The real question we have to ask ourselves is: where did the priest Bérenger Saunière got the equivalent of about 23 millions FF (value 1988) to spend in 20 years? If this question was satisfactory answered probably the whole mystery would be solved. Unfortunately it is not easy because since 1960 some people -known and anonymous- have created a legend around this already complicated story. Their aim has been sometime to present Rennes-le-Chateau as a mystic Visigoth place. At other times they have tried to tell us that behind this story is a hidden attempt to bring in the open a parallel and secret history of France that the authorities in charge try to hide since 10 to 15 centuries. A certain number of false documents have been published since 1965 to 1977. Generally they were published or produced near Geneva, Switzerland, by different people having the same aim. The publication is generally anonymous, then the name of the author is revealed but more often that not he is dead so that he cannot confirm or deny the content and his authorship. Generally the author’s family denies that he was interested in the subject. Moreover the publisher name and address are generally wrong or do not exist. Henri Lobineau, for instance, appears as having written quite a few documents. His real name should be Leo R. Schidlof but he died before the documents were published. The addresses of the publishers as given on the documents are wrong or better do not exist! It looks as the authors tried, through this historical and genealogical novel, to convince us that Rennes-le-Chateau was the secret capital of France. The story can be told in a few words as follow. The Sicambre, as the offspring’s of the Jewish tribe of Benjamin, immigrated in different lands including the Rhine valley. The Merovingian dynasty went from Mérovée to Clovis to saint Dagobert II who was assassinated near Stenay in the Ardenne in 679. Dagobert II was followed by the Carolingian and Capetian dynasties but this was not correct as he had a son, Sigebert IV called also the Plant Ard or Ardent son. This child escaped death by being taken to Rennes-le-Chateau. From him come the line of the Count of Razès from which the Blanchefort are part. This is the only dynasty who could pretend to the throne of France in all legality. This would be the terrible genealogical secret discovered by Bérenger Saunière in the old documents signed by Blanche de Castille. This Merovingian dynasty has continued up to now in the shadow. The “Lost King” or the “Grand Monarch” is present among us incognito. According to Nostradamus he will appear at the right moment and the secret was known by a secret society known as “Le Prieuré de Sion”. (n)
Of the four parchments found by Saunière, two have been published by Gérard de Sède in his book “L’Or de Rennes” (later republished as “Signé Rose-Croix”). Everything seems simple. During some restructuration work, the workers uncovered a hole in a pillar containing three sealed wooden tubes. Gérard de Séde says that what he reproduced was coming from two of the parchments found by Saunière. A later book by the same author brings some doubts because his story has changed. The parchments have been found by Saunière in the empty pillar or in a tomb in 1891. They have been translated and then copies and original have disappeared. Even Gérard de Sède was saying that the parchments were from the 18th century and written by the priest Bigou. However now the author reminds us that the church, and the pillar, date from the 8th or 9th century. If the documents were found there they were from the same period but if they were found in an undated tomb then their age is unknown. This leaves the priest Begou in a depth and his importance to the Rennes mystery is not to be forgotten. In addition the Marquis Philippe de Chérisey, a friend of Mr Plantard, who gave the copies to Gérard de Sède now say that he is their author but that the genealogical tree was true and hidden in England. This admission put much doubt on the whole story. For instance the assertion that the documents were found in the tomb of Marie de Négri d’Ables, widow of François d’Hautpoul-Blancheford who died when she was 67 years old the 17 of January 1781 has very little historical importance. She is also supposed to have revealed the secret of her family to the priest Bigou but it is not known what he really did with them. The fact that she died the 17 of January 1781 is a strange coincidence. As we have seen Sigebert IV arrived in the Razes on the 17 of January 681 and Bérenger Saunière had a heart attack on the 17 of January 1917. We really believe that the tomb slab that has such an important place in our story was made by Bigou to pull the attention on this symbolic death, on the importance of this noble lady and of this fantastic story before hiding the document in the Visigoth pillar. Later on Saunière rubbed off the inscription engraved on the tomb of the Marquise of Blanchefort by Bigou. Fortunately or unfortunately the inscription had been recorded before by Eugène Stublein in his book “Pierres gravées du Languedoc” for the greatest pleasure of the future cryptographs. Unfortunately this slab seems to have been reconstructed by Ernest Cros (1862-1946) on the base of the information he received from the people from the village. He did it in this case, rewriting what has been rub off by Saunière as recorded by the villagers. Eugène Stublein did not know anything about archaeology. In this case again this book seems to have been attributed to somebody who had nothing to about it. The Latin text itself (Reddis Regis Cellis Arcis) could be interpreted in different ways: “To Royal Rennes, in the fortress caves” or “You go in the royal caves of Arc”. Around these sibylline sentences there were Greek letters saying in Latin “Et in Arcadia Ego” that we have met before. Between Serres and Arques there is a tomb that looks like the Nicolas Poussin’s painting “Les Bergers d’Arcadie” where three shepherds read on the stone in front of a woman “Et in Arcadia Ego”. Does it mean that the woman is an allegory of the Prieuré de Sion that looks on the shepherds of Arcadia themselves, allegory of Merovee’ sons. However Poussin never came to Arques. There does not seem to have any relation between Poussin and our story and all the interpretation made up to now are pure inventions to justify the legend of the Prieuré de Sion. Another painting by the Flemish David Téniers left us a design of Saint Antoine l’Hermite fighting in a cave with the Devil. Saint Antoine is feasted the 17 January … This date, the 17, has always been considered as a negative day by the ancients and it is still the case in some Mediterranean countries like Italy. Even the Greek including Plutarque thought that 17 was an unlucky number. Some well-educated people knowing these informations have used it to give a certain value to the story. (o)