Did the Knights Templar Fight at the Battle of Bannockburn (1314)?
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 2022-06-26

Did the Knights Templar Fight at the Battle of Bannockburn (1314)?

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Did the Knights Templar fight alongside Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn? The Knights Templar, also known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, was a Catholic miliary order founded in 1119 AD until it was disbanded by Pope Clement V in 1312. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was where their headquarters were.  

Templars themselves had to pledge celibacy and poverty. They were essentially monks, but with one major difference: they fought. The Templars were considered an elite fighting unit during the Crusades, bearing the red cross on their chests. At their height, the Knights Templar was one of wealthiest and most powerful organizations on the planet. Among other services, the Templars essentially existed as an early form of a bank. Many Kings and leaders borrowed from the Templars and were indebted to them. 

The Templars established an early form of a money exchange system. If you were travelling from Paris to Jerusalem for instance, you could enter a Templar branch in Paris and exchange your gold or cash for a Templar letter of credit. You could then travel to Jerusalem with only this letter, free from the threat of being robbed of your gold or cash on the road, and then enter a Templar building in Jerusalem and hand your letter over in exchange for gold or cash. 

But what has any of this got to do with the Battle of Bannockburn? Well, there is a fringe theory that former Knights Templars helped Bruce win at Bannockburn. Robert Ferguson, an American lawyer, writer, and former vice-president of his local Clan Ferguson Society, conducted a statistical analysis and argues that 29 to 48 battle-seasoned Templar knights ended up in Scotland fighting alongside Bruce at Bannockburn. 

In the years prior to the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Templars had been on the run. In 1307, King Philip IV of France, who was heavily indebted to the Templars, ordered the arrest and persecution of any Templar in his country. A few years later, Pope Clement V disbanded the order. This meant that many Templars were forced to flee mainland Europe, and Ferguson argues that Scotland was one of those destinations they fled to. 

Sources:

Scotsman - How crusading Templars gave Bruce the edge at Bannockburn https://www.scotsman.com/news/how-crusading-templars-gave-bruce-edge-bannockburn-2443121 

BBC News – From Jerusalem to Rosslyn: The Templars in Scotland https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/scotland/lothian/ 

BBC News, The warrior monks who invented banking The warrior monks who invented banking - BBC News 

Chapters:
0:00 Knights Templar History
1:33 Bannockburn 
3:16 Support 

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