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The carved head said to be that of a murdered apprentice |
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American maize in Rosslyn Chapel |
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Aloe cactus carving |
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Rosslyn
Chapel
Introduction
The Mystery
The History of the Chapel
The Carvings
Templars
& Masons
The St Clair Family
Beneath the
Chapel
The Thule Society
Earth Energy of Rosslyn
Related
Locations
Rosslyn Chapel Today
Further Information
The Rosslyn Chapel
Cubes Quest
Temple/Balantrodoch
The legend attached
to the Apprentice Pillar, recorded since at least the 1600s, has also
fascinated many:
From the Rosslyn Chapel guide book:
The master mason having received from his patron the model of a pillar of exquisite workmanship and design, hesitated to carry it out until he had been to Rome or some such foreign part, and seen the original. He went abroad, and in his absence, an apprentice, having dreamed the finished pillar, at once set to work and carried out the design as it now stands, a perfect marvel of workmanship. The master mason on his return was so stung with envy that he asked who had dared to do it in his absence. On being told it was his own apprentice, he was so inflamed with rage and passion, that he struck him with his mallet, killed him on the spot, and paid the penalty for his rash and cruel act.
A carving of a head, showing a wound to the right temple, at the other (western) end of the chapel, is said to be that of the murdered apprentice.
Many have seen in this legend a resonance with the Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff, the Master Mason of the building of the Temple of Solomon.
Some even believe that the Holy Grail itself is sealed within this pillar.
Curiosity focuses on one of the few inscriptions carved in the chapel, which on the lintel next to the Apprentice pillar. It is in Latin, and reads in translation:
'Wine is strong, a King is stronger, women are strongest but TRUTH conquers all'.
This lintel is above the stairs leading down to the now-empty crypt. The steps down to the crypt are extremely worn, indicating that a great many people passed down them over the years. As the chapel was only really used for about 100 years, from its completion to its closure during the Reformation, a huge number of people must have visited the crypt in this time. Why is unknown, although it has been speculated that it was a place of pilgrimage, where some sacred object was displayed.
Some have theorised that the countless depictions of plants and flowers are a herbal remedy in stone, showing medicinal plants.
Two species of plant carved in the chapel have been singled out for attention. These show Indian corn or maize and the Aloe cactus, both of which come from America and were supposedly unknown in Europe at the time that the chapel was built. (It was completed some five or six years before Colombus's discovery of the New World.) The presence of images of these plants has been taken as confirmation of the claims that Sir William's grandfather, Henry the Navigator, Prince of Orkney, led an expedition to north America in the 1390s - for which much evidence exists on both side of the Atlantic.
Perhaps the last word should go to the late Michael Bentine, who always believed that Rosslyn Chapel was nothing less than 'a book in stone'. Books of paper or parchment may be lost or burnt, but Rosslyn Chapel retains its message - whatever that may be - for all time.
