grand Preceptor himself and his heirs with the title of Torphichen, which, although the estate is much dilapidated, still remains in his family.46 All this was transacted acted on the petition of Sir James Sandilands himself, with the formal approbation of the National Legislature; and after renouncing the profession of a soldier-monk, we find that the last of Scottish Preceptors of St. John became married and lived to a good old age, having died so late as 1596 without issue, when the title of Torphichen passed to his grand nephew, the lineal descendant of his elder brother, Sir John Sandilands of Calder.

We shall not pause to consider whether a body of Masonic Templars unconnected with the Hospitallers, and representing the Royal Order which Bruce is said to have instituted from the relict of the Ancient Knights, has been perpetuated in Scotland since the days of Bannockburn, having no means of illustrating so obscure a subject; but, with all due respect to the learned French writer, whose authority we have already quoted, we may observe, that the Masonic Tradition of the country does not connect the Templars with Bruce's Order in any way whatever, but, on the contrary, invariably conjoins those Knights with the Hospitallers, and consequently points to the period of the renunciation of Popery, as the time when they first sought refuge, and a continuance of their Chivalry among the "Brethren of the Mystic Tie." The Chevaliers also of the Rosy Cross of Kilwinning in France, own no alliance with Masonic Templary, which they consider a comparatively modern invention; nor do there exist, so far as we know, any authentic records anterior to the Reformation, to prove a connection between the Knights Templars and Freemasons in any part of the world, though we must not omit to mention, that a formal document in the Latin language is said to be deposited in a Lodge at Namur on the Meuse, purporting to be a proclamation by the Freemasons of Europe, "of the Venerable Society sacred to John," assembled by representatives from London, Edinburgh, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Venice, Brussels, and almost every other Capital City, at Cologne on the Rhine in 1535; and signed, amongst others, by the famous Melancthon, in which, after declaring that "to be more effectually vilified and devoted to public execration, they had been accused of reviving the Order of the Templars," they solemnly affirm, that "the Freemasons of St. John derive not their origin from the Templars, nor from any other Order of Knights; neither have they any, or the least communication with them directly, or through any manner of intermediate tie, being far more ancient," &c. – all of which would imply, that some sort of connection was understood in those days to exist between certain of the Masonic Fraternities and the Knights Templars. A Copy of this document was sent to Edinburgh in 1826, by M. de Marchot, an Advocate at Nivelles, and a translation of it has been inserted under the attestation of a Notary Public in the Records of the Ancient Lodge of Edinburgh, (Mary's Chapel); but we have little faith in German documents on Free Masonry, unless supported by other testimony; and as no Historian of the Craft makes the slightest allusion to the great Convocation of the Brethren at Cologne, in the sixteenth century, rather than ask the reader to believe that it ever took place, we shall presume that M. de Marchot may have been deceived.47