Templars in America: The Secret Legacy of Voyages to America Before Columbus

by Tim Wallace-Murphy, Marilyn Hopkins, Scott F. Wolter (Foreword)

“This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the true history of the founding of the most powerful nation on earth.”
—Scott Wolter, host of America Unearthed and author of Cryptic Code of the Templars in America
 
Using archival and archaeological sources, two historians reveal the hidden history of the Knights Templar and their travels to pre-Columbian America . . . and their influence on the Founding Fathers.
 
Templars in America reveals the story of two leading European Templar families who combined forces to create a new commonwealth in America nearly a century before the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Henry St. Clair of the Orkney Islands, then part of Normandy, and Carlo Zeno, a Venetian trader, made peaceful and mutually beneficial contact with the Mi’qmaq people of what is now Canada. Proof of their travels is carved in stone on both sides of the Atlantic and can be found in documentary evidence borne out by a strong oral tradition that has withstood the test of time. Historians Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins demonstrate how this early contact with the Americas ties into the centuries-long development of the Templars and Freemasonry, which in turn shaped the thinking of the Founding Fathers—and the American Constitution.
 
Wallace-Murphy and Hopkins also reveal the continuous history of American exploration from the time of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, through the age of the Vikings. Templars in America is a wild ride from the golden age of exploration to the founding of the United States.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Historical

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

The Irish born internationally known author and lecturer, Tim Wallace-Murphy, is the author of thirteen published books, has appeared in some eight or nine TV documentaries and has given lectures from Seattle and Long Beach on the West Coast of the USA, in Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy and in Prague.

Eleven of his works cover historical aspects of spirituality, including the Knights Templar, the Cathars, Rosslyn Chapel and the Western Esoteric Tradition as well as the Grail genre. The other two, including the most recent are more mainstream, namely 'What Islam did for Us' a study of how Islamic scholarship laid the foundations of so many fundamental and valued aspects of European culture and his latest work 'The Genesis of a Tragedy - A Brief History of the Palestinian People.' Tim was provoked to write this work as the Palestinian side of this conflict is rarely heard in either Western Europe or the United States and if this ongoing running sore in East West relations is ever to be solved, the pain on both sides needs to be understood.

He also acts as a tour guide in some of the most beautiful and inspiring sacred sites in Europe.

Reviews

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing. Title is misleading. Info is very good...,

The title is very misleading. Being a lover of all things Templar and assuming the book contained theories about Templars coming to America after their extermination by the Catholic church and Phillip the Fair of France, I was interested to see what proof was presented.

This book is a study of what has become known as THE ZENO NARRATIVE and everything surrounding it, written history, archaeology, oral traditions, etc.

To sum up, Earl (or Prince) Henry Sinclair of Orkney is purported to have visited and settled in the Americas with the assistance of legends and writings from his Nordic (Viking) heritage and a pair of Venetian mariners, Antonio and Nicolo Zeno. This was said to have happened around 1398, almost 100 years prior to Columbus. Enter the controversy.

The book presents a very sound case for this settlement, offering archaeological and historical documentation, some of which can be viewed by anyone that wants to make a trip to New England or Canada. I believed that the Americas were used in established trade for centuries before Columbus, and this book further supports that belief.

Well researched with an impressive bibliography and extensive footnotes and references, this book covers every base.

3 issues make me rate this historical study a 4 instead of a 5 and they are:
1) The authors reference and seem to have an agenda surrounding Rex Deus (I won't get in depth, but Rex Deus claim to be kin to the Old Testament Priests and therefore somehow historically desireable or even worthy of kingship?). They don't go in to great depth about this, but it stays on the periphery of the book throughout.
2) The title is very misleading, regardless of the factual basis or content of the book. I very much enjoyed this book and the historical assertions it makes, but it was not what the title suggests and that is a problem for me no matter how much I enjoy the work. THIS BOOK IS NOT A STUDY OF TEMPLARS IN AMERICA, rather it is a study of a possible descendent or relative of a Templar, that traveled to America.
3) The book makes reference to the connection between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. This is just not so. I am a student of the Templars and know for a fact that these connections are based on conjecture and wishful thinking to support "Holy Grail" or "Mary Magdalene" type mysteries (which I enjoy as fiction, but none of the grail or mary magdalene stuff can be proven as fact). They suggest this tie with the usual association between the Sinclairs (St. Clairs) and the Freemasons. There is nothing to tie Freemasonry to Templars except that the Freemasons based their organization on some of the rules of the Templar order.

So, to sum up, this was a very good historical account of pre-Columbian voyages to the new world. Flawed only by the title, a questionable agenda regarding an ancient secret society and references to connections between the Templars and organizations of today.

STILL, A VERY GOOD HISTORICAL REFERENCE.

[Melissa Cuevas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this such a low review because I believe it's mistitled to try and feed off of the whole Templar hype.

What it is: a very fascinating and informative book to support the idea that Europeans were in the Americas before Columbus. Has some strong Templar history in the beginning, however:

What it isn't: A book with a strong premise to support the idea that the Knights Templar came to the Americas.

[Louise Nemmers · Rating 1 out of 5]

More hysterical non-fiction than historical fiction. I find it amusing that they use their other books as factual sources for this book - and don't list hardly any primary sources. So many of their points have been debunked by others. A fun read to learn about other theories out there for pre-Columbian travels to North American. But it is not grounded in any academic rigor or research.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

First I will say that there was some interesting history and tidbits, especially with Norse/viking history in here and I did learn a few new things, however, it was kind of a long and hard read overall. The way it was written was kind of choppy and some paragraphs were very long winded - almost a whole page for one paragraph which, in my opinion makes it hard to read. It was also very much like reading text book with not so much a flowing story, but inserted bits and pieces that we very dry because they were presented so technically. Personally, I also feel that since there were two different authors in the same book, their styles did not quite mend together and it was all over the place. The title is also a little deceiving as it is Templars in America, but the majority of the book, focuses more on vikings, the Norse, early visitors of Celtics and even Egyptians. The first chapter is a bunch of name dropping of people and lineage that are briefly mentioned and then forgotten later on. It is more of the visitors to America before Columbus rather than just the Templars. It was in the last few chapters that we got to the Templars in America and by that time it focused more on the change to Free Masons. The authors kind of got all over the place in the directionality and somewhat lost sight of where the book was headed, especially in the last section where they seemed to deviate way off course into a political rant about climate change and native injustice and had nothing to do with Templars travels and seemed way out of place, random, and off (personally I would just say cut out the last chapter/sections because it was an odd place to end the book). If you are interested in Norse and Viking history or St Clair's history then this would be a good book to collect facts about that, at least the first part. Like I said before, you discover bits of history that you might not have know about in this book, but you have to pick out the interesting parts from a lot of random fact drudgery. I think there was the potential to make it an interesting tale of history, but the facts and the story just ended up dividing it rather than blending into an overall good book and it just ended up being all over the place.

[Richard West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this while browsing through Barnes & Noble one day, it looked interesting so I picked it up. After reading it, I wished I had left it sitting on the shelf and picked up something else.

It has little to do with the Templars, instead focusing on the Vikings, and everyone else whom the authors claim discovered America before 1492 (and we all know Columbus didn't discover this country, he discovered the islands in the Caribbean which were to become, among other things, the Dominican Republic). Admittedly, this is interesting and offers up a lot of information, but the Templars are mentioned in passing and you keep wondering when the Templars will be discussed.

Finally, around page 150 we get to the Newport, Rhode Island Tower, a mysterious figure that many attribute to the Templars. And we get several chapters on that. Then we go to discussing the St. Clair family of Scotland and the Venetian explorer Zeno and his part in all of this. Then it's back to the St. Clair legacy again until finally you get to the last two chapters which are largely one of the co-authors New Age ramblings which, if you aren't into that type of stuff, you can overlook and not miss a thing.

Overall, much is promised via the title and little is given. Surely, there are other books which go into the Templars in North America more than this one. As it is, the best part of the book is the part discussing the Vikings, but not the Templars. Save you money and find another book that actually covers the subject of the Templars.

[Hannah Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though definitely an interesting page turner, Wallace-Murphy's work seems all over the place. Some chapters read like a textbook and others like emotional political diatribes. The second to last chapter especially is very out of place, where the author goes on a rant about climate change, racism, genocide, etc. The title is very misleading, I purchased this book hoping to read an unbiased analysis of alleged Templar relics in Nova Scotia and New England, but instead got a poorly researched argument for the validity of the Zeno Narrative.

Personally, I don't see why certain pre-Columbian cultures (other than Nordic sailors) couldn't cross the Atlantic. But we have no formal, legitimate evidence for such voyages, much less that those cultures knew of a land mass to the west, and to claim we do is simply bogus. I did not appreciate the continuous slandering of Christianity and the appraisal of esoteric religions such as Theosophy and Transcendentalism. Almost every characterization of the Middle Ages was inaccurate and steeped in bias, which the author claims to be against. Many of the historical "facts" can be easily debunked, especially the case of Newport Tower, which is clearly the remnants of a 17th century windmill when the primary sources are examined.

Overall I found the book somewhat interesting as a medieval historian but lazily researched, written, organized, and definitely not supported by hard evidence.

[Al MacKinnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a disappointment for me, but the cover does say it’s about secret voyages. I was expecting some interesting bits about Templar activity in America, but the author provides some broad history of the crusades and Templars and then speculates on some voyages that may or may not have happened. He calls out as facts things that have been debunked when I looked them up on Wikipedia. He seems to have just one primary source. He outright insults authors or researchers that have not come to the same conclusions as he has. The last third of the book is spent trying to prove the authenticity of two artifacts. Far too much time, at least for me. And he states as absolute fact that there is a secret society of descendants from the ancient Jewish priesthood that runs things behind the scenes. I would have liked to see more time spent diving into that than the amount of time spent on the RI tower.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected so much more. The two authors seemed to be coming at the book from different angles. One historical and one touchy-feely emotional conjecture. I would like to say I learned something of substance, but it I cannot. There was so much opinion spattered across each page that I am leary of believing anything which was stated as fact. Interesting premise, poorly poorly written.

[John R. Goyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and written, but for my taste and interest, much too detailed. Perhaps more of a complaint against myself than the author. A lot of background - more than I though necessary - and a number of digressions from what I thought was the main topic. Some dated or just sexist writing in the epilogue but overall a solid piece of work.

[Shea Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, I want to say thank you for the giveaway!

I thought this book would be more about Templars, and it's not, which is why I'm having such a hard time getting through it. I like the parts about the Norse/Vikings because it interests me. The title is totally misleading. I'm only on chapter 3, and I've only read maybe once about Templars.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have been better had the authors not gone on emotional rants (especially in the last chapter) based on their own prejudices. It is both interesting and extremely annoying how many nonfiction books end with diatribes on "climate change."

[Eyani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rambling nonsense

[AshleyKantorski · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very intriguing and interesting. It was very informative in its support of the idea that the Europeans were here in America long before Columbus. It was very well written and researched.

[Richard Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great information but I was expecting more.

[ChelsE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but slow

[Amber]

This is a very fascinating view presenting the possibility that Columbus wasn't first to the Americas and that in fact the Vikings, Celts and even the Egyptians may have taken journeys previous to Columbus.

[Jamal · Rating 2 out of 5]

The facts are good but his conclusions are too fanciful and he too steadfast and self conscious for this to prove an effective history...even in it's capacity as expose.