Dear Stanley,
You said:
The eternal question is was there a true and unending continuation of the
original order?
After more than twenty five years of study and investigation in these
matters, conducted throughout the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, my
position and opinions have changed.
I started off wanting to believe in a direct continuation. For a long while
I did so, but with ever-increasing doubts.
I have yet to see anything in the way of hard eveidence for the continuation
of the original order. I have seen, viewed and evaluated the mass of
spurious allegations claiming continuation and have eliminated them as a
basis for serious conjecture one by one. I have found no evidence whatsoever
to support the continuation of the original order as an organisation.
I have found some eveidence that strongly suggests that small pockets of
Templars knights survived and operated as groups for a few years, but most
soon vanished from the records like snow off a hot shovel.
As I mentioned earlier, there are some orders which can quite properly be
described as neo-Templar. None are the true heirs to the medieval order.
Templar belief and tradition was preserved, largely - but not exclusively -
in Scotland. Undoubtedly the St Clairs of Roslin played a significant role
in this important endevour. However to allege that the order as an entity
survived is just plain wrong and to state, as several authors have done
without citing the smallest shred of evidence, that Henry St Clair was
accompanied across the Atlantic by a body of Templar Knights and a bevy of
Cistercian monks is, quite clearly, poppycock of the worst order.
The achievements of the line of St Clair from the time of Roganvald the
mighty to the present day are such that, for the true import of that family
to gain proper recognition, they need no embelishment by flights of fancy,
fantasy or myth-making. The truth is riveting, fascinating, complex, fun to
investigate and should make you all proud.
And - remember this - I am not a St Clair, Sinclair or Sinkler - I am not
even a Scot. The only bias that I knowingly carry is in favour of truth and
justice.
Best wishes
Tim