Rosicrucian-Speculative Freemasonry-Royal Society

 The Guise and Lorraine families of France were extremely ambitious. They not only made strides to claim the French Throne, they also had a desire and focused their zeal on the Vatican. They had made many political strategic mistakes which were both costly economically and also placed their credibility in question.

  They portrayed themselves as ‘defender of the faith’ against the reformation and the rising Protestantism of Germany, Switzerland and the ‘low lands’ of the Netherlands, Flanders and Briton. They adopted a program of fanatical Catholicism. Out of this program rose the Holy League.

   The Holy League primary focus was to for the elimination of Protestantism. Some interpreted this as a sign of spiritual devotion, however the Guise Lorraine families considered the Holy League a means of political expediency; A plan for a structure to replace the Holy Roman Empire.

  If the Papacy was powerless, the Holy League wouldn’t have been necessary; however the Papacy was a power unto itself. It needed to become more powerful to eliminate its competition. The Holy League’s efforts were counterproductive as Protestantism overtook England, Holland and the low lands.

  England’s primary threat was Catholic Spain whose King Phillip II had just married Mary Tudor four years prior to her death in 1558. England’s problems with the Lorraine Guise families of France and the Spanish throne are legendary.The Holy League was not just a menace in England but also in the British Isles.

   Esoteric thought was absorbed throughout England. It was portrayed in poetry and the arts. It was portrayed in the poems ‘ Arcadia’ and the’ Fariequeen’  by Spencer and Sidney, also in works of Francis Bacon.

    The esoteric histories were the foundations of secret societies that were proliferating throughout England, Scotland, British Islands and the Baltic.

   The secret societies were anti-Catholic in nature; they were opposed to the political and religious agenda of the Lorraine and de Guise families. It was through these secret societies and specifically the Knight Templar’s that esoteric knowledge spread throughout the British Islands and into Scotland.

  Political allegiances and esoteric knowledge frequently became intertwined, frequently working in tandem and fine lines needed to be drawn between warring factions of protestant and Catholic interests.

  Physician, scholar, scientist, astrologer, alchemist, cabbalist, mathematician, diplomatic emissary and spy; Dr John Dee was born in Wales in 1527. A ‘Renaissance Man’ and quite literally set the stage for freemasonry.

   Dr Dee, through his collection of esoteric material, provided the prototype of Prospero in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. It was through Dr Dee and his work which set the stage for studies in 17^th century England of esoteric knowledge.

   As a young man Dr Dee was lecturing at universities not only in England but in France as well, in esoteric subjects such as geometry. Dr Dee was moving around Europe establishing a reputation for himself despite the influence of the Holy League.

  Prague had become the new center for esoteric studies under the homage of Emperor Rudolph II. Dr Dee enjoyed a friendship with Emperor Rudolph and in 1586 returned to England with a vast library of esoteric knowledge which was yet to be received in the British Islands.

  With this new infusion of esoteric knowledge it paved the way for England to replace Prague as the center for esoteric studies. Some of Dr Dee’s more renowned disciples were Inigo Jones and Robert Fludd who later became instrumental as a teacher of mathematics to the de Guise family.

   Dr Dee referred to Jesus as our ‘heavenly Archemaster”. He was instrumental in establishing Vitruvian principles of architecture and geometry. He also published a translation of Euclid, in doing so he exalted the supremacy of architecture among the mathematical sciences.

  During most of Dr Dee’s lifetime the esoteric knowledge was reserved for secret societies, or taken up in rare academic circles. It had proliferated in Scotland under Mary Queen of Scotts and Mary de Guise, however anything Scottish was scrutinized by England. With the execution of Mary the Queen of Scotts the threat of the Holy League was all but diminished in England.

   This scrutiny prevented Dr Dee to fully provide esoteric connections between England and Scotland. Changes were coming about in England with the assassination of the de Guise brothers. The Holy League had lost its strength and was crumbling; the Spanish Armada’s defeat had all but diminished the Spanish foot hold in the British Empire by the time of the 17^th century, England’s security was more secure.

  By this time esoteric thought was not exclusively related to Catholicism or the Holy League, its new supporter was Emperor Rudolph II of Prague who declared himself neither Catholic nor Protestant, but Christian.

Rudolph II had refused last rites on his death bed, had distanced himself from the Vatican and refused to persecute Protestants. Esoteric thought by the 1600’s had become a propaganda instrument to be used against the Vatican in Germany and the Netherlands. Esoteric thought having distanced itself from the Lorraine and de Guise families could safely be discussed in England by the early 1600’s.

   King James VI of Scotland a Stuart Monarch, became James I of England and had distanced himself from his de Guise roots. With England and Scotland under a single monarch of Scottish roots the Scottish Nobility began to be active in English politics.

  The Montgomery’s and Hamilton’s crossed the Irish Sea to Ulster in Ireland where they established plantations. Some of the Templar and Scottish guard mystique started to permeate old England, James I had descended from the stone masons. He had brought into England his heritage and also his French roots and esoteric background.

   All of these new traditions under James I, combined with Dr John Dee’s work became known as ‘speculative’ Freemasonry. All of these traditions had not only become legitimate and respected in main stream England but was also now associated with the throne.

   The esoteric knowledge which had become a propaganda instrument to be used by the Baltic states against the Vatican and the Holy League, had become known as ‘Rosicrucian’, Freemasonry, and the Royal Society which became indistinguishable from each other.

Esoteric Influence

Sacred geometry, what is it? How and why does it connect the web of into the center of Christian western Europe. Islam, Judaism, Pythagorean, Hermetic, Neo- Platonic thought.

  To answer this we must visit the period of history when these various thoughts were prevalent. Did Christianity collect these various thoughts and over time combine them in with Christian teachings?

   In the 7^th and 8^th centuries Islam was spreading throughout the Mideast and northern Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Iberian Peninsula, across the Pyrenees Mountains and into France.

  Islamic rule was at its peak during the 10^th century.   It was during this time that King Athelston ruled England. Perhaps some of the concepts of ‘sacred geometry’ worked its way north from Spain and France.

   The armies of Islam were halted at the Battle of Poiters in 732 AD by Charles Martel, but the theology of Islam remained. In 1469, the marriage of Ferdinand of Argon and his cousin Isabelle of Castile started the purification of Spain.

   This meant expelling all of the Islamic and Jews from their country through a program that became known as the Spanish Inquisition.

   It has been said that this process also banished the intelligence of the Jews and the sensuality of the Moors. Throughout history Spain has been the repository of esoteric knowledge obtained over the seven centuries since the Battle of Pouters and the rein of Ferdinand and Isabelle.

  It was at this time that many alchemists traveled to Spain to acquire certain knowledge. This knowledge traveled with the Christian exploration of the lands to the west. But these esoteric thoughts soon had quite a bit of competition.

   During the crusades the Knight Templar’s killed tens of thousands of Islamic and Jewish occupants. However they also learned from them, although their goal was to destroy them.

   The court of Emperor Frederick II Hohenstauffen of Sicily became a center for esoteric thought. He had Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars present in his court with scientific, artistic and medical expression. In Emperor Hohenstauffen court freedom of expression was the rule and not the exception. This was the early stages of the Renaissance.

   The reality of the Knight Templar’s was although they were Christian they wanted to combine these three faiths under one cloak. The Templar’s were well known builders, using their own tradesmen they formed trade guilds, they built their own castle’s and precepretories.

  The architecture of their building was Byzantine in nature, representing cultures beyond the influence of the Vatican.

  They were also patrons as well as protectors of other trade guilds and frequently became members of their trade guilds. The Templar’s also accepted tradesmen from these guilds and they were known as’ associates of the Temple’.

   They lived within the walls of the precepretory where they had their own independent villages. They received many of the benefits as the Knights, free from taxation and road tolls.

   The Knight Templar’s were the protectors of the trails, roads and waterways. The Nobel’s would travel on pilgrimages to the Holy Land escorted by the Templar’s.

   They would deposit their money with a precepetory in their home country and retrieve it upon arrival in the Holy Land. This was the first form of international banking that was known to the world.

  It was through the Knight Templar that esoteric thought, sacred geometry and architecture made its way into northern, western Europe and to the lands to the west.

   The majority of the Templar’s were just soldiers, but then there were those that were educated in history, mathematics and architecture. The Templar’s only existed for two and a half centuries but they left a big footprint on history.

   After their oppression by the Church and France they went into a reorganization which was well planned. They had six months’ notice to prepare before going underground. But they had lost their leadership. The leaders, the Grand Master, the Seneschal, the Marshal, Treasure several Sergeants  along with 620 knights, that went willingly to meet the inquisitors without so much as a fight. 

The Knight Templar’s were 20,000 Strong at this time. It has often been said that the Templar’s were the military arm of the Cistercian Monastery.

   This alone is indicative of something out of the ordinary. These knights’s had a 200 year fierce reputation, life under the Latin Rule was very specific. 

  Under the Latin Rule they were required to be armed at all times, to eat in silence, to never surrender, and to regroup with other knight’s if they were ever to be over run. They were not allowed to surrender. These are just a few of the rules of the 76 initial rules written by the Cistercian Monk Bernard of Clairvaux many more rules were added over the years.

   When they lost their leadership it was a devastating blow to the Temple, although the entire Temple performed the rituals, they didn’t all understand the knowledge.

  They all observed sacred knowledge and the geometry, but most didn't have the education to understand it. Information was very compartmentalize, as you grew in the tiers you were given more responsibility and knowledge.

   The connection that may have existed between the Templar’s and the operative stone masons diminished overtime. By the fifteenth century a good deal of this knowledge was lost. However there was a fresh infusion of new knowledge from elsewhere.

  In 1453 Constantinople and what was left of the Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks. There was a significant movement of refugee’s into western Europe, along with their treasure which they accumulated over the last thousand years.

  These treasures consisted of the Library of Alexandria, texts on Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Cabbalism, astrology, alchemy, sacred geometry, and all of the teachings and traditions  which were collected in Alexandria between the first and third centuries.

   This knowledge was constantly updated over the years. All the ships that passed through Alexandria Egypt were required to turn over all of their books, scripts and any other documents to the library. Most of these documents were transcribed and returned to the ships, but not always.

   In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, as part of the Spanish inquisition, started to expel all Jewish and Islamic peoples from their domain. This also produced refugee’s seeking sanctuary to the north and east in Europe. They brought with them esoteric knowledge which had been filtering into their domains since the 7^th century.

  This had great influence on the development of western civilization. Historians and scholars are in agreement that this is perhaps the most significant aspect of the Renaissance.

   This Byzantine information found its way to Italy where it was analyzed and studied. Academies were instituted and began assimilating and dispensing this information.

  Over the next one hundred years this information passed to the rest of Europe. Sacred geometry was considered occult and magic up until this point, but was no longer limited to just architecture but also into the arts and paintings, much to the disdain of the church.

  Sacred geometry was soon contained in all of the arts from music to poetry and of course into the dramatic arts. There came a very founding concept with Freemasonry with the Neo-Platonic teaching shortly after the dissemination of sacred knowledge during the Renaissance.

  There was a renewed interest created into the classical thoughts of Plato. In Plato’s ‘Architect of the Universe’ the creator is called ‘tekton’ which means craftsman or builder. According to Plato ‘arche-tekton’ meant Master Builder. Plato asserts that the arche-tekton created the universe by using geometry.

 

      

  

   

Sinclairs--Gypsies--Freemasons

 In 1574 Scotland decreed all gypsies in custody to be whipped, branded on the cheek and or to have their right ear cut off. By 1616 there was systematic deportation of all gypsies that were arrested to Virginia, Barbados and Australia.

In 1559 Sir William Sinclair was Lord Justice General of Scotland under Queen Marguerite. His family Clan Sinclair were the life long supporters of the Knight Templar's and Masonic doctrine. During the 16^th Century the Sinclair's had also become protectors of the gypsies, who enjoyed the protection of the Roslyn Castle.

There was an occasion when Sir William intervened in the execution of a gypsy. From that point on the gypsies made annual pilgrimages to Roslyn Castle, in May and June, where the Sinclair's were delighted by their appearance.

The gypsies would congregate in the fields outside of Roslyn Castle and perform plays all day long. It is said that Sir William Sinclair made two towers of Roslyn Castle available to the gypsies for the duration of their stay. The towers became known as Robin Hood and Little John.

 It is interesting to note that every May the gypsies throughout England and Scotland performed the annual May-Tide celebration. The plays performed were of Robin Hood (Robyn Hode) and the “Merry Men”. These plays were officially forbidden by decree.

 In 1555 on June 20^th, the Scottish parliament decreed that it was unlawful to represent Robyn Hood, Little John, the Abbott of Unreason, or the Queen of May.

 The gypsies were credited with great insight, so were the Freemasons. One of the earliest mention of the Freemasons in recorded history was in the poem by Henry Patterson, “The Muses Threnodie” which appeared in 1638.

                         “For we be brethren of the Rosy Cross;

            we have the Mason word, and second insight,

            things for to come we can foretell aught.”

  This suggests that the Freemasons were occultists. The powers in question were unmistakably gypsy: The common denominator between gypsy's and Freemasonry was Sir William Sinclair.

  It is interesting to note that a”Company of Strolling Players” “actors” who were gypsies played regularly at the home of the Chief Justice of Scotland.

  This of course raises the question why should the plays have been banned? Could it have been because the play glorified an “outlaw gang?” Perhaps because of the expansion of Protestant belief, that held all theater as being immoral?

 Robin Hood was a species of fairy based on Celtic mythology, the “Green Man” god of fertility or vegetation. The Robin Hood legend was a means to reintroduce the fertility rites of ancient paganism back into Christian England.

 Every May there would be a celebration, distinctly pagan in origin. They would act around the May-Pole, which was the symbol of sexuality and fertility.

 On this day every virgin would become the Queen of May. They would be ushered into the 'greenwood' where they would undergo their sexual initiation by a youth playing “Robin Hood". While Friar Tuck would take on the role of the “Abbott of Unreason,” who would then officiate, “blessing” the mating couples, in a a ritual of formal nuptials.

 May Day in fact would be a day of orgy! Nine months later it would produce throughout the British Isles an annual crop of children. It was from these festivals that the names “Robinson, Robert, Robertson” were originated from.

 So the May-Tide celebration was not conventional theater that we have today but a pagan fertility rite. All Christians whether Roman Catholic or Protestants would consider this scandalous and sinful.

 It is significant that the Sinclair's not only allowed but promoted these celebrations and protected the participants. Roslyn Chapel not only provided an excellent setting for these celebrations but perhaps was specifically designed for them.

 The basic theme of Roslyn Chapel despite the Christian cosmetics was unquestionably pagan and Celtic. The most prominent feature is of the “Green Man” A human head that has vines protruding from it's mouth and ears and then tangling and spreading wildly.

 This head never has a body attached to it and appears every where you turn in Roslyn Chapel. This was also the symbolic head that the Knight Templar's were accused of worshiping!

 Roslyn Chapel's severed head not only represents the Celtic Green Man but also the severed heads of ancient Celtic tradition, both of which were symbols of fertility. Roslyn was representative of both the Templar's and Celtic Scotland which Robert the Bruce was trying to restore.

At Roslyn Chapel there is a merging of ancient traditions and also current traditions for it's time. The chivalric Templar legacy merging with the “Traveling Performing gypsies”. The Sinclairs dealing with the “operative stone masons” who worked under their direction. All of these elements converging were fundamental in the formation of Freemasonry. 

Prince Henry Sinclair Part IX

   Prince Henry gave a farewell banquet and invited all to attend;

               By the great lake Minas shore

               on the silver water’s edge.

               And when the feast was over,

               he entered his great canoe and

               sailed away over the water,

               the shiny waves of the Minas.

  When Prince Henry departed leaving his settlers behind, he probably left the Bay of Fundy and his first stop may very well have been at Desert Island Maine.

  In the area of North East Harbor Maine. Prince Henry had brought a select few Micmac's with him to serve as guide's and to convey his peace- full intentions to others of the greater Algonquin nation. They worked their way down the Penobscot Bay of Maine. Down past the area of Camden Maine, taking their time exploring as they went.

 They rounded Cape Ann exploring as they went at times they left effigies of their vessels in shore side rocks. They followed around Boston Bay with a short excursion up The Charles River in what is now Boston.

  They saw a high hill, inland in the far off distance and a group left the ship with a small vessel to take the Merimac River towards the high hill known as Prospect Hill. 

  

  Sir James Gunn, a life long friend of Prince Henry, and a Knight Templar, took part in the expedition, but the ascent up the hill proved to much for the loyal knight and he died in his sleep while camped on the hilltop.

 For his life long service to Clan Sinclair Prince Henry ordered an effigy carved into a rock which became known to history as the WESTFORD KNIGHT.  From on top of the Hill they were able to see the countryside for 50 miles in all directions.

 They came down to what is now Plymouth and continued around Cape Cod exploring as they traveled making copious notes and making maps as they progressed.

 They went to Martha's Vineyard to a settlement that the Vikings had established as a settlement after leaving Greenland in 999 AD. From this settlement they traveled up Narraganset Bay.

 When the exploratory expedition returned to the ship they retreated back down the bay to the area of Newport where they established a winter camp.

In 1524 when Verrazano arrived in Narragansett Bay he described a European looking tower with local inhabitants that were quite interesting.

 He described them as the most beautiful and civilized people he had met on his expedition; they excelled his own people in size and he called them “Euro-Amer-Norse”.

 When the first settlers arrived in 1600's, they described a group of blue eyed fair haired natives that they called the “banished Indians”, they were the descendants of the group of people that Verrazano described.

 On the Mercator world map published in 1569 a tower was clearly identified in New England. The tower known as the “Newport Tower”, is described as a circular round  rubble stone structure that was thought to be a combination of a church and an watch tower.

 The structure was built in Norse-Romanesque style, inspired by the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.  The structure was a combination of Templar temples, round cathedrals of Scandinavia, and traditions of Norse Scottish builders from where the builders came.

 The Architectural features are those found in construction between 1150 and 1400.  This structure was pre-planned this was not a spontaneous idea. It was built with Sacred Geometry.  The masons were completely familiar with the construction materials available on site.

 The structure was aligned to the east and each of the eight supporting pillars were on a cardinal point of the Templar's. It was not constructed using a compass, the north pillar is aligned within three degrees of the north star, 600 years later.

 The tool marks are of tools made before 1400. These marks are unique and not seen in colonial structures. The arch and lintel designs are of those found in Orkney, Shetland, and the round churches of Scandinavia before 1400.

 There isn't any architectural comparable structure in America. It is similar architecturally to Great Heeding Church in Denmark,, St. Olaf's church at Tonsberg Norway, The Church of St. Mikael in Scheswig in Denmark, and Vardsberg Church in Ostergotland Sweden.

 To build this church in the early 1400's, five thousand cubic feet of soil had to be excavated, and later refilled.  The building required more than a million pounds of stone, sand and lime.

 In the spring Prince Henry left his Templar building crew on site and departed for the Orkney Islands. He brought several variety's of plants back with him which are indigenous only to North America.

 When Henry's grandson William began construction of Roslyn Chapel which was started 1448 and completed 1482, ten years before Columbus voyaged to the New World, William incorporated depictions of maize, aloe, cactus, sassandras, albidium, trillum, grandilorum, quercus and nigra.

  All of these plants were completely unheard of in Europe at this time. Henry returned in the summer of 1400 and was said to have died by an incursion of either England or the Hanseatic League that same year.  However there isn't a record of his burial. Neither in Norway or in Scottish documents.

 He wasn't buried in the Orkney’s or the Castle at Roslyn. How could a person who is a Royal and an extremely important person in both Scotland and Norway fail to have been recorded in state documents?

 Henry's son Henry II was never formally installed as Earl of Orkney because he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1405. He was released from time to time to attend to family business, as long as a prominent family member took his place. As a result of his prolonged imprisonment he didn't leave much of a trace upon history.

 For Henry II not to have been formally recognized as the Earl of Orkney is significant. Normally the Crown would have had to address this immediately. Why didn't Norway address this matter immediately?

 The Treaty of kalmar was signed in 1397. Bishop Rens of Orkney represented Henry in his absence.  This treaty unified Norway, Denmark and Sweden under one crown.  Could Henry be absent with the Queen's full blessing, was he engaged in a mission of exploration to extend the Queen's sovereignty to the New World?

 To suggest that as meticulous and organized as Henry was it would be unbelievable that he didn't leave instructions who would succeed him in the event of his death.

 The King of Scotland was becoming increasingly concerned over Henry's rise in power and wealth.  There is an unproven theory that the Prince could have been killed in a skirmish with the King of Scotland.

  I am more inclined to go with the theory that Henry gave Antonio permission to return to Venice where he died of natural causes a year later.  I suggest that Henry returned to North America and assimilated in with the Micmac Indians. Henry’s beliefs and values were close to those of the Micmac’s.

 Templar ideals stress communal living, service to others, and the elevation of the communities which they join. On his journey's to America he had found a community that not only preached these ideas but lived them also.

 It is not beyond the realm of possibilities that the attractions of this way of life outweighed the so called good life in Europe!  Living in the arrogant, dangerous, intolerant world of mid-evil Europe!

 There is perhaps a clue in Indian legends that lends credence to this theory.  When the Narragansett Indians were asked who built the Newport Tower, they replied that one of their ancestors built it as a Temple. They described the fire haired green eyed people as their ancestors.

 The Indians didn't have Temples. If Prince Henry did build this structure as a temple it would be significant, perhaps an attempt to merge two beliefs into one!

 There are credible reports of “white skinned” Indians in Nova Scotia, Narragansett Bay and also the Mayan's were confused when Cortez arrived in the Yucatan Peninsula as to recognize him as Quetzalcoatl, the feathered Serpent god, or with the green eyed fair haired god that had treated them so well a hundred years ago!

Prince Henry Sinclair Part VIII

Prince Henry Sinclair Part VIII

We left in the last posting with Prince Sinclair just arriving at the castle on the hill at Cross, Nova Scotia. The type of construction of the walls were of a type found in Norway and northern Scotland  pre 13^th century. Looking down the Gaspereau River  from on the hill top he had a  clear view towards another island in the bay of Fundy about 2 miles off the mouth of the Gaspereau River.

The Stuart dynasty ruled Scotland from 1371 to 1603. In that time 9 Stewart Monarchs ruled Scotland. The first family to arrive in Scotland from Normandy/Brittany Sir Walter Fitz Alan was the High Steward of Scotland. His decedents became the House of Stewart, later the name was changed to Stuart. Which were descended from Robert the Bruce's grandson Robert II

 Sir Walter Fitz Alan was the son of Sir Alan Fitz Fladd who was Baron of Oswasty in Shopshire. Baron Fladd was a son of Sir Alain who was a a crusader with Sir Henri Sinclair on the first crusade with Godfri de Boulion.  Sir Alain was also in the greater Sinclair family as a descendant of Duke Lolo of Normandy through his son William Longsword and his grandson Richard I, Richards daughter married the Count of Brittany.

 Sir Alain was of the Priory of Sion who was established at Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and elected Godfri de Boulion the first christen King of Jerusalem. Sir Alain was also of the Rex Deus.

The Stuart's had access to a great deal of gold which they funded their family dynasty. They were descended from Norse explorers who had been coming to the lands to the west for the last 500 years at least. The Stuarts established a settlement on a mid- peninsula hilltop called Norumbega. They panned gold from the bed of the mineral rich Gold River and Norumbega also served as a refuge for Stuart family princes.

 Jean Allefonsea, a French explorer who in 1548 was looking for the lost city of Norumbega, reported that he had coasted south from Newfoundland, and had discovered a great river with many islands, (an excellent description of Mahone Bay) entering it from the sea.

 The river is more than 40 leagues wide at its entrance. It retains its width some 30 or 40 leagues. The islands extend into the sea some 10 leagues. 15 leagues up the river is a village called Norembega, with clever inhabitants who trade in furs of all types, the town folk dress in furs of sable....the people use many words that sound like Latin.   They worship the sun. They are tall and handsome.  The land of Norumbega is  high and is well situated.

 This is where Prince Henry was standing, The Prince established a settlement at this site on the foundations of a previous Norse colony. Nothing is recorded as to the condition of the settlement but it was believed that the Stuarts were still using this site, and they were related to Prince Henry and were also of the Rex Deus and Priory of Sion.

 Prince Henry left half of his crew with instructions to return to the island in Mahone Bay and to seed it with oak acorns.  After  two days of rest and exploration, Prince Henry started down the river to the Bay of Fundy and the island off the mouth of the Gaspereau River and after a day of exploration set about seeding this island also with oak acorns.

 The Vikings were primarily coastal navigators, they knew how to read the prevailing winds, they knew the different kinds of seaweed common in different continents and seas, they were aware of the seabirds and what direction they were flying, always towards land. They were aware  of the presence of whales and other sea animals.

 When they were out of sight of land they would release captured sea birds and ravens and follow them.  They would drop a sounding plumb and look at the type and color of sea floor they were crossing over.  They would observe the sunrise, and know that was east.  At noon they would measure the angle of the sun to determine the exact time of noon, and the direction of north and south.

 The numbers three and thirty three are occult numbers.  They are part of “Sacred Geometry”. The calculation of speed and location (ETA) were once considered the highest form of Sacred Geometry. Without the geometry of the three sided triangle establishing ones location and distance traveled on a map or Triangulation would have been impossible.

 To do this you draw a line on a chart and measure the course in degrees of the 360 degrees of the compass rose. But in the middle ages they didn't so much use degrees as points of the compass which had 18 points. The compass was invented by the Chinese a hundred and fifty years before being used in Europe.

 There are question as weather Prince Henry was using a Compass or not. Some people feel that it wasn't being used until around 1410.  Unlike the compasses used today they used a dry compass. It was invented, but not in common use.

  The dry compass had a magnetized needle attached to a compass rose and was placed in a box on a pivot with a glass cover in line with the keel.  When the direction of the ship changed the needle would move wildly.  For those of you who have never been on a boat or small ship they are in constant motion they never hold still, because of this holding a stead compass course is next to impossible.

 The helmsman was actually going in a direction not so much holding a compass course. He would be going west or southwest or north northwest.  When your offshore floating down from Newfoundland in fog and rolling waves in the Labrador current it is quite easy to miss your river and quite easy to miss your mark by quite some distance.

 This is why there are two oak islands, frequently you want to fetch Mahone Bay but because of wind current and waves you may end up approaching the peninsula through the Bay of Fundy.  You can anchor off either one of the Oak Islands, launch a row boat and get to the Castle on the Hill from either the Gold River or the Gaspereau River.

 Then at last we discovered. Land as the sea ran high and we did not know what country it was, we were afraid at first to approach it.  But by God's blessing, the winds lulled, and then a great calm came on. Some of the crew then pulled ashore and then soon returned with joyful news. They had found an excellent country and a still better harbor. So we brought our barks and our boats in to land, and we entered a excellent harbor. We saw in the distance a great mountain that poured out smoke.

  Admiral Antonio Zeno goes on to describe a landing party of 100 Templar's sent to the mountain to seek out any inhabitants.  Those who remained on the ship retrieved wood from the island, replenished their water supply.  They also caught a considerable quantity of fish and waterfowl, which were found in large quantities.

 After eight days the 100 Templar's returned and reported that they had been through the island and up to the mountain.  The smoke naturally came from a great fire in the bottom of the hill.  There was a spring giving out certain matter like pitch, which ran into the sea.

 There were a great multitude of people half wild and living in caves. These people were small in stature and very timid; for as soon as they saw our people, they fled into their holes.  Our men also reported that there was a very large river nearby and a very good and safe harbor.

 This was the first description by Europeans of Stellarton Nova Scotia, in the Pictou area of Nova Scotia. This also was close to Cape D' Or.  On the Zeno Map of the North there are symbol's on the map showing two settlements, one in Pictou and the other at the Castle on the Hill in central Nova Scotia.

 From both of these two settlements they could maintain look outs, to survey the Bay of Fundy and the gulf of St Lawrence.  They were close to fishing and an ample supply of waterfowl and with the many ancient mines in the area they already had a form of lodging set up for the fast approaching winter.

 It is believed based on Micmac legends that Prince Henry divided his time between these locations during the winter.  In Pictou he built a ship over the winter and continued frequent exploration of the Peninsula.

 We know that from descriptions of the Oak Island treasure hunters that there are two wooden chests in the very bottom of the pit and that they were built extremely sturdy and by what description we can get from boring studies and video from cameras inserted into the sink hole the chests are beneath the area of the oak platforms which were associated with pirate activity of the 1500's and early 1600's.

 The spruce wood that is carbon dated to 835 AD and 1135 AD would also predate Prince Henry's voyage but that doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't put there by earlier travelers perhaps Norse Stuart voyagers. 

 The Vikings were defiantly in the area somebody was operating the ancient gold mines and for Prince Henry to have found the Sink Hole without prior knowledge is just a little suspicious, but for him to plant oak trees as sign posts makes perfect sense.

 The chests were made out of planks that were 8 in thick, just as a point of reference the  supports for the average home deck today are 4 inch treated studs. There were 22 inch's of space in these chests, the length of these chests was unknown but based on the thickness of the chests I would tend to think they were quite long.

 I imagine that the chests were also covered in a grease to act as a sealer against the elements.  The boring studies showed that there were metal items in the chest and also  parchments.  Parchments are not the normal type of treasure that pirates would carry.

 Part of the Holy Grail was said to be knowledge lost during the great flood. Sacred knowledge going back to the time of Moses.  This knowledge would have been expressed on parchments.

  Templar's are also well known builders. In their building they used “Sacred Geometry”, They had built two castles in the Shetlands not to mention 13 ships for Prince Henry's fleet. They would have had the knowledge and skills to transport such heavy chests and rig a hoist to lower them 200 feet into the pit.

 Of course this is my opinion and not fact. But this makes sense.  I don't believe this is all of the Holy Grail because they wouldn't normally leave all their wealth in one spot.  This voyage to the new lands across the Atlantic was to escape the oppression of the church, it was the New Jerusalem.

 This meant they probably brought all the necessities they would need to establish a settlement, that meant women. While Prince Henry was exploring the peninsula his crew was busy teaching the Micmac's how to make fishing nets and the use of them in fishing.

 They were also involved in building a “stone canoe” which is the term the Micmac used to describe the ship that they were building to return home in.

They called it stone because they laid a deck that they could walk on and it was the strangest canoe the Micmac had ever seen!

                       To be continued

Prince Henry Sinclair Part VII

  In 1795 some boys playing on a island in Mahone Bay Nova Scotia, discovered beneath a lone standing oak tree with a large branch over hanging a depression in the ground some accounts say there was a block and tackle. ( pulley)

 Some just say that the bark was worn out on the branch which was obviously used to run a rope over the branch to lift something heavy but what?

 The depression in the earth was caused from back filled earth settling. They dug into the depressed earth for two feet and encountered a man made seal of laid stones not natural stones.

 They removed them and 10 feet down there was a platform, they kept on progressing, every ten feet they encounter a oak platform, they descended 30 feet.

 They brought this to adult attention, everyone assumed and they still do, that there must be something very valuable at the bottom.

 By 1802 there were 30 investors involved in its recovery. They formed a company called ONSLOW.

 They dug down to 93 feet with a platform of oak every 10 feet. Then the tunnel began to flood. For every 2 buckets of earth they removed, they also removed 1 bucket of water.

 This flooding of the pit defeated their efforts and every effort made for the last 200 years. In 1849 the Truro Company was formed to try their luck at it.

 When flooding occurred and they couldn't stop it they changed their methods and used a pod auger. This is an instrument that coal miners use. 

  They had five insertions before they encountered something. The auger went through a 5 inch oak platform, at the 98 foot level, then another 12 inches and encountered another 4 inch oak obstruction then through 22 inches of metal.

  The auger was only able to capture 3 links resembling an ancient watch chain. It then went through 8 inches of oak which was thought to be the bottom of the box.

 Than through the top of another box. In other words two boxes sitting one on top of the other. Then 22 inches of metal just as before. Then four inches of oak and 6 inches of spruce. Then into clay for 7 feet, without hitting anything.

 For their effort they didn't recover any treasure, only the three links of chain. There was general agreement that the Auger drilled through 2 oak chests which were filled with metal pieces hopefully coins.

It was clear that treasure wouldn't be recovered until the flooding could be solved, which was not possible in 1849. The Oak Island Assoc was formed in 1861. Its purpose was to make excavations on Oak Island looking for treasure.

  Steam powered pumps had just been invented. They started excavating the tunnel again with the help of the powerful pumps. They made it to the 105 foot level, just out of reach of the treasure chests, then the entire shaft started collapsing downwards.

 It seemed that the entire bottom was collapsing and the treasure chest with it. Other treasure companies sought to take over where they left off over the years, without success.

  With the original shaft ruined they sunk other shafts next to it, and tried to keep the water down by pumping it out of these other shafts. Then digging horizontal shafts over to the original at levels where the treasure might be intercepted.

  In 1897 another treasure organization with yet another drill probe started to probe again and with a probe drill encountered the same two chests.

 They had fallen to the 150-160 foot level. It was at this level that a scrap of parchment was recovered. The writing on it looked like “iv” perhaps “ui” in a fancy script. 11 feet lower at the 171 foot level the probe drill encountered another plate. Which seemed to be the true floor.

 In 1909 a new investor became interested, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and bought shares in the “ Old Gold Salvage and Wrecking Co”. Although this company also failed FDR maintained a life long interest. Other attempts also failed by others.

In 1969 the Triton Alliance Ltd was formed and is still the lessor of the “ MONEY PIT” as its been dubbed something like $2,000,000. has been invested in it.

 They had the wood samples recovered by the probe drill carbon dated. All of the oak samples dated between 1550 and 1600 AD. Which works for the pirate era.

 However the spruce was a different matter. Two spruce planks were recovered from the pit, sample #1 was dated to 860 AD. Sample #2 was dated to 1135 AD.

The treasure seekers have now continued to the 200 foot level with an interesting discovery. The pit ended in a deep and natural cavern.

TV cameras lowered showed it to be a natural formation. Some of the photo's show part of a chest and also a part of a human corpse. Of course these are murky photo's before today’s carbon fiber HD resolution one thing is definitely true;

The money pit is at least in part a natural process. It is a Lime sink hole leading up from a cavern deep below the island. The cavern and sinkhole were probably formed by tidal action and from surface water draining down through a fissure, which expanded over the years.

 This is a natural geological feature. There are other similar sinkholes on the Nova Scotia mainland. The money pit is a natural geological system nobody built it.

 There are reports of pirate treasure being found in some of the sinkholes on the mainland. It appears that originally the bottom of the sinkhole was sealed over the cavern with a iron plate.

 Then with earth, then oak log platforms were added in successive layers, probably in the late 1500's, to make a more secure floor to hide pirate treasure in.

It will probably never be recovered what ever was in the pit has now fallen through into the deep cavern. But what ever was going on in the 1500's wasn't the first attempt to use the pit.

 Long before the pirate era, someone had used the pit, only they used spruce to reinforce their floors. This happened between 850 and 1135. Who could that have been and why?

 Is it possible that they used spruce because their wasn't any oak on the island? Did they plant the oak acorns on the island to make it identifiable.

  Acorns don't float. The only way they could have gotten to the island is by someone planting them. Could these people be associated with the castle on the hill? 

 The spruce carbon dates to the time of the structural methods with the squared flat stones, that are fitted together beneath the rubble stone.

 When the pirates arrived several hundred years later the island was over grown with oak and that was the natural wood to be used. Somebody was busy working in the pit 5 centuries before the era of the pirates.

 There is a path on the island that is now a tourist trap, but the interesting thing is the path is made out of rubble stone. Could this old rubble stone path be the top of an ancient wall that surrounded the money pit ? Could there at one time have been a fortress here?

There were also trails of rubble stone that branched off of the main trail, which were in better condition because the tourists were staying on the main path.

In the early 1800 there was a colonial survey performed of the whole Nova Scotia area. The walls of the castle on the hill and the ones on Oak Island were present on the survey.

 They then divided the island up into very strange sections. It seems that the sections on Oak island were following the walls as boundaries for the property sections.

  The Gold River lays exactly 2 miles and a little to the right of the north shore of Oak Island. 17 miles up the Gold River lays the castle on the hill with the exact same walls.

 It takes 200-250 years for a oak to mature. There probably weren't any or very many oaks on the island 500 years prior to the era of the pirates, that's why they used spruce logs.

 But could who was here around the 1000 AD have planted the Oaks and they would have been on their second generation by the time of the era of the pirates in the late 1500's?

 According to the owners of the property of the castle at the Cross, her relatives the Stuart dynasty came here to pan for gold which was laying all over the bed of the gold river. Could they also have been involved in the Money Pit perhaps as a cache for gold they were getting out of the river?

So many questions so few answers !