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RE: Matters Sinclair



At 11:25 27/11/01 +1000, you wrote:
>Jeff,
>
>I have to get back to you on the Statue of St Paul in the Chapel.
>I'm not sure wehther its because you drew my attention to it,
>or whether I do see those images myself because they are there...still
>considering it.
>
>As to your recent question:
>Joseph Lynd asked this question in the masonic discussion group WSCORG.
>...which happened to be "Studies in Masonry",Vol.13, which is the
>transactions
>of the Victorian (Australia) Lodge of Research when I came upon a

[ Excess quotations omitted. ]

                                         ---------------

No, she was a Sinclair of Herdmanston which branch of the family had changed
over to the Protestant faith whilst the  Rosslyn branch clung to 
tenaciously to the
Catholic faith and their ill-advised loyalty to the Stewarts.  A Sir 
William St Clair
of Herdmanston had married a Margaret Sinclair of Rosslyn c. 1345 who, on the
death of her husband, actually married Thomas Stewart, the Earl of Angus and
the brother of Robert III, King of Scotland.

It was this inter-family religious divide which was at the root of John Knox's
over-zealous determination to get rid of the altars in Rosslyn Chapel - a task
which he delegated to his brother, Edward.  There can be no strife as great
as inter-family squabbling.  The Sinclairs and the Stewarts were inextricably
interwoven.

Scotland embraced the Protestant faith in 1560 and it was this which led to the
constant antagonism between Knox and Mary Queen of Scots (a devout Catholic
although her son, James VI of Scotland - 1st of England - was brought up as a
Protestant on the insistence of the Lords in Council.  If this had not been 
so, it
is doubtful if he would ever have acceded to the throne of England on the death
of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, in 1603.

It was probably the fear of a possible Catholic revival in England which 
led Elizabeth I
to consent to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, when that sad lady had
eventually to seek refuge in England.  She was seen by some as a Papist 
plotter,
by others as a Catholic martyr.  Unlike her English cousin she was not a 
virgin.
She had married (1) the dauphin of France who on the death of his father became
King of France as Francis II, (2) to her cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord 
Darnley and,
after his murder in which she is said to have conspired, to (3) the Earl of 
Bothwell
who was thought to have been the murderer.  Nevertheless, Bothwell was 
acquitted
by a Court which was presided over by George Sinclair, Earl of Caithness, who
being a friend of Bothwell, was probably as culpable as the rest of them.

Therefore, although Mary had been Queen of Scots since she was one week old,
she was betrothed to the Dauphin who, on the death of his father, became 
Francis
II of France, when the Government of that country fell into the hands of 
the powerful
Guise family.  Mary was, therefore, also the Queen of France and, on the early
death of her husband, the Dowager Queen.  The entente cordiale between France
and Scotland was essentially an alliance against England and, yet, it was Mary
of Guise's grandson who became King of England - what a tangled web.  It puts
the 'twisted kilt' into its proper perspective.

Mary's mother, Mary of Guise,  was the Queen Regent in Scotland during her 
daughter's
minority, and it was this lady who wrote the enigmatic letter to Sir 
William Sinclair of
Rosslyn in which she promised to be a 'true maistress' to him and to keep 
the secret,
which he had shown to her, a secret for all the days of her life.

And, as far as we know, she did.  Sir William passed on the 'secret' to his 
son, another
William, who took the secret with him when he was killed at the Battle of 
Dunbar in 1650.
It was following this battle that the English army advanced to Rosslyn 
where General
Monck, with his artillery, destroyed the castle there

>Bruce, I hope this helps


Niven







>-----Original Message-----
>From: jeffnpat [mailto:jeffnpat@nis.net]
>Sent: Tuesday, 27 November 2001 10:17 AM
>To: sinclair@quarterman.org
>Subject: Re: Matters Sinclair
>
>
>Dear Bruce:
>
>Where did you find that item?
>
>All Best!

[ Excess quotations omitted. ]