Roslin-WhatBattle.com 2007 Update

 

Recent discussion (March 2007) re the Templars and their arrival in the Highlands and Islands, and subsequent part in Bannockburn, has not destroyed my thoughts on Bannockburn. It just adds more to the discussion. Did anyone actually believe their school teachers saying that the vast, heavily armoured and well trained English army would run away from a few hingers oan?

In Bob Cooper's "Rosslyn Hoax?" book, he does an extremely powerful asassination of long held beliefs. But he also comes up with the number of the "Wee Folk" as 15 thousand! OK . I applaud Bob's detail and work on the subject. If we accept his disposal of the large KT involvement at Bannockburn, mainly by saying they never came to Scotland in the first place, we are still left with his 15000 wee folk, which is DOUBLE the accepted number of Scots actual fighters. I deliberatly say fighters, not an army trained to work together as such, not well equiped or armoured, but just the likes of you and me. Whatever your age or profession.The Scots did not have an army.Threatened again and again, our people come together in times of need. Maybe that should be past tense. Apart from our "army" the wee folk were those that had no ability , weaponry , strength or stamina, or perhaps were the REME of the day, catering corps, all the essential but non-fighting manpower needed to provide support for the troops, plus wives, kids and anyone else who was present.

So where did the KT involvement theory come from. Our old oral history and what little written evidence that the academics will accept just leads to more confusion. It must be agreed that there had been a huge number of Templars in Scotland from its inception on 1118 to 1307, with all the place names still denoting their old property and the well documented involvement of the Sinclairs, Montgomerys, Bruces, and so many others.

After the great defeats inflicted in The Holy Land these numbers would have been diminished and past it! Maybe even over 40 years old! So if none of them escaped from La Rochelle or elsewhere, there could still have been quite a few local Templars around Scotland. maybe old, infirm, hiding their identification or previous occupation having been proscribed by the authorities and the Pope. Given their military knowledge and experience it would be difficult for them to watch such a situation develop without realising that the input of the "wee folk" could make a considerable difference. But the "wee folk" were leaderless.

We hear that they used sheets to give the appearance of banners and charged at the English Army. Nowadays we would think of sheets as being white and the Templar war flag or "beauseant" was black and white so it would not take much to make simple sheets combined with black to look like KT banners at a distance. So instead of simple wee folk they would look like a hugh number of trained soldiers with Templar leaders.

Bruce's tactics at Bannockburn put the English in a position that their heavy cavalry were unable to manouver and the treacherous nature of the boggy ground made it just as difficult for their foot soldiers to move about. The press of action of man against man on low ground meant visibility would be limited and the sight of such a mass of people waving banners in the slightly higher hills around the battle site could have been the turning point that made the English crack and run. Just as at the Battle of Roslin, where the invader had nowhere to run to. Simple souls wanting to defend their country, led be a few Crusader / Templar survivors made the difference.

My previous thoughts on Bannockburn was that the 80 or so Templars represented by the Kilmartin gravestones, plus their men, were the catalyst that caused the English to run. Even only 10 men each, times 80 would have given 800 trained soldiers. Mr Coopers dismissal of the Kilmartin theory still leaves an unknown number of Scottish, or Scotland based Templars, possibly survivors of the Holy Land debacles, whose late involvement leading the "wee folk" previously unnumbered but now given as 15000.

Scotland batles against the English have always been 2or 3 or more against each Scot as again shown at Roslin 30000 against 6 or 7 thousand and similar numbers were at involved at Roslin and Bannocburn. The arrival of 15000 Scots of whatever quality, led by however few Templars , apparantly flying the Templar war flag, would have appeared to drastically alter the balance in favour of Scotlands defenders and made the English think again.

Bob has looked at the paper trail only, as academics do. Wars are won and lost and the winner tells the story. At Roslin and Bannockburn, that propaganda is what we are left with. Bruce won the throne after Roslin, so his political enemy's victory was played down. He won at Bannockburn so it had to be portrayed as his victory and he then did an amazing job in pulling Scotland together so no-one wants to disagree with tales of his heroic struggle on our behalf.

The involvement of the Templars or not, and the numbers of the "Wee Folk" taking part can still be argued about.

Repositioning of Roslin Castle

After the Battle of Roslin, those English survivors worth it, were eventually ransomed. Others later died of their injuries and some survived by being of use to their captors and remained nearby. Remember ,of the 30,000, only 3,000 English returned home. One of the survivors , whose name is unknown to me, made the future of Roslin Chapel possible. Either being a captive awaiting the payment of his ransom. or some lesser soul otherwise on parole or simply in conversation with his gaolers, discussed the location of Roslin Castle in context with its defendability given the local geography. On the north side of the River Esk is a promontory, a ridge , sticking out and causing the river to flow around it like a peninsula. By barricading one end of the peninsula and building a castle there, provided a very strong defensible position. Hence the castle was built on its present position and now the internationally famous ROSLIN CHAPEL was founded in 1442 on the location of the previous castle. Without the Battle of Roslin we may never have had the chapel.

"The Rosslyn Hoax"

Viewing Rosslyn Chapel from a new perspective , by Robert L.D. Cooper ISBN0-85318-255-8 published by Lewis Masonic and is available at Grand Lodge in George Street, Edinburgh, and many bookshops. Bob is a Past Master of Lodge Edinburgh Castle where I am an honorary member. I recommend this book and all Bob's hard work in its detailed arguements evidenced and with the largest bibliography I have ever seen. This is the only book I've named in the website!

As in all my work , I invite and hope for, discussion re this subject.

The website has been revived and modernised by Alan Rudland of NetDominus to whom I give my gratefull thanks. He has added a contact page to enable me to view and respond to criticism without divulging personal email details to the 'spambots'so I urge all reading this to use it to make comment. You disagree?? Fine tell me! The initial "word doc" prior to the website provided a small source of charitable donations. If you care to print this off, please copy and pass on as you wish ......but ask recipients to donate to your local charity or GL / PGL benevolant funds where it will be put to good use.

If there is some organisation or person with a Roslin or Scottish connection that would like to help continue this site to enable others to benefit/ form their own opinion, I could use such an interested party to sponsor its upkeep.

Likewise anyone with a similar subject can have a link by contacting myself, or Alan at NetDominus.

Steve Chalmers

Edinburgh, March 2007