Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historical Notes Relative To The Order Of The Temple.
doubt b y the charter of James , signed 19 th October 1488 , whereby the gift of the lands presented by his predecessors unto the Knights of the Temple and St . John , are confirmed . " Deo et Saneto Hospitali de Jerusalem et fratribus eiusdem Militiie Templi Salimonis . " It appears from this charter that both the Orders were then united , and that they were then placed under the superintendency of the Preceptor of St . John . It cannot be doubted but that this arrangement was made on account of
natural and political reasons . In Scotland alone the Knights of the Temple had independent properties , and as the ban wliich hacl been pronounced against them was in force through the whole of Europe , their sphere of work was naturally circumscribed , while the Knights Hospitallers , on the contrary , possessed great influence and power , and stood high in favour with the princes of Europe . Both Orders were on this account represented in the Scottish parliament by the Preceptor of
St . John , and continued unmolested until tbe time of the Reformation . At the Reformation , and after the Act of 1560 , by which all obedience to the stool of Rome was strictly forbidden within the country , Sir James Sandilands , Preceptor of Torphichen , and successor of Sir Walter Lindsey , in the Mastership of the Temple , renounced or abdicated , on behalf of the state , all the landed estates belonging to both Orders , which at that time were exalted to a temporal lordship of Torphichenand
, which were made over to him on the payment of ten thousand suncrowns ( tonnekroonen . ) The jurisdiction of Torphichen originally comprehended the lands of Hilderston , presented by King Robert to the Temple , and which probably belonged to its oldest possessions . This transaction on the part of Sir James Sandilands , which is differently represented by the historians of that period , according to their religious and political opinionsappears to have put an end to the name
Hospi-, taller in Scotland . The Knights also deprived of their hereditary possessions , withdrew collectively with David Seton , Grancl Prior of Scotland , at their head . This event is alluded to in a satire published at that time , and called " Holy Church and herTheeves , " wliich is apparently the work of a zealous catholic , who does not spare Sandilands for his perfidy and perjury . On naming Seton , he says as follows : —
" Fye upon the traitor then , * , ) uhar has brocht us to sic pass , Grcedie als the knave Judas I Fye upon the churle quhar sold Holy eartbe for heavie golde ; Got the Temple felt , v . a loss , Quhar David Setoune bare the crosse . " '
It is difficult to give a connected account of the history of the Order , and the events connected with it , since this , even especially during the disturbed or troublesome times of the English domination . Some authors are of opinion that it was during this period that the first approximation of the Order to the Freemasons' Lodges took pkrce , and this opinion derives probability from the fact that from this period downwards the government of the Order remained almost exclusivelin the
y hands of the heads of the Jacobite party . But that this approximation should have ever become a complete amalgamation is a great mistake , ancl nothing more than a mere supposition of those who , by at once cutting the gordion knot , wish to spare themselves the trouble of enquiry . We read with Dom . Calmct , that he had received the Grand Cross of the Order from David Graham , titular viscount of Dundee , which his brave and unfortunate brother
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historical Notes Relative To The Order Of The Temple.
doubt b y the charter of James , signed 19 th October 1488 , whereby the gift of the lands presented by his predecessors unto the Knights of the Temple and St . John , are confirmed . " Deo et Saneto Hospitali de Jerusalem et fratribus eiusdem Militiie Templi Salimonis . " It appears from this charter that both the Orders were then united , and that they were then placed under the superintendency of the Preceptor of St . John . It cannot be doubted but that this arrangement was made on account of
natural and political reasons . In Scotland alone the Knights of the Temple had independent properties , and as the ban wliich hacl been pronounced against them was in force through the whole of Europe , their sphere of work was naturally circumscribed , while the Knights Hospitallers , on the contrary , possessed great influence and power , and stood high in favour with the princes of Europe . Both Orders were on this account represented in the Scottish parliament by the Preceptor of
St . John , and continued unmolested until tbe time of the Reformation . At the Reformation , and after the Act of 1560 , by which all obedience to the stool of Rome was strictly forbidden within the country , Sir James Sandilands , Preceptor of Torphichen , and successor of Sir Walter Lindsey , in the Mastership of the Temple , renounced or abdicated , on behalf of the state , all the landed estates belonging to both Orders , which at that time were exalted to a temporal lordship of Torphichenand
, which were made over to him on the payment of ten thousand suncrowns ( tonnekroonen . ) The jurisdiction of Torphichen originally comprehended the lands of Hilderston , presented by King Robert to the Temple , and which probably belonged to its oldest possessions . This transaction on the part of Sir James Sandilands , which is differently represented by the historians of that period , according to their religious and political opinionsappears to have put an end to the name
Hospi-, taller in Scotland . The Knights also deprived of their hereditary possessions , withdrew collectively with David Seton , Grancl Prior of Scotland , at their head . This event is alluded to in a satire published at that time , and called " Holy Church and herTheeves , " wliich is apparently the work of a zealous catholic , who does not spare Sandilands for his perfidy and perjury . On naming Seton , he says as follows : —
" Fye upon the traitor then , * , ) uhar has brocht us to sic pass , Grcedie als the knave Judas I Fye upon the churle quhar sold Holy eartbe for heavie golde ; Got the Temple felt , v . a loss , Quhar David Setoune bare the crosse . " '
It is difficult to give a connected account of the history of the Order , and the events connected with it , since this , even especially during the disturbed or troublesome times of the English domination . Some authors are of opinion that it was during this period that the first approximation of the Order to the Freemasons' Lodges took pkrce , and this opinion derives probability from the fact that from this period downwards the government of the Order remained almost exclusivelin the
y hands of the heads of the Jacobite party . But that this approximation should have ever become a complete amalgamation is a great mistake , ancl nothing more than a mere supposition of those who , by at once cutting the gordion knot , wish to spare themselves the trouble of enquiry . We read with Dom . Calmct , that he had received the Grand Cross of the Order from David Graham , titular viscount of Dundee , which his brave and unfortunate brother