The Secrets of Rosslyn ALSO BY THE SAME AUTHOR HISTORY Clans and Tartans Homelands of the Scots Royal Scotland A Royal Tradition Scottish Clan & Family Names Reminiscences of Eishken The Caledonian Hotel with Andreas Augustine The Edinburgh Military Tattoo BIOGRAPHY Time Exposure Scorpion on the Ceiling WHISKY Scotland: The Land and the Whisky with Patrick Douglas Hamilton Single Malt Scotch with Bill Milne MISCELLANEOUS The Swinging Sporran with Andrew Campbell Living in Scotland with Lesley Astaire and Fritz von der Schulenburg Living in the Highlands with Lesley Astaire and Eric Ellington The Shell Guide to the Lowlands and Borders of Scotland The Compact Guide to Edinburgh Supernatural Scotland This eBook edition published in 2012 by Birlinn Limited West Newington House Newington Road Edinburgh EH9 1QS www.birlinn.co.uk Copyright © Roddy Martine, 2006 The moral right of Roddy Martine to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher ISBN: 978-1-84158-788-2 eBook ISBN: 978-0-85790-484-3 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library For AJ Stewart And in memory of Sandy Irvine Robertson (1942–1999) Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the following people for their help and advice: Deborah Barnes, John Beaton, Stuart Beattie, Baron St Clair Bonde, the Rt Hon Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, the Revd Michael Fass, Kit Hesketh Harvey, Jenny Hess, Duncan McKendrick, Graeme Munro, John Ritchie, the Countess of Rosslyn, Andrew Russell, Niven Sinclair, Garry and Lorna Stoddart, AJ Stewart and Mark Turner A special thanks to Aline Hill, who so meticulously edited this book, and to Hugh Andrew, Andrew Simmons, Wendy MacGregor and the staff of Birlinn Contents List of Illustrations Preface Family Tree of the St Clairs of Rosslyn Roslin Glen The St Clairs of Rosslyn Holy Reliquary and the Legacy of St Margaret The Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon The Battle of Roslin Glen The Castle of Rosslyn The Northern Commonwealth The Creation of Rosslyn Chapel The Holy Rude and the Holy Grail 10 The Cradle of Freemasonry 11 Division of Interests 12 The Gypsies of Roslin Glen 13 Rosslyn Chapel Under Siege 14 Rosslyn and the Bloodline of Jesus 15 Idolatry of the Head 16 Father Bérenger Saunière and the Prieuré de Sion 17 The Earls of Rosslyn 18 Ley Lines and Energy Points 19 Downfall and Regeneration 20 The Apprentice Pillar 21 Religious Symbolism and Underworld Messaging 22 A Place of Pilgrimage 23 Rosslyn Chapel in the Third Millennium Notes to the text Bibliography Index List of Illustrations The south front of Rosslyn Chapel The west front of Rosslyn Chapel The eastern aisle of Rosslyn Chapel The north aisle of Rosslyn Chapel Rosslyn Chapel from the east Rosslyn Chapel from the south Robert Burns and Alexander Nasmyth below the arch of the drawbridge of Rosslyn Castle (James Nasmyth) The choir of Rosslyn Chapel Looking through from the baptistery towards the choir, Rosslyn Chapel The south aisle, Rosslyn Chapel The chapel ceiling The Apprentice Pillar, Rosslyn Chapel A Green Man The top half of the Mason’s Pillar, Rosslyn Chapel The central carving on the Mason’s Pillar, Rosslyn Chapel Carving on the lower part of The ‘Lovers’ Leap’, Roslin Glen The remains of the 16th-century Hospitallers of St John Chapel at Balantrodoch The entrance to Wallace’s Cave in the cliffs of Gorton, seen through trees from the opposite river bank of the North Esk Rosslyn Castle Rossyln Castle from the glen, c.1830 (Revd John Thomson of Duddingston) St Clair, Sir William, 19th Baron ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 St Clair, William ‘the Waster’ ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 St Clair, Prince William, 3rd St Clair Jarl of Orkney ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16 St Clair-Erskine, Sir James (see Rosslyn, 2nd Earl of) St Clair-sur-Epte ref1, ref2, ref3 St Jacques de Compiegne ref1 St John Lateran, Basilica of ref1 St John of Jerusalem, Order of the Hospital of ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 St Margaret’s Convent, Edinburgh ref1, ref2 St Margaret of Scotland’s Head-Shrine ref1 St Matthew, Collegiate Church of (see Rosslyn Chapel) St Moluag, pastoral staff of ref1 Saladin ref1 Santi, Raffaello ref1 Saunière, Bérenger ref1 Schonfield, Hugh ref1 Scone, Perthshire ref1, ref2 Scots College, Douai and Paris ref1, ref2, ref3 Scott, Sir Walter ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 Sergius I, Pope ref1 Seton Family ref1 Severin, Tim ref1 Shams, Abd ref1 Sheba, Queen of ref1 Sigismund, King of Rome, Hungary and Bohemia ref1 Simpson, James ref1 Sinclair, Andrew ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Sinclair, Barony of ref1 Sinclair, Niven ref1, ref2, ref3 Sion, Prieuré de ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 Skye Bridge ref1 Slezer, John ref1, ref2, ref3 Solario, John ref1 Solomon, King ref1, ref2, ref3 Sommerville, Lady ref1 South Esk, River ref1, ref2 Spark, Dame Muriel ref1 Spear of Destiny ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Speculative Society ref1 Spielberg, Steven ref1 Spottiswoode, Anna ref1 Spottiswoode, John, Bishop of St Andrews ref1 Steuart Fotheringham, Henry ref1 Stevenson, Robert Louis ref1, ref2 Stevenson, Thomas ref1 Stewart, AJ ref1, ref2 Stine, Anne ref1 Stirling Bridge, Battle of ref1 Stirling Castle ref1 Stone of Destiny ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Strachan, Sir Alexander ref1 Strathearn, Malise ref1st Earl of ref1, ref2 Strathearn, Malise 8th Earl of ref1, ref2 Stuart, Prince Charles Edward (Bonnie Prince Charlie) ref1, ref2 Sutherland, 4th Duke of ref1 Sutherland of Dunbeath, Marjorie ref1 Tarbat, Lord ref1 Tautou, Audrey ref1 Taylor, John ref1 Teba de Ardales, Andalusia ref1, ref2, ref3 Tephi, Tamar ref1 Teutonic Knights, The Order of ref1, ref2, ref3 Thomson of Charleton, John ref1 Thompson, Revd John ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Tocci, Thomas ref1 Tranter, Nigel ref1 True Cross ref1, ref2, ref3 Tsion, Daughters of ref1 Turin, Shroud of ref1 Turner, JMW ref1 Turner, Peter ref1 Tweedie of Drumelzier, Lady ref1 Tyndale, William ref1 Urban II, Pope ref1 Valdemar IV, King of Denmark ref1 Vals-es-Dunes, Battle of ref1 Veronica, St ref1 Victoria, Queen ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 von Eschenbach, Wolfram ref1 Wagner, Richard ref1, ref2 Wallace, Sir William ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Wallace’s Cave ref1, ref2 Wallace-Murphy, Tim ref1, ref2, ref3 Washington, George ref1 Watkins, Alfred ref1 Wedderburn, Sir Alexander ref1 Wedderburn, Lady Helen ref1 Wedderburn, Peter (Lord Chesterhall) ref1 Westford, New England ref1 William, HRH Prince ref1 William the Conqueror (see Normandy, 7th Duke of) William the Lion, King of Scots ref1 William III of Britain (of Orange) ref1, ref2 Wishart of Clifton Hall, Sir George ref1 Wordsworth, Dorothy ref1, ref2 Wordsworth, William ref1 Yaroslav the Great ref1 Yolande, Queen of Aragon ref1 Zedekiah, King of Judah ref1 Zeno, Antonio ref1 Zeno, Carlo ref1 Zeno, Nicolò ref1, ref2 The south front of Rosslyn Chapel (from R.W Billings, The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, 1909) The west front of Rosslyn Chapel prior to the Victorian repairs and the addition of the baptistery (from R.W Billings, The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, 1909) The eastern aisle (from R.W Billings, The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, 1909) The north aisle (from R.W Billings, The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, 1909) Rosslyn Chapel from the east (copyright © Antonia Reeve) Rosslyn Chapel from the south (copyright © Antonia Reeve) An idealised image of Robert Burns and Alexander Nasmyth below the arch of the drawbridge of Rosslyn Castle (James Nasmyth Reproduced by permission of The Royal Scottish Academy) The choir Note the empty plinths Prior to the Reformation, these contained statues of the saints (copyright © Dan Welldon) Looking through from the baptistery towards the choir The stained glass windows (dating from 1896) above the altar depict the resurrection (copyright © Dan Welldon) The south aisle The carving at the top of this picture represents the Seven Virtues (copyright © Dan Welldon) The chapel ceiling is divided into five sections featuring daisies, lilies, flowers opening to the sun, roses and stars (copyright © Dan Welldon) The elegant coil of the Apprentice Pillar It has been claimed that it shows the double helix of DNA (copyright © Dan Welldon) A fierce face of the Green Man, one of more than a hundred versions based on the same theme (copyright © Dan Welldon) The top half of the Mason’s Pillar Pre-Victorian images of this column show the centrepiece as undecorated (copyright © Roddy Martine) The central carving on the Mason’s Pillar depicts an angel playing bagpipes (copyright © Roddy Martine) On the footpath through Roslin Glen, high above the River North Esk, is an outcrop of rock known as the ‘Lover’s Leap.’ Carved into the lower portion is a face; some say that it is that of a monkey; others say that it is a fish (copyright © Roddy Martine) The remains of the 16th-century Hospitallers of St John chapel at Balantrodoch, below the village of Temple, ten miles from Roslin village It sits on the foundations of the one-time Preceptory of the Knights Templar, and some of the stones from the original building were used in the construction of the north wall (copyright © Roddy Martine) The entrance to Wallace’s Cave in the cliffs of Gorton, seen through trees from the opposite river bank of the North Esk (copyright © Roddy Martine) Rosslyn Castle rises spectacularly above the river gorge of Roslin Glen In the background, the Pentland Hills (copyright © Roddy Martine) Rosslyn Castle from the glen, c 1830 (Revd John Thomson of Duddingston Reproduced by permission of the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow) ... Knights of the Temple of Solomon The Battle of Roslin Glen The Castle of Rosslyn The Northern Commonwealth The Creation of Rosslyn Chapel The Holy Rude and the Holy Grail 10 The Cradle of Freemasonry... to the text Bibliography Index List of Illustrations The south front of Rosslyn Chapel The west front of Rosslyn Chapel The eastern aisle of Rosslyn Chapel The north aisle of Rosslyn Chapel Rosslyn. .. generals of the Third Reich were of East Prussian blood and were therefore descendants of the Order of the Teutonic Knights,4 a spin-off from the traditional guardians of the Dome of the Rock, the