History of Templar Knights Ireland

History of Templar Knights of Ireland

The Norman Invasion of Ireland and the Templar Knights

Whereas it was Strongbow who led the initial invasion of Ireland on the 1st May 1169 at the behest of Dermot MacMurrough (Diarmait MacMurchada), the King of Leinster, and with the approval of Henry II, it was Henry who, for the most part took control of Ireland with a larger second invasion on the 18th October 1171. This was to ensure his control over Strongbow.

Henry went to Ireland at this time as Strongbow had, on the 26th August, 1171 married MacMurrough's Daughter and had also been named the hier of Dermot MacMurrough (MacMurrough having died on the 1st May 1171). With Richard "Strongbow" FitzGilbert de Clare as Lord of Leinster Henry feared the establishment of a rival Norman state in Ireland.

The Arrival of the Templars.

The Templars were not part of or associated with the invasion having arrived in Ireland between 1172 - 1177, and would not have regarded themselves as part of the subsequent English colonisation of Ireland.

The first evidence of the Order in Ireland is not related to land, but to the witnessing of an Irish Charter by "Matthew the Templar" in 1177.

Although Ireland was part of the Templar province of England, it did have its own separate Master. However, it appears that the Master for Ireland was generally appointed from the English General Chapter from amongst the English or Anglo-Norman Brethren. [for a list of the Masters of the Templars in Ireland see [Footnote 1] ].

The Master in Ireland was an officer of the English Crown and was one of the Auditors of the Irish exchequer. The Master in Ireland had no particular place of residence in Ireland as no preceptory was established as a "headquarters" in the way Kilmainham was established as such for the Knights Hospitaller of St. John. As you can see Kilmainham was not a Templar site, as is often thought.

The first known grant of land was made by Henry II in c. 1180 who gave the Order the "vills" of Clontarf, County Dublin and Crook, County Waterford (a "vill" was a settlement or taxable unit) and ten carucates of land (one carucate of land equated to 120 acres of land in the Danelaw). He subsequently added a marsh at Waterford and a Church dedicated to St. Barry.

These grants of land by Henry II led to numerous other grants by Anglo-Norman noblemen and even the Irish nobles.

We see over the years properties being conferred on the Order by many such as the DeLacy Family, Matilda DeLacy Butler gifted a huge property on the Cooley Peninsula of County Louth in c.1250, by the Taffes of Louth of lands in County Dublin, by the Bourkes of land in Sligo and by the FitzGeralds of land in Kildare. The Irish also supported the Templars, with the O'Morras (O'Moores) gifting Lands at Kilclogan in County Wexford.

Eleven major preceptories and manors of the Order have been identified, namely, Clontarf in County Dublin (which was the most important preceptory in Ireland),Rathronan and Athkiltan in County Carlow, Gowran in County Kilkenny, Crook and Kilbarry in County Waterford,Templehouse in County Sligo where the Knights Templar built their most westerly European stronghold in 1216, Kilsaran and Cooley in County Louth (the most wealthy apparently), Clonaul in County Tipperary and Kilclogan (Templetown) in County Wexford.

As a result of these grants the Irish lands were, by 1308, the third most valuable of all the Templar holdings and worth £400.00 per annum.

As stated above the Templars in Ireland did not see themselves as colonisers but members of a religious order whose role was to generate income from the resources they had been given to support the relief of the Holy Land.

The Templars in Ireland would have been generally past their fighting best whose function was to administer the Order's Estates and collect the rents from the tenants who were mainly Irish.

As you have seen from the general history of the Order the Church was "forced" to move against the Templars by Philip the Fair, the King of France on the 13th October 1307. The Church ordered all Monarchs to move against the Templars, including Edward II, King of England and High King of Ireland. Edward was much less inclined to arrest any Templars, and even when he did so there was no torture or burnings as happened in France. This was the case with Edward's treatment of the Templars in Ireland.

The Templars in Ireland were arrested on the 10th January 1308, incarcerated in Dublin Castle and they were charged with the same "crimes" as their Brethren across Europe.

The trial of those who were seized was commenced in January 1310 and was conducted with great solemnity in Dublin before friar Richard Balybyn, minister of the order of Dominicans in Ireland; friar Philip de Slane, lecturer of the same; and friar Hugh St. Leger.

Forty-one witnesses were called in the trial and amongst the witnesses called against the Order were Roger de Heton, guardian of the Franciscans; Walter de Prendergast, their lecturer; Thomas, the abbot; Simon, prior of the abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr, and Roger the prior of the Augustinian friary in Dublin. Most of the witnesses were from other religious orders, prejudiced against them because of the Templar's wealth and privileges.

None of the witnesses could furnish any concrete evidence as to any wrongdoing by the Templars, and as the Templars in Ireland strongly denied the charges (many of their French Brethren admitted to the charges having been subjected to torture) the trail resulted in the Templars having to do penance, being absolved and sent to Monasteries to repent.

However the Templars were dispossessed, and their lands and possessions of every kind granted by the Pope to their rivals - the Hospitallers, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem - which Grant in Ireland was subsequently confirmed by Henry II. BUT there are still documents that show that not all properties in Ireland were turned over to the Knights of St. John's and Templar Knights continued to live on them. No one knows when the ones that continued to live on these properties had died off or left. But we believe over time the Lords thathar had lands surrounding these Templar lands absorbed them over the years through imminent domain or even the farmers or neighbors in the same situation had done the same.

[Footnote 1]

Masters of the Templars in Ireland

Walter the Templar - c.1180

Guarnerus -

Hugh the Templar - c.1200 - 10

Henry Foliot - c.1210

Ralph de Southwark - 1234

Roger le Waleis - 1235 - 50

Herbert de Manchester - 1257 - 73

Roger de Glastonbury - 1278 - 88

Thomas de Toulouse - 1288

Walter le Bachelor* - 1295 - 1301