Note 38 — CHAP. V.

The original name of Temple on the Southesk, according to Chalmers, was Balantrodach. In the Chartular of Aberdeen the Preceptory is styled "domus Templi de Balantradock;" and in the Chartular of the Abbey of Newbattle we find mentioned, "Magister et Fratres Templi de Blentodoch," which is a contraction or corruption of the same term. The place became known by the designation of Temple only after the establishment of the Order there. This was the head-quarters of the Grand Preceptors of Scotland, and became, at the suppression of the Templars, attached to the Hospital of St. John. In the 15th century, Sir William Knolls, Grand Preceptor of St. John's, obtained an Act of Parliament, changing the old name into that of the barony of St. John. But the people never conformed to the alteration. Part of the foundations of the original convent were dug up about a century ago. The ancient chapel of the Temple continued till lately to be used as the parish kirk. It is now partly dilapidated, in consequence of a new church being built. On the eastern gable there is an antique inscription, formed with lead run into the letters, which appears to be as follows:—

V Æ S A C M T H M.

These letters, when extended, may signify, Vitæ Sacrum Militiæ Templi Hierosolymitani; or, Virgini Ædem Sacram Militiæ Templi Hierosolymæ Majister; supplying condidit or consecravit. The Virgin Mary, it is well known, was the patroness of the Order. What monstrous mysteries would not the ingenious Von Hammer make these letters the vehicle of revealing! In the second line the learned German could not fail to discover the presence of the Metis or Tau of the Gnostics, whose doctrines, he insists, the Templars held, as attested by their monumental remains, and by coins or medals imagined to refer to them.