Secret Viking Sea Chart: Discovered in Rosslyn Chapel

By Ashley Cowie

Hidden in a chamber beneath Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, TV Historian Ashley Cowie discovered a unique group of symbols and spent ten years exhaustively deciphering their meaning. After presenting his research at the International Science Festival his discovery was tested by professional scientists at Bradford University who confirmed that he had discovered an extraordinarily rare Viking sea chart.

Rosslyn Chapel was built in the 15th century by Sir William St Clair, a direct descendant of the powerful Viking Rollo who became Duke of Normandy. After exploring the St Clair's Norse heritage, this highly graphical book deciphers the layers of navigational information encoded into the chart revealing it was constructed following the cartographic methods established by the ancient Greek mathematician Ptolemy around 150 AD.

Not only does the chart reveal an ancient prime meridian lying dormant in the northern Scottish landscapes, but it also identifies several Viking power bases, including North America, which the Viking’s colonised around 1000 CE, five hundred years before Columbus set sail. Considering the chart is carved on a 12th century wall, it might be the oldest cartographic reference to North America ever discovered opening up a fresh and exciting volume in the history of cartography and oceanic navigation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley Cowie
• Release date: May 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9780955362392

Ashley Cowie

Ashley Cowie is a Scottish historian, author and documentary filmmaker presenting original perspectives on historical problems, in accessible and exciting ways. His books, articles and television shows explore lost cultures and kingdoms, ancient crafts and artefacts, symbols and architecture, myths and legends telling thought-provoking stories which together offer insights into our shared social history - People's History.In his 20's Ashley was based in Caithness on the north east coast of Scotland and walked thousands of miles across ancient Neolithic landscapes collecting flint artefacts, which led to the discovery of significant Neolithic settlements. Having delivered a series of highly acclaimed lectures on the international Science Festival Circuit about his discoveries, he has since written four bestselling non-fiction books. Elected as a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, incorporated by Royal Charter in 1783, Ashley has been involved in a wide range of historical and scientific research projects which are detailed in the Festival pages on his website; www.ashleycowie.com.In 2009 Ashley became resident Historian on STV’s The Hour Show and has since featured as an expert Historian on several documentaries. Ashley’s own documentaries have been watched by an estimated 200 million people and currently air in over 40 countries. NBC’s Universal’s hit-adventure show ‘Legend Quest’ follows Ashley’s global hunt for lost artefacts and is watched by over 5 million viewers in Australia, Asia and Europe every week. In North America, PBS’s ‘Great Estates’ was in Amazon’s top-ten “most downloaded documentaries 2016” and has been watched by an estimated 150 million people. And in Scotland, Ashley is currently filming Season 3 of ’The People’s History Show’ with STV.

Book preview

SECRET VIKING

SEA CHART

Discovered in Rosslyn Chapel

Ashley Cowie

SECRET VIKING SEA CHART:

DISCOVERED IN ROSSLYN CHAPEL

Copyright © 2016 Ashley Cowie.

Alchemy International Publishing.

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is available in print at most retailers.

www.ashleycowie.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Discovering the Carving

Chapter 2. Decoding the Sea Chart

Chapter 3. Deciphering Hidden Latitudes

Chapter 4. The Meridian of Edinburgh

Chapter 5. The Viking Star

Conclusion

Rosslyn Matrix Overview

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

Introduction

The French novelist, critic and essayist Marcel Proust aptly said: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. I could not agree more. I was brought up in the castle encrusted landscapes of Caithness, in the north coast of Scotland. In my teenage years, I could never have imagined that one day I would follow a series of clues scratched into a church wall that would take me back to these wild and remote landscapes while attempting to solve a riddle that had demanded my attention for over twenty years.

Over the last two decades I have spent endless hours with teams of researchers and scientists in a chamber beneath Rosslyn Chapel examining a unique composition of symbols carved into its south wall. In 2002, after ten years of exhaustive research, I presented my interpretation of the carving at the International Science Festival in Orkney. I concluded my lecture with the (then) bold claim of having discovered an ancient sea chart marking important Viking sailing latitudes and chief seats of power in their Nordic empire.

If I were right, my discovery would have a considerable impact on the history of cartography and oceanic navigation, so a group of scientists at Bradford University applied a statistical test, called a null hypothesis, to my theory. They systematically attempted to disprove, reject and nullify my observations as having resulted purely from chance. In November 2002, I received an email informing me that the result of the null hypothesis determined my theory had a; 1:128 chance of being incorrect. In 2006, I published the story of my discovery in a book called The Rosslyn Matrix. Since, the chart has been featured in several academic papers, books and TV documentaries. This third revision recounts my initial discovery, and documents my last ten years of work on this rare, multifaceted artefact from the developmental stages of astronomy, cartography and navigation. It is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1. This enigmatic composition is both a mapping treasure and a treasure map.

Beneath the village of Rosslyn, located about seven miles south of Edinburgh, the River North Esk tumbles into the Linn Pool, from which a rugged sandstone crag rises supporting the ruins of a medieval superstructure — Roslin Castle, now generally called Rosslyn Castle. Built in the early fourteenth century by Sir Henry St. Clair, Earl of Orkney under the Norwegian Crown and 9th Baron of Rosslyn under the Scottish crown, Rosslyn Castle contained a scriptorium of ancient books and manuscripts that was destroyed by fire in 1452. The Earl was said to be in consternation[1] as he watched his valuable manuscripts being consumed by flames. Yet a trunk of books and manuscripts was lowered to safety from a window by his chaplain, and the Earl was said to be overjoyed.[2] One of the books saved from the fire becomes central to this work, but four other fifteenth century St. Clair manuscripts are currently kept in the National Library of Scotland.[3] Two hundred metres north of Rosslyn Castle, on the summit of College Hill, Rosslyn Chapel was built between 1446 and 1484[4] and both buildings continue to dominate the surrounding wooded landscape. Figure 2 is a nineteenth century engraving of Rosslyn Castle in a ruinous state, much the same as it is today.

Figure 2: Roslin (Rosslyn) Castle[5]

In 2003, Rosslyn Castle and Chapel demanded the attention of historians, researchers and treasure hunters across the world when Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code featured these buildings in its closing chapter. The chapel was referred to as a Cathedral of Codes,[6] and albeit Brown’s mystery detective novel was a work of fiction, its alternative religious history was taken seriously by many readers. In the ensuing decade, millions of people descended on the main locations mentioned in the book. Rosslyn Chapel was overrun with hundreds of thousands of frantic visitors eagerly looking for answers to the true nature and whereabouts of the Holy Grail.

Figure 3: Rosslyn Chapel, Vestry and west wall (incomplete transept). Ashley Cowie, 2016.

Adding to the intrigue, in The Da Vinci Code Brown mentioned the presence of an astonishing structure beneath the chapel…a massive subterranean chamber, but he was not the first author to make such a claim.[7] At least three centuries before The Da Vinci Code, there had been speculation about the existence of hidden vaults beneath Rosslyn Castle. John Slezer, a Dutch or German-born military engineer and artist who arrived in Scotland in 1669, was appointed Surveyor of his Majesties Stores and Magazines, a role which involved project managing surveys of the country's fortifications.[8] In his 1693 book Theatrum Scotiae, referring to Rosslyn Castle, Slezer wrote, a great treasure, amounting to some millions, lies buried in the vaults.[9]

Fuelling ideas that something of vast importance was hidden beneath Rosslyn Castle, in 1630, Sir William St. Clair, 16th Baron of Rosslyn, was granted charters from the Masons of Scotland recognising the St. Clairs as Hereditary Grand Master Masons of Scotland. The Masons claimed the St. Clair family was first granted this position by King James II of Scotland in 1441.[10] Sir William made major alterations to Rosslyn Castle and built over the vaults, which led to widespread speculation as to what he might have been hiding.[11]

Many people also believe a hidden crypt beneath Rosslyn Chapel hides a long lost secret, an idea perpetuated by Sir Walter Scott in his 1805 poem Lay of the Last Minstrel, in which he describes the deceased Barons of Rosslyn lying in full armour in the chambers under the Chapel.[12] Author Andrew Sinclair gave into his gold lust in the 1990s, and regardless of disrupting interred bodies, drilled through the floor of the chapel and later published the results of his treasure hunt in his book The Secret Scroll. As soon as the drill and camera penetrated into the lower chambers sand flowed in and obstructed observations.[13] Invasive explorations such as this are no longer permitted, as they compromise the stability of the building’s foundations, not to mention that the discovery of an empty crypt would have a catastrophic effect on Rosslyn Chapel’s thriving tourist industry.

Safe in the knowledge that the lower crypt will most likely never be opened, over the last thirty years, scores of researchers, historians and pseudo-historians have associated Rosslyn with a wide range of historical relics, artefacts and treasures. Among these are the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the legendary lost Templar treasure, the lost scrolls of Christ, the mummified head of Christ, and the Holy Rood (part of the cross upon which Christ was crucified). As if this weren’t distraction enough from Rosslyn’s majestic architecture, clairvoyants, dowsers and new-agers look for spiritual answers in the landscapes surrounding the chapel, claiming it was situated at the crossing point of major pathways of geophysical energy. Others have written apparently academic works that essentially pick and choose architectural features and elements from the church’s underlying geometry to support their preconceived notion that Rosslyn Chapel is a scale model of Solomon’s Temple and/or Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem,[14] concluding that the crypt conceals a priceless Judaeo-Christian treasure.

Adding to the mystery, in the sixteenth century, the St. Clairs of Rosslyn were advisors to the Scottish kings and thus to Marie de Guise — the French Queen Regent. In 1546, Marie visited Rosslyn Chapel, and later wrote a curious letter to William St. Clair containing a very obscure sentence: Likewise that we shall be loyal and a true Mistress to him, his Council and the Secret shown to us, which we shall keep secret. What the Secret might be is debated among the Rosslyn research community. Theories range from Marie de Guise having been shown a hidden Templar Cross in the architecture of the ceiling to the Holy Rood. The real answer to this mystery is no doubt a lot simpler, but it is seldom that a Queen Regent pledges her loyalty to a knight, suggesting William St. Clair had shown her something of the greatest importance. That something might be related to the discoveries presented in this book.

Figure 7: Rosslyn Chapel; east window, choir arches and ceiling. Ashley Cowie 2014.

However, to enjoy this story, we must set all of these fantastic ideas of lost treasures aside and deepen our knowledge about the St. Clair family and its Norse ancestral heritage. The builder of Rosslyn Castle, Sir Henry St. Clair, 2nd Baron of Rosslyn, claimed descent from the powerful ninth century Norse warlord Røgnvald (the Mighty or Wise) Jarl (Earl) of Møre in Norway and Chief of the Orkneys (an island group off north-east Scotland.)[15] In 912, after persistently attacking the villages, towns and cities of northern France, Røgnvald's son Rollo signed the Treaty of St Clair-sur-Epte (from where the St. Clair family takes its name) with King Charles III of

Reviews for Secret Viking Sea Chart

[Ashley Cowie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is so well researched and written. The discovery is remarkable and assured me that the Vikings ventured south of Newfoundland. Enthralling!