Part 1 – Clan Kerr in The Crusades
About this Report
The original research for this report was scheduled to take place in old archives in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, and elsewhere in Europe in mid-2020. The Covid-19 pandemic and its associated travel restrictions seriously delayed this plan. Research already undertaken in 2019 and 2020 in the United States is considered of enough interest that it was decided to issue this initial report, and follow it up with a more in depth report in 2022.
Two Templar organizations were established in Scotland by Royal Decree around AD 1120. Their purpose was to support and keep track of those supporting Scotland’s contributions to the defense of Jerusalem duration the Crusades. Both the Knights Templar and Knights of Saint John established their respective headquarters in Scotland in AD 1120 at Balantrodach and Torpichen. Each of these sites were within forty miles of each other in the Lothian borderland area, a day’s ride from Edinburgh.
One hundred and ninety years later, in AD 1304 the Knights Templar’s organization was closed by Vatican decree and all its records transferred to the Knights of Saint John in Scotland. This organization still exists today in Scotland.
About the Author
For the past decade the author has been the President of Clan Kerr of the United States. He is married to Margaret Carr, originally from the Lothian area of Scotland’s Borderlands in the early 1700’s. The idea for the research into Scotland’s Kerrs, and other Scottish clans who served in the 180 years of the Crusades, first arose during a discussion with a senior member of today’s Knights of Saint John in Scotland. He observed it was a fascinating question clearly worth looking into, and a subject not seriously studied until now.
The author is also a senior member of the Knights Templar, and currently their Grand Mentor for the Templars’ international operations in the Holy Land