What if there was a scheme
or way to tell what all this really meant? Identifying a group of people who
have connections to all the cultures involved so far my lead us to a
conclusion.
To be fair here we should
examine any possible links between Spain and other places like Scotland and
Scandinavia that may display why the X rune is present on the Kensington Rune
and possibly on the Archer Reliquary, Columbus’ signature, and the flyleaf of
“Don Quixote.” Is it possible that these similar symbols all have a common origin?
Of the three examples that have ties to Spain only one of the symbols looks
similar to the one on the Kensington Rune. The signature of Columbus in his
hand writing appears to be the same. The other two are very similar as
discussed above with some variance. Also discussed above is the Larson Papers,
Copiale Cipher, and how this symbol seemed to have been used by a young men’s
agricultural society in Sweden at around the same time the Kensington Rune was
found.
The occurrence of this
symbol in the text of the Copiale Ciphers is interesting and may display one
link that distantly relates the X rune to both the ciphers and Kensington Rune
via the same source. There are many links between Spanish and Scottish culture
including intermarriages between nobles of both countries. One large example of
this may be seen in the Spanish Dukes of Alba. During the turmoil of the exile
of James II in 1688 we see the Stewart family of the King being exiled at the
St. Germaine en Laye summer palace of Louis XV of France.
Interestingly this
household was managed or stewarded by the d’Abbadie St. Germaine branch of the
same d’Abbadie family of the previously discussed Jean Vincent d’Abbadie Baron
St. Castin was from. In James II escape from England most sources state that he
was assisted by his back stairs page “Abbadie.” In this way it appears that
James II had somewhat of a relationship to the French King via this person and
family prior to his exile.
If not we may consider that
it is at least possible and quite a coincidence that his page had this name. It
also appears that the granddaughter of Jean Vincent d’Abbadie Baron St. Castin
would also later marry into the family of first Acadian Governor Charles de La
Tour. The de La Tour family also has close family ties to the Stewart family
via the Dukes of Albany Alexander and John who both married women named Anne de
La Tour in the early sixteenth century.
Eventually James II
illegitimate son James Fitz-James Stuart married a direct descendant of
Christopher Columbus himself named Catalina Ventura Colón de Portugal y
Ayala-Toledo, 9th Duchess of Veragua. This marriage gained him the titles of Duke of Alba and
Duke of Veragua. The Dukedom of Veragua was included in part of the territory
in Panama that was originally awarded to the family of Christopher Columbus.
Here we have a direct link to the Stewart family of exiled Kings that included
Charles I, Charles II, James II, James III, and Bonnie Prince Charlie sometimes
referred to as Charles III and the family of Christopher Columbus himself. All
of these kings had descended directly from Mary Queen of Scots directly through
her son James I of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Though the Stewarts were
known as English kings they were from a Scottish family connected to many of
the previous Scottish Kings.
Along with James Fitz-James
Stuart’s marriage to the Duchess of Veragua came some documents that had
personally belonged to Christopher Columbus including one of his journals and a
letter he had written. Over time the Dukes of Alba had also collected a large
amount of antique art and literature. They even owned a first edition copy of
“Don Quixote.” Though the Stewarts did not gain these titles until the early
eighteenth century (1700’s) it is clear their family was in a position to know
many hidden tenets of history that applied directly to their family.
These things may not
necessarily have been intentionally hidden but they had been overlooked in the
history written by their Hanoverian cousins who now ruled England. Is it
possible the Stuart’s are the one’s who actually valued these strange symbols
seen in the signature of Columbus and in the Copiale Ciphers? Beginning in the
early eighteenth century the Stuart Dukes of Veragua could have easily been
aware of the Greek signature of Columbus. If there was a secret as to why
Columbus used the strange X in his signature the Stuart’s were now in a
position to have know why and what it may have meant if anything.
It is also clear that the
original Stewart family of Scotland had been involved in patronizing the
original order of Knights Templar during their existence. Though none of them
are recorded as being members it was not normal for such a noble family to have
contributed members to the order though a few other nobles like William
Marshall were made Knights Templar on their death beds. Families such as the
Stewart’s may have also paid what is known of as Knight’s Fees to pay the costs
of a Knight and his retinue to go on Crusade. In Scotland, they had donated
property to the Order. The Stewarts were one of the families responsible for
the Knights Templar coming to Scotland.
There is in fact a direct
family link between the Dukes of Alba and the Stewart family to a man who owned
the Red River Colony and Hudson’s Bay Company both in Canada during the early
to mid nineteenth century not long after the American Revolution. The site of
the discovery of the Kensington Rune marks the border between property owned or
that was part of the Red River Colony and French Louisiana. This property in
addition to defining the territory of the Red River colony had once also been
part of the domain of Charles II, James II. It was the property of the Kings
before any other in many ways. At this time members of the family of the Dukes
of Alba and Veragua where considered by many to be the Jacobite claimants to
the exiled crown as well.
Lord Selkirk Thomas Douglas
may have had been in the right place at the right time to have influenced the
placement of a rune that included a symbol used by Columbus on his Greek
signature. Lord Selkirk owned the Hudson’s Bay Company and ran the Red River
Colony and was a known as staunch Jacobite even though he lived slightly later
than the heyday of the Jacobites. Even so the exiled remainder of the family as
well as their exiled Order of the Garter were still active and looking for ways
to benefit from their family history via what they may have thought of as their
right.
It may be even possible
that Lord Selkirk was aware of the Copiale Ciphers. The Ciphers did indeed
detail aspects of a Jacobite form of Freemasonry that had been created by the
exiled Stewart court to aid them in their attempt to regain their lost crowns.
We may at least assume that Lord Selkirk was a member of this form of
Freemasonry that also had adapted the imagery of the original Order of Knights
Templar. It may be that this Templar based form of Freemasonry had been
responsible for many of the concepts we see in the current era that some
attempt to ascribe to the original Order of Templars. It was this form of
Freemasonry that first brought the concept of the Knights Templar to Sweden
where they had never existed during the time of the original order.
Concepts like attempting to
convince American’s that they owed some sort of historical respect to Henry
Sinclair was precisely the kind of propaganda that had been generated by
European exiled Jacobites. It was not only the Stewart’s who had been exiled
but all their supporters and many of their soldiers had also been exiled to the
American Colonies as well as other parts of Europe and especially Scandinavia. It
is likely that some Jacobite sentiments dictated that they still believed the
American colonies were their domain as they felt they had been cheated out of
them.
It is likely that their Hanoverian
cousins who ruled Great Britain and had replaced them as the monarchy felt the
same way. Interestingly in the era of the Jacobites the Sinclair family had
remained loyal to the power that be of the time and were not Jacobites. There
is one prominent member who was a Jacobite and he was somewhat punished for
this in the end. The first land surveyor to visit the site of the discovery of
the Kensington Rune may have even been related to Lord Charlton.
In fact Lord Selkirk’s
distant cousins included the Swedish Counts of Hamilton and the Swedish Counts
of Douglas. Selkirk himself came from a family of Douglas whose mother was a
Hamilton. It is documented that Lord Selkirk was closely associated and had
visited his Swedish cousins while some sources even have them involved in the
Red River Colony. Thus, various directly related family members sometimes used
Douglas or Hamilton as their name. For instance, George Hamilton was the
Governor of Virginia in 1715. He was Lord Selkirk’s grand uncle and he had
chosen to use his mother’s titled name instead of his father’s Douglas name.
George Hamilton interestingly was also the Earl of Orkney at that time. Later
in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century many Scotsmen and
especially those from Orkney worked for Lord Selkirk and his Hudson’s Bay
Company and some of them were even colonists of the Red River Colony.
Selkirk’s Swedish cousins
of Douglas and Hamilton had become Swedish nobility due to their military
prowess. Their original members had been exiled there after the 1745 Jacobite
Rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland and had come to be employed in
the Swedish army. This is a common story with Jacobite exiles being part of the
armies and navies of many Baltic Rim countries as well as France and Russia.
This concept ties to why the Scottish are known of as fearless fighters along
with their earlier history.
Here in the form of Lord
Selkirk Thomas Douglas we have an individual that is a Jacobite from Scotland
who is directly related to the Swedish Counts in his family as well as the
Dukes of Alba and Veragua including direct descendants of Christopher Columbus
that also included his relatives who were directly descendant of Mary Queen of
Scots via James II. From a broad perspective, we may now be able to see how all
of this would lead Selkirk to be behind or the inspiration for the placement of
a Viking Rune Stone in Minnesota that included the strange X font seen in the
signature of Christopher Columbus. Lord Selkirk had connections to all the
right people and cultures for this story to be true.
The Stewarts and related
families had all the right cultural connections to be associated with the
strange X shaped font on the Kensington Rune. Even if it wasn’t Jacobites who
put the Kensington stone where it was found whomever did certainly could have
been aware of all these connections. It would be quite a coincidence if a a
local farmer had dreamed all this up himself. There seems to be a story with a
much broader scope than Olof Ohman, the discoverer of the Kensington Rune
having faked this all by himself if at all. Still it is clear that Ohman was an
intelligent person who may have simply been exposed to the X rune in the cipher
that was part of a young men’s agricultural society.
The point of view here
involving the Stuarts may be exactly what those who later made and placed the
Kensington Rune were trying to say. In addition, a great deal of groundwork had
already gone into the effort to convince the American public of the ninetieth
century that Vikings had been the first to “discover” North America long before
Columbus at a time L’Anse Aux Meadows had not even been discovered yet. In
effect if this version of the rune story if true meant no one in the family had
even had to lie or mislead anyone. The public did the rest. Add rune stone and
wait.
The mere suggestion that
the Newport Tower was of Norse origins by Carl Christian Rafn in 1839 would
have been enough to kick the entire ploy off in grand fashion. Next the
creation of the Cremona Document and Kensington Rune would have been child’s
play to such powerful people who were among the great art and relic collectors
of Europe. All of these things would have simply had to have been done with no
further promotions on their part. Families like those discussed here patronized
a wide variety of sculptors, painters, and writers who were all employed in
part in preserving the legacy of the family in words and symbols. Families like
the exiled Stewart’s also had access to an extensive genealogy and historical
documents that the public at large weren’t exposed to or even inclined to be
interested in.
Though by today’s standards
the Cremona Document story reads like a comic book or fairy tale it would have
been in many ways hard to debunk in the late nineteenth century up until the
time the internet was available to look into such things. Previous to that it
would have cost a great deal of money to travel to several different museums
and libraries just to begin to understand the real parts of history included.
The document had included some real events and phenomena as part of its story.
Some of these elements don’t make sense in a a medieval document such as the
use of a Prime Meridian that was created by the Cassini family in the early eighteenth
century. (More on that later).
In reality, we see Selkirk
related to the Dukes of Veragua that also included a direct lineal descendant
of Christopher Columbus. In effect this means even Selkirk himself was now
related to Christopher Columbus via some very powerful and intelligent family
members. Many people consider the Dukes of Veragua’s progeny today as the
claimants to the Jacobite Scottish crowns and they may indeed be correct in
this assumption as they all descend from the son of James II. Lord Selkirk’s
Jabobite sympathies would have made him aware of these exact people while he
was alive.
With regard to the family
of the Dukes of Veragua they all descend from Christopher Columbus and James
II. Part of Lord Selkirk’s efforts to establish the Red River Colony may have
also involved creating a domain for the exiled Stuart or Stewart family in
Canada. His Jacobite sentiments may also hint that the Hudson’s Bay Company was
also of benefit to the family at large.
Concepts like many of the
theories of Henry Sinclair actually having been a member of the Knights Templar
go hand in hand with a broader view held by many that the Knights Templar
continued to operate after the time their charter had been nullified by the
Vatican. If this is true then it was done in complete secrecy as the only
evidence suggesting any of this is true again comes to us via the found
manuscripts that many point to such as the Zeno Narrative and Cremona Document.
This misconception may have also been magnified when in the early to late
eighteenth century the exiled Jacobites had recreated the Knights Templar at a
date many people in the current era would misinterpret as being the original
Order. Illustrative of this concept is the fact that no member of the fabled
Sinclair family is recorded as having been a Knights Templar.
It is noted that between
thirteen to fifteen members of the Bannerman family that was a splinter of the
famous MacDonald Jacobite family of Scotland were colonists of the Red River
Colony. It is even noted that some of the Bannerman’s were among the colonists
that had inspected the boundaries of the colony that include the site of
discovery of the Kensington Rune. Further of note is how a man named Francis
Bannerman also plays a role in what is known of as the “Cremona Document.” The
fact that Bannerman’s were a large part of the Red River Colony is another
coincidence that supports the notion that Francis Bannerman had been involved
in creating this entire scheme somehow.
In previous writing this
author has presented evidence that it was more likely relic collector and
seller Francis Bannerman who had played a hand in the creation of the Cremona
Document along with possibly famous Italian explorer Constantino Beltrami. Beltrami
was close friends with the Duchess of Albany who was the wife of Bonnie Prince
Charlie in Italy. Coincidentally there is a county in Minnesota named for
Beltrami. Beltrami had even accompanied the American survey party that
established the border of Canada and the U.S. at the 49th parallel
for the first time.
In so doing the survey
party passed very close to the discovery site of the Kensington Rune. Later in
the trip Beltrami would go off alone with two Native guides and again travel
close to the discovery site of the Kensington Rune. One painting of Beltrami
depicts him in frontier buckskin garb with a Cross pattee of the Grand Orient
of Italy displayed on his sleeve. Beltrami had also hobknobbed with people like
James Fennimore Cooper the famous author and is said to have inspired part of
the plots of his books about Native Americans. Again it was somewhat a coincidence
that Beltrami held a close personal relationship with Duchess of Albany who was
the defacto Jacobite Queen.
Other contemporary members
of the Bannerman’s were also baronets of Nova Scotia and members of Parliament
in England. Lady Bannerman notes in her journal that she and her husband were
present at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Newport Rhode Island mansion as he was
actually penning his famous poem “Song of Hiawatha” which is incidentally about
Minnesota. The poem documents how Europeans had supposedly come to Minnesota
long ago. Longfellow was also close friends with two gentlemen who may have
been adherents to what is known of as the Norwegian Romantic Nationalist
movement.
This included Carl
Christian Rafn who had been the first to speculate that the Newport Tower was
of Norse origins. The second being famous concert violinist Ole Bull. Bull had
also attempted to establish a Scandinavian colony in Pennsylvania in the
nineteenth century. Though not known it is also possible that Ole Bull was
related to the Bull family of onetime governor of Rhode Island Henry Bull. Longfellow
was personally associated with both men. The coincidences certainly are piling
up here.
Longfellow’s name seems to
surface in each phase of this story and he himself is likely responsible for
popularizing the notion that the Newport Tower was of Norse origins. This may
have been because he knew the true origins of the Tower were linked to the
original Rhode Island Charter awarded by Charles II to first Rhode Island
governor Benedict Arnold the elder not to be confused with his later progeny
the famous Revolutionary War traitor. In fact the Norse lore of the Newport
Tower came to light during an era in which the true origins of the Newport
Tower would be associated with Arnold and Charles II. This would not have been
appreciated by many American’s in the era just after the Revolution.
Other Bannerman’s were
members of the Onteora Club along with Mark Twain that is located on Onteora
Mountain adjacent to Hunter Mountain in upstate New York where proponents of
the authenticity of the “Cremona Document” insist a Hebrew Priesthood had met
with Knights Templar from Europe in the fourteenth century. The site of the
Onteora Club had also been an established camp for the Hudson River School of
Painting artists who painted the surrounding landscape while camping there. Other
members of the Hudson River School had actually travelled the world and had
visited many of the places mentioned in the “Cremona Document.” The word “Onteora”
had in fact been the invention of Henry Schoolcraft a historian who had a habit
of making up Native names and words out of thin air. “Onteora” is not even a
real Native American word.
Francis Bannerman had built
his Scottish Castle folly on Polipel Island in the Hudson River. Coincidentally
the castle is directly due west or 270 degrees true north in relation to the
famous Newport Tower. This spatial relationship between the two places is also
present on a map that is part of the Cremona Document that even includes an
azimuth or line extending from the location of the Newport Tower directly west
to the location of Bannerman’s Castle. The fact that Bannerman built his castle
there at that point on earth shows how he may have known about and helped to
create the Cremona Document. Who better than an international relic and arms
dealer to have cooked up such an idea? Another coincidence? It appears
Bannerman had placed his castle in this position in relation to the Newport
Tower intentionally.
The castle also plays a
part in how some other more recent authors and interested parties discovered
“clues” that led them to believe that Knights Templar had visited a Hebrew
Priesthood in New York in the fourteenth century. Bannerman’s Castle is said to
be the site of discovery of some items that led these people to believe such a
thing. In reality one of the most interesting items at Bannerman’s Castle
appears to have been destroyed by unknown individuals who were hunting for
treasure.
When Bannerman built the castle,
he had included a foundation stone from a house that was included in the famous
Glen Coe Massacre in Scotland. The massacre had included the deaths of a
Jacobite faction of the MacDonald family who are the same family as the
Bannerman’s. The Bannerman name came from a MacDonald that had been the
standard bearer of Jacobite armies and earlier in history another had also been
said to have been the standard bearer of Robert the Bruce during his many
martial conflicts. Flora MacDonald is famous for aiding Bonnie Prince Charlie’s
escape from Scotland after the failed ’45 Jacobite rebellion.
The stone Bannerman had
included was inscribed with information that told of where the stone came from.
The stone has since been destroyed by those looking for treasure or clues that
they believed was behind the stone and was replaced with a replica of the
original. It would be interesting to know who had destroyed this stone as it is
a part of the history of Bannerman’s Castle.
It appears that specific
other individuals had removed architectural elements of Bannerman’s Castle in
which they later found material clues. These men are a Mr. Jackson and Mr. Ruh.
Of course, this is only the story as told by these people and is not documented
anywhere else by anyone else.
An important artifact from
the Glen Coe Massacre that had made its way to America under the auspices of
Francis Bannerman had been intentionally destroyed by someone looking for
treasure. Had they been inspired to do this by the “Cremona Document” itself? Whomever
destroyed that stone destroyed an important artifact of Scottish history that
would have been appreciated by many people in America and Scotland.
Bannerman would not have
created this memorial at his home if he was not a staunch Jacobite himself. He
came to maturity or adulthood right around the time Lord Selkirk passed away.
His vocation as a relic dealer and collector also put him in association with
other collectors such as J.P. Morgan and John Rockefeller and possibly William
Randolph Hearst. Bannerman had once owned a cannon from the Battle of Yorktown
as well as two of George Washington’s pistols which he eventually donated to
the museum at the West Point Military Academy. Bannerman was incredibly wealthy
and had the resources to have taken part in such a ploy. Alternately he was
wealthy enough to have been approached by scam arists who wanted to take
advantage of his. The fact that he built his castle in relation to the Newport
Tower as seen on a map that is part of the Cremona Document seems to indicate
that he was involved in creating the entire story.
It appears that all the
players in this grand pageant had been present in obscure American history.
Their legacies including that of Scandinavia and Spain may have played a role
in how they designed both the Cremona Document and possibly the phenomena that
is the Kensington Rune. The background of this family does link to Christopher
Columbus, Scottish History, and Jacobite individuals of the highest order
including the family of the exiled King himself. Even the notion that the
Archer Reliquary of Jamestown was related to Captain Archer who may have been a
“hidden Catholic” in Jamestown may presage some of the problems the exiled
Stewart family had in association. The signature of the Jacobites can also be
seen in several other noted “mysteries” of history including Shugborough Hall
and Rennes le Chateau to name two. These lost treasure and relic tales may have
been crafted in part so the seeker finds all the hidden history of these people
that had in many ways been intentionally left out of the common narratives.
One of the largest reasons
for the persecution of Mary Queen of Scots and her progeny had been their
allegiance to the Catholic Church. In association were many protestants who
simply felt that the primogeniture of the monarchy was legitimate no matter
what faith they were. Additionally, many Protestant Jacobites had benefitted
via their businesses by providing goods and services to the regime of the
Stewart family.
As in the case of other
persecuted groups through history we see that the Jacobites had created a
secret society or mystery school that enabled them to do things in secret. Their
secret society included the imagery and history of the original Order of
Knights Templar. At each turn with regard to the strange symbols discussed here
there is a rationale that links them all together via the most powerful and
cunning people in the world. All of this thread of evidence points to the fact
that the Newport Tower and Kensington Rune were part of the history of these
families that they had attempted to portray in a manner that resembles
propaganda that would fit their world view while still ingratiating themselves
to the American public. After the Revolution they saw the need to present
themselves in a different manner and promoting their Templar and Viking connections
would have been more accepted by the public at large in this era.
Via this effort the
Jacobites had created a trail of intrigue and mystery that included Oak Island,
the Newport Tower, and finally the Kensington Rune. There is actually more
verifiable evidence that suggests this is true than any of the other theories
involving the Norse or original Knights Templar. An effort had even been made
to convince Native factions that all of this was true.
During this nineteenth
century era after the revolution the public at large may have not had much
sympathy for any royal interests including those of the Jacobites who had
played a real role in the development of the colonies from the time of James I
to well past the time of the American Revolution including the Civil War. In
some ways, they may have calculated that it was easier to take the information
they knew and present it in a way relating it to Knights Templar and Vikings
because they had real historical ties to both of these groups of interesting
historical factions. It is interesting they chose to do this knowing full well
their family also included the legacy of Christopher Columbus.
Here we are left to either
believe the above narrative or put our faith in documents and theories that
have many large gaping holes in them with regard to logic and reason. As it
turns out in this case a great deal of common history that is available to everyone
is many times ignored in favor of gross speculation. In the end, the
possibilities presented above are more mysterious and insightful than the story
as told by many others.
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