The Sword & the Grail: The Story of the Grail, the Templars & the True Discovery of America

by Andrew Sinclair

Draws on new archaeological evidence to argue that, years before Columbus, Prince Henry St. Clair of Orkney arrived in North America with the intention of establishing a colony and discusses the role of the Knights Templar in the expedition. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: History, Religion

245 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

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

[Kelli George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Sinclair really does not know much about the 1398 voyage of Prince Henry Sinclair and the Zeno brothers from Venice. He calls islands which were proven to have existed "mythical" and makes unsubstantiated claims about the voyage and denies the fact that the colonists which were brought over survived.

[Bettina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Facinating account of the story of the Templars, the Holy Grail and the true discovery of America. Andrew Sinclair has put together an awesome historical account of the legend and legacy of the Knights Templar the discovery of American, and the origins of the Freemasons and their role in world history.

[Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muito interessante pensar na possibilidade de britânicos descobrindo a América antes de Colombo.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spettacolare.

[Benedicto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stupendo pensare di un'altra possibilità della scoperta dell'America.