OF VIKINGS & VOYAGEURS

by Jack Salmela

The history behind the novel.

King George III

Surrender at Yorktown, 1781

AMERICAN DELEGATION IN PARIS 1782 – 83

- John Jay - John Adams - Ben Franklin - Ben’s son William (deleg’n secretary) - Henry Laurens

Right side incomplete … British delegation refused to pose.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

… the basis for much ofthis presentation

1755 John Mitchell Map1755 John Mitchell Map

Northwest portion of Mitchell MapNorthwest portion of Mitchell Map

• PP

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes Sieur de

La Verendrye

at Lake of the Woods,but before that …

Early 1700s – searched for the NW Passage

… needed a way out of Lake Superior.

17301730 map by Chief Ochagach

sketched for La Verendrye

1730“Lac Long”

1730 map by Chief Ochagach

sketched for La Verendrye

Long Lake mentioned twice … but where is it? Long Lake mentioned twice … but where is it?

BORDER TREATY: “… northward of the Isles Royal & Phelippeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake, and the water Communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, …”

David Thompson:

David Thompson:

St. Louis Bay is

Long Lake!

St. Louis Bay is

Long Lake!

The

St. Louis Bay and these 4 rivers satisfied

treaty …

The Americans were in a tough spot …

… they risked losing what weknow as NE Minnesota.

So they made a counter-proposal …

Kaministiquia River

“… and the border runs up the Kaministiquia River.”

“Long Lake is at present-day Thunder Bay …”

But where is Long Lake ???

Pigeon River

Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842

… established border where it is today.Lord Ashburton

Daniel Webster

If Thompson’s border proposal had prevailed …

If Thompson’s border proposal had prevailed …

Superior, WI

Duluth, ( Ontario ? )

Another Anomaly of the

Treaty of Paris

The “chimney” ofnorthern Minnesota.

La Verendrye … established forts:

- Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake

- Fort St. Charles on Lake of the Woods

… 2 at south end of Lake Winnipeg:

- Fort Maurepas 1

- Fort Maurepas 2

Remember “Maurepas”

La Verendrye - documented “blonde-haired, fair-skinned” Mandan Indians (so did Lewis & Clark) - found an inscribed stone

1. Brought stone to Montreal.

La Verendrye

2. Jesuit priests thought inscriptions were “Tatarian.”

3. Stone was then sent to Paris … … has never been seen since.

a second inscribed stone …

The Kensington Rune Stone –

… found in 1898 … dated 1362

The Kensington Rune StoneThe Kensington Rune Stone

S. Wolter & R. Nielsen, 2006

4 pertinent conclusions:

1. SEM’s show weathering at least as old as colonial tombstones.

2. KRS is a land claim marker.

The Kensington Rune StoneThe Kensington Rune Stone

RUNES HIGH-LIGHTED IN BLUE

Code the year 1362

… 1362 is explicit on side

RUNES HIGH-LIGHTED IN RED (in first 4 lines)

Spell … “Gral ar” (Grail is)

3. Several runes are coded with punches & short chisel strokes ...

The Kensington Rune StoneThe Kensington Rune Stone

4. Of the “8 Gotlanders” in KRS party, at least one was a Cistercian monk who carved the runes.

The Cistercian Order

… spread into southern Sweden & Gotland

Most famous Cistercian:

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Est. 1098

Norse Exploration of North America … INCENTIVES:

1. The Plague … reached Sweden about 1350

Norse Exploration of North America … INCENTIVES:

2. Annihilation of the Knights TemplarBeginnings:

After 1st Crusade, 9 knights excav’d under Temple Mt.

One of the 9 was an uncle to Bernard of Clairvaux.

1129: Bernard influenced Papal recognition of Order.

Annihilation:

1307: Leadership of Knights Templar arrested.

Gr. Master, Jaques de Molay, burned at stake in 1314.

Remaining Order went underground … - fleet escaped port of La Rochelle - sought sanctuary: Scotland / North America

NOTE: Order connected to today’s Freemasons.

Bernard of Clairvaux

Temple Mt.,Jerusalem

Medieval Churches in Gotland

templar symbols

Wall Murals

Grave Slab

WHEN CLAIMING LAND, EXPLORERS …

Looked for large rivers

bigger the river, bigger the landmass

Toss-up: HUDSON BAY or GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE

POSSIBLE EXPEDITIONS:

Exiled Templar fleet, after 1307

Scottish Prince Henry Sinclair, 1398 Rosslyn: corn & aloe

Paul Knutson, 1354 a Norse expedition

PARIS, 1782 – did anyone know secrets about Norse expeditions to N. America?

PARIS, 1782 – did anyone know secrets about Norse expeditions to N. America?

Recall the name La Verendrye chose for his forts on Lake Winnipeg? Maurepas 1 & Maurepas 2

“Maurepas” – obviously a man of influence.

Isle Maurepas

Isle Philippeaux

Jean-Frederic Phelypeaux

comte de Maurepas

A High French Official -

Administrator of the navy early 1700s

became Chief Adviser to King Louis XVI

MontrealParis

Jean-Frederic Phelypeaux

comte de Maurepas

1749 … or earlier

The La Verendrye Stone was sent to Paris,

it was received by …

1774

King Louis XVI

… becomes king of France

de Maurepas

1774

King Louis XVI

… appoints de Maurepas as his chief adviser

Charles Gravier comte de Vergennes

France’s Foreign Ministerde Maurepas

de Maurepas appoints …

1774

Charles Gravier comte de Vergennes

France’s Foreign Minister

During Revolutionary War …

Ben Franklin is American commissioner in Paris.

His host is de Vergennes.

Starting in 1776

de Vergennes

1782de Maurepas

Two questions …

1.Is it possible that the French had a secret about medieval land claims in North America?

France lost central North America in 1763,

but in 1782 … they wanted to limit the

westward expansion of the new USA.

de Vergennes

2. Did they even keep it from other heads of state?

King Gustav III

King Louis XVI

Did Gustav have a North American land claim and never knew it?

… visited Paris in 1771

… after which, de Vergennes became the French ambassador in Stockholm.

de Maurepas

PARIS, 1782 – Could de Maurepas have recognized specific language

on the La Verendrye Stone ?

PARIS, 1782 – Could de Maurepas have recognized specific language

on the La Verendrye Stone ?

… a clue may be A V M

A V M

“Ave Virgo Maria”

… had intense meaning forSt. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians:

Virgin Mary was an “intercessor” in one’s faith …

A V M

“Ave Virgo Maria”

… had intense meaning forSt. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians:

Virgin Mary was an “intercessor” in one’s faith …

… at least one Cistercian Monk from Gotland carved the Kensington Rune Stone.

Church mural in Gotland

A V M

The only three Latin letters on the entire

KRS …

The only three Latin letters on the entire

KRS …

NOTE:

Although AVM may be a prayer for:

“10 men red with blood and death”

why the switch to Latin?

The KRS author(s) may have left a sort of signature (AVM was also found on grave markers in Greenland).

de Maurepas’s golden AVM found in his “secret room” at

St. Sulpice Church

de Maurepas’s golden AVM found in his “secret room” at

St. Sulpice Church St. Sulpice Church

Logo of today’s St. Sulpice Society

“ AVM ” had meaning for

de Maurepas and the St. Sulpice church in Paris.

Could the author(s) have inscribed a “signature” …

… such as AVM perhaps?

If so, did de Maurepas recognize it, and suspect that the stone was a land claim marker …

… left by advanced, religious Nordic people?

Would he have then hidden the stone, since it pre-dated all other European claims ???

A possibility for the La Verendrye Stone ???

The “Hooked X”

- substitute for runic ‘a’

- related to Cistercian & Templar beliefs

- found on Prince H. Sinclair’s astrolabe

- found in Rosslyn Chapel

- found on rune stones in New England

and …

The “Hooked X”

Columbus’ “sigla”

In 1477, Columbus went to Iceland.

The “Hooked X”

Columbus was a Knight of Christ, an off shoot of the Templars

after 1307.

Santa Maria

PARIS, 1782 – Is there any chance that Ben Franklin heard aboutthe La Verendrye Stone ???

PARIS, 1782 – Is there any chance that Ben Franklin heard aboutthe La Verendrye Stone ???

Pehr Kalm

Swedish botanist &student of Carl Linnaeus.

Commissioned to study economic plants in North America …

… but studied everything.

Pehr Kalm

It was Kalm who recorded La Verendrye’s account of the inscribed stone.

Pehr Kalm

Kalm & Franklin met .

The Fur Trade

The North West Fur Trade Co.

… a merger of small fur trade companies

( late 1770s / early 1780s)

… first leg of the traderoute to the northwest

of Lake Superior.

The grueling 8-mile

Grand Portage “trail”

Grand Portage “fort”

– center of N.W. Co. operations in the mid continent

… furs went east … trade goods went west

– the “gateway” to the west long before St. Louis

David Thompson Sir AlexanderMackenzie

The novel is dedicated to Thompson & Mackenzie.

Fictitious … Cedric Two-hearts

– important character,

– of Ojibwe heritage, – a descendant of ...

The real … Chief Two-hearts of the Rainy Lake tribe.

He said to Thompson the surveyor:

“ Why are you roaming our waters looking through your shiny instrument?”

A big cluein the

novel ...

The Hegman Lake Pictographs

Astronomy … - Thompson (surveyor) - Cedric Two-hearts & Hegman L. pictogr.’s

Sir Alexander Mackenzie

1789: when the river of his name did not empty into the Pacific …

Mackenzie realized – the “Northwest Passage” did not exist

He was the first European to cross North America over land - 12 years before Lewis & Clark

The fort at Grand Portage …

– abandoned by the NW Co. in 1803 due to harassment for operating on American soil

– in that year, they moved to …

Simon McTavish

Head of the North West Co.,

late 1700s

… Fort William( in present-day Thunder Bay )

William McGillivray … nephew of S. McTavish … became head of the N. W. Co. in 1804 … “Fort William” namesake

Tartan for Clan McGillivray

Simon McGillivray … brother to William … negotiated the merger of N. W. and Hudson Bay Co.’s in 1821

Did the Scottish furtrade owners know

about pre-Colombian explorations

of North America ???

Did the Scottish furtrade owners know

about pre-Colombian explorations

of North America ???

Recall the

Connections

Recall the

Connections

The Cistercians inscribed the Kensington Rune Stone …

The military branch of the Cistercians …

Knights Templar

Freemasonry

“The Hiram Key” Knight & Lomas

grave slab in Gotland, Sweden

Simon McGillivray

- Freemason

- Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Upper Canada.

Percy & Campbell … one of the precursors of the NW Co.

St. Cuthbert’s CrossLindisfarne Monastery

Campbell Coat-of-Arms… also in Greenland, 1330

Does Percy & Campbell know about a 3rd rune stone ?

OF VIKINGS & VOYAGEURS

To apply the history:

– Invent small fur trade co.

– Design lead seal …

Two inscribed stones exist in L. Winnipeg drainage basin …

La Verendrye Stone

Kensington Rune Stone

– There’s got to be a 3rd stone on a 3rd river …

Rainy Lake Rune Stone

P & C wants to find it … or are they too late ?

Since the KRS has secrets, does the RLRS have secrets ?

Two runes on the KRS are double punched …

Chi-Rho-Iota … from the

Lindisfarne Gospels

“ Christ the Anointed ”

Ruins of the Mithraeum along Hadrian’s Wall

The story gets going when, in present-day…

a Persian silver urn is found near Hadrian’s Wall, south of Lindisfarne.

Vikings’ very first raid on England …

Lindisfarne, 793 A.D.

Home of the fur trade owners

The Greatest Story Ever Told