Templars Helped Robert Bruce at Bannockburn

The Battle of Bannockburn was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence.

It was a decisive victory for the Scottish army and became a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the de jure restoration of Scottish independence. Hence, this battle is considered a key moment in Scottish history.

It was a genuinely remarkable victory as the English outnumbered the Scots 3:1. For the English it was a genuinely catastrophic disaster (one of the worst in their history): 700 knights and other cavalry killed; 500 knights and men-at-arms captured by the Scots and up to 11,000 infantry soldiers killed. Several prominent commanders were either killed or captured.

This overwhelming defeat of the far better-trained and better-organized force by the one that was outnumbered 3:1 led to speculations that Scottish victory was engineered by Knights Templar who fought for King Bruce in exchange for an essential amnesty (there is no record of any Templar trial in Scotland).

However, it appears that there was a much more mundane reason for such a devastating defeat of the English: betrayal. A Scottish knight who was fighting for the English, deserted the English camp, came to the other side and told Bruce that English morale was low and encouraged him to attack.

He undoubtedly supplied the Scots with crucial information about the position, composition, strengths and weaknesses of the English which allowed the Scots to launch a devastating surprise attack that destroyed the English army.

True, Robert the Bruce was excommunicated by Pope Clement V for the murder of John Comyn (which did not prevent him from becoming king of Scots and thus did not have to abide by Pope’s decision to persecute the Templars (and he didn’t).

There is no record of any Templars fleeing from anywhere to Scotland, although it was possible. It was also possible that these Templars – and at least some of the Scottish ones – joined King’s army and were present at Bannockburn.

However, there were only a few dozen of them – and the Scottish army was about 8,000 strong. So, while Templars most likely did take part in a battle, they did not play a decisive role in Scottish victory at Bannockburn.