Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney
Encyclopedia
Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and feudal baron of Roslin
(c. 1345 – c. 1400) was a Scottish
noble
man. He is sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel
. He is best known today because of a modern legend that he took part in explorations of Greenland
and North America
almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus
. William Thomson, in his book The New History of Orkney , wrote: "It has been Earl Henry's singular fate to enjoy an ever-expanding posthumous reputation which has very little to do with anything he achieved in his lifetime."
. Henry Sinclair's maternal grandfather had been deprived of much of his lands (the earldom of Strathearn being completely lost to the King of Scots).
Sometime after 13 Sep 1358, Henry's father died, at which point Henry Sinclair succeeded as Baron of Roslin
, Pentland and Cousland, a group of minor properties in Lothian. The Sinclair Diploma states he married Joneta (or Joan, ou Jean) Haliburton, daughter of Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton
, and that they had a son Henry, who became the next Earl of Orkney. Also they apparently had a daughter, Elizabeth Sinclair, who married the justiary John Drummond of Cargill.
Three cousins – Alexander de L'Arde, Lord of Caithness; Malise Sparre, Lord of Skaldale; and Henry Sinclair – were rivals for the succession to the earldom of Orkney. On August 2, 1379, at Marstrand, near Tønsberg
, Norway, King Haakon VI of Norway
invested and confirmed Sinclair as the Norwegian Earl of Orkney
over a rival claim by his cousin Malise Sparre.
In 1389, Sinclair attended the coronation of King Eric of Pomerania
in Norway, pledging his oath of fealty. Historians have speculated that in 1391 Sinclair and his troops slew Malise Sparre near Scalloway
, Tingwall parish
, Shetland.
It is unclear when Henry Sinclair died. The Sinclair Diploma, written or at least commissioned by his grandson states: "...he retirit to the parts of Orchadie and josit them to the latter tyme of his life, and deit Erile of Orchadie, and for the defence of the country was slain there cruellie by his enemiis..." We also know that sometime in 1401: "The English invaded, burnt and spoiled certain islands of Orkney." This was part of an English retaliation for a Scottish attack on an English fleet neer Aberdeen. The assumption is that Henry either died opposing this invasion, or was already dead.
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.
The authenticity of the letters (which were allegedly rediscovered and published in the early 16th century), the exact course of the voyage, as well as whether it even took place, are challenged by historians. Most regard the letters (and the accompanying map) as a hoax
by the Zenos, their publishers. Moreover, the identification of Zichmni as Henry Sinclair is not taken seriously by historians, although it is taken for granted by the supporters of the theory.
Some supporters of the theory contend that there are stone carvings of American plants in Rosslyn Chapel
in Scotland. The Chapel was built by Henry Sinclair's grandson William Sinclair and was completed in 1486. Columbus made his first voyage in 1492. This is seen by writers Christopher Knight
and Robert Lomas
as being compelling evidence for the theory that Sinclair had sailed to America, although scholars have said the plants are simply stylised depictions of common European plants.
In addition, some writers such as Native American
historian Evan Pritchard have claimed that Glooscap
, the spiritual hero figure of the Micmac people, is in fact a depiction of an early European explorer, most likely Henry Sinclair.
The claim that Henry Sinclair explored North America has been popularised by several other authors, notably by Frederick J. Pohl
, Andrew Sinclair , Michael Bradley , William S. Crooker (who claimed to have discovered Henry Sinclair's castle in Nova Scotia) , Steven Sora, and more recently by David Goudsward. The claim is based on several separate propositions:
and that the voyage either was sponsored by or conducted on the behalf of the Templars, though the order was suppressed almost half a century before Henry's lifetime.
Knight and Lomas speculate that the Knights Templar discovered under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem a royal archive dating from King Solomon's times that stated that Phoenicians from Tyre voyaged to a westerly continent following a star called "La Merika". According to Knight and Lomas, the Templars learned that to sail to that continent, they had to follow a star by the same name, which became the origin of the name "America". Sinclair supposedly followed this route.
The theory also makes use of the supposed Templar connection to explain the name Nova Scotia ("New Scotland" in Latin). It is based on the 18th century tale that some Templars escaped the suppression of their order by fleeing to Scotland
during the reign of Robert the Bruce and fought in the Battle of Bannockburn
.
Claims persist that Rosslyn Chapel contains Templar imagery. Andrew Sinclair speculates that the grave slab now in the crypt is that of a Templar knight: According to author Robert Lomas, the chapel also has an engraving depicting a knight templar holding the sword over a head of an initiate, supposedly to protect the secrets of the templars. 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 the first Grand Master of Masons of Scotland, also named William St Clair (Sinclair).
According to Lomas, the Sinclairs and their French relatives the St. Clairs were instrumental in creating the Knights Templar. He claims that the founder of Templars Hugh de Payns was married to a sister of the Duke of Champaine (Henri de St. Clair), who was a powerful broker of the first Crusade and had the political power to nominate the Pope, and to suggest the idea and empower it to the Pope.
However, a biography of Hugues de Payen by Thierry Leroy identifies his wife and the mother of his children as Elizabeth de Chappes. The book draws its information on the marriage from local church cartularies dealing chiefly with the disposition of the Grand Master's properties, the earliest alluding to Elizabeth as his wife in 1113, and others spanning Payen's lifetime, the period following his death and lastly her own death in 1170.
Historians Mark Oxbrow, Ian Robertson, Karen Ralls and Louise Yeoman have each made it clear that the Sinclair family had no connection with the mediaeval Knights Templar. Karen Ralls has shown that among those testifying against the Templars at their 1309 trial were Henry and William Sinclair – an act inconsistent with any alleged support or membership.
by Michael Baigent
, Richard Leigh
and Henry Lincoln
(1982) and The Temple and the Lodge by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh (1989) appeared. Books by Timothy Wallace-Murphy and Andrew Sinclair soon followed from the early 1990s onwards.
Roslin Castle
Roslin Castle is a partially ruined castle near the village of Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland. It is located around 9 miles south of Edinburgh, on the north bank of the North Esk, only a few hundred metres from the famous Rosslyn Chapel.There has been a castle on the site since the early 14th...
(c. 1345 – c. 1400) was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
man. He is sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
William Sinclair , 1st Earl of Caithness , 3rd Earl of Orkney , Baron of Roslin was a Scottish nobleman and the builder of Rosslyn Chapel, in Midlothian....
, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church in the mid-15th century...
. He is best known today because of a modern legend that he took part in explorations of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
. William Thomson, in his book The New History of Orkney , wrote: "It has been Earl Henry's singular fate to enjoy an ever-expanding posthumous reputation which has very little to do with anything he achieved in his lifetime."
Life
Henry Sinclair was the son and heir of William Sinclair, Lord of Roslin, and his wife Isobel of Strathearn, a daughter of Maol Ísa, Earl of OrkneyMaol Íosa V, Earl of Strathearn
Maol Íosa V of Strathearn was the last of the native Gaelic family of Strathearn mormaers. He ruled Strathearn as mormaer/earl between 1330 and 1334, and was Earl of Orkney between 1331 and 1350....
. Henry Sinclair's maternal grandfather had been deprived of much of his lands (the earldom of Strathearn being completely lost to the King of Scots).
Sometime after 13 Sep 1358, Henry's father died, at which point Henry Sinclair succeeded as Baron of Roslin
Baron of Roslin
Baron of Roslin was a Scottish peerage held by the chief of the Clan Sinclair.*William Sinclair, 1st Baron of Roslin, *Henry Sinclair, 2nd Baron of Roslin, *Henry Sinclair, 3rd Baron of Roslin,...
, Pentland and Cousland, a group of minor properties in Lothian. The Sinclair Diploma states he married Joneta (or Joan, ou Jean) Haliburton, daughter of Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton
Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton
Sir Walter de Haliburton, 1st Lord Haliburton of Dirleton was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland.The eldest son of Sir John Haliburton of Dirleton, East Lothian , by his spouse Margaret, daughter of Sir John Cameron, Sir Walter was one of the hostages for King James I on March 28, 1424 and was...
, and that they had a son Henry, who became the next Earl of Orkney. Also they apparently had a daughter, Elizabeth Sinclair, who married the justiary John Drummond of Cargill.
Three cousins – Alexander de L'Arde, Lord of Caithness; Malise Sparre, Lord of Skaldale; and Henry Sinclair – were rivals for the succession to the earldom of Orkney. On August 2, 1379, at Marstrand, near Tønsberg
Tønsberg
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, southern Norway, located around north-east of Sandefjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tønsberg....
, Norway, King Haakon VI of Norway
Haakon VI of Norway
Haakon VI of Norway was King of Norway from 1343 until his death and King of Sweden from 1362 until 1364, when he was deposed by Albert of Mecklenburg in Sweden.-Background:...
invested and confirmed Sinclair as the Norwegian Earl of Orkney
Earl of Orkney
The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...
over a rival claim by his cousin Malise Sparre.
In 1389, Sinclair attended the coronation of King Eric of Pomerania
Eric of Pomerania
Eric of Pomerania KG was King Eric III of Norway Norwegian Eirik, King Eric VII of Denmark , and as Eric King of Sweden...
in Norway, pledging his oath of fealty. Historians have speculated that in 1391 Sinclair and his troops slew Malise Sparre near Scalloway
Scalloway
Scalloway is the largest settlement on the North Atlantic coast of Mainland, Shetland with a population of approximately 812, at the 2001 census...
, Tingwall parish
Tingwall, Shetland
Tingwall, is a hamlet and parish in Shetland, mostly on Mainland.The hamlet lies about 4 miles north west of Lerwick. It is at the head of a long narrow bay. Tingwall Airport is here.-Parish:...
, Shetland.
It is unclear when Henry Sinclair died. The Sinclair Diploma, written or at least commissioned by his grandson states: "...he retirit to the parts of Orchadie and josit them to the latter tyme of his life, and deit Erile of Orchadie, and for the defence of the country was slain there cruellie by his enemiis..." We also know that sometime in 1401: "The English invaded, burnt and spoiled certain islands of Orkney." This was part of an English retaliation for a Scottish attack on an English fleet neer Aberdeen. The assumption is that Henry either died opposing this invasion, or was already dead.
The alleged voyage to North America
Almost nothing more is known about Sinclair's life. However, much has been written through conjecture about his supposed career as an explorer. In 1784, he was identified by Johann Reinhold ForsterJohann Reinhold Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster was a German Lutheran pastor and naturalist of partial Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America...
as possibly being the Prince Zichmni
Zichmni
Zichmni is the name of an explorer-prince who appears in a 1558 book by Nicolo Zeno of Venice, allegedly based on letters and a map dating to the year 1400 by the author's ancestors, brothers Nicolo and Antonio Zeno...
described in letters allegedly written around the year 1400 by the Zeno brothers
Zeno brothers
The Zeno brothers, namely Nicolò and Antonio Zeno , were noted Italian navigators from Venice, living in the second half of the 14th century. They were brothers of the Venetian naval hero Carlo Zeno...
of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, in which they describe a voyage throughout the North Atlantic under the command of Zichmni.
The authenticity of the letters (which were allegedly rediscovered and published in the early 16th century), the exact course of the voyage, as well as whether it even took place, are challenged by historians. Most regard the letters (and the accompanying map) as a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
by the Zenos, their publishers. Moreover, the identification of Zichmni as Henry Sinclair is not taken seriously by historians, although it is taken for granted by the supporters of the theory.
Some supporters of the theory contend that there are stone carvings of American plants in Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church in the mid-15th century...
in Scotland. The Chapel was built by Henry Sinclair's grandson William Sinclair and was completed in 1486. Columbus made his first voyage in 1492. This is seen by writers Christopher Knight
Christopher Knight (author)
Christopher Knight is an author who has written several pseudoarcaeological and pseudohistorical books dealing with theories such as 366-degree geometry and the origins of Freemasonry...
and Robert Lomas
Robert Lomas
Roberto Lomas is a British writer and business studies academic. He writes primarily about the history of Freemasonry as well as the Neolithic period, ancient engineering and archaeoastronomy...
as being compelling evidence for the theory that Sinclair had sailed to America, although scholars have said the plants are simply stylised depictions of common European plants.
In addition, some writers such as Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
historian Evan Pritchard have claimed that Glooscap
Glooscap
Glooscap is a mythical culture hero, and "transformer" of the Wabanaki peoples...
, the spiritual hero figure of the Micmac people, is in fact a depiction of an early European explorer, most likely Henry Sinclair.
The claim that Henry Sinclair explored North America has been popularised by several other authors, notably by Frederick J. Pohl
Frederick J. Pohl
Frederick Julius Pohl was a prolific playwright, literary critic, editor, and book writer. He is best known for his books espousing speculative and controversial historical theories of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact by Europeans, including the Vikings and others. He was also the husband of...
, Andrew Sinclair , Michael Bradley , William S. Crooker (who claimed to have discovered Henry Sinclair's castle in Nova Scotia) , Steven Sora, and more recently by David Goudsward. The claim is based on several separate propositions:
- That the letters and map ascribed to the Zeno brothers and published in 1558 are authentic.
- That the voyage described in the letters as taken by Zichmni around the year 1398 to Greenland actually reached North America.
- That Zichmni is Henry Sinclair.
Alleged Templar connections
Intertwined with the Sinclair voyage story is the claim that Henry Sinclair was a Knight TemplarKnights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
and that the voyage either was sponsored by or conducted on the behalf of the Templars, though the order was suppressed almost half a century before Henry's lifetime.
Knight and Lomas speculate that the Knights Templar discovered under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem a royal archive dating from King Solomon's times that stated that Phoenicians from Tyre voyaged to a westerly continent following a star called "La Merika". According to Knight and Lomas, the Templars learned that to sail to that continent, they had to follow a star by the same name, which became the origin of the name "America". Sinclair supposedly followed this route.
The theory also makes use of the supposed Templar connection to explain the name Nova Scotia ("New Scotland" in Latin). It is based on the 18th century tale that some Templars escaped the suppression of their order by fleeing to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
during the reign of Robert the Bruce and fought in the Battle of Bannockburn
Battle of Bannockburn
The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence...
.
Claims persist that Rosslyn Chapel contains Templar imagery. Andrew Sinclair speculates that the grave slab now in the crypt is that of a Templar knight: According to author Robert Lomas, the chapel also has an engraving depicting a knight templar holding the sword over a head of an initiate, supposedly to protect the secrets of the templars. 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 the first Grand Master of Masons of Scotland, also named William St Clair (Sinclair).
According to Lomas, the Sinclairs and their French relatives the St. Clairs were instrumental in creating the Knights Templar. He claims that the founder of Templars Hugh de Payns was married to a sister of the Duke of Champaine (Henri de St. Clair), who was a powerful broker of the first Crusade and had the political power to nominate the Pope, and to suggest the idea and empower it to the Pope.
However, a biography of Hugues de Payen by Thierry Leroy identifies his wife and the mother of his children as Elizabeth de Chappes. The book draws its information on the marriage from local church cartularies dealing chiefly with the disposition of the Grand Master's properties, the earliest alluding to Elizabeth as his wife in 1113, and others spanning Payen's lifetime, the period following his death and lastly her own death in 1170.
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. In fact, there is no known published documentation from that era to support the theory that such a voyage took place. The physical evidence relies on speculative reasoning to support the theory, and all of it can be interpreted in other ways. For example, according to one historian, the carvings in Rosslyn Chapel may not be of American plants at all but are nothing more than stylized carvings of wheat and strawberries.Historians Mark Oxbrow, Ian Robertson, Karen Ralls and Louise Yeoman have each made it clear that the Sinclair family had no connection with the mediaeval Knights Templar. Karen Ralls has shown that among those testifying against the Templars at their 1309 trial were Henry and William Sinclair – an act inconsistent with any alleged support or membership.
Alternative histories
In the 1980s, modern alternative histories of Earl Henry I Sinclair and Rosslyn Chapel began to be published. Popular books (often derided as pseudo-history) such as The Holy Blood and the Holy GrailThe Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail is a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln....
by Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent is an author and speculative theorist who co-wrote a number of books that question mainstream perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is best known as co-writer of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail....
, Richard Leigh
Richard Leigh
Richard Leigh is the name of:*Richard Leigh , Catholic martyr*Richard Leigh *Richard Leigh , co-author of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail...
and Henry Lincoln
Henry Lincoln
Henry Lincoln is an English author, television presenter, scriptwriter and former Supporting actor. He co-wrote three Doctor Who multi-part serials in the 1960s, and —starting in the 1970s— authored a series of books and inspired documentaries for the British television channel BBC2,...
(1982) and The Temple and the Lodge by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh (1989) appeared. Books by Timothy Wallace-Murphy and Andrew Sinclair soon followed from the early 1990s onwards.
See also
- Zeno mapZeno mapThe Zeno map is a map of the North Atlantic first published in 1558 in Venice by Nicolo Zeno, a descendant of Nicolo Zeno, of the Zeno brothers....
- Zeno brothersZeno brothersThe Zeno brothers, namely Nicolò and Antonio Zeno , were noted Italian navigators from Venice, living in the second half of the 14th century. They were brothers of the Venetian naval hero Carlo Zeno...
- Westford KnightWestford KnightThe Westford Knight, also known as the Sinclair Rock, is perceived as either a carving or a natural feature, or a combination of both, located on a glacial boulder in Westford, Massachusetts in the United States. It is notable for being the subject of controversial speculation that it is evidence...
- Knights Templar legends#Discoverers of the New World
Further reading
- Earl Henry Sinclair's fictitious trip to America by Brian Smith, First published in New Orkney Antiquarian Journal, vol. 2, 2002
- "The Sinclair Saga", by Mark Finnan, 1999, Formac Press, ISBN 0-887-80466-7
- "Rosslyn: Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail", by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins, 1999, Harper–Collins Canada, ISBN 1-862-04493-7
- "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
- "Of course the Chinese didn't discover America. But then nor did Columbus" by Simon Jenkins, January 20, 2006 article in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
mentioning the La Merika theory among others - "The ship of dreams" by Diane MacLean, May 13, 2005, Scotsman.com
- "The Sinclair Voyage to America" Renaissance MagazineRenaissance MagazineRenaissance Magazine is a glossy American magazine published every other month. Each issue comprises approximately 90 pages, and includes articles about the contemporary renaissance faire experience, medieval and renaissance history, castles, heraldry, cooking, and interviews with key individuals...
#12, 1999 - Brief biography in support of theory