The Sword and the Grail

Draws on new archaeological evidence to argue that, years before Columbus, Prince Henry St. Clair of Orkney arrived in North America with the intention of establishing a colony and discusses the role of the Knights Templar in the expedition. 20,000 first printing.

Historian and novelist Sinclair (War Like a Wasp: The Last Decade of the Forties) presents a daunting amount of research to support two controversial theses. First, he postulates that members of the Knights Templar, a medieval ascetic order that sought the Holy Grail and maintained a standing army in Jerusalem, fled to St. Clair Castle in Scotland after they were outlawed in the early 1300s and served as a direct connection to later Masonic orders. Second, drawing on the Templars' wealth and knowledge, Prince Henry St. Clair, aided by Venetian brothers Antonio and Nicolo Zen, also led an expedition to the New World, founding colonies in Nova Scotia and New England years before Columbus set sail. A direct descendant of Prince Henry, Sinclair has used primary sources and legends uncovered at Rosslyn Chapel, near Edinburgh in Scotland, to support these theories. They will be of interest mainly to history buffs and medievalists. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1398, Prince Henry St. Clair of Scotland is said to have sailed to North America with 300 colonists. This voyage was purportedly made with the aid of two Venetian sea captains and driven by the questing zeal of the outlawed Knights Templars. The details of this entertaining but often bewildering history are largely based upon secondary sources and the author's speculations on the meaning of Templar symbols found in the St. Clair's ancestral chapel. Moreover, the author's major documentary source is widely regarded as fraudulent. The case for this pre-Columbian discovery is also made in Frederick J. Pohl's Prince Henry Sinclair: His Expedition to the New World ( LJ 3/1/75. o.p.). Sinclair's work is compelling but questionable as history.
- William F. Young, SUNY at Albany Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.