The End
I love to get reader feedback, both to help me continue to write in a way and about things that you (hopefully) enjoy and also to improve on the things you don’t. Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected], and/or also to leave a review at Amazon or Goodreads.
If you enjoyed The Swagger Sword, you may want to read the other books featuring Cameron and Amanda in my “Templars in America” series, all of which have been Kindle Top 10 Bestsellers in their categories:
Cabal of the Westford Knight
Templars at the Newport Tower (2009)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GWTZYLS
Set in Boston and Newport, RI, inspired by artifacts evidencing that Scottish explorers and Templar Knights traveled to New England in 1398.
Thief on the Cross
Templar Secrets in America (2011)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OQIXCG
Set in the Catskill Mountains of New York, sparked by an ancient Templar codex calling into question fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church.
Powdered Gold
Templars and the American Ark of the Covenant (2013)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GWTYJ5K
Set in Arizona, exploring the secrets and mysteries of both the Ark of the Covenant and a manna-like powdered substance.
The Oath of Nimrod
Giants, MK-Ultra and the Smithsonian Coverup (2014)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NW13QTG
Set in Massachusetts and Washington, DC, triggered by the mystery of hundreds of giant human skeletons found buried across North America.
The Isaac Question
Templars and the Secret of the Old Testament (2015)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016E3X2QK
Set in Massachusetts and Scotland, focusing on ancient stone chambers, the mysterious Druids and a stunning reinterpretation of the Biblical Isaac story.
Echoes of Atlantis
Crones, Templars and the Lost Continent (2016)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MXJ0BNX
Set in New England, focusing on artifacts and other evidence indicating that the lost colony of Atlantis, featuring an advanced civilization, did exist 12,000 years ago.
The Cult of Venus
Templars and the Ancient Goddess (2017)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0767Q4N1S
Set in New England, triggered by the discovery of a medieval journal revealing that the Knights Templar came to America before Columbus because they were secretly worshiping the ancient Goddess.
Available at Amazon and as Kindle eBooks
I have always been fascinated by Christopher Columbus. He was too smart and too savvy and too sophisticated to believe he had actually made landfall in Asia. His writings and logs indicate he possessed ancient maps and charts, and he was an astute student of ancient voyages, both real and legendary. So what were his real motivations? And what was up with the Templar crosses on his sails? Could these crosses, I wondered, be a clue as to where he obtained the ancient maps and charts?
Likewise, I have long felt that the Vatican Banking Scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s was one of the most compelling and elaborate power plays of my lifetime. Think about it: Senior Vatican officials allied themselves with the Mafia and a group of fascists, under the umbrella of a rogue Freemasonic lodge, in an effort to bring down the Italian government. If I came up with this as a plot for one of my novels, many readers would roll their eyes in disbelief.
Yet that is precisely what happened. And it may have been much worse, with senior Vatican officials rumored to be involved with crimes ranging from murder to the kidnapping of children to even the assassination of the pope. That the Vatican lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the scandal was, because of the magnitude of the other crimes, only a footnote to the story.
A mysterious map of Narragansett Bay, written in French and believed to date to the 1600s, provided an opportunity for me to link Columbus to the Vatican Banking Scandal. This story, of course, is the result of that effort. The map is part of the same cache of documents relied on by researcher Zena Halpern in writing her 2017 book, The Templar Mission to Oak Island and Beyond. I have taken the liberty of redrawing the map to remove some of the extraneous markings and make it easier for readers to examine, without materially changing any details or features. For readers and/or researchers interested in studying the un-redrawn version, it is reproduced below (I have been unable to determine what the dots marked “un,” “deux” and “trois” in the Newport area, and the horizontal lines labeled “vingt” and “trente,” are intended to represent):
Is the map authentic? It appears to be, though I cannot say for certain, just as I cannot say the 1178 journal itself is. Look for upcoming books by researchers Scott Wolter and Donald Ruh, which should shed more light on this purported 1178 Templar journey to the Catskills.
As is the case with all the books in this series, if an artifact, site or object of art is pictured, it is real (except as specifically noted here). And if I claim it is of a certain age or of a certain provenance or features certain characteristics, that information is correct. Likewise, the historical and literary references are accurate. How I use these objects and references to weave a story is, of course, where the fiction takes root. For inquisitive readers, perhaps curious about some of the specific historical assertions made and evidence presented in this novel, more information is available here (in order of appearance in the story):
* The swagger sword pictured in the book is real. The markings do, indeed, mirror markings on a map leading to buried artifacts on Hunter Mountain. The swagger sword, and others like it, were (as stated) given to leaders of the P2 Masonic Lodge, including Archbishop Marcinkus. The markings on the back side of the sword blade, however, are fictional.
* The Newport Tower winter solstice alignment is real, as shown in the images. A large and eclectic group gathers every year on the winter solstice at 8:30 AM to view the phenomenon.
* As alluded to above, the Zena Halpern book, The Templar Mission to Oak Island and Beyond (2017), is a real book. It describes the 1178 Templar journey to the Catskills in detail. According to this book, and as stated in this story, one of the items retrieved by the Templars in the Catskills and brought back to Seborga, Italy was “an agreement of union between one Hasmonian princess, Myriam of Migdal, and Yeshua ben Yoseph of the royal House of David, at Cana,” which agreement bore the seal of King Herod. See page 221. Ms. Halpern had planned to write a follow-up book, which would have analyzed the Narragansett Bay map, but unfortunately she passed away in May of 2018 before completing the work.
* For support for the assertion that the Guinevere character is a member of the Gunn clan, see Kerry Ross Boren and Lisa Lee Boren, Following the Ark of the Covenant: The Treasure of God (Cedar Fort 2000), at page 60.
* The Ruthie Sanders character is fictional.
* The Upton Chamber, located in Upton, MA, is an actual stone chamber which features a corbelled roof. Luminescence testing on soil behind the chamber entrance wall indicates the cave was built prior to the early 1600s, conclusively establishing that it is not a Colonial structure. The chamber is open to the public; more information, and location, can be found here: https://www.uptonma.gov/historical-commission/pages/heritage-park
* Newgrange and other surrounding megalithic sites were, as claimed, owned by the Cistercians during medieval times as part of their Mellifont Abbey holdings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange. Many historians believe the Newport Tower was modeled after the Mellifont Abbey lavabo. See Steven Sora, The Lost Colony of the Templars (Destiny Books 2004) at page 89. See also Carl Christian Rafn, Supplement to the Antiquitates Amercanae (1841), reprinted here: http://www.jasoncolavito.com/the-newport-tower.html. See also https://atlantisrisingmagazine.com/article/the-newport-tower-mystery.
* The Archbishop Paul Marcinkus character is a real historical figure. The following sources support the assertions made in this story:
— that he was closely associated with key members of the rogue Masonic Lodge, P2, and members of organized crime in Italy: ibid.
— that he was the head of the Vatican Bank and ensnarled in the Vatican Banking Scandal: ibid.
— that he may have been involved in the murder of banker Roberto Calvi (found hanging from London’s Blackfriars Bridge), a leading figure in the Vatican Banking Scandal: ibid.
— that he may have been involved in the 1983 kidnapping of Emanuela Orlandi generally, and specifically that he may have ordered gangster Enrico de Pedis to commit the crime: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/world/europe/25italy.html.
— that accounting documents show that the Vatican paid $300,000 for the living expenses of the kidnapped girl, Emanuela Orlandi: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/world/europe/emanuela-orlandi-vatican-vatileaks.html.
— that his obituary made reference to a mistress and child: https://www.excatholicsforchrist.com/articles.php?PageURL=Marcinkus.htm. See also Philip Willan, The Vatican at War (iUniverse 2013) at page 168.
— that in his later years he purchased the cache of documents and maps describing the 1178 Templar expedition to the Catskills, and at one point owned one of the P2 swagger swords: The Templar Mission to Oak Island and Beyond, at pages 269-272.
* As of the date of publication of this book, Emanuela Orlandi remains missing, some 35 years after her kidnapping. The assertion that Archbishop Marcinkus is her father is purely fiction.
* The summary of Plutarch’s writings recounting the ancient Carthaginian journey to a land that some historians interpret as being New England is accurate, as is Barry Fell’s analysis of same. See Barry Fell, Saga America (Times Books 1980), at page 64 and following.
* The description of Galway’s St. Nicholas Church and its architectural and ornamental features is accurate. The church does incorporate parts of an older, medieval Templar church, there is a skull and crossbones carved above an older church entrance, and there is a Crusader’s tomb and so-called Apprentice Pillar (shaped like a Templar cross), all as described in the story. See generally, Jim Higgins and Susanne Heringklee, Monuments of St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway (Rock Crow’s Press). I also relied on excerpts from an as-yet unpublished guide book authored by Mr. Conor Riordan of Galway, entitled Galway Legend, Mystery and Dark History. Mr. Riordan offers tours of Galway, including St. Nicholas’ Church. See this web site: https://www.galwayprivatetours.com.
* Christopher Columbus was, indeed, in Galway in 1477. As I have described, he wrote about “people from Cathay” washing ashore. He prayed at St. Nicholas’ Church. And he wrote about a voyage in which he sailed “one hundred leagues beyond Thule.” For a thorough analysis of this journey “beyond Thule,” see David Sarfaty, Columbus Rediscovered (Dorrance Publishing 2010), at pages 142-145. For the assertion that he made this journey in order to view a solar eclipse from the southern coast of Nova Scotia, thereby acquiring vital data regarding longitudinal measurements, see Anne Molander, The Horizons of Christopher Columbus (Lulu Press 2012), at page 11. A stone monument stands in Galway commemorating Columbus discovering “sure signs of land beyond the Atlantic” in 1477. My assertion that he met with Templar representatives while in Galway is speculative.
* Bernard of Clairvaux (later Saint Bernard) was indeed the spiritual leader of the Templars, having written their original charter. A body of artwork depicting “The Lactation of Saint Bernard” can readily be found on the internet. Many of these works appear to depict Mary Magdalene rather than the Virgin Mary.
* For more information on the Hooked X rune and its significance and meaning, see Scott F. Wolter, The Hooked X (North Star Press 2009).
*An outcrop along the shoreline in Newport, RI with the carving, “In Hoc Signo Vinces,” does indeed exist, as pictured. This slogan is translated as, “Under This Banner We Are Victorious,” and was a Christian and later Templar battle cry. Some historians believe it was carved by the builders of the nearby Newport Tower. Its location is not publicized due to fear of vandalism.
* For information on the Columbus familial relationship with the Sinclair clan, see question 2, here: http://www.clansinclairsc.org/600thcelebrat.htm.
* For information on the coin from Genoa found near Oak Island, see here: http://www.adventuresofnicky.com/blog/361_the-knightstemplar-and-oak-island.html?refresh.
* Astarte’s analysis of the names of Columbus’ three ships is not fictional. He did indeed rename them all before his journey. “La Pinta” was a term used to describe a prostitute in medieval times, and the Santa Clara was the original name of La Nina. A discussion can be found here: http://worldmythtory.blogspot.com/2012/10/columbus.html
* Cumberlandite is the state stone of Rhode Island, is magnetic, and can only be found in that state. It is known as the Stone of Virgo: http://www.francesjane.com/cumberlandite.html
* The information about the Cistercians first building a monastery in Tracadie, Nova Scotia (near Guysborough Harbor), later relocating to Cumberland, RI, and eventually settling in western Massachusetts after a major fire in Cumberland, is accurate. See: https://www.spencerabbey.org/our-history/the-foundation-ofpetit-clairvaux-1825-1857/
* The Nine Men’s Misery monument, as pictured, is located off a trail on preservation land behind the original Cumberland monastery, which today houses the Cumberland Public Library. The moss-covered stone cross and other stone “trail markers” shown in the book are real. To the best of my knowledge, however, there is no treasure of any kind buried on these lands or within the monument.
* The translation of the ketubah used in this book is based on the ancient form of actual Jewish marriage contracts (though I did shorten the text a bit by removing extraneous references).
* The Franz Pfyffer von Altishofen character is fictional, though 11 members of the Pfyffer family have served as captains of the Pontifical Swiss Guard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfyffer
The question remains: Did Jesus and Mary Magdalene marry and have children? I don’t know. In many ways, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that, over the centuries, powerful and influential groups of people have believed the legendary union to be a reality. These beliefs, in turn, have motivated their behavior. And it is, of course, behavior that changes history. So, real or not, the marriage has become an integral part of our history.
This kind of stuff keeps me up at night. Hopefully it has brought some enjoyment and intellectual stimulation to you as well. Thanks for reading.
David S. Brody, August, 2018
Westford, Massachusetts
Images used in this book are the property of the author, in the public domain, and/or provided courtesy of the following individuals (images listed in order of appearance in the story):
* Swagger Sword Blade, courtesy Zena Halpern
* Newport Tower Winter Solstice Starburst, courtesy Richard Lynch
* Mellifont Abbey Lavabo, credit Tony Mulraney
* Newgrange Burial Mound, credit “Tjp finn” and Wikipedia
* The Hooked X Rune, courtesy Scott F. Wolter
Readers may not realize that the finished version of a novel is often the fifth or sixth draft of the story, each draft becoming iteratively improved (hopefully) over the prior version. Those tasked with reading these early versions, armed only with red pens and caffeine, perform an invaluable task. I offer heartfelt thanks to Kimberly Scott, Benjamin Brody, Jeff Brody, Cat Skinner, Tracy Lee Carroll and Patrick Shekleton.
Fellow researchers who assisted and guided me in my research include Michael and Mary Yannetti, Patrick Shekleton, Zena Halpern, Richard Lynch and Alessandra Nadudvari. The inclusion of their names in this paragraph list does not necessarily indicate these experts agree with my research conclusions, but it does mean they were invaluable to me in my efforts to write this book.
Lastly, to my wife, Kim: This is my e
leventh novel, and I still remember nervously handing over to you the first draft of my first book. You shepherded that novel to a successful completion, and you have skillfully done so almost a dozen times since. As I have commented before, it is no easy thing to criticize a spouse’s creative work. Thanks for knowing when to crack the whip and when instead to crack open the rum.
The Swagger Sword Page 29
