The Temple and the Lodge
laborating upon an idea first suggested
in their famous book, "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," Baigent and Leigh
in "The Temple and the Lodge" attempt to answer the question of what became
of those Knights Templar who escaped arrest in 1307 and following. Their
contention is that many of them went, via Ireland, to Scotland where they
joined the renegade and excommunicated Scottish king, Robert the Bruce,
ultimately providing him with the margin of victory in the decisive Battle
of Bannockburn in 1314 some three months after the execution in Paris of
Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Baigent and
Leigh further contend that a recognizable survival of the Knights Templar
hidden within the Knights Hospitaller under royal protection then continued
in Scotland for more than two centuries. Finally, with their lands expropriated
by a venial government official, at least some elements of the Knights Templar
are said by Baigent and Leigh to have gradually blended into the emerging
system of Freemasonry and its lodges beginning in the sixteenth century.
his makes for exciting reading, but
is it history? No, it is not; it is an historical conjecture with elements
of plausibility. But it is an appealing conjecture and the telling of it
takes the reader through many centuries of fascinating history, both in Scotland
and in England. En route one speculates on the disappearance of the Templar
fleet; takes a peek at Templar holdings in Ireland ; witnesses the Battle
of Bannockburn where a mysterious force charges in at the crucial moment
to defeat the English; stops in at Kilmartin to view over eighty apparently
Templar graves; visits Rosslyn Chapel to see Templar and Masonic symbolism
carved together in stone in the mid fifteenth century; is present at the
founding of the Invisible College and the Royal Society; conspires with the
Jacobites to put the Stuarts back on the throne of England; and finally crosses
the Atlantic to take part in the American Revolution.
ut what is the Templar legacy inherited
by the Freemasons? Curiously, Baigent and Leigh have remarkably little to
say on the subject. It seems to involve sacred geometry and architecture
and the building of King Solomon's Temple, but these are ideas that Freemasonry
could have easily acquired from its traditional roots in the operative stonemason
guilds of medieval England and Scotland. Certainly the legacy is esoteric
and philosophical, but in pursuing it Baigent and Leigh seem to be limited
by their lack of knowledge of Freemasonry. However, another book which appeared
about the same time, "Born in Blood" by John Robinson may serve to complement
"The Temple and the Lodge." Robinson's version of this same general thesis
is more simplistic and less historically convincing, but he has far greater
knowledge of Masonic ritual and symbolism and uses it to suggest its Templar
(and French) origins. The historical evidence gathered by Baigent and Leigh
combined with Robinson's internal evidence from Freemasonry make a more
compelling case than either book by itself.
he jury is still out on the theories
of Baigent and Leigh, and of John Robinson, and for now must, fittingly enough,
return the Scotch verdict of "not proven" on their work. But if you read
"The Temple and the Lodge" you will never view the Templars, the Freemasons
and Scottish history quite the same again.
