Grateful thanks to Patricia
Briel for providing permission to use
an English translation of the
articles from 'Le Temps' on this website.
From 'Le Temps' (Swiss Newspaper), Geneva, 15.3.2004
Best-seller'The Da Vinci Code' is based
on a deception
Dan Brown's esoteric thriller, which has now appeared in
a French translation after selling 6 million copies in its
original English version, is a work of fiction that acknowledges
the truth of just two established facts: the existence of Opus
Dei and the existence of the Priory of Sion. The problem is that
the latter organisation was invented fifty years ago by an
anti-Semitic oddball in neighbouring France...
by Luc Debraine
Monday 15 March 2004
The Chief Curator of the Louvre, Jacques Saunière, is found
murdered in the museum's main gallery. He is stark naked. His
corpse is found inscribed within a circle just like that of the
famous drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci known as the Man of
Vitruvius. An anagram, as well as a mysterious sequence of
numbers, is inscribed on the inlaid parquet floor. Informed of
the murder while on a visit to Paris, an American friend of the
curator, Robert Langdon, rushes to the scene of the crime. That
proves to be a big mistake by this Harvard Professor of Art
History: he immediately becomes No. 1 suspect and is forced to
flee.
In his flight from the police Robert Langdon, who bears an
uncanny resemblance to actor Harrison Ford, takes with him a
beautiful young French police cryptographer, Sophie Neveu, who
has also been accused of being involved in the violent death of
Jacques Saunière. Pursued by a strange police superintendent and
an albino monk from Opus Dei, the couple are forced to solve one
by one the puzzles left behind at the scene of the crime by the
curator just before his death in an effort to shed some light on
the truth. And the truth of the matter is that Jacques Saunière
is the director of the Priory of Sion, a secret society that,
down the centuries, has jealously guarded the secret location of
and, above all, the true nature of that relic of all relics: the
Holy Grail.
That - in rough outline - is the plot of the 'Da Vinci Code', Dan
Brown's fourth novel. A former English teacher, this American
author was completely unknown until last spring. Then, after its
appearance in the USA in March 2003, his esoteric thriller
remained firmly at the top of the best-sellers lists, to the
extent of becoming a publishing phenomenon that transcended the
usual limitations of its genre: six million copies sold,
translated into forty languages (the French version has just been
published), not forgetting the film adaptation currently being
prepared by director Ron Howard.
Like Mel Gibson, who is raking in tens (soon to be hundreds) of
millions of dollars thanks to the runaway success of the 'Passion
of Christ', the success of the 'Da Vinci Code' has made Dan Brown
a rich man. And, similarly, the novel has triggered seemingly
endless controversies as, like Gibson's film, it is based on
Apocryphal Biblical texts that undermine Catholic orthodoxy from
within. In the USA, the Church is concerned about the
best-seller's influence on readers who might forget that it's
just a work of fiction – it's a far-fetched story certainly,
but it's also well-paced and is far from being stupid (I speak
from experience, having read it at a single sitting). The
Cardinal of Chicago, Francis George, has accused Dan Brown of
exploiting - 'under the cover of erudition' - the taste of the
general public for 'conspiracy theories'. Theologians and art
historians have also criticised the author for allowing himself
to be inspired by questionable religious sources, and for
suggesting that Leonardo Da Vinci scattered secret esoteric codes
throughout his works.
The fact is that Dan Brown makes only two real claims in the
book: that Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion actually exist.
There's no problem with Opus Dei, even if the way it's described
in the novel as a murderous organisation prone to scarifying
mortifications prompted a lively response from the organisation
itself, which demanded - unsuccessfully as it turned out - that
Dan Brown's publisher withdraw the reference to the Opus Dei from
the thriller's factual prologue.
The other 'fact' is more problematic. The American author says he
believes in the existence of the Priory of Sion, that it was
founded in 1099, that its archives are kept at the Bibliothèque
Nationale in Paris, and that its most eminent members have
included Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, Da Vinci and even Jean
Cocteau.
A simple Internet search after reading the book suggests a very
different line of enquiry: that of a clever deception that, in
inspiration, is half-religious and half-Royalist. A farrago
created in the 1950s by an anti-Semitic oddball, the Priory of
Sion has never actually existed outside the imaginations of a
small group of devotees of bogus esotericism. It's also a piece
of mystification incidentally that first saw the light of day
near Annemasse, and whose crazy meanderings pass through the
centre of Geneva. Now being used to lend an air of credibility to
an international best-seller, the Priory of Sion has never
guarded any secrets other than that of its true identity: a
gigantic lie.
'THE DA VINCI CODE', Dan Brown, Ed. JC Lattès.
Pierre Plantard, founder of the
Priory of Sion, an oddball in search of royal descent
The French fantasist created his own myth using the strange
legend of a treasure buried in the environs of
Rennes-le-Château.
by Patricia Briel
'A faultless piece of research', a 'learned' book, a 'history
lesson': the American popular press has heaped endless praise on
'The Da Vinci Code', Dan Brown's best-seller which was published
in the USA one year ago. But if one takes a closer look at the
historical references used by the author - a former English
teacher and art historian - one starts to question precisely how
justified all this praise really is. In fact, Brown tries to pass
off as the truth a story invented in its entirety by a French
anti-Semitic fantasist who died in February 2000: Pierre
Plantard. It's a story that begins in the 1950s in Haute-Savoie,
at Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, and which involves the treasure of
Rennes-le-Château, the Abbé Saunière, the secret genealogy of
the Merovingians, mysterious parchments in code and many other
things besides.
'Dossiers Secrets'
In his preface, Dan Brown states: 'The secret society of the
Priory of Sion was founded in 1099, after the First Crusade. In
1975, parchments referred to as 'Dossiers Secrets' were
discovered at the Bibliothèque Nationale [in Paris - Editor's
Note], which mention the names of certain members of the Priory,
including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo
Da Vinci'. These events, which Dan Brown presents as the truth,
are simply untrue. The Priory of Sion was founded in June 1956 by
Pierre Plantard, who at that time was working as a draughtsman at
the Chanovin works in Annemasse. As for the 'Dossiers Secrets',
they were forged and filed with the Bibliothèque Nationale in
Paris by Pierre Plantard in the 1960s. The French journalist
Jean-Luc Chaumeil unmasked Plantard's imposture in the 1980s and
published several books on the subject. He also collaborated with
BBC2 on a TV programme which was broadcast in 1996, and which
presented evidence demolishing the whole story. But it would seem
that Dan Brown has not taken any account of this. The novelist
has also not hesitated to make his heroine Sophie Neveu the
descendant of the families Plantard and Saint-Clair (a name that
Pierre Plantard adopted in 1975), who themselves were descended
from the Merovingians, and who are presented in the novel as the
descendants of the marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene...
No political influence
Born in Paris in 1920, from 1937 onwards Pierre Plantard set up
several fictitious movements of an anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic
character, the aim of which was to 'purify and renew' France.
Described as an oddball in two French Secret Service reports, he
did not however appear to have any political influence. 'Plantard
was a sacristan who lost his faith', Jean-Luc Chaumeil told 'Le
Temps'. 'The son of a butler, he dreamed of having royal blood,
and lived like a hermit. He acted alone and did not have any
connection with extremist anti-Semites.' His bragging did however
earn him two spells in prison. He was first sentenced at the end
of the Second World War for having tried to set up organisations
without permission. And in 1953 the Court of
Saint-Julien-en-Genevois sentenced him to 6 months in prison for
a breach of trust.
In June 1956, Pierre Plantard founded along with some friends the
Priory of Sion, an association whose statutes are filed with the
Sub-Prefecture of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois and whose registered
office is located in Annemasse. There is no historical reference
to the existence of any Priory of Sion before that date.
According to the founders, the Sion in the name did not relate to
Jerusalem but to Mont-Sion, which is very near Geneva. The Priory
was set up to defend the rights and liberties of the low-rental
housing sector, and there is no hint of any of mysteries of any
kind in this organisation, which ceased to exist in 1957.
In the mid 1950s, Pierre Plantard met Noël Corbu, the heir to
Abbé Bérenger Saunière of Rennes-le-Château. This was an
encounter that was to fire his imagination. Noël Corbu told him
the strange story of Abbé Saunière, who was the priest of the
small commune at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th
centuries. The parish was poor, but a mysterious influx of money
enabled the Abbé to renovate the church and build a villa as
well as a tower. This money came from a treasure that the Abbé
had discovered in the surroundings of the village using clues
contained in parchments found inside one of the pillars of the
church when renovation work was being carried out. However, the
story of the 'treasure' was just a fantasy dreamed up by Noël
Corbu to attract customers to the restaurant that he had opened
in the villa. The reality is more straightforward: Abbé
Saunière's money came from trafficking in masses, something that
earned him suspension from his duties by the ecclesiastical
authorities.
Shortly after this meeting, Pierre Plantard started creating his
own myth. In the mid-60s, several mysterious documents were
lodged with the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, collected
together under the name of the 'Dossiers Secrets' of Henri
Lobineau, a pseudonym. These include, in particular, genealogies
of descendants of the Merovingian kings copied from parchments
belonging to the Abbé Saunière and suggesting a blood
relationship between King Dagobert I and Pierre Plantard;
documents relating to the founding of the Priory of Sion in 1099
by Godefroy de Bouillon; and a list of Grand-Masters of the
Priory going back to the 12th century, including Leonardo Da
Vinci, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Claude Debussy, and Jean
Cocteau. All these documents suggest that the Priory of Sion held
the key to the treasure of the Abbé Saunière, and that Pierre
Plantard was the direct descendant of Dagobert II, who was
assassinated in 679. Several of these texts created false trails
in Switzerland and Geneva, involving fictitious publishing houses
and non-existent Catholic magazines. Jean-Luc Chaumeil
subsequently proved that the 'Dossiers Secrets' are in fact
forgeries by Pierre Plantard and his accomplice Philippe de
Chérisey.
Coded messages
Misled by the contents of the Dossiers, the author Gérard de
Sède used them to write a book with Plantard's help. 'L'Or de
Rennes', which revealed to the French public the connections
between the Priory of Sion and the Abbé Saunière, was published
in 1967. The work reproduced the parchments allegedly discovered
by the Abbé, including some that might even enable the treasure
to be found. Containing coded messages, they refer to Dagobert II
and a canvas by Poussin, 'Les Bergers d'Arcadie', which were
thought to provide clues to the location of the treasure.
In 1971, following a row with Gérard de Sède about the
royalties from his book, Philippe de Chérisey publicly admitted
that the parchments were his own forgeries. Plantard subsequently
confirmed this to Jean-Luc Chaumeil, but subsequently claimed
that these forgeries were actually copies of original parchments.
Interest in this matter ebbed from 1975 onwards, but was revived
in 1982 with the publication in English of 'Holy Blood, Holy
Grail' [sic], an investigation in book form by three British
journalists, Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.
This work, which became a best seller in the English-speaking
world, accepts the Priory myth and also formulates a bizarre
hypothesis: Jesus, married to Mary Magdalene, could have had a
child who was born after his crucifixion. According to the
authors, this child would have been none other than the first of
the Merovingians, and Pierre Plantard would have been his direct
though distant descendant. But the deception went too far:
wisely, Pierre Plantard never actually admitted that he believed
in this divine descent, preferring to remain a 'mere' descendant
of Dagobert II. Jean-Luc Chaumeil deplored the appearance of
'Holy Blood, Holy Grail': 'I explained to Henry Lincoln that this
whole business was a deception', he says.
In 1983-84, Jean-Luc Chaumeil revealed the troubled past of
Plantard, who resigned from the Priory of Sion on 10 July 1984.
Though discredited, he made a reappearance in 1989 with a new
mythology about the Priory which, according to him, had been
founded in Rennes-le-Château in 1681 and not in Jerusalem in
1099. He drew up a new list of the Grand Masters of the Priory,
which was to prove his undoing: the list included the name of
Roger-Patrice Pelat (an old friend of François Mitterrand) who,
at the time of his death, was involved in a financial scandal. In
1993, while investigating this death, investigating magistrate
Thierry-Jean Pierre, today a deputy in the European Parliament,
ordered Pierre Plantard's apartment to be searched and there
found documents certifying that Plantard was the true King of
France. After close cross-examination, Plantard admitted his
imposture and was let off with a severe reprimand. He never again
tried to revive the myth of the Priory of Sion.
Others however have done this for him. Today,
according to Jean-Luc Chaumeil, there are about 12 different
Priories of Sion!