Ad: Templar Links

["Erling Johansen" <erling.johansen@visa.no>]

[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@zilker.net.
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In response to John Duguids mail regarding Catherine Sinclair/Hugh de Payen:

Regarding Catherine Sinclair and her supposed marriage: True, no current books points to any definite proof of this marriage having existed. But Hugh de Payen might very well have been married, still. Some think he could not have been married because he was a knight, but he wasn't a knight all his life, was he? 

Regarding the symbolism at Rosslyn : Don't forget that the use of symbols happened to be taken very seriously
by the people of the medieval ages, as opposed to our time.
So, in the majority of cases that means that one could safely assume that someone wearing a knight symbol actually happened to be a knight, while today he could be anyone - even you and I.

Regarding graves with longswords:  In most parts of Europe there are graves from between the 12th and 15th centuries adorned with longswords, headskulls and assorted non-christian symbols. 
There's a handful of such graves in my country (Norway). From what we know about the lives of those particular persons, they were all engaged in various secret/underground/possibly heretical activities. So, in a time where the church influenced all aspects of daily life, we must assume that a person who was buried without a cross or any christian symbol on his grave would most likely have been someone who was in some way "outside" the church. 
The important thing to remember here is that you cannot utilize 20th century thinking/reasoning and apply to the 13th century mind - what is common sense today wasn't necessarily so way back then. We have learned a lot since then, but we have also forgotten some things.

Regarding proof of Sinclair templar heritage:

A link between the templars and the Sinclairs (or any other family/group) would most likely be of a nature which would have to be kept out of sight from "the general public". The templars was never  known to talk loud about their activitities during their official existence,  perhaps for good reasons. So it could be hard to find any conclusive evidence even in our times, because those who would know wouldn't want you to know!!!

Regards,
Erling Johansen

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