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The Templar Knights |
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Historically,
it is quite hard to find a reason for the Grays to be in Scotland from France in
the first place. General knowledge has it that the name Gray
originated from the town of that name in Calvados, France, and that they came to
England in the Norman Conquest of 1066. Some were unremarkable figures;
John de Gray, Hugo de Gray, - minor figures in Scotland. English Grays;
Robert de Gray, John de Gray; even a suggestion that de Gray might be a pallid
complexion. How then did the Grays become so powerful in Scotland? – Sutherland in particular. Historical accidents only apply to evolution not the migration of people over large distances. I thought that such things were lost in the mists of time, until I read Graham Hancock’s book “The Sign & the Seal.” A story of his personal quest to find the lost Ark of the Covenant, it is well researched and contains some interesting facts. His opinion is that the Crusaders before them, and the French Knights Templar were in fact engaged over many years in the search for the Ark, and other religious treasures. This search over many centuries came to a halt when these religious warrior Knights were abruptly ordered out of Ethiopia. Strong messages sent to the Catholic Church and French Government resulted in the massacre of these Knights in France on Friday 13th of November 1306 on a Papal edict. – Almost everything today is based on something that has happened in the past. No wonder Friday 13th has slipped into folklore as being unlucky. Some escaped. The Templar fleet slipped out of Brest, some to Portugal, whose government was reluctant to enforce the Papal edict, some to Scotland of all places, where they were welcomed by Robert the Bruce, if they would help him in his fight against the English. Many fought with him at Bannockburn, indeed accounts of the battle include a Templar contingent carrying with them into battle a reproduction of the Ark of the Covenant. In Scots Peerage we have an account of Sir Andrew Gray “was one of those who in 1306 joined with King Robert the Bruce in the war of independence.” In consideration of his services he received from the Bruce many grants of lands, to numerous to list. Who was he? I believe he was a Templar Knight. Their courage made them fearsome opponents. We have further evidence later in the text. “I can march up to a fortress and summon it to surrender”! and “A braver Knight than Sir Andrew Ne’er belted on a sword” “Thomas Gray, second son, was a warrior, like his father.” More slight circumstantial evidence is in the Gray family crest and motto “Anchor fast Anchor”. It is widely accepted that although Sutherland has an extensive coastline the highlanders were not a seafaring race, let alone fishermen. Accounts of their attempts during the clearances are pitiful. The Templars were however accomplished mariners closely associated with the Nautonier Knights. Such a seafaring connection is unusual in the highlands to say the least. The anchor is also a Christian symbol of hope, and signifies succour in extremity. Perhaps the origins are connected. The Templars disappeared from view until in the 17th century it became apparent that they had become the secret Masonic movement to avoid religious persecution. In the 18th century, Andrew Ramsay, a prominent Scots mason and historian, added credibility to this tradition with a considerable body of work on the connections between the Freemasons and the Templars. A leading German Mason, Baron von Hund declared that Freemasonary originated in Knight Templary, and that in consequence every Mason is a Templar. There is a strange ancient artefact on the coast at Dornoch. At the time of the Templar’s arrival the Cathedral at Dornoch was complete. So it is unlikely that any Templar crosses will be found in it’s structure. Such a thing would be unlikely. However by all accounts of the churches they built in Ethiopia and elsewhere, the left unmistakable memorials to their presence. They were hundreds of miles by sea from their native France. How would a Templar boat know of their existence in that remote outpost of Europe? One way would be to construct a stone Templar cross on the shore of the Dornoch Firth, on the foreshore by the Cathedral. There are still in existence Templar signal towers on the North American coast, much larger of course, but utilizing the same principle. There are odd accounts of the cross. That it had two different crosses one on each side, supposedly to mark the boundary between lands, the church on one side, and on the other, the “Earls” land. It is strange that it should be on the sand dunes of the beach. I believe it had a Saxon or Celtic cross on one side, and a Templar one on the other, facing out to sea. Unfortunately, today only a stump remains. More weight is given to all this by an account later of a prominent Scotsman, James Bruce, travelling abroad to Ethiopia as an explorer and researcher, highly unusual at that time, it subsequently becomes clear that he too was a Freemason. So what of the Skibo Grays? Was it his connection with the Assynt Minister that saved Angus for so long? Not if the accounts of the clearances are to be believed. I would come down more on the side of the Masonic friendship. In Alex MacKenzie’s account of the clearances he mentions another tenant, William Ross, who receives a note from the Duchess of Sutherland, no less, which protected him from his removal. Why? A Masonic connection I put to you is as likely as any.
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