Holy Blood, Holy Grail (72 page)

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knew he had worked for them at the time he wrote his book. The administrative chief of Radio-Television Suisse Romande told us that M.

Paoli had left in 1971.

He was said to have gone to Israel and worked for Israeli television at Tel

Aviv. The trail unfortunately ended here. 30 Paoli, Les Dessous, p. 86. 31The copies of Circuit, some of which are available at the Versailles Annexe, are a prime example of the obscure manner in which the story has been made available.

The first series of Circuit begins on May 27th, 1956, and runs weekly until a special edition which follows issue number 11 and is dated September 2nd, 1956. The magazines are mimeographed and generally consist of two to four pages. They issue from SousCassan, Annemasse, and each has an introduction by Pierre Plantard. Many contain the minutes of the meetings held to discuss the drawing up and registration of the statutes of the Prieure de Sion with the Sub-Prefecture at Annemasse, though the name of the Prieure is not mentioned once. In fact, the ostensible concern of all the issues of the magazine is low-cost housing. The organisation behind the magazine is not called the Prieure de Sion, but the Organisation for the Defence of the Rights and the Liberty of Low-Cost Homes! (A certain sense of humour pervades many of the Prieure documents.) At the same time, however, names which appear in Sion’s statutes appear in these issues of Circuit. There was one issue, however (no. 8, July 22nd, 1956), which contained an article by a certain M. Defago (who appears on Sion’s

Statutes as Treasurer) about astrology, explaining a system using thirteen astrological signs rather than twelve. The thirteenth sign is one called

Ophiuchus, and is placed between Scorpio and Sagittarius.

The second issues of Circuit appeared in 1959 and are called the Cultural

Periodical of the Federation of French Forces. Many of them have disappeared. We found Numbers 2 (August 1959), 3 (September 1959), 5

(November 1959) and 6 (December 1959). Mathieu Paoli records the existence of a Number 1 (July 1959) and a Number 4. In addition there

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is mention of Number 8 in Le Charivari. It thus appears that someone has removed certain issues.

The magazines contain articles on subjects ranging from Atlantis to astrology. Some contain political predictions for the years ahead computed astrologically by Pierre Plantard. On the reverse, all the magazines are stamped with the symbol of the organisation and the stamp of “Plantard’. 32 Vazart, Abrege de 1’histoire des Francs, p.

271. 33 Paoli, Les Dessous, p. 94. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid.” pp. 94 ff. 36 Ibid.” p. 102. 37 Ibid.”

p. 103. 38 Ibid.” p. 112.

9 The Long-haired Monarchs

1Cachet, Le Tombeau de Childeric Ier, Dumas, Le Tombeau de Childeric. 2According to Cachet, Le Tombeau de Childeric Ier, p. 25, Leopold Wilhelm (who was also Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights) kept twenty-seven of the bees for himself, while giving up the rest. We may be speculating too far but it is interesting to note that the Prieure de Sion at the time had twenty-seven command eries 3Our first inkling that Napoleon was connected with this story came with the numerous references in the Dossiers’ genealogies which noted among their sources the work of an Abbe Pichon. Between 1805 and 1814, Pichon completed a study of the Merovingian descent from Dagobert II until November 20th, 1809, when jean XXII des Plantard was born in Semelay (Nievre). His sources were stated to be documents discovered following the French Revolution.

Additional information was contained in the Alpina publication of Madeleine

Blancasall, which stated (p.1) that Abbe Pichon was commissioned by Sieyes (Official of the Directory, 1795-9) and Napoleon. A

comprehensive body of material is contained in L’Or de Rennes pour un

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Napoleon by Philippe de Cherisey, which is now on microfiche at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Briefly Cherisey says that the Abbe.

Sieyes, via Pichon’s researches on the captured royal archives, knew of the survival of the Merovingians. He told the story to Napoleon, whom he then urged to marry Josephine, the ex-wife of a Merovingian’

descendant,

Alexandre de Beauharnais. Napoleon later adopted her two children, who carried the

“blood royal’.

Later Napoleon commissioned Abbe Pichon (whose real name is said to be

Francois Dron) to complete a definitive genealogy. Napoleon was interested, among other things, in the indications that the Bourbon dynasty was in fact illegitimate. And his coronation as Emperor of the

French (not of France), in a ceremony with significant Merovingian resonances, is said to be a result of Sieyes’s and Pichon’s studies.

If this is so, Napoleon was setting up a foundation for a renewed Merovingian empire. Being childless by Josephine, he then married Marie Louise, the daughter of the Habsburg Austrian Emperor, of Merovingian descent. She bore his son, Napoleon II, who carried the

“blood royal’ of the

Merovingians. The latter however died childless. But the future Napoleon

III, son of Louis Bonaparte. and Hortense de Beauharnais (daughter of

Josephine by her first marriage) also carried the “blood royal’.

Cherisey also implies coyly that Archduke Karl (brother of Napoleon’s wife) was bribed to lose the battle of Wagram in 1809 in exchange for part of the Merovingian treasure which Napoleon had found in the Razes.

This treasure was later discovered at Petroassa in 1837, then a Habsburg domain. Given the Merovingian descent of the Habsburgs, it is clear to see why they would value it. 4 Carpenter, Folktale, Fiction and Saga, pp. 112 ff. 5The Roman name for Artemis was Diana, and another name for the Arduina cult was “Diana of the Ardennes’. A huge statue to her existed until it was destroyed by Saint Vulfilau in the sixth century. Her cult was a moon cult, with images of her carrying the crescent moon. She was also considered to be the deity of

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fountains and springs. The foundation of the Abbey of Orval, which legend intertwines with a mystic spring, may well suggest some vestige of a Diana/Arduina cult. See Calmet, “Des Divinites’, pp. 25 ff. 6For example see Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, book V, eh. 44. 7 Wallace-Hadrill, The Long-haired Kings, pp. 203 ff. 8 Ibid.” p. 158.

9 Dill, Roman Society in Gaul, p. 88. 10 Wallace-Hadrill, The Long-haired Kings, p. 171. 11The major sources for the life of Dagobert II are Digot, Histoire de royaume dAustrasie, vol. 3, pp. 220

ff.” and pp. 249 ff.” (eh. xv) and pp. 364 ff.,

Folz, “Tradition hagiographique’, and Vincent, Histoire fidelle de St.

Sigisbert. 12 Lanigan, An Ecclesiastical History, vol. 3, p. 101.

13Hen ri Lobineau, Dossiers secrets, planche no. 1, 600-900; Blancasall, Les

Descendants, p.8 and tableau no. 1. 14De Sede’s statement receives some support from the known facts about Saint

Amatus’s life. He incurred the enmity of the same Ebroin, Mayor of the

Palace to King Thierry III, who was behind the assassination of Dagobert II.

He was displaced from his bishopric at about the same time that Dagobert returned to his rightful heritage. The coincidence of dates could well reflect his involvement in Dagobert’s return. Dagobert would have been most likely to travel back to his kingdom via Saint Amatus’s bishopric. To travel directly up from the Razes would involve travelling through the territory of

Thierry III, something he would have avoided. 15Hen ri Lobineau, Dossiers secrets, planche no. 2, 1500-1650. Blancasall, Les Descendants, p. 8. This treasure joins the list of the other treasures either once or still in the Rennes-leChateau area. 16 Wallace-Hadrill.

The Long-haired Kings, p. 238. 17Called Satanicum in the Latin charters, a name derived from a Temple to

Saturn once situated there. 18 See n. 16. 19For an exploration of the

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cult see Folz, “Tradition hagiographique’. 20Digot, A.” Histoire du royaume dAustrasie, vol. 3, pp. 370 ff. 21Interestingly Jules Doinel, creator of the Gnostic Catholic Church and librarian at Carcassonne, published in 1899 a short work deploring the displacement of the Merovingians by the Carolingians. See Doinel, Note sur le Roi Hilderik III. 22 Wallace-Hadrill, The Long-haired Kings, p. 246. 23

ibid.” p. 248. 24 Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, p. 81. 25 Paoli, Les Dessous, p. 111. 26Dago bert II was “rediscovered’ in 1646 by Adrien de Valois. He was fully restored to the genealogies of the

Merovingians by the Jesuit Bollandiste

Henschenius, in Diatriba de tri bus Dagobertus, in 1655. See Folz,

“Tradition ~hagiographique’, p. 33. It is interesting, given this lack of knowledge of

Dagobert II at the time, that Robert Denyau mentions him in the Calendarium

Martyrology appended to his Histoire .. . de Gisors, dated 1629. 27De laude Cercle d’Ulysse, p.4. This charter supposedly originates from Villas Capitanarias later called Trapas, and relates to the foundation of the monastery Saint Martin d’Albieres. We tried to locate the charter without success. The archives of Capitanarias are held in the Archives de 1”Aude, Series H. But the charter does not appear. Thus it was with interest that we noted a letter to M. Jean Delaude, asking for his source of information on the document. The writer of this letter was a member of the

University of Line. Jean Delaude replied that the charter existed in the

French National Archives, that it was uncatalogued, and that even with the help of an archivist, it had taken him two months to trace it.

Although all such archival collections contain vast amounts of uncatalogued material, he gave no information on how this charter could be traced by anyone else. See

Cherisey, L’Enigme de Rennes, letters number 4 and 5 (1977). 28

Ponsich, Le Conflent, p. 244. 29Ibid.” fig. 1. See also Vaissete,

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Histoire generale de Languedoc, vol. 2 (notes), p. 276. 30Vaissete, Histoire generate de Languedoc, vol. 3, pp. 4 ff. 31The earliest report of this legend appears in 1686, when Dr. Plot in his Natural History of Staffordshire relates it, pp. 316 ff.” during a report on

Freemasonry. 32The title of Godfroi de Bouillon’s duchy, Basse=

Lorraine, was dropped in 1190, the suzeraines called themselves dukes of Brabant. So the duchess of

Brabant is no doubt a variant of the duchess of Bouillon. 33The standard French genealogical work is Anselm, Histoire genealogique et chronologique, which details the history of the house of Boulogne in vol. vi, pp. 247 ff. It is with Godfroi’s grandfather, Comte Eustache Ier de

Boulogne, that the confusion begins. His father is not recorded, only the name of his mother, Adeline, and her second husband, Ernicule, Count of

Boulogne. Ernicule adopted the young Eustache, making him heir. His true father is lost to history.

The Dossiers secrets (planche no. 2, 900-1200) record his true father as

Hugues des Plantard (“Long Nose’) who was assassinated (according to Abbe

Pichon) in 1015.

10 The Exiled Tribe

1 Graves, White Goddess, p. 271. 2 The full text is as follows: UN JOUR LES DESCENDANTS DE BENJAMIN QUITTERENT LEUR PAYS, CERTA INS

RESTERENT, DEUX MILLE ANS APRES GODEFROY VI, DEMENT ROI DE

JERUSALEM

ET

FONDE L’ORDRE DE SION De cette legende merveilleuse qui ome 1’histoire, ainsi que 1’architecture dun temple don’t le som met se perd dans I’immensite de 1’esp ace et des temps, don’t PoussIN a voulu ex primer le mystere dans ses deux tableaux, les “Bergers d’Arcadie’, se trou ve sans doute lesecret du tres or devant lequel, les descendants pay sans et bergeFs du fier sicambre, meditent sur “et in arcadia ego’, et le Roi

“Midas’. Avant 1200 a notre ere Un fait important est, 1’arrivee des Hebreux dans la terre promise et leur Jente installation en Caanan.

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Dans la Bible, au Deuteronome 33; il est dit sur BENJAMIN: C’est le bien aime de 1”Eternal, il habit era en se curite aupres de lui, 1”Eternal le couvrira toujours, et resid era entre ses epaules. -f- . Il est encore dit a Josue 18 que le sort donna pour heritage aux fils de BENJAMIN par mi les quatorze vines et leur villages: JEWS de nos fours JERUSALEM avec ses trois points dun triangle: GOLGOTHA SIGN et E3ETHANIE. 0 Et enfin il eSt. eCrlt, aux Juges 20 et 21:

“Aucun de nuus ne donnera sa fine pour femme a un Benjamite ... O

Eternel,

Dieu d’Israel, pourquoi est-li arrive en Israel qu’il manque aujourd’hui une tribu d’Israel’ -J0

A la grande enigme de 1”Arc adie vIItGILE qui et ait dans lesecret des dieux, leve le voile aux Bucoliques X-46/50: “Tu pro cul a patria (nec sit mihi credere tantum).

Alpinas, a, dura, nives et frigora

Rheni me sine sola vi des A, to ne frigora laedant! A tibi ne ten eras glacies sec et asp era plan tas VIV

SIX PORTES Ou le sceau de 1”Etoile, void les secrets des parchemins de 1”Abbe sAUNIEttE, Cure de Rennes-leChateau et qu’avant lui le grand ini tie

PoussIN connaissait lorsqu’il rea lisa son oeuvre a la demande du PAPE, 1’inscription sur la tom be est la meme.” - Lobineau, Dossiers secrets, planche no. 1, 400-600. 3 Graves, Greek Myths, vol. 1, p.

203, n. 1. 4Mich ell Sparta, p. 173. The Spartans worshipped both Artemis and Aphrodite as a warrior goddess. The latter is the form often assumed by Ishtar and

Astarte, indicating the probability of Semitic influence. 5 2 Maccabees 5:9. 6 1

Maccabees 12:21. Semi tic was first coined in 1781 by Schlozer, a German scholar, to indicate a group of closely related languages. Those who spoke these tongues became called “Semites’. The word derives ultimately from Shem, son of Noah.

If the mountain in question held a Jewish colony, it would have been called the “Mountain of Shem’. But there is also a more mundane possibility. The

Latin word “Semita’ means path or way, and this alternative must be

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considered. i i The Holy Grail

1These very likely had some connection with Otto Rahn, see Chapter 2, n. 9. 2Philippe of Flanders often visited Champagne, and in 1182 tried unsuccessfully to marry Marie of Champagne (daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine) who had been widowed the year before. Le Conte del Graal probably dates from about this time.