Rosslyn Chapel
Encyclopedia
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 (with between 4 and 6 ordained canons and two boy choristers) in the mid-15th century. Rosslyn Chapel and the nearby Roslin Castle
are located at the village of Roslin
, Midlothian
, Scotland.
The chapel was founded by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
(also spelled "Sainteclaire/Saintclair/Sinclair/St. Clair") of the Sinclair family, a noble family descended from Norman
knight
s from the commune
of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
in northern France, using the standard designs the mediaeval architects made available to him. Rosslyn Chapel is the third Sinclair place of worship at Roslin - the first being in Roslin Castle and the second (whose crumbling buttresses can still be seen today) in what is now Roslin Cemetery.
The purpose of the college was to celebrate the Divine Office
throughout the day and night and also to celebrate Holy Mass for all the faithful departed, including the deceased members of the Sinclair family. During this period the rich heritage of plainsong (a single melodic line) or polyphony (vocal harmony) would be used to enrich the singing of the liturgy. An endowment was made that would pay for the upkeep of the priests and choristers in perpetuity and they also had parochial responsibilities.
After the Scottish Reformation
(1560) Roman Catholic worship in the Chapel was brought to an end, although the Sinclair family continued to be Roman Catholics until the early 18th century. From that time the Chapel was closed to public worship until 1861 when it was opened again as a place of worship according to the rites of the Scottish Episcopal Church
.
In later years the Chapel has featured in speculative theories regarding Freemasonry
and the Knights Templar
. An extensive programme of conservation is currently underway.
The original plans for Rosslyn have never been found or recorded, so it is open to speculation whether or not the chapel was intended to be built in its current layout. Its architecture is considered to be some of the finest in Scotland.
Construction of the chapel began on 20 September 1456, although it is often been recorded as 1446. The confusion over the building date comes from the chapel's receiving its founding charter to build a collegiate chapel in 1446 from Rome. Sinclair did not start to build the chapel until he had built houses for his craftsmen. Although the original building was to be cruciform
in shape, it was never completed; only the choir was constructed, with the retro-chapel, otherwise called the Lady chapel
, built on the much earlier crypt
(Lower Chapel) believed to form part of an earlier castle. The foundations of the unbuilt nave
and transept
s stretching to a distance of 90 feet were recorded in the 19th century. The decorative carving was executed over a forty-year period. After the founder's death, construction of the planned nave and transepts was abandoned - either from lack of funds, lack of interest or a change in liturgical fashion. The Lower Chapel (also known as the crypt or sacristy
) should not be confused with the burial vaults
that lie underneath Rosslyn Chapel.
The chapel stands on fourteen pillars, which form an arcade of twelve pointed arches on three sides of the nave. At the east end, a fourteenth pillar between the penultimate pair form a three-pillared division between the nave and the Lady chapel. The three pillars at the east end of the chapel are named, from north to south: the Master Pillar, the Journeyman Pillar, and most famously, the Apprentice Pillar. These names for the pillars date from the late Georgian period
— prior to this period they were called The Earl's Pillar, The Shekinah and the Prince's pillar.
The "Apprentice Pillar", or "Prentice Pillar", gets its name from a legend dating from the 18th century involving the master mason in charge of the stonework in the chapel and his young apprentice. According to the legend, the master mason did not believe that the apprentice could perform the complicated task of carving the column without seeing the original which formed the inspiration for the design. The master mason travelled to see the original himself, but upon his return was enraged to find that the upstart apprentice had completed the column anyway. In a fit of jealous anger the mason took up his mallet and struck the apprentice on the head, killing him. The legend concludes that as punishment for his crime, the master mason's face was carved into the opposite corner to forever gaze upon his apprentice's pillar.
The pillar is also referred to as the "Princes Pillar" in An Account of the Chapel of Roslin (1778).
On the architrave
joining the pillar there is the inscription Forte est vinum fortior est rex fortiores sunt mulieres super omnia vincit veritas: "Wine is strong, a king is stronger, women are stronger still, but truth conquers all" (1 Esdras
, chapters 3 & 4).
Author Henning Klovekorn has proposed that the pillar is representative of one of the roots of the Nordic Yggdrasil
tree, prominent in Germanic
and Norse mythology
. He compares the dragon
s at the base of the pillar to the dragons found eating away at the base of the Yggdrasil root and, pointing out that at the top of the pillar is carved tree foliage, argues that the Nordic/Viking association is plausible considering the many auxiliary references in the chapel to Celtic and Norse mythology.
One recent attempt to make sense of the boxes has been to interpret them as a musical score. The motifs on the boxes somewhat resemble geometric patterns seen in the study of cymatics
. The patterns are formed by placing powder upon a flat surface and vibrating the surface at different frequencies. By matching these Chladni patterns
with musical notes corresponding to the same frequencies, the father-and-son team of Thomas and Stuart Mitchell
produced a tune which Stuart calls the Rosslyn Motet.
Another notable feature of Rosslyn's architecture is the presence of 'Green Men
'. These are carvings of human faces with greenery all around them, often growing out of their mouths. They are commonly thought to be a symbol of renewal and fertility
, pre-Christian in origin. In Rosslyn they are found in all areas of the chapel, with one excellent example in the Lady Chapel, between the two middle altars of the east wall. The green men in Rosslyn symbolise the months of the year in progression from East to West in the Chapel. Young faces are seen in the East symbolising Spring and as we progress towards the setting sun in the west the carvings age as in autumn of man's years. There are in excess of 110 carvings of Green men in and around the Chapel.
and Christopher Knight
believe some carvings to be ears of new world corn or maize
in the chapel. This crop was unknown in Europe at the time of the chapel's construction, and was not cultivated there until several hundred years later. Knight and Lomas view these carvings as evidence supporting the idea that Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, travelled to the Americas well before Columbus. Mediaeval scholars interpret these carvings as stylised depictions of wheat, strawberries or lilies.
, the treasure
of the Templar
s, or the original crown jewels of Scotland. In 1837 when the 2nd Earl of Rosslyn died, his wish was to be buried in the original vault; exhaustive searches over the period of a week were made, but no entrance to the original vault was found and he was buried beside his wife in the Lady Chapel.
A new visitor centre is due to open in July 2011. The chapel's stained-glass windows and organ will be fully restored. New lighting and heating is being installed.
The expected cost of the restoration work is around £13 million, with about £3.7 million being spent on the Visitor Centre. Funding has come from various sources including Heritage Lottery Fund
, Historic Scotland
and the environmental body, WREN. Actor Tom Hanks
also made a donation.
, supposedly has many Templar symbols, such as the "Two riders on a single horse" that appear on the Seal of the Knights Templar.
As early as 2000 serious doubt was cast on any connection between Freemasonry and Rosslyn Chapel by the Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library, Robert L. D. Cooper, who has written several books on the subject.
The claim that the layout of Rosslyn Chapel echoes that of Solomon's Temple
has been analysed by Mark Oxbrow and Ian Robertson in their book, Rosslyn and the Grail:
With regards to a possible connection between the St. Clairs and the Knights Templar, the family testified against the Templars when that Order was put on trial in Edinburgh in 1309. Historian Dr. Louise Yeoman, along with other mediaeval scholars, says the Knights Templar connection is false, and points out that Rosslyn Chapel was built by William Sinclair so that Mass could be said for the souls of his family.
It is also claimed that other carvings in the chapel reflect Masonic
imagery, such as the way that hands are placed in various figures. One carving may show a blindfolded man being led forward with a noose around his neck—similar to the way a candidate is prepared for initiation into Freemasonry. The carving has been eroded by time and pollution and is difficult to make out clearly. The chapel was built in the 15th century, and the earliest records of Freemasonic lodges date back only to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. A more likely explanation however is that the Masonic
imagery was added at a later date. This may have taken place in the 1860s when James St Clair-Erskine, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn
instructed Edinburgh architect David Bryce
, a known freemason, to undertake restoration work on areas of the church including many of the carvings.
William Sinclair
3rd Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin and 1st Earl of Caithness, claimed by novelists to be a hereditary Grand Master of the Scottish stonemasons, built Rosslyn Chapel. A later William Sinclair of Roslin became the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
and, subsequently, several other members of the Sinclair family have held this position.
These connections, whether real or imagined, to both the Templars and the Freemasons, mean that Rosslyn features prominently in conjectures that the Freemasons are direct descendants of the Knights Templar.
and Timothy Wallace-Murphy arguing links with the Knights Templar
and the supposed descendants of Jesus Christ. The books in particular by Timothy Wallace-Murphy Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-le-Château And The Dynasty of Jesus (2000) and Custodians Of Truth: The Continuance Of Rex Deus (2005) have focused on the hypothetical Jesus bloodline
with the Sinclairs and Rosslyn Chapel. On the ABC documentary Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci, aired on 3 November 2003, Niven Sinclair hinted that the descendants of Jesus Christ existed within the Sinclair families. These alternative histories are relatively modern - not dating back before the early 1990s. The precursor to these Rosslyn theories is the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
by Michael Baigent
, Richard Leigh
and Henry Lincoln
that introduced the theory of the Jesus bloodline in relation to the Priory of Sion
hoax - the main protagonist of which was Pierre Plantard
, who for a time adopted the name Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair.
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...
are located at the village of Roslin
Roslin, Midlothian
Roslin is a pretty village in Midlothian, Scotland, 7 miles to the south of the Scottish Capital city Edinburgh. It is situated approximately 12 miles from Edinburgh Airport.-The name:...
, Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
, Scotland.
The chapel was founded by 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....
(also spelled "Sainteclaire/Saintclair/Sinclair/St. Clair") of the Sinclair family, a noble family descended from Norman
Scoto-Norman
The term Scoto-Norman is used to described people, families, institutions and archaeological artifacts that are partly Scottish and partly Norman...
knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s from the commune
Commune
Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
Saint-Clair-sur-Epte is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.Henry I of England seized the castle of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 1118. -See also:*Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte*Epte*Communes of the Val-d'Oise department...
in northern France, using the standard designs the mediaeval architects made available to him. Rosslyn Chapel is the third Sinclair place of worship at Roslin - the first being in Roslin Castle and the second (whose crumbling buttresses can still be seen today) in what is now Roslin Cemetery.
The purpose of the college was to celebrate the Divine Office
Liturgy of the hours
The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the clergy, religious orders, and laity. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns and readings...
throughout the day and night and also to celebrate Holy Mass for all the faithful departed, including the deceased members of the Sinclair family. During this period the rich heritage of plainsong (a single melodic line) or polyphony (vocal harmony) would be used to enrich the singing of the liturgy. An endowment was made that would pay for the upkeep of the priests and choristers in perpetuity and they also had parochial responsibilities.
After the Scottish Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
(1560) Roman Catholic worship in the Chapel was brought to an end, although the Sinclair family continued to be Roman Catholics until the early 18th century. From that time the Chapel was closed to public worship until 1861 when it was opened again as a place of worship according to the rites of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....
.
In later years the Chapel has featured in speculative theories regarding Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
and the Knights Templar
Knights 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...
. An extensive programme of conservation is currently underway.
Architecture
Construction of the chapel began on 20 September 1456, although it is often been recorded as 1446. The confusion over the building date comes from the chapel's receiving its founding charter to build a collegiate chapel in 1446 from Rome. Sinclair did not start to build the chapel until he had built houses for his craftsmen. Although the original building was to be cruciform
Cruciform
Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...
in shape, it was never completed; only the choir was constructed, with the retro-chapel, otherwise called the Lady chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...
, built on the much earlier crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
(Lower Chapel) believed to form part of an earlier castle. The foundations of the unbuilt nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s stretching to a distance of 90 feet were recorded in the 19th century. The decorative carving was executed over a forty-year period. After the founder's death, construction of the planned nave and transepts was abandoned - either from lack of funds, lack of interest or a change in liturgical fashion. The Lower Chapel (also known as the crypt or sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
) should not be confused with the burial vaults
Burial vault (tomb)
A burial vault is a structural underground tomb.It is a stone or brick-lined underground space or 'burial' chamber for the interment of a dead body or bodies. They were originally and are still often vaulted and usually have stone slab entrances...
that lie underneath Rosslyn Chapel.
The chapel stands on fourteen pillars, which form an arcade of twelve pointed arches on three sides of the nave. At the east end, a fourteenth pillar between the penultimate pair form a three-pillared division between the nave and the Lady chapel. The three pillars at the east end of the chapel are named, from north to south: the Master Pillar, the Journeyman Pillar, and most famously, the Apprentice Pillar. These names for the pillars date from the late Georgian period
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
— prior to this period they were called The Earl's Pillar, The Shekinah and the Prince's pillar.
Apprentice pillar
The pillar is also referred to as the "Princes Pillar" in An Account of the Chapel of Roslin (1778).
On the architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
joining the pillar there is the inscription Forte est vinum fortior est rex fortiores sunt mulieres super omnia vincit veritas: "Wine is strong, a king is stronger, women are stronger still, but truth conquers all" (1 Esdras
1 Esdras
1 Esdras , Greek Ezra, is an ancient Greek version of the biblical Book of Ezra in use among ancient Jewry, the early church, and many modern Christians with varying degrees of canonicity and a high historical usefulness....
, chapters 3 & 4).
Author Henning Klovekorn has proposed that the pillar is representative of one of the roots of the Nordic Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
tree, prominent in Germanic
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology is a comprehensive term for myths associated with historical Germanic paganism, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, Continental Germanic mythology, and other versions of the mythologies of the Germanic peoples...
and Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
. He compares the dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
s at the base of the pillar to the dragons found eating away at the base of the Yggdrasil root and, pointing out that at the top of the pillar is carved tree foliage, argues that the Nordic/Viking association is plausible considering the many auxiliary references in the chapel to Celtic and Norse mythology.
'Musical' boxes
Among Rosslyn's many intricate carvings are a sequence of 213 cubes or boxes protruding from pillars and arches with a selection of patterns on them. It is unknown whether these patterns have any particular meaning attached to them—many people have attempted to find information coded into them, but no interpretation has yet proven conclusive.One recent attempt to make sense of the boxes has been to interpret them as a musical score. The motifs on the boxes somewhat resemble geometric patterns seen in the study of cymatics
Cymatics
Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration, a subset of modal phenomena. Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste, or liquid...
. The patterns are formed by placing powder upon a flat surface and vibrating the surface at different frequencies. By matching these Chladni patterns
Ernst Chladni
Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni was a German physicist and musician. His important works include research on vibrating plates and the calculation of the speed of sound for different gases. For this some call him the "Father of Acoustics"...
with musical notes corresponding to the same frequencies, the father-and-son team of Thomas and Stuart Mitchell
Stuart Mitchell
Stuart Mitchell is a Scottish pianist and composer, best known for his Seven Wonders Suite . The Seven Wonders Suite has been recorded by The Prague Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mario Klemens. A performance of part of the Suite was performed in The Dvorak Hall in Prague in 2005...
produced a tune which Stuart calls the Rosslyn Motet.
Green men
Green Man
A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...
'. These are carvings of human faces with greenery all around them, often growing out of their mouths. They are commonly thought to be a symbol of renewal and fertility
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
, pre-Christian in origin. In Rosslyn they are found in all areas of the chapel, with one excellent example in the Lady Chapel, between the two middle altars of the east wall. The green men in Rosslyn symbolise the months of the year in progression from East to West in the Chapel. Young faces are seen in the East symbolising Spring and as we progress towards the setting sun in the west the carvings age as in autumn of man's years. There are in excess of 110 carvings of Green men in and around the Chapel.
Plants
The authors Robert LomasRobert 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...
and 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...
believe some carvings to be ears of new world corn or maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
in the chapel. This crop was unknown in Europe at the time of the chapel's construction, and was not cultivated there until several hundred years later. Knight and Lomas view these carvings as evidence supporting the idea that Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, travelled to the Americas well before Columbus. Mediaeval scholars interpret these carvings as stylised depictions of wheat, strawberries or lilies.
Crypt
The Chapel has also acted as a burial place for several generations of the Sinclairs — a crypt was once accessible from a descending stair at the rear of the chapel. This crypt has for many years been sealed shut, which may explain the recurrent legends that it is merely a front to a more extensive subterranean vault containing (variously) the mummified head of Jesus Christ, the Holy GrailHoly Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
, the treasure
Treasure
Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...
of the Templar
Knights 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...
s, or the original crown jewels of Scotland. In 1837 when the 2nd Earl of Rosslyn died, his wish was to be buried in the original vault; exhaustive searches over the period of a week were made, but no entrance to the original vault was found and he was buried beside his wife in the Lady Chapel.
Rooftop pinnacle
The pinnacles on the rooftop have been subject to interest in 2010 during renovation work. Nesting Jackdaws had made the pinnacles unstable and as such had to be dismantled brick by brick revealing the existence of a chamber specifically made by the stonemasons to harbour bees. The hive, now abandoned has been sent to local bee keepers to identify.Conservation programme
The Chapel is currently undergoing an extensive programme of conservation. This includes work to the roof, the stone, the carvings, the stained glass and the organ. A steel canopy was erected over the chapel roof for 14 years. This was to prevent further rain damage to the church and also to give it a chance to dry out properly. Major stonework repairs are due for completion by the end of 2011. The last major scaffolding was removed in August 2010.A new visitor centre is due to open in July 2011. The chapel's stained-glass windows and organ will be fully restored. New lighting and heating is being installed.
The expected cost of the restoration work is around £13 million, with about £3.7 million being spent on the Visitor Centre. Funding has come from various sources including Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
, Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.-Role:As its website states:...
and the environmental body, WREN. Actor Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
also made a donation.
Templar and Masonic connections
The chapel, built 150 years after the dissolution of the Knights 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...
, supposedly has many Templar symbols, such as the "Two riders on a single horse" that appear on the Seal of the Knights Templar.
As early as 2000 serious doubt was cast on any connection between Freemasonry and Rosslyn Chapel by the Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Museum and Library, Robert L. D. Cooper, who has written several books on the subject.
The claim that the layout of Rosslyn Chapel echoes that of Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount , before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE....
has been analysed by Mark Oxbrow and Ian Robertson in their book, Rosslyn and the Grail:
Rosslyn Chapel bears no more resemblance to Solomon's or Herod's Temple than a house brick does to a paperback book. If you superimpose the floor plans of Rosslyn Chapel and either Solomon's or Herod's Temple, you will actually find that they are not even remotely similar. Writers admit that the chapel is far smaller than either of the temples. They freely scale the plans up or down in an attempt to fit them together. What they actually find are no significant similarities at all. [...] If you superimpose the floor plans of Rosslyn Chapel and the East Quire of Glasgow CathedralGlasgow CathedralThe church commonly known as Glasgow Cathedral is the Church of Scotland High Kirk of Glasgow otherwise known as St. Mungo's Cathedral.The other cathedrals in Glasgow are:* The Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew...
you will find a startling match: the four walls of both buildings fit precisely. The East Quire of Glasgow is larger than Rosslyn, but the designs of these two mediaeval Scottish buildings are virtually identical. They both have the same number of windows and the same number of pillars in the same configuration. [...] The similarity between Rosslyn Chapel and Glasgow's East Quire is well established. Andrew Kemp noted that 'the entire plan of this Chapel corresponds to a large extent with the choir of Glasgow Cathedral' as far back as 1877 in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries. Many alternative history writers are well aware of this but fail to mention it in their books.
With regards to a possible connection between the St. Clairs and the Knights Templar, the family testified against the Templars when that Order was put on trial in Edinburgh in 1309. Historian Dr. Louise Yeoman, along with other mediaeval scholars, says the Knights Templar connection is false, and points out that Rosslyn Chapel was built by William Sinclair so that Mass could be said for the souls of his family.
It is also claimed that other carvings in the chapel reflect Masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
imagery, such as the way that hands are placed in various figures. One carving may show a blindfolded man being led forward with a noose around his neck—similar to the way a candidate is prepared for initiation into Freemasonry. The carving has been eroded by time and pollution and is difficult to make out clearly. The chapel was built in the 15th century, and the earliest records of Freemasonic lodges date back only to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. A more likely explanation however is that the Masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
imagery was added at a later date. This may have taken place in the 1860s when James St Clair-Erskine, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn
James St Clair-Erskine, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn
General James Alexander St Clair-Erskine, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn PC, DL , styled Lord Loughborough from 1805 to 1837, was a Scottish soldier and Tory politician...
instructed Edinburgh architect David Bryce
David Bryce
David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA was a Scottish architect. Born in Edinburgh, he was educated at the Royal High School and joined the office of architect William Burn in 1825, aged 22. By 1841, Bryce had risen to be Burn's partner...
, a known freemason, to undertake restoration work on areas of the church including many of the carvings.
William Sinclair
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....
3rd Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin and 1st Earl of Caithness, claimed by novelists to be a hereditary Grand Master of the Scottish stonemasons, built Rosslyn Chapel. A later William Sinclair of Roslin became the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
Grand Lodge of Scotland
The Grand Lodge of Antient, Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland was founded in 1736 – although only a third of all lodges were represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge....
and, subsequently, several other members of the Sinclair family have held this position.
These connections, whether real or imagined, to both the Templars and the Freemasons, mean that Rosslyn features prominently in conjectures that the Freemasons are direct descendants of the Knights Templar.
Alternative histories
Alternative histories involving Rosslyn Chapel and the Sinclairs have been published by Andrew SinclairAndrew Sinclair
Dr Andrew Sinclair is a prolific British novelist, historian, biographer, critic and film-maker. He was a Founding Member of Churchill College, Cambridge. He directed the film, now regarded as a classic, of Under Milk Wood. His book The Better Half: The Emancipation of the American Woman won the...
and Timothy Wallace-Murphy arguing links with the Knights Templar
Knights 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 the supposed descendants of Jesus Christ. The books in particular by Timothy Wallace-Murphy Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-le-Château And The Dynasty of Jesus (2000) and Custodians Of Truth: The Continuance Of Rex Deus (2005) have focused on the hypothetical Jesus bloodline
Jesus bloodline
A Jesus bloodline is a hypothetical sequence of lineal descendants of the historical Jesus and Mary Magdalene, or some other woman, usually portrayed as his alleged wife or a hierodule...
with the Sinclairs and Rosslyn Chapel. On the ABC documentary Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci, aired on 3 November 2003, Niven Sinclair hinted that the descendants of Jesus Christ existed within the Sinclair families. These alternative histories are relatively modern - not dating back before the early 1990s. The precursor to these Rosslyn theories is the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
The 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,...
that introduced the theory of the Jesus bloodline in relation to the Priory of Sion
Priory of Sion
The Prieuré de Sion, translated from French as Priory of Sion, is a name given to multiple groups, both real and fictitious. The most notorious is a fringe fraternal organisation, founded and dissolved in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard...
hoax - the main protagonist of which was Pierre Plantard
Pierre Plantard
Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard was a French draughtsman, best known for being the principal perpetrator of the Priory of Sion hoax, by which he claimed from the 1960s onwards that he was a Merovingian descendant of Dagobert II and the "Great Monarch" prophesied by Nostradamus.-Surname:Pierre...
, who for a time adopted the name Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair.
Fictional references
- The Chapel is the setting for part of Dan BrownDan BrownDan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's 2003 novel The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
(and for part of the subsequent 2005 film of the same nameThe Da Vinci Code (film)The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman and based on Dan Brown's worldwide bestselling 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code...
.) - The chapel is mentioned in Darkest HourThe Age of Misrule (series)The Age of Misrule is a three-book modern fantasy novel series, written by Mark Chadbourn. It is set in Britain and the faery Otherworld around the beginning of the third millennium....
by Mark ChadbournMark ChadbournMark Chadbourn is an English fantasy, science fiction and horror author with fifteen novels published around the world.Born in the English Midlands from a long line of coal miners... - It is mentioned in the poem Rosabelle, which forms part of Sir Walter ScottWalter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's Lay of the Last MinstrelThe Lay of the Last Minstrel"The Lay of the Last Minstrel" is a long narrative poem by Walter Scott. -Overview:...
. - It is a major plot point in Walter H. HuntWalter H. HuntWalter H. Hunt is a science fiction novelist from Massachusetts, United States. His writings currently include the Dark Wing series, a military science fiction space opera, as well as numerous role-playing scenarios for various gaming companies. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College.Hunt's work...
's novel A Song in Stone. - It is featured on an episode of Ancient AliensAncient AliensAncient Aliens is an American television series that premiered on April 20, 2010 on the History channel. Produced by Prometheus Entertainment, the program presents theories of ancient astronauts and proposes that historical texts, archaeology and legends contain evidence of past...
, where the "Green Men" and the "Apprentice Pillar" are discussed as possible evidence for past extraterrestrial encounters.
See also
- Clan SinclairClan SinclairClan Sinclair is a Highland Scottish clan of Norman origin who held lands in the north of Scotland, the Orkney Islands, and the Lothians which they received from the Kings of Scots...
- Sinclair (surname)Sinclair (surname)The Scoto-Norman surname Sinclair comes from the Clan Sinclair whose progenitors conquered England with William the Conqueror then moved to Scotland and were given the land of Roslin, Midlothian by the King of Scots....
- Earl of CaithnessEarl of CaithnessEarl of Caithness is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland, and has a very complex history. Its first grant, in the modern sense as to have been counted in strict lists of peerages, is now generally held to have taken place in favor of Maol Íosa V, Earl of...
- Sinclair & Girnigoe CastleSinclair & Girnigoe CastleCastle Sinclair Girnigoe is a castle located about 3 miles north of Wick on the east coast of Caithness, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is considered to be one of the earliest seats of Clan Sinclair.-History:...
- Roslin CastleRoslin CastleRoslin 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...
- Castle of MeyCastle of MeyThe Castle of Mey is located in Caithness, on the north coast of Scotland, about west of John o' Groats. In fine weather there are views from the castle north to the Orkney Islands.-History:...
Further reading
- Butler, Alan and John Ritchie Rosslyn Revealed, A Library in Stone. 2006. ISBN 978 1-905047-92-4
- Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) An Account of the Chapel of Roslin. Grand Lodge of Scotland. 2000. ISBN 0-902324-61-6.
- Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) Genealogie of the Sainteclaires of Rosslyn. Grand Lodge of Scotland. 2002. ISBN 0-902324-63-2.
- Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) The Illustrated Guide to Rosslyn Chapel. Masonic Publishing Co. 2003. ISBN 0-9544268-1-9.
- Cooper, Robert L. D. The Rosslyn Hoax?. Lewis Masonic. 2006. ISBN 0-85318-255-8.
- Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) The voyages of the Zeno brothers. Grand Lodge of Scotland. 2004. ISBN 0-9544268-2-7.
- Coppens, Philip. The Stone Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel. Frontier Publishing/Adventures Unlimited Press. 2002. ISBN 1-931882-08-8.
- Cowie, Ashley. The Rosslyn Templar. Luath Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1906307875.
- The Earl of Rosslyn, Rosslyn Chapel, Rosslyn Chapel Trust, 1997.
- Cracking Da Vinci's Code, 2006 documentary
- Da Vinci Declassified, 2006 TLC video documentary
External links
- Official Rosslyn Chapel website
- Unofficial Rosslyn Chapel website; Scottish Freemasonry, Knights Templar and Rosslyn Chapel - Separating fact from fantasy
- The Grand Lodge of Scotland
- The Rosslyn Motet - Music derived from the symbolic 'cubes' in Rosslyn's Lady Chapel ceiling by T.J.Mitchell and Stuart Mitchell.
- The Rosslyn Hoax? Have the public been victims of a massive hoax?
- Scottish Freemasonry Official Website
- Rosslyn Chapel - Sacred Destinations
- Rosslyn Chapel's extraordinary carvings explained at last — an article on Rosslyn's Green Men, and an associated reading of its carvings, from The Scotsman
- The OSMTH French/Scottish Knights in Rosslyn Chapel (exterior and interior)
- Quicktime Virtual Reality Image of Rosslyn Chapel by Jonathan Greet, View 2
- "The Rosslyn Templar", a book about the pastel painting by R T McPherson in 1836 of a "Templar Knight at Roslin Chapel" with new photographs of the Chapel