Rosslyn: the Chapel, the Library, the Sinclair Search

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

You, too, help to convey the feelings which people have for Rosslyn
Chapel.

The mystery, the mystique, the esoteric has always been there but there
is
also something much deeper which goes far beneath the foundations of
reason
and experience.

Earl William wanted to leave a message for posterity so, knowing that
books
could              
be banned or burned, he had it chiselled out in stone hoping that the day
would come
when someone somehow would find the clue which would give us a view of
his amazing
insight and knowledge.  The answer may be staring us in the
face.  It may be contained 
in the symbols which are engraved on the cubes which hang from the
underside of the 
arches.

I have always seen the famed Apprentice Pillar as a decoy.  The
story of the skilled
Apprentice and the jealous Master Mason is the stuff which legends are
made of but
it is an invention and it, too, may be a deliberate
distraction.  In the army, we had to
guard against the feint attack and, when we are studying the myriad of
carvings within
Rosslyn Chapel, we have to keep our mind on the stifling religious
influences which
were keeping the masses in bondage to the Mother Church.

Earl William Sinclair saw God and Nature as ONE.  The Chapel
reflects this.  He knew
that the teachings of Jesus had been hi-jacked, debased and
distorted.  He knew that
there had been far too much lip service paid to the Father on High with
too little attention
being given to Mother Earth from which all bounty flows.   (The
Cornucopia is in the
Chapel to remind us of this).  He knew that there had to be an
essential balance between
Man's spiritual and physical needs and that that balance could more
readily be found
in the middle of a field than in the aisle of a great Cathedral. 
This is a feeling which we
have all experienced at some time or another when we find our own
'special spot' which suffuses  our entire body with a sense of
well-being and contentment.   Earl William
built his Chapel on a such a special spot - a spot which had been sacred
long before
the advent of Christianity.  The Chapel also reflects this with its
green men and with
the Yggdrasil - the Nordic tree of life.

Earl William also wanted to get back to those ideals of chivalry and
fraternity
which had bonded the Knights Templar so he, with the Duke Burgundy and
Brabant,
formed a new Chivalric Order known as "The Order of the Golden
Fleece" with the
motto: "Autre n'auray" which, being translated means:
"I will wear none other".
One assumes that they took the name of the Golden Fleece from Jason,
the
argonaut.

Whilst on the subject of Earl William, I have just received from the
Bodleian
Library in Oxford the copy of Geoffrey Chaucer's work (1345 - 1400 which
made
him a contemporary of Prince Henry Sinclair) which was amongst the many
books
and manuscripts stolen from Rosslyn Castle by General Fairfax at the time
of
General Monk's Cromwellian attack on Rosslyn in 1650.

It makes copious references to the interest which the Sinclairs had in
books, in book
binding and illustration, and in their translation from other
languages.  It demonstrates
that  Rosslyn was a seat of learning.  The library was situated
beneath the Chapel
which was within the Castle Precincts i.e. before the present Chapel was
built but
there is evidence that the library was in regular use up to the time of
Cromwell's
bombardment because it also contained some of the work of John Selden
(1584-
1654).

Some of the books to be translated from French by Gilbert de la Haye on
behalf
William, the 1st Lord Sinclair, were:

        

        

        

the
buke of the law of armys

        

        

        

the
buke of the ordre of knychthede

        

        

        

the
buke of the gouernaunce of princis

The spelling in these early documents leaves a lot to be desired but this
was the
first attempt at writing in a form of English which became known as
Lowland Scots.
William Drummond of Hawthornden, who was a contemporary of William, Lord
Sinclair,
was the first poet to write his verse in Lowland Scots.  Hawthornden
is adjacent to
Rosslyn and, thanks to the generosity of Mrs Heinz (of the baked bean
family) it is
still a place where writers can finish their manuscripts in the peace and
quiet of
Rosslyn Glen.

The books were written by scribes and were adorned with such 'decorative
elaborateness' which suggested a highly organised scriptorium at
Rosslyn.  (I have
some of the examples in front of me and, although it takes some time
before one's
eyes become accustomed to the strange script,  the production is
exemplary).

The manuscript (albeit a facsimile) is made all the more interesting
because of
the signatures of various signatures of members of different generations
of the
Sinclair family.  A particular William Sinclair's signature appears
no fewer than
six times as if to indicate the point at which he left off reading so
that he would
know where to start again.  Reading such manuscripts must have been
a slow
and painstaking affair.  (I can manage about one page per 
day).

The foregoing is something of a digression from Rosslyn Chapel but it
serves to
emphasise the Sinclair thirst for learning.  They had knowledge when
knowledge
was power.  And, when Earl William Sinclair found that books could
be banned or
burned, he resorted to writing in "the indelible language of the
stones" which makes
Rosslyn Chapel the most unique library in Scotland.

I had intended this e-mail to be a specific reply to Bruce Carylon in
Australia but,
as the news about the material from the Bodleian Library in Oxford may be
of more
general interest, I have decided to copy it to the general Discussion
List.

For me, life has never been more exciting, more exhilarating, more
rewarding.  

I am glad my father was a Sinclair.

Niven Sinclair