ANYONE looking for a colourful family history, need only take a peek, at the Clan Sinclair.
There family have ties to William the Conqueror, A pre-Columbus voyage to the New World, and
liege lords to Robert the Bruce.
To top it all is their position as Scottish Grand Masters of the Knights Templar, and
legendary guardians of the secrets of Rosslyn.
I'm going to venture a guess, that there are more books, written about the sinclair family,
than there are most other families out there.
The daa Vinci Code, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and The Templar Meridians, The Secret Mapping
of the New World.
to name just a few.
British genealogist Sir Bernard Burke, wrote.
No family in Europe, beneath the rank of royalty, boasts a higher antiquity, a nobler illustration,
or a more romantic interest, than that of Saint Clairs.
Sir Walter Scott, Scottish historical novelist, called the sinclairs, The Lordly line of high
Saint Clair.
Rosslyn Chapel was founded as a Catholic church by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
of the Sinclair Family in the mid fifteenth Century.
According to some accounts, the descendents of Jesus Christ and members of the Knights
Templar existed within the Sinclair family.
Dan Brown used this theory in his 2003 novel The daa Vinci Code, with the chapel being
used as a location in the film version which was released three years later.
Despite being dismissed by historians and the Catholic Church, the novel has sold over
80 million copies worldwide.
What is claimed as a carving on a glacial boulder in the town of Westford, in Massachusetts,
USA, is argued to be proof that an expedition, led by Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, landed
on the North American continent almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus.
The 'carving' is subject to much speculation over its authenticity, but it is said to depict
a Medieval knight with sword and shield who was a fallen member of Sinclair's party
who travelled to the 'New World' in 1398.
Evidence exists to support the Templar's involvement in the Oak Island Money Pit, but
to expand this theory further, it would be useful to consider the influence of the Freemasons
in this area, as the Templar were a precurser for this select group of individuals.
There remains a strong connection to this area with the Knights Templar, whether relative
to the treasure or not and further study may shed light on the mystery.
It is also said that Freemasonry, in the form we would recognise today, started at the building
of Rosslyn Chapel, There are three important pieces of evidence which support this statement.
Rosslyn links the Jewish Temple through the Knights Templar to Freemasonry.
The ground plan of Rosslyn is a copy of Herod's Temple and above ground it replicates the
Herodian Architecture of Jerusalem.
Rosslyn contains the oldest document showing a modern First Degree Ceremony being conducted
by a Knight Templar.
The layout of Rosslyn, which was started in 1440, is an exact replica of the ground plan
of the Third Temple, built in Jerusalem by Herod and destroyed in the First Century by
the Romans.
On the lower frame of the window in the South West corner of the Chapel there is a carving
which seems to be of a Freemasonic First Degree.
The figure shows a man kneeling between two pillars.
He is blindfolded and has a running noose about his neck.
His feet are in a strange and unnatural posture and in his left hand he holds a bible.
The end of the rope about his neck is held by another man who is wearing the mantle of
a Knight Templar.
Rosslyn was built by Sir William Saintt Clair Jarl of Orkney.
He was a direct descent of William de Saint Clair Last Temple Grand Master of Scotland,
who died taking the heart of the dead king, Robert de Bruce on a last crusade to Jerusalem.
Sir William, the chapel builder, is also the direct ancestor of First Grand Master Mason
of Scotland, also named William Sinclair.
Rosslyn was built To house artifacts brought by the Knights Templar to Scotland in 1126.
Between 1118 and 1128 the Templars excavated the ruins of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem.
Hugue de Payen, first Grand Master of the Knights Templar, served on the First Crusade
with Henri Saint Clair, First Earl of Roslin and Hugue visited Roslin in 1126 where he
was given land to build the first Templar Preceptory outside the Holy Land.
In 1860 the British Army Engineers mounted an expedition to Jersualem and two Lieutenants
,Wilson and Warren, mapped out the city to Ordnance Survey standards.
They excavated beneath Temple Mount and found many deep tunnels in which they also found
and recorded Templar artifacts.
In 1440 William St Clair was the most powerful man in Scotland.
He decided to build Rosslyn to house the treasures he had inherited from the Templars and establish
a seat of spiritual authority to rival James II who was dabbling in English politics and
finally got himself killed during the War of the Roses.
William brought in Masons to build Rosslyn and built the town of Roslin to house them.
When James II died (1460) his son, James III, thought William was posing to great a threat
to the Crown of Scotland so he stripped William of Orkney and broke up his estates
"If you peppered Scotland with dots across Lothian and Caithness in medieval times,"
says writer and Scots historian Ashley Cowie, "chances are you'd land within ten miles
of a Sinclair property."
Cowie has spent a decade researching the family and has discovered that if you follow a straight
line from Rosslyn directly due north you end up at the Castle of Mey, which was built in
the 16th Century by the 4th Earl of Caithness, George St Clair.
Ravenscraig and Keiss castles (also St Clair built) are on that grid line and so is Balmoral
Castle, which has at its core another castle built in the 14th Century by William Drummond
(married to a St Clair.)
This same line passes Holyrood - named after the sacred relic of the True Cross, or Holy
Rood.
This was said to have been guarded on its journey from Hungary to Scotland by William
St Clair, cupbearer to Margaret Atheling.
Dozens of other St Clair castles and strongholds are alleged to follow a connecting geometric
pattern involving the re-usage of ancient megalithic and druidic sites.
This is used to demonstrate St Clair connections to the Knights Templar - who could have introduced
them to the teaching of sacred geometry.The remains of William St Clair, great-grandfather
of the founder of Rosslyn Chapel, are said to be buried in Rosslyn, Templar style, with
crossed leg bones placed beneath skull.
The proud and noble Scottish family of Sinclair (Saint Clair), is of hearty Viking stock with
duel roots extending more than a millennium back in time, to the ancient Norse earldoms
of Orkney, and Caithness and the dukedom of Normandy.
The surname of Sinclair in French is "de Sancto Claro" and in Latin, "Sanctus Clarus,"
meaning Holy Light.
The name derives from a town near Paris, close to the location of the hermit Saint Clare's
martyrdom.
Saint Clair-sur-Epte was the scene of a treaty in 912 between Charles, King of the Franks,
and the Viking marauder Gange Rolf (or Rollo as he is also known) whereby Rollo was granted
that part of France now called Normandy in return for his acceptance of Charles as his
king and his embracement of Christianity.
Rollo was to become the first Duke of Normandy and those of his descendants who took the
name of Saint Clair later became cousins to a later Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror.
As recorded in the battle roles and suggested in the Domesday Book, several Saint Clair
knights were likely companions of William at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and were
thus granted lands in England following the Conquest.
Other Norman knights of the surname Saint Clair are thought to have sought their fortunes
further north in Scotland.
Tradition has it that one of these Normans of lordly rank was William "The Seemly"
Saint Clair who joined the court of Malcolm Canmore.
William faithfully served the king's wife, Margaret, as her cup-bearer and for his services,
it is said that he was granted a charter of lands at Rosslyn.
Later, Sir William Saint Clair was to die fighting his cousin William the Conqueror.
In 1163 Henry de Saint Clair was granted a charter of the lands of Herdmanston near Haddington,
thus founding a line which later was raised to peerage status under the title of Lord
Saint Clair.
The progenitor of the Saint Clairs of Roslin and the Sinclairs of Caithness is believed
to be the Norman immigrant Guillaume (William) de Saint Clair who acquired the lands of Rosslyn
by marriage to its heiress, Amecia de Rosskelyn, as documented by a charter issued in 1280
by King Alexander III of Scotland.
Sir William served as Ambassador to France before being taken captive at the Battle of
Dunbar and died a year later in 1297.
William's eldest son, Sir Edward Saint Clair, Edward's brother William (later made the
Bishop of Dunkeld), and Edward's son, William Saint Clair, gave faithful service to Robert
the Bruce in Scotland's Wars of Independence.
These three Roslin Saint Clairs, along with Sir William Saint Clair of Herdmanston, were
present on the field at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314 when the Scots soundly defeated the
English.
Edward later was to be a signatory to the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.
His son, William, died along with Sir James Douglas in 1330 at the Battle of Teba in Spain
on a mission to carry the heart of Robert the Bruce to the Holy Land.
This William's son, another William who died in Lithuania serving with the Teutonic
Knights, was the father of "Prince" Henry Saint Clair, the first Saint Clair Earl of
Orkney who is believed to have visited America in 1398 nearly a century before Columbus.
The 2nd Earl of Orkney, who lived lavishly like a king, was the guardian of James I of
Scotland during his minority.
The house of the "high Saint Clair reached its zenith with the 3rd and last Earl of Orkney,
William Saint Clair, who was the founder of Rosslyn Chapel in 1446.
Earl William was granted the earldom of Caithness in 1456, becoming the first Sinclair Earl
of this northern domain, but in 1471 he surrendered the earldom of Orkney to King James III.
The Earls of Caithness historically have been the chiefs of the Sinclairs of Caithness,
and like the Sutherlands, Gunns and Macleods, the family is regarded to be a highland clan
in every sense of the word.
Over the past 500 plus years there have been twenty Sinclair Earls of Caithness.
By several accounts, the history of the clan in its northern stronghold during the 16th
and 17th centuries was a bloody one.
William, the 2nd Earl, was slain along with his king, James IV, at the Battle of Flodden
in 1513.
Later, in 1529, John, the 3rd Earl and a large contingent of Caithness clansmen whom he led,
were slaughtered to the man in an ill fated invasion of Orkney.
At the Battle of Kringen in Norway in 1612, a large band of locals ambushed a mercenary
force of largely Wick volunteers on their way to assist the Swedes in the Kalmar war.
One of the Scots leaders, George Sinclair, along with more than half his company, was
slain.
Regarded by some to be the last clan war in Scotland, the Battle of Altimarlach in 1680
was fought between George Sinclair of Keiss and Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy in a dispute
over the earldom of Caithness.
The opposing sides met a mile west of Wick near the stream of Altimarlach where Sinclair's
small force was soundly defeated with more than a 100 casualties.
Years later, the northern Sinclairs were prepared to take part in the Rising of 1745, but disbanded
after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden.
The 9th Earl of Caithness, who died in 1765, was the last surviving peer to sit in the
Scottish Parliament.
Although Caithness and Orkney are considered the clan home for the Sinclairs, families
of this surname and their descendants can be found throughout the world, playing prominent
roles in the history of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
Clan Sinclair is represented worldwide by associations in Australia, Canada, Italy,
New Zealand, Scotland and the United States.
The Patron of these companion associations is the Right Honorable Malcolm Sinclair, 20th
Earl of Caithness, Hereditary Chief of the Clan Sinclair.
The clan's rich and colorful history, as represented by such iconic works in stone
as Sinclair Girnigoe Castle and the chapel at Rosslyn, is a legacy for which the family
of Sinclair today can be rightfully proud.
Places of Interest: Roslin, Midlothian.
This picturesque village sprang up beside the 14th century castle and 15th century chapel,
built by the St Clairs of Rosslyn.
Rosslyn Chapel has recently attracted world wide interest from featuring in the best-selling
novel, The Da Vinci Code.
Castle of Mey, Caithness.
Built in 1568 by George, 5th Earl of Caithness.
It is today probably best known for having been the private home and retreat of Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Keiss Castle, Keiss, Caithness.
Remnants of a small 16th century tower can be seen here.
The 19th century castle nearby was the home of Sir William Sinclair, Founder and Pastor
of the first Baptist Church in Scotland.
Noss Head, Wick, Caithness.
The ruins of castles Sinclair (15th century) and Girnigoe (17th century) can be seen here.
The estates were invaded in 1697 by Campbell of Glenorchy and both castles were destroyed.
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