Wallace-Murphy Tim, Hopkins Marilyn. Templars in America: The Secret Legacy of Voyages to America Before Columbus

New Page Books, 2023. — 266 p.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.Tim Wallace-Murphy (1930–2019) studied medicine at University College, Dublin, and then qualified as a psychologist; he then became an author, lecturer, and historian. He has written more than a dozen books, including The Mark of the Beast (with Trevor Ravenscroft), Rex Deus, and Rosslyn: Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail. This last book provided invaluable source material to Dan Brown for his best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Tim was a dedicated supporter of the restoration and preservation of Rosslyn Chapel, near Edinburgh, Scotland, undertaking excavations and fieldwork with a team of like-minded people, who would become lifelong friends.Marilyn Hopkins was born in Totnes, England. Gifted with a natural dowsing ability, she has a deep interest in complementary medicine. She spent ten years studying various forms of Christianity and esoteric spirituality. She has contributed to seminars, talks, and lectures including an ecological seminar at Rosslyn organized by the Scottish Ecological Design Association.