• Earliest record
• Norman heritage
• The Templar connection
• A cleric of distinction
• Gilbert's education
• His 'Living' & profession
• Templeton's influence & political alliances
• War of Independence
• Disclaimer and call to contributors

The earliest dated record we have of a person named "Templeton" was brought to our attention by George F. Black, Ph.D., in his book, The Surnames of Scotland, Their Origin, Meaning, and History.1 Black found one magistro Gilberto de Tempilton rectore ecclesie de Rothir' witnessing the transfer of land and its income to the abbey at Paisley on 23 July, 1295.2,3 On 28 August of the next year, the same Mestre Gilbert de Templeton is named and put his seal to a declaration of homage to Edward I on a document known as the Ragman Rolls. With further research, we also have placed him witnessing the grant to the Abbey of Kilwinning by Walter (Bailloch) Stewart, Earl of Menteith, probably earlier than either of the above official actions but on a date we have not been able to fix.58

When Gilbert signed the Ragman Rolls, the English king had just laid waste to much of Scotland and he was determined to have every noble, churchman and burgess of note in the independent-minded country know who was boss.

Detail of Mestre Gilbert's position in the list of signatories of
August 28, 1296 on the homage roll taken at Berwick-on-Tweed.

There is nothing of Gilbert de Templeton's birthright mentioned and nothing recorded about his personal background in the original documents4 other than that he was "of Are". But a lot about the man and his heritage can be gleaned simply by examining the historical context of his name, his honorific, and of the Church office he occupied.

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Gilbert's probable Norman heritage

The reign of Malcolm III (1058–1093) and his queen, Margaret, marked the beginnings of Anglo-Saxon and, later, a growing Anglo-Norman culture change in the royal court of Scotland. Margaret particularly advanced the Roman church's ascension5 over the old Celtic Culdee-style monasticism with a series of bequests and interventions in the structure and ritual of the Church that went a long way to unifying the culture and language of a previously very heterogeneous country. But, it wasn't until David I (b. 1084 - d. 1153) returned from his long exile in England with a sizable entourage of Norman, Flemish and Anglo-Norman nobles to claim the Scottish throne in 1124 that the Court, the Church, and the countryside took on a decided Feudal cast in the Norman rather than old Celtic style — at least outside of the western Highlands and Isles. Indeed, Scotland is rather unique in the historic sweep of the Norman-led transformation across Europe of feudal administration under stronger, hereditary national kings that was taking place at this time, in that the changes were achieved more by assimilation over time rather than by conquest. David I's son and successor, Malcolm IV (1153 - 1165), continued to "systematically colonise British Strathclyde (the region containing Cunninghame and the whole of Ayrshire) with Normans and Flemings."6

Our progenitor Gilbert de Templeton certainly sprang from this social strata of well-born allies of the king either by the new rulers absorbing a local Briton family of the knightly, land-holding class into their melieu, or as the offspring of a Norman family in fact.*

The strong evidence that Gilbert was of Norman extraction is in his name and his title at the time of his appearance in the historical record:

'Gilbert' as his Christian name

The oldest usage of the name Gilbert — at least in its basic form, employing its phonetic parts — comes from the language records found in an abbey close to the Scottish Isles. Dated from between 115 BC to 255 BC a similar name, Gilb-dea-moros, is defined as simply “God of Men.”. Answers.com says that in Gaelic-speaking Scotland, the name “Gille Brighde,” meaning ‘servant of St. Bridget’ was used, although writing and saying it as 'Gilbert' certainly represents a francization of the Gaelic name if either were the case here, which is highly unlikely. In fact the name Gilbert was brought to England and spread to Scotland as a fairly common Christian name by the Normans:

“Gilbert is a British Isles given name of Norman-French and Old German origins. Original spellings included Gislebert, Guilbert and Gilebert. The prefix, ‘Gil-‘, comes from ‘gisil’, meaning a noble youth, while the suffix, ‘-bert’ comes from ‘beraht’, meaning bright or famous.”

— Mike Campbell, Behind the Name

One source says ‘Gil’ means “pledge” as in promise, or “hostage”, so it literally means "bright promise".7 Another source concurs that ‘Gilbert’ is a name of ‘Old French origin' — not Gaelic — that’s now found as an English, French and Dutch name. 'Gilbert', and was a common first name among the Norman nobility of Britain through the two hundred years following the Conquest and was uncommon in Scotland before that time.

'Templeton' as Surname

Gilbert's identification with Scotland's post-Conquest Norman ruling class doesn't end with his first name; his early use of a patrilineal place-name surname also plants him squarely in that tradition.

Last names that stayed the same from one generation to the next — a patrilineal surname — began in France among the nobility during the eleventh century. Although he didn’t (or, ahem, couldn’t) take advantage of the custom himself, the knights and fine gentlemen that followed William the Conquerer (known earlier in life as William the Bastard) brought the practice to England with his Conquest of 1066. Historians point out that the spread of the innovation of unchanging paternal "last names" northward on the British Isle was a gradual one — taking 100-plus years — and that it’s adoption down the social ladder to the broad masses was even slower, not becoming anything like universal on Britain until well into the 1500s.8

In the sparsely populated countryside of the Middle Ages, a single name was often enough to set one apart and, if it was needed, one ‘John’ could be told from another by a patronymic — a "son of" addendum — or by a nickname, i.e., ‘John the Moor’ for a dark-complexioned man, say, or ‘John of the Moor’ for the one that lived out on the wet heath. Nicknames drawn from physical attributes — "Longshanks" for a tall man, for instance — or a man's occupation like "Miller" or "Weaver" sufficed in most instances, while women were generally known by their association as daughter or wife of a particular man. Among the lords, landowners, and the knightly classes in England, and to trace progeneration in the clann in what is now Scotland, sons used patronymic second names, taking their father’s name and adding a ‘Fitz’ or ‘Mac' to denote ‘son of’ to it. Needless to say, this second name changed from generation to generation so it wasn’t a surname per se. (The use of clan or "Mac__" names as patrilineal surnames in Scotland became conventionalized simultaneously with the arrival of Norman surnames among the gentry. In most cases this use does not assure a bloodline connection with the original or earliest-known eponym since affiliated families and neighbors would invoke the name of a powerful clan for protection or for other reasons.9,10)

The practice and the timing of the introduction of patrilineal surnames into the aristocracy and gentry of Scotland can be roughly traced through the names of the kings that reigned before and through the time of Gilbert de Templeton. The historical transition is marked by Balliol and Bruce as the old Gaelic tradition of describing just which "Malcolm" or "Alexander" one was by appending "son of Henry" or "son of William" was supplanted by the use of "modern" French-sounding surnames:

• Máel Coluim mac Eanric, 1153–1165 “Malcolm son of Henry”
• Uilliam mac Eanric, 1165-1214 “William son of Henry” (Malcolm’s brother)
• Alaxandair mac Uilliam, 1214–1249 “Alexander son of William”
• Alaxandair mac Alaxandair, 1249–1286 “Alexander son of Alexander”
• John de Balliol, 1292-1296 “John of Balliol,” the son of John, 5th Baron Balliol
• Roibert a Briuis, 1306-1329 “Robert the Bruce,” first son of another Robert de Brus
• Daibhidh a Briuis, 1329-1371 “David the Bruce,” son of Robert I (the Bruce)
• Robert Stewart,† 1371-1390 son of the hereditary Steward to the king
• Robert III (born John Stewart), 1390-1406, the second of the Stewart Dynasty

Balliol and Bruce came by their family names by virtue of their ancestral heritage in France. The surnames they used had to do with the estates (at least in Balliol’s instance) their forebears possessed before coming over to Britain, as was often the case among the Norman and Anglo-Normans. Several that followed David I to Scotland adopted the name of their English properties conferred with lordships by the English king. As of this writing, we don’t know for certain whether Gilbert de Templeton shared that Norman lineage or perhaps he was a son of the few Strathclyde Britons of sufficient status to gain an ecclesiastic education and clerical appointment after the arrival of the Normans. But we do know that he, if not his father or grandfather, adopted the new practice of the highborn and, in the “fashionable for the Clergy” manner lampooned by Thomas Fuller in 1662, ‘superadded’ a 'Sirname' perhaps drawn “from the place of their Nativity”: 'Templeton', in his case, near Dundonald, according to Black, who studied the matter of the origins of Scottish surnames.

Whichever actual bloodline pertains, both the name ‘Gilbert’ and the use of a proper surname rather than a patronymic as early as the reign of Alexander III indicates that our Gilbert was solidly identified with the Anglo-Norman nobility that had been taking positions of power for the one-, two- or more generations before his birth.

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The Templar connection

We still don’t know when that Templar ‘toun’, or enclosed farmstead, that supplied Gilbert's last name, was established, so we don’t have an absolute earliest date the Templeton surname could have been coined. The Normanized King David I met Templar founder, Sir Hughes de Payens, and granted lands in Midlothian and other privileges to the Templars as early as 1127, a year before the order was sanctioned by the Council of Troyes. Other nobles and subsequent monarchs bequeathed lands, chapels and monastic properties to the Templars over the ensuing 170 years across the whole of Canmore-controlled Scotland before we find Gilbert de Templeton in the records of Paisley Abbey. Perhaps the Kyle-Stewart toun was established with the 1189 benefice to the Templars by Alan FitzWalter, the 2nd Lord High Steward of Scotland, who held nearby Dundonald Castle at the time.

We're not even absolutely certain that the Templeton farm in the shadow of Dundonald is the actual toun that gave coin to our name, but it is the most likely for logical reasons beyond just Black's assertion. [See "Origins of the Templeton Name".]

Editor's note: Gilbert was likely near kin to James de Templetone "of Achendolosk" who is mentioned in the 1316 charter by King Robert the Bruce establishing the Boyd barony seated at Kilmarnock. As of this writing we have been unable to pin down the location of Achendolosk, but believe it likely to have been in the immediate area of Kilmarnock.

We can only guess at Gilbert de Templeton's connection to those Templar lands. The simple fact that he was favored by the powerful as well as was evidently highly educated makes it a near certainty that he was born into the nobility or knightly class, wherever he was born. His original Templeton ancestor could have been one of those knights that followed David I or Walter FitzAlan to aid in the consolidation of that monarch's rule in the early 12th century, and being landless in England and alienated from any desirable Continental legacy, took the name of the land he became tenant holder of in a nod to his new home.12 This could have been the case in any of the intervening generations, as well. Or that eponymous Templeton may have been a prosperous Strathclyde Briton noble that came into service of the Stewarts, say for instance, and decided to avail himself of whatever social advantage that taking on the name of his vassal-lands conveyed.

It is quite possible that Gilbert was not the eldest son of his father. If, as seems likely, he was born into a family with hereditary property interests, that legacy would have devolved to his older brother and obviously being an exceptional student, he would have been urged to better himself within the Church. The Fathers of Monasteries "often" drew talent from the local nobility,14 a practice that provides further, albeit faint, support for our notion that Gilbert was of the noble classes. His subsequent career may indicate some "juice" from a family connection or powerful patron. Perhaps that of the man whose seal appeared above his own on the charter consummated at the Abbey, a man that was one of the Abbey's most important benefactors, whose family was a neighbor from Gilbert's Dundonald Parish days: James Stewart, the 5th Lord High Steward?

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St Micahel's Chapel, Rothesay Castle, Isle of Bute.
Photo courtesy of billyofbute on Flickr, 2007.

A cleric and scholar of distinction

That Gilbert was appointed rector of Rothesay, a home to the High Stewards of Scotland‡ and a 'much coveted' clerical position in any religious house,15 tells us he was held in high regard both at Court and in the Church. The appointment is very suggestive of a man with close personal ties to the Stewart family. An indication of the status that his appointment brought him is evident in the charter of a gift of property rights he was an official witness to at Paisley Abbey in 1295. After the benefactor, one "Malcolm, son and heir of Lauman," affixed his seal and had the seal of James, the Lord High Steward of Scotland put to the document "because my seal is less known" -- the men of standing called to witness the transfer are listed, presumably in order of their social and official status:

"Magistro Gilbert Templeton, rector of the church of Rothir' ; Finlay, chaplain of Sir James, Steward of Scotland, perpetual vicar of Kyllinan ; Alpin MacDonald ; Stephen of Kent, vicar of Inyrkyp ; Sir Hugh, chaplain of the parish of Paisley, vicar of Kylmacolm; and many others."16

We are not expert in the subtleties of High Middle Ages ecclesiastic status and influence, but the fact that Templeton is listed first, before even the 'Steward's chaplain' (as well as perpetual vicar of the church under the patronage of Malcolm the gift-giver17), and was listed before the nobleman that held two offices including the chaplaincy of the parish that included Paisley, a major abbey endowed by the Stewarts among others, strikes us as significant and a likely indication of the high esteem in which the Magistro was held.§

The honorific, "Mestre," before Gilbert's name on the Ragman Rolls should tell us something about his background. Not being fluent in Latin nor an authority on Medieval Catholic and academic titles of office or achievement, for now we can only tease out some possibilites of its significance. First, we can surmise that it applies to the man, that it is an acknowledgement of his personal accomplishment, and is not simply a title that is attached to his office as rector at Rothesay. The suggestion of this is in Paisley charter's wording which seems to indicate that "Magistro" refers to something other than his office since following his name we find his actual ecclesiastic title, "rector of the church at Rothesay". Nor does that document preface the names of other rather exalted clerics with a similar term of honor. It, and the equivalent "Mestre" are titles of distinction that he may have earned before his appointment to Rothesay and that would follow him should he leave that post. In this we assume that the usage was the same as with Mestre Neel Cambel (Niall mac Cailein, anglicized as "Master Neil Campbell") that put his hand to the Ragman Roll seven names below Mestre Gilbert. [See Sellar in note 18 below.]

• •

We presume that Gilbert's being called "Magistro" and "Mestre" on the two documents is to use the terms as synonyms. And that they neither derive from his position as rector of a church or abbocy of St Blane's at Kingarth or other possible pastoral position, even though the Tufts University Perseus Digital Library word study tool (prefering to translate the word "magister") says the term applies to "a master, chief, head, superior, director, president, leader, commander, conductor."

So, what other achievement might the title signify?

Well, a second online Latin translator renders the title Magistro as "instructor, teacher, schoolmaster, master of a school, canon, professor." This tilt toward an educator of distinction is supported by the English translation of Thomas Aquinus' De Veritate we stumbled upon while fleshing out the connotations of the title; Dr. Gregory Froelich translates the chapter title, De Magistro, as "On the Teacher" at The Aquinas Translation Project.

While Gilbert certainly could have served in a pedagogic role as rector of St Blane's or overseen a school attached to its monastery, or taken charge of the education of young people in the vicinity of Rothesay Castle in addition to his other responsibilities, there is little in what we've seen in the literature that would confirm that social role as his defining characteristic. The link between significant church establishments and the proliferating schools attached to them in the 12th and 13th centuries in Scotland has induced more than one historian to consider not only is the title "mestre" coincident with "schoolmaster", but that any figure so addressed is also a cleric of some education.18

The weight of the context in which we find the title Mestre used in other period documents would indicate that Gilbert de Templeton was qualified by his education (and station) to not only become a rector of an important church, but also to have been the head of a school at Rothesay, at Kingarth, or before his appointment to the Isle of Bute, somewhere, anywhere else.

It may be that the distinction that Gilbert shared with Mastre Neil Campbell and with the other Ragman Rolls luminaries deserving of the title Mestre is simply that they ran a school. But there is another possibility. There is one accomplishment that would have set them apart from other clerics and nobles, and an achievement that some of the mestre on the Ragman Rolls almost certainly did attain: they could have successfully completed a formal education beyond that of the cathedral school and matriculated at one of the handful of universities then extant, the most likely being the university in Paris, but perhaps at Oxford or Cambridge in England or even Angers or Orléans in France.19 || In short, Webster's may have nailed it for once (underline is ours):

Magister Ma*gis"ter\, n. [L. See Master.] Master; sir; -- a title of the Middle Ages, given to a person in authority, or to one having a license from a university to teach philosophy and the liberal arts.20

Following Webster's instruction to "See Master," we find:

Origin: bef. 900; ME maistre, maister, OE magister < L; akin to magnus great

The "ME" in the origin of the word is the same Middle English that shares so much with the Scots language of the period. We can see that our word "master" is an analog for the Middle Ages' "Magister," and that it shares its root with the Middle English "maistre," and likely the period's Latin, mestre, a university graduated scholar possessing the Pope's blessing to teach. In Gilbert's case, most probably a doctor of theology.

A Medieval education

The scant evidence from seats of formal education in the early Middle Ages in Scotland — before Malcolm III and Margaret — suggest that neither the hermetic and missionary Culdee monks that populated their thirteen establishments21 nor the Columban monasteries made a priority of broadly sharing the benefits of literacy and learning, but more-or-less limited themselves to training their own community members to fulfill the requirements of religious service. This all changed with David I, who brought an emphasis on expanding and enhancing education to Scotland along with his Anglo-Norman inspired reforms of civil and religious life nearly a hundred years before Gilbert's birth. Over the years, cathedral schools and others became available to the children of the nobility, both boys and girls, and even to commoners22 along with the general church building boom that King David and his successors initiated, and the flood of educated Anglo-Norman clergy into Scotland's expectations ensued.23

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We can assume that Gilbert de Templeton was a well educated man from the simple fact he was the respected rector of a high profile church at the turn of the 13th century. In the latter half of the 13th century, Gilbert's education would have followed a similar pattern and course of study whether he was reared in Ayr, England or in the regions of Normandy, Brittany or Flanders that contributed immigrant fortune seekers to the post-Davidian ruling mix of nobles and churchmen that flooded into Scotland. The usual pattern could have begun with basic instruction at home, but more likely would have started with 'getting his letters' and basic Latin grammar instruction, with a focus on reading scripture along with rudimentary arithmetic, studying under the parish priest. If a Strathclyde boy of a noble family was not destined to inherit property and was therefore inclined to make a career in the Church, or even if he was simply the son of a well-to-do burgher wishing to enjoy the advantages of education, he would have progressed to the Paisley Abby school or Glasgow Cathedral school.24

At the cathedral or abbey school, the curriculum theoretically consisted of the "seven liberal arts," the trivium and the quadrivium. The "three roads" of the Trivium are the literary subjects, taught in Latin: grammar, rhetoric and dialectics (logic). The Quadrivium consists of the scientific courses in arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Emphasis would have rested upon the 'literary' subjects with doctrinal theology, moral philosophy and cannon law being subjects for the higher, complete instruction. By the 13th century the instruction had taken on a humanist coloration inasmuch as many of the Latin texts studied for grammar and rhetorical flourishes were those of the classical Roman authors, and "Anything written in a book has a certain sacredness, all the established authors are authorities, and all are timeless, from Aesop to Horace."25 Aristotle is held as the supreme text at the university of Paris in the mid-13th century.

At the age of fourteen or fifteen the precocious and privileged would go on to university. For the young men of Scotland in the mid-13th century — and if Gilbert de Templeton was one such young Scots — that meant traveling far from home. The university at St Andrews would not be founded for another 130 to 150 years or so, until 1410, using the university of Paris as its model. A Scots connection to Oxford has existed since John de Balliol endowed a house for scholars in 1263, which may be around the time that Gilbert was studying, but it is more likely in our view that Gilbert attended university in France. We, of course, have no direct evidence of this, but the confluence of plausible paths by which he could have come to be appointed rector in a politically important position suggest a French — and probable Parisian — university education:

Path one - born & reared in Ayrshire and matriculated through the Paisley Abbey school; the Cluniac order's institutional connection and frequent commerce with France would have undoubtedly inclined a bias toward the French universities. In any case, at the time, many of the Anglo-Norman nobles of Scotland were sending their sons, or were themselves a product of the University of Paris.¶ In sufficient numbers, in fact, that the contingent of Scottish students at the university caused the sometimes-used name of one of its "four nations" faculty to to be natio Germanorum et Scotorum ("nation of the Germans and Scots") rather than the officially published 'English Nation'.26

If Gilbert was already a novitiate of the order before attending university, the Cluniac requirement — to all appearances still in force through Gilbert's lifetime — that candidates for ordination should live for some years at the mother abbey in Cluny,27 this would have brought the young Gilbert to France, making the university in Paris (or Angers or Orléans) the likely choice of the order's officials and the young student.

If Gilbert had received his early education among the Tironensian Benedictines of Kilwinning Abbey, we assume his path would have followed a similar arc. We haven't found as rich a literature on the culture and practices of that order as yet. However, we consider it less likely, and believe that their monastic severity augurs against Templeton being a member of that order as an adult and confidante of the Steward.

Path two - if Gilbert was the enterprising younger son of a French Norman or Breton, or the son of a Flemish noble, his course of education would have been similar to the above, but upon graduation from university he might have surveyed whole reach of the Roman church's realm for opportunity and upward mobility. Throughout the 13th century the explosion of cathedral and monastery building in Scotland was certainly opening opportunities. A mentor or particular friend of Scots nationality met at university could easily have influenced Gilbert to seek his fortune in the service of of the church in Scotland. Or, a family connection may have facilitated the move.

However, if Gilbert was born on the Continent it is much less clear how he would have come by his adopted "de Templeton" surname and render any such scenario that much more speculative than the guesswork supporting an Ayrshire (or other British Isle) birth.

After completing six years' study the young scholar would face examiners and, if he passed, receive a license to teach. At Paris, after 1215, a candidate had to be thirty years of age with eight years of theological studies, of which the last three years were devoted to special courses of lectures in preparation for the mastership.28 It's with that license that he could claim the title mestre.

A graduate of university could continue his scholarship as a teacher at his own or another university, or could start his own school. He could transition to the study of medicine or law, both lucrative and prestigious professions. Or he may go into service of a wealthy and powerful prince or baron, or such a relative, as the educator of his household or as a trusted advisor and envoy, as both Neil Campbells apparently had. Many went on to take orders and became church officials, sometimes in the close service of a powerful lord as was the case with Gilbert de Templeton. And some fashioned a career combining these options.

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Gilbert's 'living' as a cleric

We can't say with full confidence just what manner of occupation Gilbert de Templeton pursued on the Isle of Bute. Part of the problem with determining this lies in the fact that we don't know whether the reference to 'Rothir' in the Paisley charter is to the castle, the town, or to the island. In the Viking era the name of the island was Rothesay.29 The widespread transposition of the principal Viking town's name of 'Bute' for that of the island and vice versa wasn't recognized and the names switched officially until a date we haven't been able to nail down at this writing. However, as early as Alan, the 2nd Steward's, attempted gift of St Blane's to Paisley Abbey in 1204 the island was referred to as 'isula de Bote' (in the Latin)30 and the general practice of the period of Gilbert's appointment seems to have been to refer to the settlement and the castle on the isle as 'Rothesay' and the island as 'Bute'.

Historians writing today say that at the time of Gilbert's appearance in our two documents the entire island of Bute was but one parish and St Blane's Church at Kingarth was its parish church. We're told that it was "in the 1300s" that the isle was divided in two, and the northern section and town of Rothesay was served by a newly-built St Mary's parish church.31 In fact, the earliest document we've come across that mentions St Mary's is dated 15 February, 1320.32 However, nineteenth century historians contend that St Mary's was first erected "in the thirteenth century," and that notwithstanding, "[t]he original church of Rothesay appears to have been dedicated to Saint Brieue or Brioc." Also, from its earliest days as a fortification, the castle of Rothesay would have housed a chapel** and then there was a "royal chapel" of St Bride's on Chapel Hill in the burgh of Rothesay.33 So we're not one-hundred percent certain of just which church, or 'living', Gilbert was rector.

There was no shortage of churches and chapels on Bute for Gilbert to have attached his living. Anderson, Rogertson, et. al., in their 19th century Origines parochiales Scotiae identified vestiges or ruins of no fewer than "twelve small chapels" from ages past including a "cell of monks" at an even then obliterated site on the island of Inchmarnoch. There were those dozen, plus historical mention of a chapel dedicated to St Columba at some undiscovered location.

The second problem with determining exactly what Templeton's professional role entailed is in the very job description we're given by the Paisley charter: 'rectore'. We're beyond our knowledge or pretension of any expertise in 13th century Catholic Church's practice and usage of ecclesiastic titles when it comes to inferring Master Gilbert's duties and responsibilities, or his relationship with his Church superiors and to his secular patron 'by definition' of his title or historic general practice. Today's Catholic Encyclopedia defines the position of Rector thusly:

Rector - Priests who preside over missions or quasi-parishes are called rectors: in England and the United States they are removable and irremovable, or permanent. These latter are known also as missionary rectors (M.R.). The term rector is applied likewise to the heads of universities, seminaries, and colleges; to the local superiors of religious houses of men... .34

As one might guess, Wikipedia describes the position and title at greater length [Ed: non-linked underline is our emphasis.]:

In the Roman Catholic Church, a rector is a person who holds the office of presiding over an ecclesiastical institution. This institution might be a particular building—like a church or shrine—or it could also be an organization, such as a parish, a mission or quasi-parish, a seminary or house of studies, a university, a hospital, or a community of clerics or religious.

The Canon law of the Catholic Church explicitly mentions as special cases three offices of rectors: rectors of seminaries ...; rectors of churches that do not belong to a parish, a chapter of canons, or a religious order...; and rectors of Catholic universities ....

Since the term rector refers to the function of the particular office, a number of officials are not called rector but nevertheless are rectors. The diocesan bishop, for instance, is himself a rector, since he presides over both an ecclesiastical organization (the diocese) and an ecclesiastical building (his cathedral). ... As further example, the pastor of a parish (parochus in Latin) is rector over both his parish and the parish church. Finally, a president of a Catholic university is rector over the university and, if a priest, often the rector of any church that the university may operate.

In some religious congregations of priests, rector is the title of the local superior of a house or community of the order (for instance, a community of several dozen Jesuit priests might include the pastor and priests assigned to a parish church next door, the faculty of a Jesuit high school across the street, and the priests in an administrative office down the block, but the community as a local installation of ... priests is headed by a rector).35

These are today's, contemporary definitions and delineations of the office but they can provide indications of what was signified by the title in Gilbert's day. Chief among those is that his was not a posting as a simple parish priest, but rather was an institutional position, one that involved being a superior to other clerics. It's apparent that there were only two possible postings on Bute worthy of a man of Gilbert de Templeton's standing, education and title, and those were at St Blane's — which may have retained its monastic community through this period; we have not been able to confirm this at this writing — and at the seat of the lord over the whole island: at the castle itself.

It is possible that the Paisley charter's reference to the 'ecclesie de Rothir'' adopts the old Viking usage and is speaking of 'the church of' the island of Bute, née Rothesay, and that Gilbert was rector of the only acknowledged parish church and monastic community at St Blane's, but we doubt it. The castle of Rothesay and its adjacent settlement had existed for nearly 100 years by 1295 and it's our estimate that the simplest, most direct translation holds the best explanation. Since the island was commonly called 'Bote' or Bute in charters of the period and the castle 'Rothesay,' it's our opinion that the Mestre was rector of Rothesay Castle which also supplied two livings for chaplains that ministered to the congregation of St Bride's on the town's Chapel Hill in addition to that church's assigned priest.36 In other words, Gilbert was rector of the castle chapel, St Micaheld's, and the chapels of the burgh.

The privileges of high station

In fact it's not absolutely certain that Gilbert was resident at his curé, or regularly on the Isle of Bute altogether. As we find so often while reading about the High Middle Ages, title and position is all about the money and property that attends. It was no different among men of the cloth. "As the church became more embedded into the fabric of feudal Europe, various other titles often supplanted 'Curate' for the senior parish priest. 'Rector' was the title given to a priest in possession of the tithe income. This right to the income was known as a 'Living'."37 This income was often diverted from the priest, or priests, directly ministering to the faithful of the parish or benefice to the well-connected holder of the living:

"In many instances both parsonage and vicarage revenues were diverted from their parish of origin... .
__This division of parochial revenues technically known as appropriation involved the greater part of the parochial revenues or teinds which properly belonged to the incumbent (parson or rector) of the parish being granted to a corporation or individual, who henceforth assumed the rectorial right while the residual teinds went to a substitute known as the vicar who ministered in the parish."38

The question of Master Gilbert's residency arises first from the discrepancy between his office as described in the 1295 charter at Paisley Abbey — "rectore ecclesie de Rothir'" (rector of the church of Rothesay)†† — and the careful identification of the Mestre as being "of the county of Ayr" in the Ragman Rolls. That identification, along with the assumptions that can be made not only from the fact of his appearance in the the Ragman Rolls but also from the context of his appearance in the Rolls, suggest that either he or his family held property in fief on the mainland while at the same time he maintained his position on Bute. That position, and his influence, may well have been as an adviser of James, the High Steward, and/or emissary of James' to Robert Wishart, the Bishop of Glasgow, and perhaps the Bishops of Argyll, Laurence de Ergadia, and Marcus, Bishop of the Isles through the dicey politics of the Wars of Independence.

Gilbert's participation in the hereditary Steward's innermost circle, his extended family, and among the councils of Scotland's most powerful men is confirmed by his appearing in the Church record, Registra... of the Pope pertaining to Great Britain and Ireland, as a witness confirming a grant of church properties in Argyll and other locations by Walter Stewart, earl of Menteith. The earl was the 3rd High Steward's son. Templeton witnessed the grant along with John Steward, the hereditary steward's brother we believe, John de Soulis, Ingram de H'nkawille, Reginald de Crauford, knights, and Alexander and John de Menetheht, the earl's sons.58

It seems obvious from the record that our Gilbert was a 'political' man.

~ | ~

Position, influence, and feudal alliances

Throughout the years that Gilbert de Templeton could first have been appointed Rector of Rothesay the benefice was firmly within the patronage of James, the 5th High Steward. Grant of the position and income of rector — indeed, the appointment of all the church livings on a lord's lands — was customarily made by the lord and became effective with the confirmation of the bishop of the diocese.39 This means that Sir James would have personally nominated Templeton to his post and the bishop would have consecrated the appointment. In 13th century Scotland, Gilbert and his qualities would have been familiarly known to both men. There is good evidence that the diocese governing Bute at the time of Gilbert's tenure was that of the Bishop of Argyll, although the general assumption in the literature is that the parish was the prebend of the Bishop of the Isles with it possibly being under the Argyll diocese "at one time" or "originally",40 even though the independant appropriation of the Bute parishes of St Blane's and Rothesay income by its rector was practiced fact until the early 16th century.41

The seal of James Stewart was probably carried to the Paisley charter signing by Finlay, the "chaplain of Sir James, Steward of Scotland, perpetual vicar of Kyllinan" that affixed his seal after Gilbert de Templeton, in his role of secretary to the Lord High Steward, but it could almost as likely have been brought by Gilbert. It seems that part of the duties and responsibilities of a chaplain of a castle, and that of a personal priest to a lord of a manor, was to supervise "a secretarial department" of himself and his assistants that would draft legal documents, correspondence and such. An estate's or castle's chaplain or one of his clerks would commonly tutor the nobles' children as well. In a household as large as the Lord High Steward's the position would have probably been called Chancellor (keeper of the Chancel of the chapel).

"Besides presiding at mass, the chaplain kept the lord's seal and wrote his business and personal letters in Latin or French. His clerk took charge of the vessels and vestments for mass, and when the household traveled was responsible for the transport of the portable altar, a wooden table with a stone center to hold relics. Other clerks assisted with the accounts, ran errands, and made purchases."42

The personal chaplain of Sir James, Findlay, seems the most likely to have provided these personal services to the Steward. Note that, if this was the case, Findlay would have been a member of James' traveling entourage and his 'perpetual' (irrevocable) vicarage at the church owned by Stewart's allies, the Lamonts of Cowal, would have been a 'living' that he was enjoying from a distance and where he would have employed a local vicar on a stipend to minister to the parish. At the time, James Stewart was lord of the castles of Renfrew in Renfrewshire, Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula, Argyllshire, Dundonald in Kyle Stewart, possibly castles at Glassary and Eilean Dearg, and of course, Rothesay on Bute. He was also patron of Paisley Abbey, as well as was lord of estate tenancies scattered throughout the southwest of Scotland and was at times Sheriff at Ayr (with control of its new castle) and Dumbarton (with its castle).43 As such, he undoubtedly traveled and moved his household from place to place a great deal.

As rector of Rothesay, Gilbert's duties could easily have included all the above 'clerical' functions for the important fortification there and more as head of the church on the Isle of Bute. Given his probable international education and obvious good standing with the increasingly nationalist leadership of the Church, it is possible that Gilbert was among the Steward's entourage as a councilor as well. James was known to be "a conventional but hardly devoted son of the Church," but on at least one occasion was singularly noted to confirm a Kyle Stewart land bequest "with the advice and consent of his council" in 1290 or so.44 What precipitated this activism on the part of his council is not known, but what is interesting is that he relied upon such advice to align his supporters through a very turbulent time in Scotland's history — indeed, that historic nexus where Scotland cemented its independent nationhood for the next three hundred years.

Given the uncertain politics and fitful armed resistance against the King of England that dominated this period, and the important role the Isle of Bute played as redoubt for Scots partisans at various times through the fight for Scotland's independence,45 it would be unlikely to the point of incredible if Gilbert was not involved in close consultation with Sir James as the Steward navigated the reefs and shoals of national leadership in a time of war.

~ | ~
_

Templeton, Rothesay, and the Wars of Independence

The evidence is clear that the sting of Edward I's brutal campaigns against the Scots fell heavily on Ayrshire and that William Wallace's revolt against Longshank's rule began in Gilbert de Templeton's back yard. The fight was more strongly supported among the lesser nobles and common people than among the high nobility whose loyalties were torn at times out of concern for their properties in England.46 The Bishop of Glasgow, however, was an active militant (in today's terms) for independence. Wishart blessed the insurgency of Wallace that included Wallace and Sir William Douglas' capture of Scone, and that fizzled with the nobles' Capitulation of Irvine in July, 1297, after the bishop had sworn fealty to Edward the year before. It is said in a number of histories that James Stewart and Robert Wishart were the initial instigators of Wallace to move from petty outlawry to organize open revolt against King Edward.47 These assertions are generally traceable to the Lanercost Chronicle, a highly English-centric and biased account of the period, and to the extent that they rely on such a prejudiced source should be viewed with some skepticism, although the identification of the Steward's and Bishop's sympathies with Wallace and then Robert the Bruce is well chronicled, as well as that of the Bishop of the Isles.48

The historical record is clear about the partisanship of the men that would have had the greatest influence over Gilbert, but certainty of Gilbert's own position can be deduced from the fact that the bishops of Glasgow, St Andrews and Moray combined to resist appointment of 'foreign' and English-sympathetic clergy in the Scottish church as early as 1289. In 1296 the 'council of twelve' that included both the Steward and the Bishop of Glasgow had taken administration of the State from the hands of the weak King John I (Balliol) and conducted a methodical purge of English clerics from their benefices in St Andrews diocese among other actions.49 Gilbert would absolutely not have gotten such a strategic office -- one of importance to the success and protection of the Scots' cause -- and continued to hold it had he been other than an utterly reliable patriot.

Gilbert's cause may have been what ever the Stewardt's cause was at any given time, however. Probably for some of the reasons cited above, but primarily just by reading the map against the names listed in the Ragman Rolls, John Reid observes that, "the subscriptions to the Ragman Roll came regularly down the coast thus; 'Hugo de Montgomerie,' Fraser of Knock, Hugo de Boyle, Ailmer de la Huntar, Barclay of Androssan, etc., Gilbert de Templeton, rector of the church of Rothesay, also swore fealty to Edward at the same time, being the first mention of the church there" and fixes these notables within the orbit of the Steward's influence if not vassalage. Barrow and Royan confirm Gilbert's close association with Sir James by their own research and reading the same document:

"Vassals and associates of James the Stewart who came formally into the king of England's peace included clerks such as Master Gilbert of Templeton and Geoffrey de Caldecote, knights such as Sir John Stewart (James's brother), Finlay of Houston, William Fleming of Barochan, Arthur of Dunoon, Hugh Kennedy, Reginald Crawford and Robert Boyd of Noddsdale; and lesser laymen... ."50

They conclude with a nod to a factor in this act of contrition, "Whilst these men and others listed in the Ragman Roll of August show a good cross-section of Stewart followers, there are a few notable exceptions. [...] Those men who submitted to King Edward received back their lands."

And so we have another contributing consideration to Gilbert's act of homage – it may have involved his near-family: it is our assumption that the land-owning family of James de Templetone was closely related to Gilbert and his sympathies may also have been held in question. James' identification with, if not intimate connection to the High Steward is confirmed by scholarship vis a viz his name, as well.

• •

One prime objective of Gilbert, as rector of Rothesay, would have been to protect the independence of the church installations and resources on Bute as well as contribute to the protection of Rothesay as a bastion against English domination. After stepping in to mediate the contested Scottish crown upon the death of the designated successor to Alexander III, The Maid of Norway, in 1290, Edward exacted a high price: that the nobles of Scotland acknowledge him as sovereign seignur of the Scottish realm and that the royal castles be surrendered to him. As of 1292 we're told that, "Every castle, save Rothesay, had its proud English warden within it."51 Balliol, upon ascending the throne in 1292, accepted Edward I as his feudal superior and it's said that for some while during his reign the English took control of the castle. The next mention of its possession after the latter vague representation that we've seen was that it "submitted to Robert Bruce" in 1311.52 But one wonders how tightly the English held the fortress when it is noted that through the time of Wallace and the Bruce, "Bute became an asylum for many who were opposed to the English rule, among others the Bishop of Dunkeld, who remained three years, Boyd of Kilmarnock (see: James de Templeton), Adam Wallace of Richardtown, Lindsay, etc."53 Blain, in manuscript, noted that regarding English sheriff appointments, "after the death of Wallace, no mention is made of Bute or Argyle, so that Lord Hailes supposes that these districts were not totally subdued."54

It is the fact that the Bishop of Argyll dropped out of the official record through the last decade of the 1200s, including taking a pass on paying homage to Edward I at Berwick in 1296, as was required of men of his station,55 and a decade later that Robert the Bruce escaped Edward's forces via the Highlands to Kintyre, west of Bute, thence to refuge in the Isles and to winter quarters at Rathlin Island possibly via Templeton's refuge after his defeat at Methven,56 suggesting that these were areas where the English king's men could not safely pursue wanted men.

We believe it is safe to say that Gilbert de Templeton effectively carried out his patriotic duty while fulfilling his divine responsibilities. And, as a man of the Church, it's not surprising that Robert I, upon becoming king, would not record a property reward to Gilbert for his service.

•_ • _•

Disclaimer and call for contributors

These speculations are just that: speculations. We have no way to weight the likelihood of any of our guesses and assertions and must remain open to other explanations since there is just so little information about Gilbert de Templeton — even about James Stewart and their contemporaries from so long ago — upon which to draw firm conclusions. Critiques or corrections of what we've proposed here are welcome. And, dear reader, any other traces of our man, or accounts of probable associates found in the historical record that could have involved him, or if you have your own speculations well founded upon scholarship of the period that we haven't considered, well, we think it's pretty much your moral duty to bring to our attention, if you would, please. . .. Please?

# # #

* Walter Fitzalan, the 1st hereditary High Steward of Scotland, "a Norman by culture and by blood a Breton", and the Bishop of Glasgow probably Herbert of Selkirk, a former Tironensian monk, were both stolid supporters of the Canmore king, Malcolm IV. Both offices, if not these particular men then certainly either these men or their successors, could have been patrons of, or at least friendly toward the original Templeton family patriarch and later, their successors; certainly were of Gilbert de Templeton's ilk.
† Walter, son of Alan FitzWalter and the Third High Steward of Scotland (died 1246) was the first of his line to adopt the name of his heriditary office as the surname "Stewart". Mary, Queen of Scots, subsequently changed the spelling to Stuart to accommodate the French, who were unfamiliar with the letter "w".
‡ The Isle of Bute was given to Alan FitzWalter while his father, Walter, the 1st hereditary Steward of Scotland, was still alive according to Lees:

"[Alan FitzWalter] bestowed on them the church of Kingarth and its chapels, in the Island of Bute. This Island had been granted to him in his father's lifetime. In the eyes of churchmen, it was a very sacred spot. Thither, in the beginning of the seventh century,[sic] had come St. Blane in a boat without oars. Here he had ruled as bishop and worked many miracles, and on the headland of Kingarth had placed his church, which was associated for centuries with his presence and regarded with the greatest reverence. The custody of this sanctuary, with all its revenues, Alan gave to the house of Paisley, for the soul of his father, and mother Eschina."57

§ Barrow and Royan employ a similar method to gauge the relative status of James the Stewart in Essays on the Nobility...:

"The first thirteen names in this declaration are those of the earls, followed immediately by Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale. James the Stewart's name comes next, showing that although technically a 'baron' he ranked almost equal to the highest nobility of the realm."

|| The university in Orléans grew from abbey and cathedral schools originating as early as the 6th century that have enjoyed an international reputation since Charlemagne's time. However, the papal bull establishing the university wasn't promulgated until 27 January, 1306. It's our understanding that the examiner/chancellor appointed by the sponsoring institution of the church could confer license to teach upon scholars, and that this power may have been accorded the chancellors of the various Orléans monastic and cathedral schools before the formalization of the university.
¶ Gilbert's (near-)contemporary, the Bishop of Moray, under Robert I (the Bruce), endowed the Collegium Scoticum at the University of Paris in 1325, an act formalized by the French king and his parliament in 1326.
** Historic Scotland and others tell us the large chapel dedicated to St Michael seen now inside the curtain wall of Rothesay Castle was part of the improvement of James IV or James V erected "probably" after 1490 although ButeNet's history has Robert II building it over 100 years earlier.
†† At the time of Mestre de Templeton's appointment, St Blane's remained an independent parish encompassing the whole of the island of Bute.

§

Notes:

1) Black, George Fraser Ph.D., The Surnames of Scotland, Their Origin, Meaning, and History, New York Public Library, N.Y., 1946. Black's entry as pertains to Gilbert reads as follows:

"TEMPLETON. A surname found mainly in the shires of Ayr and Lanark, and probably derived from Templeton near Dundonald, Ayrshire. Gilbertus de Tempilton, rector of the church of Rothir' (Rothesay) in 1295 (RMP., p. 139) is probably Mestre (Master) Gilbert de Templeton of the county of are who rendered homage for his possessions in 1296. His seal bears the Virgin and child, a monk at prayer below, and S' Gilb'ti de Temp[leton cl]' ici (Bain, II p. 199, 548)."

Note: Bain observes that Gilbert's seal is broken, and the letters in brackets, above, are likely missing.

2) Registrum monasterii de Passelet..., [Register of Paisley Abbey] (1163-1529), 1877. p. 139. http://books.google.com/... 2009.10.22 Ed: Black's note: "(RMP. p. 139)"
3) Lamont, Sir Norman of Knockdow, editor, An Inventory of Lamont Papers (1231 - 1897), J. Skinner & Co., Ltd., Edinburgh, 1914. p. 138. [English translation of Registrum monasterii... .] http://www.archive.org/stream/scottishrecordso54scotuoft/scottishrecordso54scotuoft_djvu.txt 2009.10.22
4) Bain, Joseph, editor, Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland Preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London. Vol. II, A.D. 1272 – 1307., Her Majesty's General Register House, Edinburgh, 1884. http://www.tannerritchie.com, also http://books.google.com/..., 2009.10.23 [Ed: Black's footnote, "(Bain, II p. 199, 548)"]
5) "Culdee", Columbian cyclopedia, Volume 8, Garretson, Cox & Company, 1897, http://books.google.com/ 2009.10.31
6) Smout, T.C., A History of the Scottish People, 1560 - 1830, Collins, St James's Place, London, 1969. p. 24
7) "Gilbert", http://www.behindthename.com/name/gilbert, 2009.11.1
8) Bowman, William Dodgson, The Story of Surnames, New York, Knopf, 1931. p. 8.
9) "clans of the Highlands and Islands", Oxford Companion to Scottish History, Lynch, Michael, editor, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007. pp. 93-4.
10) Pine, L.G., The Story of Surnames, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., Vermont, 1965. pp. 105-6.
11) Robertson, William, Historic Ayrshire: being a collection of historical works treating ..., Volume 1, Thomson Brothers, Edinburgh, 1891. p. 217.
12) Black, op. cit., p. 766. — Ed.: The Templars did employ tenant holders to work some of their lands.
13) "Cistercians", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistercians#Constitution_and_rule cite from Hollister, p. 210. 2009.11.28.
14) "Becoming Religious, Profession, and Renunciation of Vows" in "Clunaic Order", http://www.aedificium.org/MonasticLife/CluniacOrder.html cites Hamilton, Religion, p. 29. 2009.10.07
15) Smith, John Guthrie, The parish of Strathblane and its inhabitants from early times: a chapter of Lennox history, The University Press, Glasgow, 1886. At Google Books, 2009.10.13
16) Lamont, op. cit., p. 138.
17) Barrow, Geoffrey and Royan, Ann, “James Fifth Steward of Scotland, 1260(?) –1309” in Stinger, K.J., ed., Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland, John Donald Publishers, Ltd., Edinbugh, 1985. p. 167. ALSO: for "well before," see Lees, op. cit., p. 169.
18) Grant, James, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, William Collins & Sons, London and Glagow, 1876.
— The casual-seeming interchangeability of the clerical and academic institutional titles by historians is exemplified here (p. 7): "§ 5. The officer of the school with whom we are best acquainted in Scotland is the Rector or Master, who is frequently mentioned in the chartularies of the religious houses. [. . .]" See also the assumption of divine office in this description of Mestre Neel Cambel by David Sellar in his paper, "The Earliest Campbells — Norman, Briton or Gael?" published by the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University: "Similarly the clerical Master Neill Campbell appears to be the first Campbell to bear that christian name. [. . .]". The attribution of Campbell's ordination is unsupported in the extract. The original paper may provide that support, but it was unavailable at this writing.
Sellar is quoted at http://www.ccsna.org/jsep11.htm#A13 2009.11.22
NOTE: There were apparently two contemporaneous Neil Campbells that were "clearly" kinsmen. Best known to history is Sir Neil, son and heir to Colin Campbell, who was on of Robert I's closest associates and military commanders, and there was Maestre Neil Campbell, a cleric that was an auditor for Bruce the Competitor along with Colin. - Barrow, G.W.W., Robert Bruce and the Commuinity of the Realm of Scotland, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1965. p. 397.
19) Gies, Joseph and Frances, Life in a Medieval City, Harper & Row, New York, 1969. p. 164.
20) "Magister." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc., http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Magister 2009.11.24.
21) "Culdee", Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04563b.htm 2009.11.23
22) O'Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F., "The teaching of mathematics in Britain in the Mediaeval Ages", School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 2000. http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Education/mediaeval.html 2009.11.12
23) "schools and schooling", Durkan, John, contributor, The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, Lynch, Michael, Editor, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 561.
24) O'Connor and Robertson, op. cit. — Ed.: With the spread of Dominican schools, even the children of "the poor" could avail a church school education.
25) Gies, op. cit., pp.155-160.
26) "University of Paris," http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/University_of_Paris#encyclopedia 2009.11.25 from Wikipedia.org. © 2009, AbsoluteAstronomy.com
27) Gies, op. cit., p. 165.
28) ibid.
29) Anderson, William; Rogertson, Joseph; Brichan, James Brodie; McNab, John, Origines parochiales Scotiae: The antiquities Ecclesiastic and Territorial of the Parishes of Scotland, Volume 2, Part 1, Edinburgh, 1854. p. 224. Google Books, 2009.12.09
30) Registrum monasterii de Passelet..., op. cit., p. 15.
31) "St Mary's Church Feature Page," http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/bute/stmaryschurch/index.html 2009.12.12
32) Reid, John Eaton, History of the county of Bute: and families connected therewith, Thomas Murray and Son, Glasgow, 1864. p. 30; Google Books, 2009.12.05. — Ed.: Reid quotes the accounts of the bishops of the isles, "Chron. Manniae." - "Post hunc Alanus, genere Galvediensis Soderensem rexit ecclesiam honorifice, qui obijt 15th die mensis Februarii, A.D. 1320, et sepultus est in ecclesia beatae Maria de Rothesay in Buth."
33) Anderson, et. al., op. cit., p. 223. - ALSO: Reid, ibid., p. 30.
34) Meehan, Andrew, "Rector," The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 12, Robert Appleton Company, New York, 1911. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12676c.htm 2009.11.26.
35) "Rector - Ecclesiastical rectors," http://en.wikipedia.org 2009.12.06
36) Anderson, et. al., op. cit., p. 223.
37) "Curé" redirected to "Curate," http://en.wikipedia.org 2009.12.13
38) Cowan, Ian Borthwick, The parishes of medieval Scotland /, (publication) Scottish Record Society (series), Edinburgh, 1967. p. iii.
39) ibid., p. iv.
40) "Kingarth", http://en.wikipedia.org 2009.10.07
41) Cowan, op. cit., p. 112, p. 174. ALSO: "Cluniac Order", http://www.aedificium.org/MonasticLife/CluniacOrder.html, 2009.11.25.
42) Gies, op. cit., p. 105, p. 111.
43) Barrow, Geoffrey and Royan, Ann, “James Fifth Steward of Scotland, 1260(?) –1309” in Stinger, K.J., ed., Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland, John Donald Publishers, Ltd., Edinbugh, 1985. p. 168.
44) ibid., p. 182.
45) Reid, op. cit. Google Books, 2009.12.05.22:53. p. 48.
46) Bain, op. cit., p. lii.
47) Donaldson, Gordon, Ed., The Edinburgh history of Scotland, Vol. 2, Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1965. p. 53.
48) Barbour, John, The Bruce, Archibald Alexander McBeth Duncan, Edinburgh, 1997. p. 150. —

"[The enemy] made such a hard, difficult and harsh persecution of those who were well-disposed to [Robert the Bruce], or [were] kin or any kind of friend, that is dreadful to hear. For they spared no-one who, they thought, was his friend, whatever his standing, ecclesiastic or lay. Both Robert, bishop of Glasgow and Mark, bishop of Man [i.e.: bishop of the Isles] they imprisoned fast in fetters and in prison." Ed.: This imprisonment was during 1298-99.

49) Barrow and Royan, op. cit., p. 176.
50) ibid., p. 176.
51) Hewison, James King, The Isle of Bute in the olden time: with illustrations, maps, and..., Volume 2, Google Books. p. 56. 2009.12.08
52) "Rothesay", http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townhistory551.html 2009.12.09
53) Reid, op. cit. p. 48. "...Bute became an asylum for many who were opposed to the English rule, among others ... Adam Wallace of Richardtown, Lindsay, etc." Ed.: If Templeton was reared in or near the toun indicated by Black near Dundonald he may well have known Adam Wallace from childhood.
54) Blain MS. Wynton., Annals, i., p. 349, quoted in Reid, op. cit. p. 48.
55) "Laurence de Ergadia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_de_Ergadia#Bishop_of_Argyll 2009.12.26
56) Barbour, op. cit., p. 130.
57) Lees, J. Cameron, D.D., The Abbey of Paisley, From Its Foundation Till Its Dissolution..., Alex. Gardner, Paisley, 1878. p. 55. At Internet Archive (archive.org) 2009.11.14 —

"[Alan FitzWalter] bestowed on them the church of Kingarth and its chapels, in the Island of Bute. This Island had been granted to him in his father's lifetime. In the eyes of churchmen, it was a very sacred spot. Thither, in the beginning of the seventh century,[sic] had come St. Blane in a boat without oars. Here he had ruled as bishop and worked many miracles, and on the headland of Kingarth had placed his church, which was associated for centuries with his presence and regarded with the greatest reverence. The custody of this sanctuary, with all its revenues, Alan gave to the house of Paisley, for the soul of his father, and mother Eschina."

Ed.: According to Cowan, the gift didn't take — the bequest never became effective for the Abbey of Paisley.
58) Calendar of entries in the Papal Registers relating to Britain and Ireland, Vol. II. A.D. 1395-1342, Great Britain. Public Record Office, William Henry Bliss, editor, 1895. p. 383.

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