The Knights Templar in the New World: How Henry Sinclair Brought the Grail to Acadia
320
The Knights Templar in the New World: How Henry Sinclair Brought the Grail to Acadia
320Paperback(2nd Edition, New Edition of The Labyrinth of the Grail)
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Overview
• Offers evidence that Scottish prince Henry Sinclair not only sailed to the New World 100 years before Columbus, but that he also established a refuge there for the Templars fleeing persecution
• Shows that the Grail, the holy bloodline connecting the House of David to the Merovingian dynasty through Jesus and Mary Magdalene, was hidden in the New World
In 1398, almost 100 years before Columbus arrived in the New World, the Scottish prince Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, sailed to what is today Nova Scotia, where his presence was recorded by Micmac Indian legends about Glooskap. This was the same Prince Henry Sinclair who offered refuge to the Knights Templar fleeing the persecution unleashed against the order by French king Philip the Fair at the beginning of the 14th century. With evidence from archaeological sites, indigenous legend, and sacred geometry handed down by the Templar order to the Freemasons, author William F. Mann has now rediscovered the site of the settlement established by Sinclair and his Templar followers in the New World. Here they found a safe refuge for the Grail—the holy bloodline connecting the House of David to the Merovingian Dynasty through the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene—until the British exiled all the Acadians in 1755.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780892811854 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Inner Traditions/Bear & Company |
| Publication date: | 03/03/2004 |
| Edition description: | 2nd Edition, New Edition of The Labyrinth of the Grail |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The KNIGHTS TEMPLAR in the New World
How Henry Sinclair Brought the Grail to AcadiaBy William F. Mann
Destiny Books
Copyright © 2004 William F. MannAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0-89281-185-4
Chapter One
A Fool's Quest* * *
There is a faint whisper among traditional historians that North America-the New World-was regularly visited not only by the Vikings and Irish, but by pre-Christian mariners such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and the Celts. Hints of these visits now appear to be revealing themselves through a variety of sources, including classic mythology, Indian legend, and maritime folklore.
If true, one would expect a wealth of solid evidence to have been found suggesting at the very least temporary settlement, specifically along the eastern seaboard of North America. But hard physical evidence has yet to be found in any great detail. Could it be that those who came before Columbus and Champlain, men like the enlightened fourteenth century Prince Henry Sinclair, were agents of the secret Order of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon and other earlier secret societies? And could it be that these same Knights Templar, whose secrets and mysteries provided the basis of Freemasonry in Scotland, purposely covered their tracks throughout the New World?
This "New World secret" may have been part of a more ancient mystery that involved the royal Merovingian bloodline of France, the suggested "Grail family" of Jesus Christ, and the royal House of David and King Solomon. These unanswered questions have followed me for many years, and as I searched for the answers I began to unravel the thick tapestry of intrigue that hides the keys to these and many other secrets of the Knights Templar in Nova Scotia.
My story begins with my own bloodline and its peculiar interests. The Mann family is steeped in military and Masonic history. From my earliest times I can remember my great-uncles and father confusing me with little stories of intrigue and honor, both on the battlefield and among the shadows. They constantly enthralled me with unusual puzzles and games. It was as though I was being challenged, yet to what purpose I did not know.
Unfortunately, every time it appeared that I was starting to understand the symbolism behind their stories, the philosophy of love and harmony that was being radiated toward me, someone would die before I could ask the right questions. I soon learned that to discover the answers to these secrets I would have to follow my own course.
As a career path I chose forestry and landscape architecture over the more conventional occupations, and as fate would have it, my wife is from Nova Scotia. It was as though I was being drawn to some inexplicable conclusion: to interpret the Grail landscape across Nova Scotia. That conclusion came in May 1992. Shortly after my mother's death from cancer, I took a trip to Nova Scotia. My objective was twofold. First of all, I needed to get away and to gather my thoughts following such a personal ordeal. Second, it gave me an excuse to explore an area that I had identified in relation to the pre-Columbian explorations of Prince Henry Sinclair.
Although not in the best frame of mind, when I finally came to stand on the very point that I had developed two-dimensionally, I knew that I had arrived at a higher level. It was on top of a hill in Nova Scotia that, for the first time since my childhood, I experienced a sense of peace. The setting was idyllic. With the sun shining and a slight breeze rippling through the trees, I had a profound sense of security and comfort. It was as though I had discovered the mythical land of the Greek Arcadia.
Some may say this was a subconscious release from all of the tension and anxieties I had been experiencing during a particularly troubling time. This was partly true, but there was more. There was the sudden realization that the landscape had been altered. Majestic white oaks were growing on the south-facing hillside where the natural cover is spruce and birch. But this was not all. The tidal stream that ran through the adjacent valley appeared to have had its natural course altered to faintly depict the heads of certain animals. As I descended into the valley, a huge limestone outcrop took on the form of a bear that appeared to be drinking from a waterfall. Later, back on top of the "bear's" head, amid a rich cover of hemlock and cedar, I discovered the stone remains of what appeared to be a man-made structure, a "crown" of some sort. What was even more amazing at the time was that the stream into which the waterfall emptied appeared to disappear underground, where it enters the larger Shubenacadie River.
Completing a natural circuit, deep on the valley floor I experienced the same sense of inner harmony and peacefulness as I had on the highest hill. It was as if I had stepped back in time, to the earliest times of the Neolithic hunter, when life was ruled by the elements of nature. The site is a natural refuge from the elements and is positioned so that it is invisible from any point on the Shubenacadie River. Even to this day, to an anxious explorer traveling by boat there would appear to be no access by water into the valley, because the stream disappears underground. I now realize that it was at this very moment that I pinpointed the mysterious lost settlement of Prince Henry Sinclair: a settlement that was established as the center of a New Jerusalem of the displaced Bouillon dynasty, but also a settlement that had an unbroken connection to earlier Celtic, Bronze Age, and even Neolithic origins.
Without ever sensing so, I had been preparing for this moment all my life. Even when I was thirteen years old I was experiencing life's little ironies. Thinking that I could impress an older girl, I got into a fight at a Halloween party and broke a plate over a rival's head. Unfortunately, a piece of glass from the plate flew and struck me in the eye, blinding me. Luckily it was only temporary, but for a month I lay in the hospital with patches over both eyes, unable to see. It was terrifying, not knowing whether the sight in my right eye would be saved.
At that moment I felt that I had become a complete and utter failure. Yet two things saved my spirit. Most important, both my mother and father, every day, rain or shine, made the effort to come visit me. Also, I received a visit from my great-uncle George who, along with his brother Frank, was as close to me as the grandfather I never knew.
My great-uncle was a gentle and understanding man. He explained to me that everyone possesses the ability for good and evil. In this way, all individuals have to search for their own balance of human nature, a balance between good and evil. I never questioned why he always talked in a moral, philosophical manner. I was exposed so often to the spiritual level of thinking that I considered it to be second nature. What my great-uncle did to raise my spirits was to ask me if I wanted to know a secret, a secret that no one knew except him. With patches over my eyes I could not see what he was describing, so I made him promise that if I regained my eyesight he would show me, and this he did. What he described, and ultimately showed me, was his Masonic ring, a ring that to a thirteen-year-old appeared magical and secretive. I knew nothing at this age of the Masons or Knights Templar. I only discovered afterward, during the sorting of my mother's personal things following her death, that Frederic George Mann had shown me a ring of the Supreme Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada. I now know that it was my great-uncle's instilling in me the notion of good and evil and the balance of nature that started me on my quest-a quest that ended at a secret Templar refuge in Nova Scotia.
What intrigued me and set me on a mosaic of fascinating geometric patterns was a map within the book Holy Grail Across the Atlantic by Michael Bradley. This book illustrated what was thought to be Prince Henry Sinclair's travels and exploration throughout Nova Scotia. Somehow, I traveled back to the ring of my great-uncle. The ring had a secret compartment. The setting was the standard Masonic emblem of a set-square and compass. But when manipulated and opened on hinges, underneath, set on a pale blue jeweled background, was the intertwining of two golden rings centered on a gold bar with a round purple stone (amethyst) set in the middle.
Don't ask me how I made the mental connection, but what was truly startling was that I could apply this configuration to the mainland portion of a map of Nova Scotia, with the center of the jewel falling precisely on Nova Scotia's geographical center at a place called Mt. Uniacke. In my mind I turned over the name Uniacke, "one axis." Was it possible that this symbol related specifically to Nova Scotia?
I was hooked! I rushed to the local library and gathered as much reading material as I could. The primary trail was through the many references to the Freemasons. However, I was unaware of my great-uncle's position within the Freemasons/Knights Templar at that time. I was like a blind man in a train station, not knowing which way to turn. Still, a nagging feeling made me sense that someone was guiding my hand. It was as though my great-uncle had planted a seed, and I had to feed and nourish and tend to the plant and follow its growth.
At the library I zeroed in on two books. One was the Royal Masonic Cyclopedia by Kenneth MacKenzie; the other was the more recent Holy Blood, Holy Grail by the British authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Whereas The Royal Masonic Cyclopedia is the reference book to this story and Holy Grail Across the Atlantic provides the compulsory background, Holy Blood, Holy Grail must be considered the "ultimate travel guide." Holy Blood, Holy Grail implies that the mother goddess of Christianity would not appear to be the Virgin Mary but Mary Magdalene, and that the Grail is not an object but direct descendants of the House of David through Jesus Christ and a French Merovingian lineage. The funny thing is, however, that the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail failed to recognize the journeys of Prince Henry Sinclair and the possibility that the Holy Grail was brought to the New World.
This is the beauty of the notion: Where else would you hide the world's greatest treasure but at a place that was thought to be the end of the Earth? And where else would you hide what you considered to be a direct connection to God and heaven but in a place you considered to be a paradise on earth, a Garden of Eden, or more simply put, a refuge or sanctuary?
It is quite conceivable, as this book will demonstrate, that Prince Henry Sinclair knew exactly where he was going and that there were signposts along the way directing him. Indeed, the mysterious Oak Island, which is located on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, acted as one of the signposts.
THE HOLY BLOODLINE
Quickly becoming an international bestseller, Holy Blood, Holy Grail is centered on a "treasure story" that is linked to a part of southern France, the small village of Rennes-le-Château, that has attracted considerable interest over the last century. However, Rennes-le-Château did not receive any great amount of interest until Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln first pieced together a number of varying factors and related it to the present-day activities of the rather mysterious European fraternity known as the Priory of Sion.
Part of the story begins on June 1, 1885, when the village received a new parish priest, Abbé (Father) Bérenger Saunière. In 1891, Saunière started a modest restoration of the village church that was consecrated to the Magdalene in 1059. Then the first of many strange events occurred. During renovations Saunière discovered that one of the two archaic Visigoth columns that supported the altar stone was hollow; inside were supposedly four parchments preserved in sealed wooden tubes. Two parchments were comprised genealogies; the other two parchments had apparently been composed in the 1780s by an earlier priest of Rennes-le-Château, the Abbé Antoine Bigou. One genealogy dated from 1244, the year that Montségur, the last heretical fortress, surrendered to northern forces; the other was from 1644.
The two parchments appear to be encoded Latin texts. Both have been deciphered and the following interpretation has appeared in many books devoted to Rennes-le-Château:
BERGERE PAS DE TENTATION QUE POUSSIN TENIERS GARDENT LA CLEF PAX DCLXXXI PAR LA CROIX ET CE CHEVAL DE DIEU J'ACHEVE CE DAEMON DE GARDIEN A MIDI POMMES BLUES
(SHEPHERDESS, NO TEMPTATION, THAT POUSSIN, TENIERS, HOLD THE KEY; PEACE 681, BY THE CROSS AND THIS HORSE OF GOD, I COMPLETE-OR DESTROY-THIS DAEMON OF THE GUARDIAN AT MIDDAY. BLUE APPLES.)
Another interpretation from the second parchment reads:
A DAGOBERT II ROI ET A SION EST CE TRESOR ET IL EST LA MORT.
(TO DAGOBERT II, KING, AND TO SION BELONGS THIS TREASURE AND HE IS THERE DEAD.)
Following his discovery, the story goes that Saunière was sent to Paris by his superior, the bishop of Carcassone, with instructions to seek out the Abbé Bieil, director general of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice. Having presented himself to Bieil, Saunière spent three weeks in Paris in the company of Bieil's nephew, Emile Hoffet. He also spent time in the Louvre, where he purchased reproductions of three paintings. One was a portrait, by an unidentified artist, of Pope Cèléstin V. The second was an unknown work by David Teniers, and the third was the most famous painting of the artist Nicolas Poussin, his second version of a painting based on the theme of Et in Arcadia Ego.
Upon his return to Rennes-le-Château, Saunière undertook rather mysterious projects; he appeared to have acquired a great deal of money and a newly defiant attitude toward the Roman Catholic Church. In the churchyard, for example, Saunière erased the headstone inscription found on the sepulchre of Marie de Blanchefort, the Marquise d'Hautpoul, not knowing that the inscriptions on the tomb had already been copied.
Some of Saunière's unexplained wealth was devoted to curious constructions and practices. A replica of a medieval tower, the Tour Magdala, was built to house Saunière's ever-growing library. As well, a rather grand country house was constructed, called the Villa Bethania, which Saunière himself never occupied. In addition, the village church was restored in a most unusual fashion, including this Latin inscription that was carved in the arch above the entrance:
TERRIBILIS EST LOCUS ISTE (TERRIBLE IS THIS PLACE)
Inside the church reliefs were installed depicting the Stations of the Cross, but they deviated from accepted scriptural account in some manner.
Continues...
Excerpted from The KNIGHTS TEMPLAR in the New World by William F. Mann Copyright © 2004 by William F. Mann. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Michael BradleyForeword by Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 A Fool’s Quest
2 A Balance of Nature
3 The Legend of Glooscap
4 Mary, Mary Quite Contrary
5 Peace 681
6 The Temptation of Saint Anthony
7 The Keys
8 La Val d’Or
9 The Fortress of Glass
10 Out of the Shadows
11 Into the Light
12 On A Golden Wing
13 A Fool’s Discovery
Notes
Bibliography
About the Author
Index
What People are Saying About This
“A work of insight and discovery of interest to all Masons and seekers of treasures and secrets.”
“Utterly fascinating reading. Anyone who loves subtle detective stories will be enthralled by Bill Mann’s research.”
"A mind-expanding investigation involving many disregarded, fascinating historical facts and connections."
". . . you'll find much to ponder in this very detailed exploration. . . . this is an engaging study—one that definitely belongs on the reading list."
". . . so many fascinating subjects are woven into this book that it could serve as a study guide of esoteric topics."
"I recommend it especially to those who have an interest in the Knights Templar."
“Bill Mann blends Pythagorean geometry, hermetic wisdom, and secrets of Freemasonry to reveal a blueprint to the final resting place of the Holy Grail. From the Tarot to Tolkien, from Medieval France to modern day Nova Scotia, the reader is initiated into mysteries often hidden in plain sight.”