ROSSLYN CHAPEL - ITS WONDROUS AND MYSTERIOUS INTERIOR
She rests at last beneath the starry skies.
Mason’s Pillar
Apprentice Pillar
Legend says that the Master Mason who had previously worked on the Mason's Pillar had received from the founder "the model of a pillar of exquisite workmanship and design" but did not feel confident enough to carry it out until he had seen the original. The Master Mason went abroad and in his absence, an apprentice set to work and carried out the design as we see it today, "a perfect marvel of workmanship". Upon his return, the Master Mason felt so envious that he killed his apprentice on the spot.
Revealing the Ceiling?
One of the more fascinating explanations for Rosslyn's 'crowded' ceiling is from Jeff Nesbit who writes,
'I believe that William <Sinclair> directed Mary's <of Guise> gaze up to Rosslyn's ceiling, drawing her attention to the overcrowding of certain courses, and then told her that his grandfather, 100 years previously, had hidden a huge Cross of Lorraine in it-with its arms tucked in!
As the accompanying graphic shows, when we move the "crowding" elements away from the ceiling vault, redistributing them according
to the harmony of the checkerboard pattern found in the first and third courses, the Lorraine Cross is then revealed with its arms extended!’
For more detail please see Mr Nesbit’s complete article ‘Rosslyn Chapel Revisited’ at http://www.mythomorph.com
The photo lower left shows the grave stone of William de St. Clair who faithful to his father Henry de St.Clair’s trust, attempted to take King Robert the Bruce’s heart to the Holy Land for burial.
On their way, they were persuaded to help the Spanish in their battle against the Moors and, for their pains, were killed at the Battle of Teba in 1330. However, the Moors thought so much of the courage of the Scottish knights that they gave permission for their bodies to be returned to Scotland. Sir William Keith, who had survived the battle, had the historic role of returning the heart of Bruce back to Scotland.
Resting Place of William de St. Clair
Close up of the Apprentice Pillar’s Base with its 8 writhing dragons entangled with each other from whose mouths vines spring that wind around the pillar.
It is suggested that this is a reference to Norse legend, with eight dragons of Niflheim chewing at the base of Yggdrasil the World Tree from which Odin hung - a nod to the Nordic-Orkney ancestry of the Sinclairs.
From Rome, the Nurse of Science and Arts
Lo! Architecture all Her Power imparts
Steals from each Temple every tempting form
And robs St. Peter’s,
Roslin to Adorn.
James Alves,
The Banks of the Esk, 1800
