The Secret Scroll by Andrew Sinclair

by Andrew Sinclair

The Secret Scroll is the story of how a little-known hanging parchment in a Masonic Lodge in Kirkwall in Orkney has become one of the most important historical documents of the Middle Ages. It is also the story of the Knights Templar, who were its guardians, and of what happened to them after the Crusades.Although references to this famous Order of military knights rarely appears in standard histories of the time, a great deal of information about them can be gleaned from other, more esoteric sources, such as sculpture and architecture. Suppressed by King Philip of France out of greed, the Templars were gradually driven underground in more and more European countries. Yet they continued to exist, still guarding the knowledge and relics that they had gathered for the defence of the Holy Land. Their legacy from their last refuge at Rosslyn cam to Prince Henry St Clair, Earl of Orkney, who reached the New World a hundred years before Columbus. All of these threads are woven together in one extraordinary scroll still in Kirkwall, which reveals in full the secrets of the mysterious Order.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Andrew Sinclair was born in Oxford in 1935 and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. After earning a Ph.D. in American History from Cambridge, he pursued an academic career in the United States and England. His first two novels, written while he was still at Cambridge, were both published in 1959: The Breaking of Bumbo (based on his own experience in the Coldstream Guards, and later adapted for a 1970 film written and directed by Sinclair) and My Friend Judas. Other early novels included The Project (1960), The Hallelujah Bum (1963), and The Raker (1964). The latter, also available from Valancourt, is a clever mix of Gothic fantasy and macabre comedy and was inspired by Sinclair’s relationship with Derek Lindsay, the pseudonymous author of the acclaimed novel The Rack (1958). Sinclair’s best-known novel, Gog (1967), a highly imaginative, picaresque account of the adventures of a seven-foot-tall man who washes ashore on the Scottish coast, naked and suffering from amnesia, has been named one of the top 100 modern fantasy novels. As the first in the ‘Albion Triptych’, it was followed by Magog (1972) and King Ludd (1988).

Sinclair’s varied and prolific career has also included work in film and a large output of nonfiction. As a director, he is best known for Under Milk Wood (1972), adapted from a Dylan Thomas play and starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Sinclair’s nonfiction includes works on American history (including The Better Half: The Emancipation of the American Woman, which won the 1967 Somerset Maugham Award), books on Dylan Thomas, Jack London, Che Guevara, and Francis Bacon, and, more recently, works on the Knights Templar and the Freemasons.

Sinclair was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1972. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Codex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an easy read—I can imagine many readers giving up on this one early.

The book mainly lacks a narrative that ties together the multitude of details into a “storyline,” using this as a device to maintain interest. Instead, one is presented with a seemingly endless sequence of historical facts that appear to be an exhaustive list of research notes. (Compare Holy Blood, Holy Grail , which was even more abstruse—but managed to maintain interest nevertheless.) Futhermore, the included illustrations would have served their intended purpose much better if these had been inserted directly into the text rather than being referenced through the repeated “See Illustrations.” footnote—which failed to connect many times.

To be fair, it is clear that the author invested a lot of time to research this book. In doing so he has revealed valuable information that may otherwise have remained concealed. This is acknowledged.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up

[Dawn]

I couldn't get on with this book, at all

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad... bad... bad...

Bad writing: it just meanders plotlessly, pointlessly. There's no reason why some explanation couldn't have been added or rationale for discussing whatever.

Bad research: footnotes? Huh? A few brief endnotes but nothing to help the reader. Where'd the conclusions come from? Jumping is my guess.

Ugh.

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel]

Orkney - could be used for Scotland

[Ty Blaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of historical information and the book goes.... nowhere. I could not figure out the point... ever.