Source: “The Lost Colony of the Templars: Verrazano's Secret Mission to America**”,** By Steven Sora, Destiny Books, 2004.
Introduction The Lost Colony of the Templars.wav
This podcast proposes a historical theory linking the Knights Templar's escape from persecution in 1307 to a secret voyage to North America led by the Sinclair clan of Scotland. It suggests the Sinclairs, potentially aided by the Templars, mounted an exploratory journey in 1398, leaving behind evidence of their presence in various locations including a mysterious tower in Newport, Rhode Island. The text then argues that knowledge of this pre-Columbian discovery was preserved through secret societies like the Knights of Christ and eventually influenced Christopher Columbus, who married into a family connected to the Sinclairs. Finally, it posits that later figures like Giovanni da Verrazano, who searched for this secret refuge or "Arcadia," and the Sulpicians in Montreal, continued this legacy of preserving and potentially re-establishing Templar influence in the New World.
Topic 1: The Escape and Refuge of the Knights Templar The source describes a pivotal event on Friday, October 13, 1307, when eighteen treasure-laden ships of the Knights Templar departed from La Rochelle, France. This departure occurred just before a planned predawn assault by the French king's army on the Templars' headquarters in Paris. The army expected to find immense wealth, but instead found only a few knights who were subsequently arrested. The fleet, sailing under the skull and crossbones flag common to Templar warships, slipped into the Atlantic waters, leaving their first and last harbor behind. With King Philip IV's actions marking the demise of their order, the men aboard the ships were now considered outlaws. Seeking refuge from the reach of the Church and the French king, the Templar fleet sailed to Scotland. Scotland's leader, Robert the Bruce, had been excommunicated by the pope for defying England and crowning himself king, branding the nation as renegade. This provided a suitable environment for the remnant Templars to find safety.
Topic 2: The Alliance between Templars and the Sinclair Clan Upon arriving in Scotland, the Templars were given refuge under the guardianship of the Sinclair clan. This alliance is presented as having significant historic consequences. The sources note that both the Sinclairs and the Templar knights shared a common heritage as Normans, tracing their ancestry back over five centuries to Norwegian Vikings. These Viking ancestors had explored widely, from Iceland to Russia, and had settled in northern France. The arrival of the Templars appears to have reignited the seafaring inclinations within the Sinclair clan. This renewed interest in maritime exploration would play a crucial role in subsequent events described in the source.
Topic 3: Henry Sinclair's Voyages to the Americas Before Columbus The reawakened seafaring nature of the Sinclairs, following their alliance with the Templars, culminated in an exploratory voyage to the Americas mounted by Henry Sinclair in 1398. This journey is portrayed as a revival of the Viking tradition of exploration. The source claims that evidence of their successful arrival exists in several locations across North America, specifically mentioning Oak Island and New Ross in Nova Scotia, Westford and Fall River in Massachusetts, Lake Memphremagog in Vermont, and the harbor of Newport in Rhode Island. The impact of these Scottish explorers on the pre-Columbian population in North America is also stated to have spread widely.
Topic 4: The Founding of a Colony Called Arcadia Compelling evidence is presented in the sources suggesting that Henry Sinclair went beyond mere exploration and actually founded a colony in the New World. This colony was named Arcadia, intended to serve as a refuge for individuals whose beliefs diverged from the rigid doctrines of the Church or the dominant state powers of Europe. The source states that the Sinclair fleet, which had originally been the Templar fleet, made multiple voyages to this still "undiscovered" New World. However, the enterprise eventually faced demise due to deprivation and war. The remaining colonists are said to have either headed west or integrated into the Native population through marriage. The explorers also brought back evidence of their expeditions to Scotland. For example, the stonework in Rosslyn Chapel, the home of the Sinclair family, is said to contain carvings of American maize and aloe, dating to fifty years before Columbus's arrival in the Americas.
Topic 5: The Influence of Sinclair Family Knowledge on Christopher Columbus The sources detail how the knowledge of maritime discovery, particularly regarding lands to the west explored by Vikings and Sinclairs, was passed down through the Drummond-Sinclair family lineage. This knowledge converged with other sources through intermarriage. Henry Sinclair's daughter, Elizabeth, married John Drummond. Their son, also named John, became an adventurer and ended up in Madeira, islands recently rediscovered by explorers under the banner of the Knights of Christ. This order was a continuation of the Knights Templar in Portugal, allowed to resurrect under a new name. The source describes an intermarriage between the Drummond-Sinclair family and the Perestrello family in Madeira by 1450. Felipa Perestrello, born that year from this merged lineage, later married Christopher Columbus in Lisbon. Her mother presented Columbus with the maps and charts from her late husband's explorations. This marriage provided Columbus, already a chart dealer and aspiring explorer with a lifetime of geographical study, with access to a unique body of knowledge previously unknown to anyone else, contributing significantly to his decision to sail across the Atlantic. The Sinclair side held knowledge of Viking exploration, including voyages to Greenland and Vinland, while the Perestrello side possessed maps from the Knights of Christ.
Topic 6: Giovanni da Verrazano's Search for Arcadia Giovanni da Verrazano, a Florentine sea captain, merchant, and navigator nominally working for the French king Francis I, is presented as someone with a secret mission. He was part of a small group of initiates who aimed to create a utopian community free from the constraints of church and state that hindered intellectual pursuit. This ideal community was called Arcadia. Verrazano brought Jacopo Sannazaro's book Arcadia, which described such a utopia, to Francis I, along with the knowledge that this real Arcadia colony already existed. His backers, including the Guadagni family and Bonacorso Rucellai (connected to banking families who sponsored Columbus), believed Arcadia was the colony founded by Henry Sinclair for the remnant Templars. Verrazano conveyed this to the king, presenting Sannazaro's book as having a surface pastoral meaning and a deeper level referring to a real world discovered and settled a hundred years prior. His voyage in 1524, starting from Madeira, was relatively short and focused on the North American coast from North Carolina northward, bypassing opportunities to search for a route to China despite his official proposal. This suggests his true goal was finding the colony.
Topic 7: Verrazano's Arrival and Discovery of Evidence in Newport Verrazano's voyage took him along the coast, eventually reaching what is now New York City and the harbor that bears his name, before proceeding to the harbor of Newport in Rhode Island. Here, he encountered Native Americans, describing them as highly civilized and "inclining to whiteness." He employed a Native pilot, whose leader was named Magnus (suggesting a Norse/Norman influence), to guide his ship into the unfamiliar harbor waters. This pilot also revealed something significant that pointed towards Arcadia. To enter Newport Harbor from the ocean, one must sail into Rhode Island Sound and then north into the East Passage. As they rounded the southern tip of the main island (named Rhode Island by Verrazano), the Newport Tower came into view, standing watch over the harbor on the island's west side. Verrazano stayed in Newport for two weeks, his longest stop in America, indicating he found what he was looking for.
Topic 8: The Newport Tower as Potential Templar Evidence The Newport Tower is described as a round stone structure located in Newport Harbor. Its external diameter is between twenty-four and twenty-five feet, with an internal diameter of eighteen feet, and a total height of about twenty-five feet. It stands on eight rough-stone columns with arched entrances between them. The walls become solid twelve feet above the ground, with sockets for beams indicating a former first floor about twelve and a half feet high, containing a large recessed fireplace and two flues. A second floor existed seven feet above the first. The structure is estimated to contain two hundred tons of stone, requiring significant effort to build. The source posits that the tower was built to the exact measurements of a Templar baptistery, common round or octagonal structures in Europe exclusively built by Templar and Cistercian architects since the Crusades. Verrazano himself described it as a "Norman villa" on his map and noted its resemblance to round and octagonal Templar chapels in the Old World, such as the Saint-Clare Chapel in France and the Orphir Church in the Sinclair-owned Orkney Islands. While some historians claim it was merely a windmill, potentially built by Governor Benedict Arnold (who mentioned it in his will as "my Stone-built Wind-Mill" but did not claim construction), the presence of a fireplace is cited as strong evidence against the windmill theory. The source argues it is unlike any other colonial structure in North America.
Topic 9: Arcadia, Utopia, and the Underground Stream of Knowledge The concept of Arcadia is presented not just as a physical colony but also as an ideal, a utopian community where freedom of expression, learning, and religion were permitted, contrasting sharply with the strict control exerted by the Church in Europe. Jacopo Sannazaro's book Arcadia is seen as describing this ideal, blending pastoral elements with science, alchemy, and astrology, subjects viewed with deep suspicion by the Church. This ideal is linked to the concept of an "underground stream" of knowledge, suggesting ancient wisdom preserved outside dominant institutions. This spark from Sannazaro inspired others, like Philip Sidney with his own version of Arcadia and Sir Francis Bacon, who wrote of the New Atlantis, a colony across the ocean called Bensalem where scientists and thinkers could pursue knowledge without fear of persecution. Verrazano is identified as one of the initiates who understood Arcadia in this deeper sense, recognizing it as the "Refugio," the refuge Henry Sinclair had hoped to create. He indicated this understanding by naming the region on his map as Refugio. This movement sought to establish a land where religion and science, long constrained by the Church, could flourish freely.
Topic 10: Secret Societies and the Legacy in the New World The source describes various secret societies that emerged with connections to the Templar legacy and the concept of establishing Arcadia in the New World. The Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, originating around the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, is highlighted as leading the effort to reestablish the Templar legacy. This group is part of a lineage that includes the Priory of Sion and the Society of Notre-Dame. On the surface pious Catholic orders, these groups are described as having underlying agendas sometimes contrary to the mainstream Church. Saint-Sulpice itself is presented as a monument to sacred geometry, preserving ancient knowledge through features like a sun line. This knowledge, linked to megalithic builders from Scotland to Egypt, spread from Paris and influenced events across Europe and eventually in the New World. The Sulpicians, in an alliance with Huguenots, worked to find the Templar colony and establish Montreal as an Arcadia. The Sulpician church in modern Montreal is said to contain the last Templar round church, conveying secrets to initiates. Although the Sulpicians held influence in Canada with the Knights of Saint John as protectors, they ultimately lost political control to the Jesuits, leading to England's eventual takeover. Despite this, the Sulpicians' influence remains strong, and they are seen as having brought ancient wisdom to the New World.