Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney

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Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin, and Lord of Shetland (c.1345-c.1400), was a Scottish explorer and nobleman. He is sometimes identified by the alternative spelling Henry St Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel. He is also noted for being the subject of legend that he undertook early explorations of Greenland and North America in about the year 1398. According to a biography published many years after his death, he died in battle against the English around the year 1400.

Contents

[edit] Life

Henry was born as son and heir of William Sinclair, Lord of Rosslyn, and Isobel of Strathearn, a daughter of Maol Iosa, Earl of Orkney (Malise of Strathearn) and his designated heiress of the Orcadian principality. Henry's maternal grandfather had been deposed of much of his lands (earldom of Strathearn was completely lost to scottish king), and attempts of descendants to recover those played a remarkable role in Henry's life.

Upon his father's death in 1358, Henry succeeded as laird of Rosslyn. He pursued to reclaiming at least some of the Norse lands that had been divided between heirs of earl Malise. Orkney however was held by an aunt's husband, the Swede Erengisle Suneson, and after him rivalling relatives.

Three cousins: Alexander de L'Arde, Lord of Caithness; Malise Sparre, Lord of Skaldale; and Henry, rivalled in succession. On 2 August 1379 at Marstrand, near Tonsberg, Norway, king Haakon VI of Norway, Orkney's technical liege lord, invested and confirmed Henry as the Norwegian earl of Orkney over the rival claim by his cousin Malise Sparre.

In 1389, earl Henry attended the coronation of king Eric the Pomeranian in Norway, and pledged his oath of fealty. In 1391, he occupied the Faroese Islands to his principality.

In 1391, earl Henry and his troops slayed Malise Sparre near Scalloway, Tingwall, Shetland, and he secured his dominion of Shetland islands.

Earl Henry was in reality in rather independent position, being able to act like a little king in his archipelago realm of North Atlantic.

[edit] The Sinclair voyage to America?

Little else is known about Sinclair's life. Much has been written through conjecture, however, about his possible career as an explorer. In particular, starting in the 19th century, he was identified by Johann Reinhold Forster as possibly being the prince Zichmni described in letters allegedly written around the year 1400 by the Zeno brothers of Venice, in which they describe a voyage throughout the North Atlantic under the command of Zichmni.[citation needed]

The authenticity of the letters (which were not discovered and published until the early 16th century), the exact course of the voyage, as well as whether or not it even occurred, has not been firmly established. Many historians regard the letters (and the accompanying map) as a hoax, either by the Zeno brothers or by the descendant who later published them. Moreover, the identification of Zichmni as Henry Sinclair is very controversial, although it is often taken for granted among supporters of the theory.

The most controversial theories speculate that Henry (Zichmni) traveled not only to Greenland but to present-day Nova Scotia, where he may have founded a settlement among the Micmac Indians, and perhaps as far south as present-day Massachusetts and Rhode Island. According to these theories, his expedition may have been responsible for the building of the Newport Tower and the carving of the Westford Knight.

The theory that Henry Sinclair explored North America is based on several separate propositions:

  1. That the letters and map ascribed to the Zeno brothers and published in 1558 are authentic, and were not to counter Amerigo claim but for romantic novel reason since the letters were talking about specific America.
  2. That the voyage described in the letters taken by Zichmni around the year 1398 actually reached North America.
  3. That the Zichmni is Henry Sinclair.
  4. The Newport Tower (Rhode Island) was described by the first Spaniard who reached North America. The building of the rock tower was monumental and it was molded on the example of a church in Jerusalem. Only people who were in Jerusalem with engineering capabilities could have made it (crusaders or Templars not vikings)
  5. A cannon of a type already obsolete before the voyage of Columbus was purportedly dredged out of the sea near Nova Scotia, Canada in 1849 and later moved to the fortress at Louisburg, Cape Breton island. According to author Andrew Sinclair, the cannon is of the same type fitted on Henry Sinclair's ships.[1]

The Theory also hinges on the contention that there are stone carvings of American plants in Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland,[2] plants supposedly not seen by Europeans until Columbus. The Chapel was build by Henry Sinclair's grandson William Sinclair and was completed in 1486. Columbus made his first voyage in 1492. This is seen by authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas as being compelling evidence for the theory that Henry sailed to America.[3]

In 1998 Clan Sinclair celebrated the 600 anniversary of Henry' trip to America.[4]

[edit] Sinclair's Voyage and the Knights Templar

Intertwined with the Sinclair voyage story is the 18th century legend that Henry Sinclair was a Knight Templar and that the voyage either was sponsored by or conducted on the behalf of the Templars.[5]

It is theorized by Knight and Lomas, in their book "The Hyram Key" that the inspiration for the naming of America was not Amerigo Vespucci (as most scholars agree) nor Richard ap Meurig (Amerik) (who has also been credited with being the inspiration), but instead comes from a Phonician name for the star (Venus, the brightest in the sky). According to their unsourced theory, the medieval Knights Templar discovered a royal archive, dating from the time of King Solomon, hidden 80 feet under the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. This archive supposedly stated that Phoenicians from Tyre, by orders of Solomon, made trade trips from his port on the Red Sea (Eilat) to a westerly continent they named Merika[6]. According to Knight and Lomas, the Templars learned that to sail to that continent, they have to follow a star by the same name, and that’s where the name America came from.

The Templar connection also hinges on the fact that the name Nova Scotia is Latin for New Scotland. This is considered significant because it fits with the 18th century tale that some Templars escaped the suppression of their order by Philip the Fair (Philippe le Bel, 1307) by fleeing to Scotland[7]. The Knights Templar were publicly disbanded in the early 1300s, after the arrest in France of thousands of their members by the King of France[8]. The theory reasons that Robert the Bruce of Scotland had been excommunicated by the Pope two years earlier, so the Templars and the Sinclairs took refuge with Bruce and helped him win the Battle of Bannockburn.[9] However, this story was invented by Fr. Hay c.1700 and is not supported by any evidence.

Recent excavations have shown that Rosslyn Chapel contains Templar insignias.[10] According to author Robert Lomas, the chapel also has an engravings depicting a knight templar holding the sword over a head of an initiate, supposedly to protect the secrets of the templars.[11] Rosslyn Chapel was built by Sir William St Clair Last St Clair earl of Orkney who was the grandson of Henry. According to Lomas, Sir William, the chapel builder, is also the direct ancestor of First Grand Master Mason of Scotland, also named William St Clair (Sinclair).[12]

According Lomas, The Sinclairs and their French relatives the St. Clairs were instrumental in creating the Knights Templar. He says that the founder of Templars Hugh de Payns was married to the sister of the Duke of Champaine Henri de St. Clair who was a powerful broker of the first crusade and have the political power to nominate the Pope and suggest the idea and empower it to the Pope. It is believed that that St Clair was the ninth member of the first members that his name was secret, ie a sleeper, and the position of sleeper continued in the Sinclair family line.

[edit] Criticisms of this theory

One primary criticism of this theory is that if either a Sinclair or a Templar voyage reached the Americas, they did not, unlike Columbus, return with a historical record of their findings. There is no documentation to support the theory, and apart from the graveyards in Nova Scotia and the carvings in the Rosslyn Chapel, there is no physical evidence that could prove that Templars or Sinclair had explored the Americas. Advocates of the theory contend that it is possible that this lack of documentation can be explained by a strong motivation of the Sinclair voyagers to keep their activities secret[13]. Historians question this. They also question the authenticity of the Westford Knight, claiming that it is not clearly inscribed, and may be a hoax or a result of erosion that makes it appear to resemble a knight. Finally, the carvings in Rosslyn Chapel may not be of American plants at all, and according to one historian are nothing more than stylized carvings of wheat and strawberries.[14]

[edit] Sinclairs and the Templars

Historians Mark Oxbrow, Ian Robertson,[15] Karen Ralls and Louise Yeoman [16] have each made it clear that the Sinclair family had no connection with the Mediaeval Knights Templar. The Sinclairs' testimony against the Knights at their 1309 trial is not consistent with any alleged support or membership. In "The Templars and the Grail"[17] Karen Ralls states that among some 50 who testified against the Templars were Henry and William Sinclair.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sinclair, Andrew - "The Sword and the Grail: The Story of the Grail, the Templars and the Discovery of America" - Birlinn Publishers 2006
  2. ^ The Hiram Key, Fair winds Press, ISBN 1-59233-159-9, Knight and Lomas
  3. ^ Knight and Lomas The Hyram Key
  4. ^ 600th Celebration News Clan Sinclair, Quarterman Family History Project website
  5. ^ , though the order was suppressed in the early 14th century."The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar: New Light on the Oak Island Mystery" by Steven Sora, Atlantis Rising Magazine #20, 1999
  6. ^ "A Scottish knight templar, Henry Sinclair, seeking refuge from the suppression of his order in 1398. He and his freemasons escaped with assorted treasures and holy grails to settle in Nova Scotia with the Micmac Indians (clearly a tribe of Hiberno-Scots ancestry). Sinclair's masonic star, or "La Merika", duly gave its name to the continent and merits a Da Vinci saga all of its own. The only blot on this glory is that everyone knows America got its name from Glamorgan's Richard ap Meurig (Amerik), a wealthy sponsor of John Cabot's search for the north-west passage in the 1490s." Simon Jenkins,The Guardian, Friday January 20, 2006
  7. ^ The Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry, by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Fair Winds Press, August 1, 2001, ISBN 1-931412-76-6
  8. ^ The Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry, by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Fair Winds Press, August 1, 2001, ISBN 1-931412-76-6'
  9. ^ Scotsman.com Heritage & Culture - Myths & Mysteries, 10 Nov 2005
  10. ^ Scotsman.com Heritage & Culture - Myths & Mysteries, 10 Nov 2005
  11. ^ Origins of Freemasonry on www.robertlomas.com
  12. ^ Origins of Freemasonry on www.robertlomas.com
  13. ^ In The Hiram Key many references are made to entrusted secrets, which the authors claims were encoded in the architecture of the Sinclair's Rosslyn Chapel

    Insert the text of the quote here, without quotation marks.

  14. ^ Historian Mark Oxbrow, quoted in "The ship of dreams" by Diane MaClean, Scotsman.com, 13 May, 2005
  15. ^ "The Da Vinci Connection", Sunday Herald, 14 November 2004
  16. ^ "Historian attacks Rosslyn Chapel for 'cashing in on Da Vinci Code'", Scotsman.com, 03-May-06
  17. ^ Ralls, Karen - "The Templars and the Grail" - Quest Books; 1st Quest edition (May 25, 2003), ISBN 0-8356-0807-7 (see p.110 - quoting "The Knights Templar in England" p.200-1)

[edit] Books

  • "From Jamestown to Texas: A History of Some Early Pioneers of Austin County the Colonial Capitol...", by Betty Smith Meischen, iUniverse, 2002, ISBN 0-595-24223-5 Google Books link to page 498
  • "Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry", by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Fair Winds Press, August 1, 2001, ISBN 1-931412-76-6
  • "Prince Henry Sinclair: His Expedition to the New World in 1398", 1974 and 1995, by Frederick J. Pohl, Clarkson N. Potter, New York, ISBN 1-55109-122-4.

[edit] Web

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
(new creation)		 Earl of Orkney Succeeded by
Henry Sinclair
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