BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN PART IV

Bannockburn was decisive, one of the most meaningful battles of the middle ages, probably the most significant battle ever fought on British soil. As we look at the battle we are able to see some very meaningful but underlying evidence that the Templar's were more involved than is historicly reported.

The Reign of Robert the Bruce after Bannockburn was stormy until the time of his death in 1329, it put an end to the English oppression of Scotland and for the next 289 years Scotland was to remain an independent Kingdom.

Robert was Childless and had decided that his brother Edward would succeed him. Edward had departed for Ireland and was Crowned King of Ireland in Dundalk in 1316. This put him in the position to unite both countries under one crown, however he died in 1318, which left both countries without a monarch once again.

It was then decided that the thrown of Scotland would pass to his grandson, Robert the son of Marjorie Bruce and Walter the Stewart.

In 1329 Robert the Bruce died, and his grandson Robert II became the King of Scotland the first of the Stewart dynasty.

Before his death he had requested that upon his death, his heart be removed, placed in a casket, and brought to Jerusalem and buried at the church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1330 five Templar Knights Sir William Sinclair, Sir James Douglas, Sir William Keith and two other warrior monks departed for the Holy Land.

Sir James Douglas carried Bruce's heart in a silver casket hung around his neck. Their path took them through Spain where they joined Knight Templar King Alfonso XI of Castile. They accompanied King Alfonso on his campaign against the Moors of Grenada.

On March 25, 1330 at the battle of Tabas de Ardales, the Scots riding in the Vanguard, were surrounded.

According to the fourteenth century chronicle, Sir Douglas removed from his neck the silver casket, containing Bruce's heart and hurled it into the attacking forces shouting:

Braveheart, that ever foremost led,

Forward ! As thou wast wont. And

I shall follow thee, or else shall die!

Having hurled the heart at the enemy he and his fellow Templar's charged into the midst of the opposing forces. And all died by the Latin rule! Death before dishonor. Sir William Keith had broken his arm prior to the battle so he didn't participate in the battle, he was said to have recovered the silver casket containing Bruce's heart and returned it to Scotland.

It was buried in Melrose Abby, under the east window of the Chancel. In the early nineteenth century, Bruce's grave at Dunfermline was opened and it was found that his femur bones were crossed under his skull in Templar fashion.

The crossed femur bones go back to the first century and before when the Jew's would leave the bodies out in the tomb to decompose and a year later return to put the remains in a “bone box” called a Ossuary.