Source: “The Knights templar And Scotland”, By Robert Ferguson, The History Press, Brimscombe Port Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2011.
3. The Templars in Scotland - Land and Law.mp4
This topic provides an in-depth examination of the Knights Templar's presence and impact in Scotland, focusing primarily on their extensive property holdings and the unique privileges associated with them. It highlights how these detailed property records are crucial for understanding the Templars' activities in Scotland, especially given the scarcity of other historical accounts. The text details the operation of key Templar preceptories like Maryculter, illustrating their economic activities and surprising legal disputes, such as the one with Kelso Abbey over tithes and a chapel. Furthermore, it explores the long-lasting influence of Templar rights and management practices on their tenants, even centuries after the Order's formal dissolution, suggesting a continued, albeit altered, presence and special legal status for Templar lands and their occupants.
Topic 1: Overview of Templars in Scotland The Templars arrived in Scotland in 1129, and their presence there lasted until their inquisition in 1309. Information about their activities and identity primarily comes from property records, as there is a scarcity of other historical documents and no remnants of their buildings exist today. While most studies of the Templars focus on their origins, major battles, and eventual dissolution, this source specifically highlights their daily life and activities in Scotland. It emphasizes that the Knights Templar in Scotland functioned as much as monks as their counterparts in continental Europe and Outremer, demonstrating that historical accounts often considered myths about them have a factual basis.
Topic 2: Maryculter Preceptory Maryculter was one of the two Templar preceptories in Scotland, second in importance only to Balantrodoch, yet still well-known. It served as a primary residence for the knights, where they lived, prayed, and managed Templar enterprises across Scotland. Located on the south side of the lower River Dee, about eight miles west and south of Aberdeen, the land was originally granted by King William I, "the Lion." By 1239, Maryculter had grown to exceed 8,000 acres due to further donations. Its development began in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century and was completed around 1287. The main source of revenue for Maryculter was agriculture, involving tenants who cultivated crops, raised sheep, harvested peat, and engaged in woodcutting.
Topic 3: The Maryculter Dispute with Kelso Abbey A significant dispute arose involving the Templars of Maryculter and the monks of Kelso Abbey, whose parish church of Culter held jurisdiction over both sides of the River Dee. Despite an indult obtained by the Kelso monks from Pope Urban IV, which prohibited building new churches or chapels in their parishes without consent, the Templars constructed a chapel for themselves and their tenants on their side of the river. They also refused to pay the tithes due from their lands. The monks viewed the Templar chapel as a threat to their income and a violation of the original grant, leading them to demand both the tithes and the chapel's destruction, initiating arbitration in 1287.
Topic 4: Resolution and Legacy of the Maryculter Dispute In response to the arbitration, the Templars asserted their extraordinary privileges, arguing that the River Dee was too wide to allow safe access to Kelso Abbey's church, making their own chapel necessary. They also claimed exemption from tithes on wastelands they had brought into cultivation, including specific named lands that had formerly been royal forest. Furthermore, they held the privilege to erect churches with cemeteries in these wastelands for themselves, their vassals, and travelers. They stated they had peacefully possessed the chapel, with cemetery and baptistery, and enjoyed tithe exemption for over 40 years. The dispute was settled, allowing the Templars to keep their chapel and tithes but requiring them to pay eight marks annually to the Kelso monks as compensation. This resolution led to Maryculter becoming a separate parish, a division still evident today with the existence of Peterculter and Maryculter parishes. Maryculter was eventually abandoned in 1548.
Topic 5: Templar Organizational Structure in Scotland The Templar enterprises in Scotland involved hundreds of people, structured by a clear hierarchy. It is estimated that there were more than 40 to 50 Templars in Scotland, in addition to the four known knights present just before the inquisition. Not all Templars were knights; many were sergeants responsible for managing properties, maintaining preceptories, and accounting for income from numerous houses and lands. Each shire or baillie had an overseer known as a "bailli," who was either a Templar sergeant or an employee. The bailli's primary role was to collect rents for their designated area. This function of the bailli continued for several hundred years even after the formal dissolution of the Templar Order.
Topic 6: Geographic Reach of Templar Properties The Templars owned property in almost every region and shire across Scotland. The bailli in each shire was responsible for managing approximately 517 properties. The only Scottish sheriffdom where the Templars did not possess land was Argyll. Their landholdings were so extensive that they were considered to hold their properties under the most favorable kind of tenure, often cited as a model. This widespread ownership meant that the Templars' influence and economic activities permeated much of the Scottish landscape.
Topic 7: Favorable Templar Tenure and Privileges The Templars held their properties under highly advantageous conditions, as evidenced by charters granting them freedom from all custom, service, and exaction, similar to the Knights Hospitaller. They and their tenants were exempt from all courts except their own Templar courts, from taxes, and from serving on juries. This privileged status also extended to their tenants, who had the right to practice any trade without belonging to guilds or trade organizations. Additionally, the Templars held their lands with common feudal rights but were free from all feudal aids and demands from the king or his ministers. Any lands they reclaimed and cultivated, even within royal forests, were exempt from tithes and forest laws, further demonstrating their unique legal and economic standing.
Topic 8: Economic Activities and Income Generation The primary source of income for the Templars was agriculture and fishing. The basic crops harvested from their estates included barley (bere), oats, wheat, pease, and hay. Liston, with its rich land, was a significant source of wheat and barley. Meat was primarily obtained from various types of poultry, supplemented by beef and lamb. Fish such as perch, pike, and eels were harvested from lochs, while trout came from streams, and salmon occasionally. Beyond agricultural produce, some Templar holdings, like a tenement in Glasgow, also included fishing rights in the Firth of Clyde, which generated a net profit of twelve pence annually that was sent to the Holy Land.
Topic 9: Templar Tenant Obligations and Benefits Tenants on Templar lands had specific obligations, such as a certain number of days of plowing in winter, harrowing in Lent, and harvesting in autumn, for which they were provided with meal and cheese. Some tenants were also required to lend their horses for transporting goods between major Templar sites like Balantrodoch, Kirkliston, or Maryculter. All tenants in the area were "thirled" to the Templar mill, meaning they were bound to use it for grinding their grain and to pay the going rate. Colts foaled on a tenant's land became the property of the Templars to increase their horse inventory. Following feudal custom, brides also needed to obtain a license from the Templars before marrying. In return for an annual payment of twelve pence at St. Michael's feast, tenants benefited immensely, being entitled to all the Order's royal and papal privileges, exempt from local courts, and not subject to the usual dues, tolls, exacts, or duties imposed on other landowners' tenants.