Fifteen years ago I was asked to write a story about King Arthur for a British man.  He was actually going to pay me to write this for use in his business.  The research was very interesting because I learned the myth of the Knights Templar and how they maybe linked from King Arthur.  I also learned more than I ever thought I would about the Scottish Freemasonry or Freemasonry in general. 

My interest in the Knights Templar grew to become my own personal quest.  I seen too many coincidences between the writings about the Templars and  our own personal history of our countries.  I must clarify at this point, I am American living in the UK with all my ancestors being British.  My experience with researching was only as genealogist.  I girded myself with many notebooks, ink pens, pencils, index cards, sticky notes and highlighters.  I started out on the quest for knowledge.  My mother was so excited for me that she actually purchased two books pertaining to the Knights Templar and Freemasonry.  I read both books within a week.

The British man I wrote the story for asked me to marry him therefore moving to South Carolina from Kansas.  He spoilt me at our first Christmas together by buying me four books pertaining to King Arthur, the Knights Templar and Scottish History.  These books opened my mind to all the possibilities.  It took me just two months to write a collected work on King Arthur. I wanted to carry on to the other avenues I had discovered while writing A New Theory about King Arthur.  I am a member of www.electricscotland.com  (ES) and became friends with the manager, Alastair McIntrye.  Alastair put my work on the growing website.  I was so thrilled!

I wanted to do a Knights Templar  (KT) series.  Alastair thought it was a great idea.  These stories became very popular but not all factual.  I learned this after my arrival to the UK in 2004.  I began to do research on this side of the pond and soon discovered some of my work on the KT was not factual.  I want all to know, the KT of the crusades are not the KT of the Freemasons.  The KT of Freemasonry used the code of the ancient KT as a standard to base the branch of the brotherhood. 

I have waited 8 years to proceed with my quest.  I went to visit Rosslyn Chapel before the movie, Da Vinci Code was filmed.  A good friend who is also a member of ES knew of my passion with the KT and King Arthur therefore telling me about a new book written by Robert L. D. Cooper named, The Rosslyn Hoax?.  I ordered the book.  It took me a week to read this because of the way Mr. Cooper has written it.  I have had to read it a couple of times because there is so many things to digest.  Once I had digested this book, I knew I must write a story based on the facts Mr. Cooper was able to present. 

The first item to hit me right where it counts were the first 20 Grand Masters of Scotland. 

1.       Malcom III                     1031 - 1093
2.       Alexander I                    1078 - 1124          Patron
3.       David I                           1084 - 1153
4.       William the Lion            1143 - 1214
5.       Henry Wardlaw              ?       - 1440
6.       James I                           1394 - 1437
7.       William Sinclair             1404 - 1484
8.       William Turnbull            ?       - 1454
9.       Sir Robert Cockeran      ?       - 1482
10.     Alexander Lord Forbes  ?       - 1491
11.     William Elphinston        1431 - 1514
12.     Gavin Dunbar                1455 - 1532
13.     Gavin Douglas               1474 - 1522
14.     George Creighton           ?
15.     Patrick, Earl of Lindsay ?       - 1526
16.     Sir David Lindsay                   1551 - 1610
17.     Andrew Stewart, LO      1548 - 1593
18.     Sir James Sandilands     ?       - 1579
19.     Claud Hamilton LP        1543 - 1622
20.     James VI & I                  1566 - 1625

LO = Lord Ochiltree  LP = Lord Paisley  (Pages 39 & 40)

This list Mr. Cooper shared with the public was a gold mind for my own personal genealogy, providing me with a better understanding why I was searching for my light.

The Rosslyn Hoax? Answered many questions I had about actual facts of the Knights Templar.  The Second good point made by Cooper is:

          A.      Robert the Bruce was in hiding seven years before the battle of Bannock Burn. 

          B.      Bruce had several battles in these seven years without any help From the hiding KT.

          C.      Argyll was a very busy area for shipping, yet there was no records of the KT landing or living in this area.

          D.      There were two KT captured and turned over to the English. Page 214

The actual documented evidence does not hint or verify the KT was the unknown force at the battle of Bannock Burn park. Barbour’s account is translated and printed on page 220. 

Then he (Bruce) sent all the small folk and carters, with equipment and provisions in the Park a good way away from him, and had them go (away) from the divisions; they went the way he ordered…the king had them all be ready for he knew that his enemies lay all night at the Falkirk…

The translation goes on to explain how the 15,000 strong with their grand banners and yelling scared the daylights out of the English army. This supporting evidence lays to rest the myth the Knights Templar were the unknown force at Bannock Burn. 

There are many tombstones across Scotland with knights upon them.  The KT’s tomb stones were more precise.  The ones found in Scotland where of knights but not of Knights Templar. 

As a lover of the legend of Knights Templar, all this information was very overwhelming.  The Rosslyn Hoax?, has much more facts allowed to the public than any books I had read while living in the States.

Rosslyn Chapel

Rosslyn Chapel was built by Freemasons for the private use of the Sinclair family.  “The mission of William St Clair was to recreate the underground vaults of Herod’s Temple exactly as Hugues de Payen and the other knights (templar) had found them over three hundred years earlier.” Page 161.

St Clair had a dream, one he did not get to see completed in his life time.  Oliver St Clair, William’s son did put a roof on and decorated the inside of the structure but left it basically as it is to this day.

Oliver Cromwell and General Monk both recognised Rosslyn Chapel to be Masonic therefore did not destroy it as they did Rosslyn Castle.  They both acknowledge the Masonic ties of Rosslyn but nothing was mentioned of Knights Templar in either one’s diaries. 

I am not a MBA or PhD but I do want to tell you what I saw upon my arrival to Rosslyn Chapel.

The outside of the building is much larger than the inside of it.  The carvings are magnificent. 

My family outside Rosslyn Chapel.

The famous Ceiling of Rosslyn Chapel.

This is a very Gothic style church.  Every part of the interior is covered in carvings.  I was covered in chill bumps when I entered the Chapel.  I was drawn to the Window of Death.  One could feel the turmoil placed upon this ancient building over the years.

I went down to the older chamber. This chamber was very plain.  There were a few artefacts laying along the walls.  There was a room off to the right that housed a very old cabinet.  I was more impressed with the artwork upon it than the old chamber. 

The work of the masons was all around me.  My ancestors were represented in this work.  The Chapel represented to me, an early or possibly the first Non-denominational church in existence.  Did the chapel hold secrets - very probable but did it hold treasures?  Treasure is what each person holds precious to them.  I believe knowledge is a treasure and the knowledge of the Knights Templar was growing more every day.

The Freemasons are just normal men who have a trade.  Freemasons are normal people who have excellent records.  I belong to a non profit organization called the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.  We are a private benevolent group who must have an ancestor who served in the American Revolution.  We are a very patriotic group of ladies who does fund raisers for many causes.  I believe the Freemasons are basically the same. 

My ancestors were all Confederates or from the South during the American Civil war.  There was a group of men in Tennessee who started the Klu Klux Klan after the War Between the States ended.  The KKK carried the Rebel flag and did many atrocities to many people.  This group gave a very bad reflection on the Rebel Flag and anyone who carried it.  The KKK took many references from the Masonic Lodge.  This too was a bad reflection on the Masons. 

Dan Brown’s fictitious book, Angels and Demons, is very well written but states the Illuminati infiltrated the Freemasons, “A secret society inside a secret society.” This is purely fictitious and only in the interest of the author.

My grandfather was a mason as were many of my friends.  I know they believe in God and must find their light in this world.  I must state, the Masons I have met are very talented in their field as well as very supportive of their causes they support. 

The view point from this essay is based on the years of research I have accomplished in my hunt for the Little Red Cross.  The Masons are a powerful group because they are talented men and women.  They are not political as a group only as individuals. I strongly recommend Robert LD Cooper’s, The Rosslyn Hoax?.  The Freemasons are subject to much scorn because they are a large Order who is secretive in their meetings.  I think some of the scorn might be jealousy.  Again, this is the view point of an outsider who was born into a very long line of Masons.