The Knights Templar in Scotland the Creation of Myth - Part I

By now no Freemason can be unaware of the popular theory that modern Freemasonry is in some way connected to the Medieval Order of Knights Templar (c.1118 – 1312.)

The author, whilst reading a popular book which expounded this hypothesis, was confronted by the statement:

‘Historians – especially Masonic historians – had long sought to either prove or disprove, definitively, the alleged survival of the Templars in Scotland after the Order had been officially suppressed elsewhere. But these historians had looked for (and in) documentation, ‘not on the ground’. Not surprisingly, they had found no conclusive evidence one way or the other, because most of the relevant documentation had been lost, destroyed, suppressed, falsified or deliberately discredited’.

                                                                                                                The Temple and the Lodge

                                                                                                                Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh

This has enormous implications as it claims that the true origins of Freemasonry have been deliberately suppressed - although for what purpose, and who by, is not clear. The author examines this hypothesis as presented by popular authors and compares this with the history as written by Scottish Freemasons. In other words what did Scottish Freemasons themselves believe their origins to be and when, and under what circumstances, did the notion that the medieval Order of Knights Templar were, in some way, connected with Freemasonry first appear?

The Knights Templar in Scotland – The Creation of a Myth – Part II

Popular writers argue that evidence to support the claim that medieval Knights Templar were the first Freemasons exists ‘on the ground’ (e.g. the graveslabs at Kilmartin and Kilmoray) and also can be ‘gleaned’ from other, non-Masonic, sources (e.g. accounts of the battle of Bannockburn (1314), and the writings of various non-Masons etc.)

This subject therefore falls naturally into two parts, the first having been described above. The second part considers the evidence (primarily physical) used by popular writers to support their hypotheses. Thus the lecture will discuss the Knights Templar from c.1291 and the physical evidence which, it is claimed, proves that they had a continued existence, in Scotland, after 1307.

The lecture will being the debate up to the present time and will consider the implications for the future of Masonic research.