Beryl Platts and I fail to agree on everything except that the Templar
treasure came to the
Sinclairs at Rosslyn from which time the Sinclairs began to dine off gold
plate until their own
fall with the fall of the Stewarts. We didn't change our religion quickly
enough to suit the
Protestant "wind of change" which was sweeping over Northern Europe.
The Stewarts (not Stuart) were a disaster for Scotland so don't let us have
any romanticism
about Bonnie Prince Charlie (who was half Polish) or Mary Queen of Scots
who was riddled
with syphilis (contracted from the Dauphine) which she passed on to Darnley
and Bothwell
(who died as a consequence). She divided Scotland by sowing seeds of
dissension and distrust.
Unfortunately, the affairs of the Sinclairs and the Stewarts were
inextricably interwoven.
Bonnie Prince Charlie, for example, always travelled under the name of
Sinclair and used
the Sinclair seal until he was of age.
It was a Stewart, for example, who required Earl William Sinclair (the
architect and founder
of Rosslyn Chapel) to give up the 'jarldom' of Orkney and to divide his
huge Estates into three because he disliked the idea of any one person
holding so much land and authority.
This same Stewart, James III, had been brought up by the Sinclairs and,
yet, he set about
trying to destroy the Sinclair power base. True, we are always
disappointed when we fail to
receive filial gratitude but, despite this kick in the teeth, the
Sinclairs continued to remain
loyal to the Stewarts and to the |Catholic faith which they espoused.
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