On October 13, 1307, while the Templars were being arrested, the Templar Fleet stationed at La Rochelle quietly slipped away. According to tradition and much evidence, he kept the records of the Order, and the treasure of the Templar Preceptor of Paris, taking them to the West and East coast of Scotland. Some of these ships must have reached Leith since Berwick was in English hands.
Let’s leave the Templars for a moment to tell two strange stories about Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig. The first concerns the discovery of Sir Robert Logan’s skull during the restoration of the South Leith church in 1848. A coffin was found at the west end of the north corridor, under a room used by Kirk Session. The Inspector of Works caught the attention of Dr. David Robertson and he decided to open it. The coffin was covered with purple velvet. A few hammer blows tore the lid apart. Inside the coffin they saw a mass of human bones huddled together and in the middle, a human skull. The strange thing was that the lower jaw was not found, although the skeleton was complete. The conclusion they reached was that these were the mortal remains of Sir Robert Logan. According to the story, Sir Robert Logan’s skeleton was tried for his involvement in what was called Gowrie’s conspiracy against James VI and was disinherited. The remains are reburied at South Leith Church. However, would the remains of a man accused of high treason be buried in South Leith church? Some historians don’t think so, and if they were, the question is why?
Could there be a darker reason? Near Dunbar is Fast Castle. By marriage, the Logans kept the castle between 1552-1606. In 1594, Sir Robert Logan asked John Napier of Merchiston to find a treasure that was said to have been buried within the castle. The contract between them is today at Trinity College, Cambridge. John Napier not only invented logarithms as a method of calculation, but also participated in the black arts. He hoped to find the treasure by supernatural means. The contract was to be destroyed once all the conditions were met, and since the contract was never destroyed and as long as the search actually took place, the treasure was never supposed to be found. According to Napier in his memoirs, the search was carried out. He went to the gloomy castle with Sir Robert Logan and the savage Earl of Bothwell, both armed to the teeth. So what was the connection between the alleged treasure at Fast Castle and the remains of Sir Robert Logan at South Leith Church? How can someone accused of treason be buried in consecrated ground? Most likely, he was never a traitor.
As Laing, a famous historian of the last century, said: Regarding Logan himself, it was well known that according to a barbaric custom of the time when it was decided to implicate him by forged letters … in the Gowrie Conspiracy he was unearthed and taken to court. . “
The connection is the fact that Sir Robert Logan and Lestalric’s before them were Knights Templar to a man, and what Sir Robert Logan was trying to find at Fast Castle was a Templar treasure, the treasure of the Preceptor of Paris. This was the reason why he was disinherited. So what was the meaning of the jawless skull and why was it buried in South Leith church? To answer this, we must go back to 1309 and the Trial of the Knights Templar at Holyrood Abbey.
When Elijah II was Abbot of Holyrood, an event that is largely ignored in Scottish history took place. In 1309, while southern Scotland was invaded by the troops of Edward II, the trial of the Knights Templar took place. From this test a curious light is thrown on the inner life of the Order. The details of the trial ordered by Clement V are given in a very rare book entitled “Concila”.
The inquisitors were perhaps a little impatient to hear about the devil, the cat, and the curious story of the Skulls.
A strange story is told that is traditionally related to the Templars: a great lady of Maraclea was loved by a Templar, a lord of Sidon, but she died in her youth and on the night of her burial this evil lover crawled to the grave . , dug up his body and raped him. Then a voice from the void ordered him to return in nine months because he would find a son. He obeyed the order and, at the appointed time, reopened the grave and found a head in the skeleton’s leg bones: a skull and crossbones. The same voice ordered him to keep it well because it would be the giver of good things. And so he took him away and protected him from his enemies. It came into possession of the Order “(This version of the story is from War, Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, p305)
This story was connected to the Order and is mentioned in the records of the inquisitions and in versions held by the Masons, who adopted the skull and crossbones and often used it as a device on tombstones.
When Sir Logan’s skeleton was rediscovered at South Leith Church. During the restoration of the Church in 1847-48. The jaw bone was missing and an explanation for this can be found in the installation ceremony in the Masonic cross degree of the Knight Templar of Jerusalem under the obligations of the Masonic Order. The obligation begins “In the name of the Holy Trinity and in commemoration of Saint John of Jerusalem, first faithful soldier and martyr of Jesus Christ. I solemnly promise and swear that I will never unlawfully reveal the secrets of a Knight Templar to a Royal Arch mason … If I ever willingly violated this, my solemn covenant as Brother Knight Templar, may my skull be seeded with a rough saw, may my brains be pulled out and put in a charger for the scorching sun and my skull in another charger in commemoration of Saint John of Jerusalem, that first faithful soldier and martyr of our Lord and Savior … “The penal sign, which consists of passing the forehead or the thumb, is indicative of the penalty of having the skull cut in two.
So who could have removed his jaw and carried out the Order’s sentence? David Lindsay (1560-1613), the Protestant Prime Minister of the South Leith Parish Church, is to be suspected. He was chaplain to James VI, married him to Anne of Denmark in 1589 and baptized their children. Lindsay was the only one who believed that an attempt had been made on the king’s life at the home of the Earl of Gowrie, Perth. In fact, he held a thanksgiving service at Edinburgh’s Mercat Cross for the safe return of the Kings. However, none of David Lindsay’s fellow ministers believed a word and said it. If the Gowrie conspiracy was a hoax, then the trial of Sir Robert Logan’s remains was also a sham and everyone knew it. However, the trial did take place and that is a historical fact, but it was not done for the reasons stated, it was because of his actions at Fast Castle in trying to find the Templar treasure and for that he was convicted.
David Lindsay had Masonic connections and was most likely a Mason himself. He also knew William Schew, who established the first Masonic lodges in Scotland. Not only this, David Lindsay could have been obeying the king’s orders: the monarch was and still is the head of the Freemasons in this country or, as today, a close relative of the Monarch and the Royal Family. During the restoration of the church in 1848, many of the original tombstones within the church were destroyed. The bits used for the floors of the east porticoes of the church. I suspect this was done to cover up any connection to Freemasons, Freemasons who have an ambiguous position within the Christian church. Considering the 1843 break, they didn’t want any more trouble. These headstones can still be seen to this day.
Since Logan’s sentence was carried out, his crime must have been against the Order. Whoever removed his jaw must have been disturbed in his work. Only rough saw marks were discovered on Sir Robert Logan’s skull; the jaw bone that was removed must have been to show that an attempt had been made to carry out the orders of the Masonic Templar.