Last week, we continued our investigation by reviewing the features of the constellation Cygnus and examined research that linked Cygnus with Oak Island. Multiple lines of research indicate the involvement of Sir Francis Bacon and the Rosicrucians with Oak Island. Evidence suggests that there was a specific individual whose premature and heroic death influenced Bacon and his circle to memorialize them on Oak Island as a Shepherd Poet of Arcadia whose symbol was the swan.
Sir Philip Sidney, Wikimedia Commons
Sir Philip Sidney was an English knight, courtier, and poet. His parents were Sir Henry Sidney and Mary Dudley. Sidney was the nephew of Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Sir Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick. The Dudley’s were influential nobles who were tutored by John Dee, who many believe was the leader of the Rosicrucians in England at that time. "When Mary’s brother, Philip, was presented at the French court in August 1572, he impressed his hosts with the native quality of his French. King Charles IX made Sidney a baron of the French realm and gave him the arms of ‘the Swan’, because the French equivalent, cygnet (pronounced seen-yay), was the closest the heralds could come to the Englishman’s Frenchified name, de Sideney (pronounced de-see-de-nay).” (Faulkes, Tiger’s Heart in Woman’s Hide, p. 131).
From the French version of Arcadia, The British Museum, United Kingdom
The picture of Philip Sidney, used in the French edition of Arcadia, shows swans over him. This became the unofficial symbol for both Sidney and his sister, Mary Sidney Herbert. Not long after being in Paris, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre occurred. This involved a large number of Protestant Huguenots being assassinated by French Catholic forces. Sidney was kept safe but had to leave the country. He spent time in Padua, Genoa and Florence in Italy. While at the University of Padua, he studied astronomy and geometry. He read Jacopo Sannazaro’s, “Arcadia” that led to Sidney's love of pastoral romance. During a sabbatical from the Queen’s court, Sidney wrote his masterpiece, “Arcadia” dedicated to this sister Mary.
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA
Researcher Cort Lindahl has previously written about a scene in Sidney’s “Arcadia” that has an uncanny similarity to the Oak Island Money Pit. As the story goes:
"Master, answered Dorus, … , how under an ancient oak (the place he made him easily understand by sufficient marks he gave to him) he had found digging but a little depth, … , piercing farther into the ground he had met with a great stone, which, by the hollow sound it yielded, seemed to be the cover of some greater vault, and upon it a box of cypress, with the name of the valiant Aristomenes, graven upon it : and that within the box he found certain verses which signified that some depth again under that all his treasures lay hidden, what time for the discord fell out in Arcadia, he lived banished....Therefore taking a strong jade, laden with spades and mattocks, which he meant to bring back otherwise laden he went in all speed thitherward,...At length being come to the tree, which he hoped should bear so golden acorns, down went all his instruments, and forthwith to the renting up of the hurtless earth… that he deemed a great number of hours well employed in groping farther into it, which with logs and great stones was made as cumbersome as might be, till at length, with sweaty brow, he came to the great stone. A stone, God knows, full unlike to the cover of a monument, but yet there was the cypress box with Aristomenes graven upon it, and these verses written in it…made his folly the instrument of revealing that which far greater cunning had sought to conceal. For so it fell out that Dametas having spent the whole day in breaking up the cumbersome work of the pastor Dorus, and feeling in all his labour no pain so much as that his hungry hopes received any stay, having with the price of much sweat and weariness gotten up the huge stone, which he thought should have such a golden lining, the good man in the great bed that stone had made, found nothing but these two verses written upon a broad piece of vellum (parchment)”. With so many details similar to the Money Pit on Oak Island, it appears that someone was trying to bring this story of “Arcadia” to life.
The Red Crosse Knight, The Fairie Queene by Edmund Spenser
Another example of a book that may have been connected to the Oak Island Mystery is the “The Fairie Queene” by Edmund Spenser. The story has details that involve an island with a castle that has treasure hidden that is accessible by going down a shaft underground that leads to a cavern. Many researchers believe that Spenser was a pen name for Francis Bacon and other Rosicrucian writers in his circle. The first patron of Spenser was Philip Sidney. Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, became Spenser’s patron after Sidney’s death. Bacon worked for Essex as his advisor. In another interesting twist, in the notebooks of Professor James Lietchi, who we believe was the creator of the 90ft stone cipher, there were details about the Red Crosse Knight, which is the principal character in The Fairie Queene. Coincidence?
The Curse of Oak Island, The History Channel
Recent discoveries suggest there may have been defensive structures that were built on Oak Island. If so, could these have been re-creations from the “The Fairie Queene? What about the alleged castle in New Ross, located up the Gold River about 15 miles from Oak Island? Many believe there may have been a castle/estate built there at one time and destroyed by Cromwell’s forces during the English Civil War. It’s speculated that Sir William Phipps dropped the Knights of the Garter medal of Christopher Monck, his patron, at the New Ross property, where it was found by children playing in the 1970’s. When Tony Sampson was exploring the well on the property, a Broad Arrow Mark was found etched on a stone in the well. This mark was also part of the Sidney’s Family crest and used during his time as Joint Master-General of the Ordnance in 1585–6. Was Sidney and his circle involved with this construction?
Cassiopeia Constellation, MessageToEagle.com
It’s believed that Sidney and his circle, which included Fulke Greville, Edward Dyer, Robert Devereaux, John Dee, Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon and others, were Rosicrucians/Freemasons. In 1572, the Supernova in Cassiopeia was a symbol that something of great importance was about to happen. The Rosicrucians/Freemasons took it as a sign to start planning for their future. Their principal goal was to find a utopia/colony that they could mold into a future independent country. Elizabeth was hesitant to agree to colonization, so plans were made secretly before it was authorized by the Queen. It’s quite possible that this secret project had the codename of “Arcadia”.
Sir Philip Sidney’s funeral procession, Wikimedia Commons
In September 1586, Sidney was shot in the thigh during the Battle of Zutphen in the Netherlands. He had been fighting there to aid the Protestant cause against Catholic Spain. The wound became infected, and he died at the age of 31. Sidney gave up his thigh armor so another soldier could use it because he said his need wasn’t as great. As he died, he refused water so that another soldier could have it. Sidney was the epitome of an English gentleman with the traits of Grace, Elegance, Courage, Faithfulness, which embodied the Swan. His funeral was very impressive and seemed to honor someone from a much higher station. Sidney’s friends and family were devastated by his loss. The Shephard Poet had passed, but his memory would endure, as his circle would make sure of it.
Please join us next week as our series delves deeper into the motivation and inspiration of our suspects.
