BRUCE'S SECRET WEAPON .sx Archie McKerracher .sx BANNOCKBURN is acknowledged as one of the most remarkable victories in the history of warfare .sx It is still almost unbelievable how Robert the Bruce's army of common folk , outnumbered three to one , took on the greatest war machine in medieval Europe and destroyed it so completely .sx But there are many puzzling aspects to the traditional story of Bannockburn .sx Firstly , Bruce's small army of around 6000 was composed mainly of foot soldiers .sx There were highly trained and highly disciplined at a time when infantry was usually poorly led and disorganised , and took a secondary role in battles .sx In fact , the Scottish troops were of a calibre never found again in any battle between Scots and English .sx The four battalions of spearmen , each formed into a 1000-strong schiltrom , moved and fought as one .sx Each man would place his left arm upon the shoulder of the man in front until the schiltrom formed a homogenous mass through which no armoured cavalry charge could penetrate .sx The small troop of light cavalry commanded by Keith carried out their orders to the letter , no more , no less .sx They cleverly anticipated the tactics of the Welsh archers who tried to pour arrows on the Scots' flank , as they had done at the Battle of Falkirk 16 years before , and quickly put them to flight .sx It as though someone had fought on the English side at Falkirk was now directing the Scots' strategy at Bannockburn .sx It is curious that the Scottish soldiers were so well equipped .sx Each man possessed several items :sx a leather headpiece and steel helmet ; a thick padded leather coat ; a pair of protective and flexible steel gloves for holding the shaft of his iron-tipped , 12-foot spear ; and knives , axes , and swords as personal weapons .sx Where did all this equipment come from and how was it paid for ?sx Swords , weapons , and spear shafts were usually imported from the Continent and cost a great deal of money .sx Even at Culloden in 1746 many of the Highlanders were armed only with scythe blades attached to poles .sx Scotland in 1314 was a land wracked by 20 years of war .sx Its economy and its agriculture were laid waste .sx Many of the wealthy lowland nobility were fighting on the English side .sx How then did the Scottish army receive such extensive and expensive equipment when the English fleet controlled both the Irish and North Seas , and how was the equipment paid for when our treasury was empty ?sx How , too , did Bruce devise the brilliant tactics of this set-piece battle when nothing in his previous record suggests he was anything more than a competent guerilla commander ?sx It will be remembered that by mid-day on 24th June 1314 , the 6000 Scots were utterly exhausted after fighting non-stop for eight hours in the summer heat .sx However , very few English had been killed by that time and only a small percentage of their 20,000strong army had actually come into contact with the Scots .sx The steady pressure of the massed schiltroms simply pushed back the English armoured knights before they could move , penning the rest of their army behind them between the tidal Pelstream and Bannock Burns .sx Then came the renowned appearance of the Scots camp followers which caused the English ranks first to waver and then to break in panic .sx It was really fear that destroyed Edward's army , but fear of what ?sx Contrary to tradition , the so-called camp followers did not tie towels and blankets to poles and come running down Gillies Hill , and neither were they simply servants and cooks .sx The name of the hill and the story itself are 18th century inventions .sx Barbour's Bruce says they were yeomen with spears plus some lesser people who were stationed in the valley between Gillies Hill and Coxethill , through which the M9 motorway now runs .sx This then was part of the wooded New Park and so these 1000 men , mainly from Argyll , would not be visible until they reached the escarpment at St Ninians leading down to the carse .sx Further , they were not running , but marching in military order behind captains , and the move was not impromptu , but apparently anticipated by the Scots .sx Yet these newcomers alone would not have inspired such fear for their numbers and quality would have been identifiable at such short range .sx I suggest that what broke Edward's army was the sight of the men who led them , perhaps no more than 50 or 60 in number ; men who wore their hair close-cropped and their beards long ; who wore chain mail , and over it a white smock emblazoned with a splayed red cross , the famous cross patte .sx They marched beneath their black and white banner called The Beauseant , and were instantly recognisable to the front rank of the English as Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon , or Knights Templar , the Warrior Monks .sx They were renowned as the most battle-hardened , highly-trained and ferocious fighters in the realms of chivalry , yet strangely , their Christian Order had recently been condemned to Hell by the Pope and excommunicated in every country in Christendom - except Scotland .sx The Order of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon was founded in Jerusalem in 1118 by nine Crusaders .sx Its specific purpose was to keep the highways safe for pilgrims in the Holy Land , and in recognition of this worthy cause the King of Jerusalem , Baudouin I , gave them a wing of the royal palace .sx This was reputedly built on the foundations of Solomon's Temple and from this the new Order took its name .sx The Order of Solomon's Temple grew in size and the sons of European nobility flocked to join .sx New knights took an oath of poverty , chastity , and obedience and were highly trained in all aspects of warfare .sx They were forbidden to shave and wore white surcoats with the distinctive spayed red cross .sx They were obliged to fight to the death and never retreat .sx They combined religious mysticism with a reputation as ferocious fighters and became famed as the Warrior Monks , or Knights Templar .sx Pope Innocent II in 1139 issued a Bull stating the Templars were responsible only to the Pope , and not subject to secular or church authority in any country .sx Gifts of land and money were showered upon the Order which soon developed into an international empire headed by a Grand Master .sx Money could be deposited with a Templar bank in Jerusalem and withdrawn in London on presentation of a chit and secret gestures .sx In fact , the Order is credited with inventing the cheque .sx The Templars had their own fleet which initially transported pilgrims and , later , all manner of goods .sx They also had their own armourers , architects , stonemasons , hospitals , surveyors etc. In Scotland the Templars held vast lands , more that than< 500 properties in country and towns .sx David I had invited the Order to his kingdom in 1128 and kept a number of knights around his person , " retaining beside him the most noble brethren of the distinguished military order of The Temple of Jerusalem , he made them by day and night the custodians of his morals " , according to a contemporary writer .sx They were also , no doubt , the custodians of his person .sx All parts of Scotland , except the West Highlands , contributed heritable property to the Order .sx The principal preceptory and Scottish headquarters was at Balantrodoch , now Temple , in Midlothian .sx The other preceptories included Temple Liston , or Kirk Liston , near Edinburgh Airport ; Temple in north-west Glasgow ; Temple Denny near Falkirk ; Thankerton in Lanarkshire ; and Maryculter in Aberdeenshire .sx The latter name derives form the Chapel of St Mary , founded by the Templars in 1187 after William the Lion granted them 8500 acres there .sx Templars' Park at Maryculter is now the name of a Boy Scout camping and training ground .sx Brian de Jay , Master of the Templars in Scotland in 1298 , brought north the large body of Welsh archers who fought in Edward I's army against William Wallace .sx The Welsh troops stayed first at Balantrodoch , the principal Templar base , before marching on to join the English army at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298 .sx During the battle it was Templars who directed the devasting arrow power that broke the Scottish spear schiltroms , and it was Templar Knights who led the final cavalry charge that destroyed Wallace's army .sx Templars in the British Isles came under the jurisdiction of the Master of the London Temple .sx In 1291 the Holy Land finally fell to the Saracens with the capture of the fortress of Acre .sx The Templars defended the castle to the death after placing the women and children on the last galleys .sx The headquarters of the Order then moved to Cyprus , but with the loss of the Holy Land the Templars were obliged to find another reason for their existence .sx The Order was now unbelievably wealthy , dealing in commerce on a grand scale and lending vast sums of money to governments and kings .sx The headquarters in Britain were at The Temple in London where their typical circular church still survives .sx Here were kept the English crown jewels , pawned to the Templars in 1260 by Henry III to raise funds for his frequent warring expeditions .sx However , as time went on the Templars became arrogant and dissolute and " to drink like a Templar " became a catchphrase .sx Strange rumours began to surround the Order .sx It was said the Knights repudiated the crucifixion , spat upon the Cross and held all manner of obscene rituals .sx They had certainly absorbed both Judaic and Islamic beliefs , and esoteric knowledge , through their long connection with the Middle East and had adopted much that was alien to orthodox Christianity .sx Their downfall came in 1306 when Philippe IV of France took refuge form a mob in the Paris Temple and was stunned by the wealth he saw .sx He was also aggrieved at being refused admittance to the Order and alarmed that the Templars intended forming an independent kingdom in southern France .sx In October 1307 , he ordered the arrest of all Templars in France .sx Many were hideously tortured , although the Preceptor of France is said to have fled along with 18 of the Order's galleys and much of the Paris Temple's wealth .sx Pope Clement V was persuaded to excommunicate all Templars for heresy and ordered their arrest in every kingdom in Christendom .sx In 1312 the Order was officially dissolved by the Pope , and in March , 1314 , Jacques de Molay , Grand Master of the Order of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple , was roasted to death over a slow fire on the Ile de Seine in Paris .sx The order was finished .sx In January 1309 , Edward II of England ordered Sir John de Segrave , his appointed Guardian of Scotland , to arrest all Templars still at large in the country and report them to the Inquisitor's Deputy .sx This latter official was Bishop William Lamberton of St Andrews who had been released form Winchester Castle the year before , after taking a new oath of allegiance to Edward II , and had gone directly from there to Rome to visit the Pope .sx Back home , the wily Lamberton paid lip service to the Pope's edicts and the English king's instructions , but remained totally committed to the cause of the excommunicated Robert the Bruce and Scottish independence .sx It is not difficult to imagine the bargain Lamberton made with the two important Templars he interrogated at Holyrood in December 1309 .sx Far from questioning them on heresy , it is more than likely he made them an offer :sx " Supply us with arms , money and expertise and we will give the Templars sanctuary in the only land where the Pope's writ does not run .sx " Because of conditions in Scotland the papal Bulls were never proclaimed here and legally the Templars were never dissolved .sx From that time on the fortunes of Robert the Bruce took a dramatic turn for the better .sx War material began arriving in Scotland from Ireland in considerable quantity .sx This so alarmed the English authorities that Edward II issued an edict in 1310 to his officials in Ireland " prohibiting under the highest penalties all the exportation of provisions , horses , armour , and other supplies from ports where any vessel touches .sx .. to the insurgent Scots which he hears is carried on by merchants in Ireland " .sx