Customer Reviews

Templars in America: From the Crusades to the New World

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The title is very misleading. Being a lover of all things Templar and assuming the book contained theories about Templars coming to America after their extermination by the Catholic church and Phillip the Fair of France, I was interested to see what proof was presented.

This book is a study of what has become known as THE ZENO NARRATIVE and everything surrounding it, written history, archaeology, oral traditions, etc.

To sum up, Earl (or Prince) Henry Sinclair of Orkney is purported to have visited and settled in the Americas with the assistance of legends and writings from his Nordic (Viking) heritage and a pair of Venetian mariners, Antonio and Nicolo Zeno. This was said to have happened around 1398, almost 100 years prior to Columbus. Enter the controversy.

The book presents a very sound case for this settlement, offering archaeological and historical documentation, some of which can be viewed by anyone that wants to make a trip to New England or Canada. I believed that the Americas were used in established trade for centuries before Columbus, and this book further supports that belief.

Well researched with an impressive bibliography and extensive footnotes and references, this book covers every base.

3 issues make me rate this historical study a 4 instead of a 5 and they are:
1) The authors reference and seem to have an agenda surrounding Rex Deus (I won't get in depth, but Rex Deus claim to be kin to the Old Testament Priests and therefore somehow historically desireable or even worthy of kingship?). They don't go in to great depth about this, but it stays on the periphery of the book throughout.
2) The title is very misleading, regardless of the factual basis or content of the book. I very much enjoyed this book and the historical assertions it makes, but it was not what the title suggests and that is a problem for me no matter how much I enjoy the work. THIS BOOK IS NOT A STUDY OF TEMPLARS IN AMERICA, rather it is a study of a possible descendent or relative of a Templar, that traveled to America.
3) The book makes reference to the connection between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. This is just not so. I am a student of the Templars and know for a fact that these connections are based on conjecture and wishful thinking to support "Holy Grail" or "Mary Magdalene" type mysteries (which I enjoy as fiction, but none of the grail or mary magdalene stuff can be proven as fact). They suggest this tie with the usual association between the Sinclairs (St. Clairs) and the Freemasons. There is nothing to tie Freemasonry to Templars except that the Freemasons based their organization on some of the rules of the Templar order.

So, to sum up, this was a very good historical account of pre-Columbian voyages to the new world. Flawed only by the title, a questionable agenda regarding an ancient secret society and references to connections between the Templars and organizations of today.

STILL, A VERY GOOD HISTORICAL REFERENCE.

Finally a book that dispenses with all the fabricated and wildly unproven Templar theories. This book is mainly, however, about the early Sinclair/Zeno trip(s) to America before Columbus. They did have Templar connections. One of the highlights of this book is the discussion on the Newport Tower in Rhode Island. There can be no doubt this predates Columbus. It's time for serious archaeological study of this structure. The only place that the authors get off topic is in chapter 12 where they try to be philosophical and make you feel bad about the America Indians. Sorry, but the population drop of the Indians wasn't "primarily due to genocide." The majority had died from disease between the initial European contacts and large scale colonization. I'm not saying they weren't persecuted, but they weren't as peace loving as the authors trying to make them out either. But the authors do make a good point about the natives not forgetting and ignoring nature around them. In any case, this book is a solid look at early American explorations.

Wallace-Murphy attempts to inform of us of how the family Sinclair, who became popularized since in the Da Vinci Code, had knowledge of and influence in the New World prior to Columbus.

He does an excellent job of tracking down information regarding Viking voyages and history surrounding Vinland and Greenland and even gives us a few hints along the way about possible North African, Welsh and Scotch/Irish legends (Brendan).

The book reads mostly like a novel and he has some very interesting factoids with photos and other things that point to the possibilities that the Sinclair family had one of its most famous ancestors live in the area of New England.

He mentions two very interesting things, one is the Newport Tower. He does mention a comparison of the Newport Tower to round churches. Wallace-Murphy mentions one person in connection with the Newport Tower and her research and by doing a search on google using Newport Tower and photos, her web page was one of the first listed. Not sure if her site was on when he wrote this, but, it would have a great addition to even have some of these photos to show the point.

Additionally, just recently the Vinland Map, which is of Danish origin, was judged to be authentic due to tests at Lawrence Livermore Labs. This adds some credence that it was just prior to Columbus by 40 years that the Danes were travelling or at least had source materials to work with.

The book is an interesting overview of history from the perspective of the Sinclair family. You will learn a little about Venetian history as well.

The book should be read from the beginning. I attempted to read assorted chapters and really there was too much context missing, so, reading from the start is the only way to go with Templars in America. In fact, it is an engaging reading overall.

This is very good book if you're looking for a quick history of trade and exploration of the New World prior to the entrance of Columbus on the world stage. If you're looking for anything remotely referencing of Templar Knights in the New World, this book doesn't even come close. It is interesting reading, raises questions about "who was first" and gives documented evidence of "who was first", but readily admits that the Templars where "extinct" by the time these voyages were made.

don't starve for the truth of our origins any longer as this author feeds us with the nurture of truth proven.we should be celebrating henry sinclair day instead of columbus day!

interesting book , especially if you are doing research for fun of knowing about them

This is one of the better books on this subject. NOt only was it a book I could not put down but it was also a book that taught me many things.
Recommend it to everyone who is interested in the Templars.

This book provides a great overview of the history of the Knights Templar, both in Europe and America. The comparison of stonework on structures in Orkney with stonework on the Newport Tower is striking and adds illustrated evidence to the case the authors are making. I relied heavily on this book in researching my own novel on the subject. Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower Readers, too, will appreciate the thorough research and quality writing in this book.

Disregard the flippant quote from the 1 star reviewer, who obviously is emotionally biased since they failed to even read it and instead found something canned on the web to post there to discredit it. Interestingly that negative reviewer has only reviewed two books ever, the one above rated negatively and another templar book rated entirely positively because it is called more "empirical". Well, on that criteria, the negative reviewer should love this book, if they ever read it instead of simply copy/paste something from the web ironically without any of the cherished evidence itself to back it up! Who's irrational, eh?

Anyway, I will let the authors of the book speak for themselves in this quote as a rebuttal to the ignorant reviewer above. At least the authors read their own book, relying on a great deal of emprical evidence, unlike the hotheaded negative reviewer:

The quote is:

"In various books, claims have been made for the date, itenarary, and duration of the voyages for which we can find no justification whatsoever. We have been careful to use the relevant passages from the Zeno Narrative where they are in accord with the geography, in conjunction with Henry's undoubted knowledge of previous Viking voyages to Vinland. We can also follow the trail of this considerable exploration through archaeological artifacts, which those interested can still view and assess for themselves. While we have made every attempt to keep speculation to a minimum, we consider the hypotheses we do put forward reasonable in the light of the evidence and dispassionate logic. We accept a priori that there is no way that even this rational methodology will convince those who hold the entrenched position that there was no European contact with America prior to 1492. [p.3]

. . .

A Rising Tide of Acceptance

Despite its long and troubled history, the authenticity of the Zeno Narrative is now well established and has been accepted by academics such as Hapgood and Hobbs, the American historian Ridpath, the Albany Herald of Scotland, the late Sir Ian Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Dr. Barbara Crawford, the chief archivist, Geltling, of Denmark, the Swedish archaeologist Rausing, the Danish scholar Aage Russell, Arlington Mallery, Johann Reinhold Forester, the Tudor naval historian Richard Hakluyt, the secretary to the State of Venice, Ramusio, Professor Taylor of London University, the Venetian historian Ruscelli, R.H. Major of the Royal Geographic Society, the American historian John Fiske, the British historian Andrew Sinclair, and, of course, the persistence student of pre-Columbian American exploration, Frederick Pohl.

The Zeno map, despite the fact that it was made 150 years after the event and drawn from information supplied by the Narrative, has now also been authenticated as an accurate chart of the voyage. The importance of the work done by Captain Arlington Mallery and Charles Hapgood in establishing a valid rationale for the seeming disappearance of the "Fly Away Island" of Icaria has defused many earlier criticisms, and the work of Paul-Emile Victor in restoring the Zeno map to its original reputation for authenticity has been vital.

The historical reality of the Zeno/St. Clair expedition to the New world does not simply depend upon the validity of the Zeno map and narrative, however. We also have the evidence of the Westford Knight in Massachusetts, the Newport Tower in Rhode Island, the carvings in Rosslyn Chapel, and the offical commemoration of the voyage on a plague at the Zeno Pallazo in Venice. . . . [p. 195]

So, understand all this evidence in this great textbook overview of the issues. Get this historical update and to open your minds to evidence--the only way to learn and to avoid the haughtiness of ignorance.