The famous Pirate Peter Easton is an interesting historical character in that he is one of the few pirates to have captured a specific amount of money as part of his exploits. He his also one of the few that is documented as escaping with a large treasure and living out the rest of his life in relative wealth among the titled nobility of the Piedmont of Italy. The truth is the Easton began his career as a ship’s captain and sometimes privateer in the service of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
The era of Queen Elizabeth is marked in part by her disputes with Catholic factions within her own country in league with wars with Spain who were also ardently Catholic. Peter Easton even fought for Queen Elizabeth in what is known of as the Barbary Pirate wars against Spain. At that time Easton and other English naval assists battled Spain on the high seas in league with what were Moorish allies at that time. It is during this period that Easton likely became familiar with the Mediterranean waters near what would become his future home in Panclieri, Italy.
The story of Peter Easton involves him recovering a vast trove of wealth possibly by raiding Spanish shipping or settlements in the Caribbean. This just after the time he had served as a security force for the fledgling Cupids or Cuppar’s Cove colony in Newfoundland. At some point Easton had become a wanted man by King James I and had fled the region of Newfoundland to pillage Spanish shipping and settlements in the Caribbean. It is at this point that he may have amassed what was said to have been a treasure worth over 2 million English pounds at that time. In today’s money that would be well over 400 million dollars in value. It is possible Easton recovered a treasure left by Sir Francis Drake but equally possible he had originally obtained the treasure himself.
After compiling this fortune Peter Easton was said to have fled to the Principality of Monaco not far from Panclieri, Italy which would eventually become one of his homes. Easton eventually married into the Grimaldi family and became the Marquis of Panclieri which is a title that is part of the House of Savoy. The genealogy of the House of Savoy includes many links to the City of Pancileri and even the title of Marquis of Panclieri that would eventually be awarded to Peter Easton. Many of these members of the House of Savoy also held direct family relations with the famous de La Tour family of France.
He married into the famous Grimaldi family who are noted in many different aspects of the regions history. Many sources and suggestions say his fortune was distributed among interests of the House of Savoy whom also had a strong banking relationship with with many of the monarchies of Europe including Queen Elizabeth I and possibly her successor King James I.
Some of what is about to be revealed may suggest that the fortune that Peter Easton had recovered could have been something that was hidden in the Oak Island Money Pit in Nova Scotia. Though there are no sources that directly say this is true there are many circumstantial facts and historical events that suggest this cold be true. One avenue that could have facilitated the truth of this theory would involve the de la Tour family of the First French Acadian governor Charles de La Tour. As it turns out there are many intermarriages and historical events in which the de La Tour family and House of Savoy are related to.
Bizarrely both threads of this amazing story feature King James I as one of the central characters in what may have, in the end been planned and later had a kind of intentional folklore overlain to an amazing story. To really understand we must go back into Scottish history and the era of Mary Queen of Scots to see these amazing correlations which in the end can be related to Oak Island and even the original Baron of Nova Scotia Sir William Alexander. In the process we may have to string together these events with some speculation but the documented characters in common may also suggest the truth of these notions.
Scotland and France have always had a number of significant links to each
other’s history that are sometimes neglected. Scotland and France were both Catholic nations that at time allied themselves with each other at a time in history that England was rejecting the influence of the Church sometimes referred to as the reformation. Some of these relations even included the de La Tour family. This even extended to the later eighteenth century during which the French in league with the Vatican aided the efforts of Bonnie Prince Charlie to conquer his homeland of Scotland in the 1745 Jacobite uprising. Mary Queen of Scots for instance was more French than Scottish and had been raised in Paris as part of the House of Guise of her mother.
Earlier in history the Dukes of Albany of the Stewart family of Scotland also display close connections to the de La Tour family of France. The first Duke of Albany Alexander Stewart was first married to the daughter of the builder of Rosslyn Chapel Katherine Sinclair. After that marriage was annulled Alexander married a woman from France named Anne de La Tour. At that time Alexander Duke of Albany had in many ways become more of a Frenchman that Scotsman. He lived in the Auvergene region of France and became involved in many aspects of the French elite culture of the day.
Eventually he and Anne de La Tour would have a son John Stewart the next Duke of Albany. John Also married a woman named Anne de la Tour who had produced an interesting genealogy of her family that stated a descent from and Egyptian princess named Belle Moree. This story may have some interesting links to the story of Mary Magdalene and Sarah the Egyptian girl in the story of Saintes Maries de la Mer and the “Three Marys” who came ashore there and were aided by Sarah. In fact Sarah may be an allegory for Mary Magdalene herself. This said Egyptian link is also interesting to stated relations between Scotland and Egypt in the Declaration of Arbroath as well as the Legend of Queen Scotia the namesake of Scotland. Other members of the de la Tour family would later have direct associations with the famous Comte St. Germain.
In short Mary Queen of Scots was related to the Dukes of Albany and thus the de La Tour family via her Stewart blood. There are also some aspects of the life of Mary Queen of Scots that may suggest the was an acolyte of Mary Magdalene in league with her Catholic beliefs. Through time even the later Jacobite movement of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his father James III would also maintain close ties to the de La Tour family of France.
Mary Queen of Scots Catholic faith is in part what may have lead to her downfall and subsequent beheading. If one examines the story in detail other facts emerge that may indeed link us to the Oak Island Money Pit in Nova Scotia.
There are many historical researchers that claim that James I of England the son of Mary Queen of Scots had not been sired by of Lord Darnely as the common history states. There are many clues and historical events that suggest that Mary Queen of Scots had had an affair with an Italian courtier of hers named David Rizzio. There are even recorded statements by Lord Darnelly doubting his fathership with him also accusing Rizzio of being the father of James I. Rizzio's family in turn was related to the House of Savoy and their extensive banking activities.
Amazingly David Rizzio was from Panclieri a city now part of Italy and also the later Marquisate of none other than the famous Pirate Peter Easton who for unknown reasons brought the vast horde of wealth he had recovered to Monaco and interests that were part of the House of Savoy. It was after the time of her supposed affair with Rizzio that Mary Had been imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth and replaced with her young son James as King of Scotland and future King of England.
At that time during Mary Queen of Scots imprisonment the liaison between Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth was non other than a man named Robert Beale who like Easton may have been part of the intelligence gathering apparatus of Sir Francis Walsingham who had been Elizabeth’s so called “spy master.” Beale also held known associations with Dr. John Dee and others from this sort of Baconian era of English history. Of course Robert Beale was one of the forebears of the famous Beale Family of Virginia and Pennsylvania that may have later spawned what is known of as the Beale Treasure Legend today. While acting as liaison Beale was even gifted an expensive necklace by Mary Queen of Scots and the two were said to have cultivated somewhat of a friendship at that time.
Is this simply an amazing coincidence or is there more to the story? So far we have David Rizzio sometimes referred to as David Rizzio di Panclieri and then later the involvement of the Pirate Peter Easton later known of as the Marquis of Panclieri!
Let’s assume for a minute that Peter Easton had recovered the wealth he brought back to Monaco from the Money Pit on Oak Island. Here is where any possible links to the de La Tour family may be of further interest.
Two important events during the year 1610 may be of interest in our saga here. Both Claude de La Tour and his son Charles, future Acadian Governor arrived in what would later be termed Nova Scotia in 1610. Peter Easton began his protection of the Cupid’s Colony in Newfoundland at about the same time and here we are presented with the fact that Easton may have been working in league with elements of the de La Tour family in French Acadia to recover a treasure they knew had been stashed at Oak Island possibly by Easton himself. There are clear family links between the de La Tour family of Charles and Claude and the House of Savoy to which Peter Easton practically gave his treasure to. Charles and Claude de La Tour also held family links to the Stewart family of Mary
Queen of Scots and her son King James I.
As part of the story we may also speculate that the Baron of Nova Scotia Sir William Alexander may have just a few years later in this story also been aware of the truth of what had happened and may have even benefited from it himself. The Scottish faction of the Baron are responsible for the name Nova Scotia being applied to what was French Acadia but never really gained control of the region. Instead there are many hints and clues that may show us the Baron was actually working with some of the wealthier French factions to insure his place in whatever strange goings on as applied to the Oak Island Money Pit. In this way Oak Island may have also established itself as a place where off the books wealth and loot acquired in wartime could be hidden until it could be taken back to Europe to be laundered without anyone else’s knowledge such as some of the monarchies who would have wanted their share of the spoils. It is entirely possible that even if Easton had recovered his treasure from Oak island that the place could have been continued to be used as a kind of off the books bank.
This may represent one of the reasons that both Claude and Charles de La Tour had been offered baronetcies of Nova Scotia which they both eventually accepted after abandoning their French ties to Nova Scotia.
Here we may be looking at a kind of Franco Scottish organization meant to benefit specific related families who could profit from treasures that were lost or misplaced in times of war thus also leading to the possibility that this consortium could have also been used by the later Jacobite Movement of the Stewart family and even further still could have become known of by the intelligence services of the young United States via the associations of individuals in France such as Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin. Supporting this notion is how many members of the family of the Baron of Nova Scotia later became part of America. Of note is how other members of the de la Tour and Rochefoucauld family also had business interests in America and also held friendships with people like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin.
What is being suggested here may include a story similar to the following. Peter Easton and ten other ships under his command spent a few years raiding Spanish settlements and shipping. Any gold and silver specie recovered could have been hidden at Oak Island even if there were no Money Pit at that time. The deposited funds at Oak Island could have been guarded by the de La Tour family and their loyalists in French Acadia at Oak Island. When the regime change happened between queen Elizabeth and the later James I Easton may have actually seen this as a better opportunity to abscond with the funds to Monaco and a group of people that seemed to have had family ties with the real father of James I David Rizzio of Panclieri, Italy.
Of course rumors of another money pit on Oderin Island where Easton had a pirate base could be true as well. The links to the de La Tour’s is very interesting and real so this kind of unlocks a point of view in the saga that has not been examined before.
It is also possible that in some ways Easton was repaying a debt that had been owed to House of Savoy bankers by Queen Elizabeth who was known to bank with the family.
So is it a coincidence that the characters of Mary Queen of Scots, David Rizzio, and Peter Easton may all be related to the Money Pit? It is also interesting that Robert Beale was associated with the overall story because there are later hints that a member of the de La Tour family i.e Louis de La Tour may have been involved in the famous Beale Treasure of Central Virginia that has fascinated treasure hunters for years in a similar way to how the Money Pit has gleaned a great deal of attention. The story of the Beale Treasure also has many links to aspects of Scottish history, the Declaration of Independence, and the later descendant family of the Alexander’s related to the first Baron of Nova Scotia.
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