Chapter 58: The Sinclairs
The Saint- Claire Grandmasters of the Priory of Sion were, of course, the Sinclairs of Freemasonry and Scotland. Marie was descended from Henry De Saint- Claire, who accompanied Godefrois de Bouillon on the First Crusade. 1 Marie Sinclair married Hugh De Payan, also of Templar fame. 2 Jean De Saint- Claire, of the Sainte- Claire Sur Epte, was additionally descended from the Houses of Chaumont and Gisor, just as the De Bar family was. 3 According to Robert Lomas, the Sinclairs were the famous founders of Freemasonry, 4 to whom the Scottish Freemasonry branch is fiercely loyal.
William Sinclair was the Grand Master to whom a great and ancient lineage is attributed. 5 The Sinclairs adopted the Gaelic title “Earls of Rosslyn,” after the name of the town, around 1100 C.E. , when Henry St. Clair returned from the First Crusade; it’s a title that translates as “ancient knowledge passed down the generations.” 6 Freemasons believe Rosslyn Chapel was built to be a memorial and a safe place for the excavated Jerusalem scrolls 7 and other ancient treasures and knowledge. Masonic historians hail Rosslyn Chapel as the missing link connecting the Knights Templar to Speculative Freemasonry. 8 William Sinclair built Rosslyn Chapel between 1441 and 1486 C.E. 9
The Sinclair clan presided over the surviving Templar organization in Scotland, called The Order of Heredon. The Templars survived in Scotland under the guise of a trade organization (Masonry), while the Sinclair clan inherited the role as guardians for Freemasons, as well as concealers of the Knights Templar within those organizations. Sora notes the Sinclairs preserved the Templars as guardians to the Templar organization, hiding both the Templar and the Priory of Sion treasures at Rosslyn and later at Oak Island in Nova Scotia. As a reward for the protection of the Templars, Sora added that the Sinclair clan was granted guardianship of the newly Sinclair- founded and sponsored Freemasonry organization. 10 Even today, Freemasonry honors and preserves its Templar heritage with the honored Order within Freemasonry, the Masonic Knights Templar, or KTs. 11
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