Priory of Sion: Philippe de Chérisey, Gérard de Sède and the ‘Grand Parchment’Philippe de Chérisey described in his handwritten manuscript Pierre et Papier ("Stone and Paper") how he was responsible for fabricating both "parchments" which were originally published in Gérard de Sède’s 1967 book L’Or de Rennes – he had twice done this previously: in Circuit and L’Enigme de Rennes. In Stone and Paper, de Chérisey described the decoding technique to the ‘Grand Parchment’ and by checking his statements it turned out that his description was accurate. Philippe de Chérisey’s description of the decoding technique of the ‘Grand Parchment’ was accurate because the Knight’s Tour involved the usage of 25 letters of the French alphabet instead of the usual 26. Quoting Philippe de Chérisey from Stone and Paper: "There is a tricky bit here in that my grid decipherment has only 25 letters whereas the French alphabet has 26 – I have left out W. Was I cheating? No, not at all, as I drew up Documents I and II in semi-uncial handwriting to give the impression that they dated from an historical period when the letter W was unknown to the Western world as U and V were used instead". (Il y a un piège en ceci me la grille a 25 lettres quand l’alphabet français en compte 26, j’ai omis le W. Ai-je triché? Non pas du tout puisque j’ai rédigé les documents I et II en écriture semi onciale pour les situer en un temps où le W était ignore des occidentaux car ils se partageaient entre U et V.) |
