The treasure found by the priest Bérenger Saunière in Rennes-le-Chateau was saved for the future King of France. This King is not the official pretender from the Orleans family but the offspring of the Merovingian King, Saint Dagobert II. His son, Sigebert IV, was thought to have died with his father. This is not true according to the fourth parchment found by Saunière. As we know it was taken from Saunière and kept in Paris by the experts of Saint Sulpice. The abbot Bieil gave it to Emile Hoffet who kept it for himself. When he died this document was bought by the British “International League of Antiquarian Booksellers” or so the story goes. A copy was given to the owner of the castle of Rennes-le-Chateau, Mr Marius Fatin, a well-known mason. According to this league, the castle is important due to the fact that it is there that Sigebert IV hid himself after he escaped after his father’ s assassination. His descendants, the counts of Rhedae and the Dukes of Razès lived there too. This was written in the fourth parchment signed by Blanche de Castille found by Saunière in the Visigoth pillar in his Church. The parchment, according to the same source, was put there by the priest Bigou in 1788-1789. Before that date it was with the will of François-Pierre, Baron d’Hautpoul de Rennes and registered by the public notary Captier on 23 November 1644 in Espéraza. Saint Dagobert II was the grandson of Dagobert I. This last one succeeded to keep the Francs kingdom created by Clotaire II united until his death in 639. His successors divided the kingdom and Dagobert II, for instance, was only the King of Austrasia. After the death of his father, Sigebert III, in 656 his adopted son, Childéric I, reigned from 656 to 662. Childéric II followed him from 662 to 676. Finally Dagobert II climbed on the throne but he was assassinated in 679 as well as his son Sigebert IV according to the official history. The assassination was ordered by the palace Master Pépin d’Héristal. The Merovingian dynasty continued formally with Thierry IV and Childéric III who was removed in 751 and this was the end of the dynasty. According to the parchment found by Saunière, and this could be true according to some historians, Sigebert IV escaped and arrived in the Razes on the 17 of January 681 where he took refuge with his grand father. Dagobert II had as a second wife Gisèle, the daughter of Béra II the count of Razès. The Merovingian line included, after Sigebert IV (676-758) also known as the “Plant-Ard” – from whom Mr Plantard took his name!-: Sigebert V (695-768), Bera III (715-771), Guillemon, Bera IV (755-836), Bera V (794-860), Hildéric I and finally Sigebert VI known as “Ursus”. From this lineage came the Blanchefort family who gave three centuries later a Templar Grand Master, Bertrand de Blanchefort. The Pope who destroyed the Templars, Clement V, came from the same family. According to the parchment found by Saunière the lineage did not stop with Sigebert VI but continued up to this date although nobody claimed the French throne. (o)
In conclusion we have seen that a priest called Bérenger Saunière, mason and “Rose-Croix” discovered a treasure in 1893. This treasure has been hidden to allow a descendent from Sigebert IV to climb on the French throne as the only legitimate pretender. He would be the “Grand Monarque” or the “Roy Perdu” expected since so long by the legitimists and the Occult societies from the 19th century. The treasure comes from the Solomon Temple in Jerusalem through the Romans and the Visigoths who hid it first in Carcassonne and then in Rennes-le-Chateau.
Conclusions
Research about heretics like the Cathars or military/religious orders like the Templars and the Hospitallers shows clearly that the present ethnic wars are nothing new. Atrocities like the recent ones in Bosnia and Africa have happened before and probably will happen again. It also stresses -and this is not an attack against the organised religions- that where religion and states have interests in common, the repression of any deviation can be terrible. The actual behaviour of the Fundamentalists, mainly but not only Moslems, are a good indication that what happened in the past can still happen, and does happen, now.
On the other hand there are also a large number of good people acting for the good of the others. The presence of missionaries and voluntaries in all the countries torn apart by civil wars are a good example of what is good in men. Unfortunately they do not have the means to stop the conflicts. These are generally started by politicians for their own interest. The religious justifications of their actions are only the mean by which they convince people to do the dirty work in their place.
A possible explanation for this behaviour could be found in the two Cathar principles of good and evil that exist at the same time in a state of perpetual conflict. Life can be very good and tragic. However it is difficult to believe, as the Cathars say, that the material world is only the work of the Devil and that only the soul or spirit is the work of God. This black or white explanation is too simple and is not convincing any more. People in general are good and bad at the same time or, in other words, partly creatures of God and of the Devil. Personal good behaviour is no protection against discrimination and violence. Once the leaders have decided to destroy a religious group, a nation or a sect, the personal qualities or way of life of the individual does not mean anything anymore. Only the appartenance to the class to destroy justify the end. At the present time it happens too often that the people at risk in a civil war are those who volunteer to help the victims. They are often killed by the same people they came to help against any logic.
It has always been like this in the past and it is still like this to day. Take the example of the Cathars. They were after all very peaceful people. They did not kill, they did not steal the land of anybody and they did not search for temporal power. They only preached their faith and welcomed those who freely wanted to join them. However by their good behaviour, at a time when the Catholic clergy could not be said to behave like this , they attracted many adepts. The Catholic Church could not, of course, tolerate this haemorrhage. The Church was not only loosing face but the risk to loose their power in an important part of the world, the South of France, that they considered as contaminated by this heresy. The Vatican asked for the help of the King of France to remove the problem and solve it definitely. As we do not have any direct written records of the Cathars we can reasonably think that their philosophy has been distorted before reaching us. The fact that most of the information come from the Catholic Church and the Inquisition does not plead for their accuracy. But even with all these limitations we know for certain that they were a very peaceful sect with very high moral standards.
The Templar story is slightly different. This religious Order was created in Jerusalem at the time of the crusades. It was also entrusted with a very important military task, the protection of the pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. Soon this more secular aspect became the more important. They also received many gifts and were soon owning many mainly agricultural properties in the Middle East as well as in Europe mainly agricultural. This led them to handle money and very soon they were known as the bankers of the crusaders and of the pilgrims. They expanded their banking activities to collect taxes and to manage the money of some countries as well as the King of France’s wealth. When this King had some big financial problems he thought to take the money there where it was, that is from the Templars. To do this he accused them of heresy and general misbehaviour, arrested the members on his land, took over their properties and asked the Pope to suppress the Order. The Pope refused for a certain number of years but finally he had to comply. However he ordered that the Templars’ properties be transferred to the Hospitallers. A part of them was definitely in French’s hands but the remaining was handed over to the great displeasure of the French King. At the present time it is generally thought that the Templars were not heretics even if their behaviour was not always in line with the rules of the Catholic Church.
The story of the Hospitallers or Order of Saint John or Knights of Malta as they are known today is similar to that of the Templars. They started as a religious Order that took care of the sick and the wounded in the Holy Land. Very soon they took part in military activities sometimes together with the Templars, sometimes alone and in a few cases against the Templars. They were not much involved in financial activities. This did not prevent them to be attacked by the secular authorities as well as by the Church. More by luck that for any other reason they survived until now. They are still very active in helping the sick and the wounded and they are respected for their activities all over the world.
The Rose-Croix is a secret organisation with very few members. This did not prevent it to have a big influence in the 17th century. The Rosicrucians take their origin in the Rose-Croix. They are however very different. The Rosicrucians can be assimilated to the Free Masons with whom they have many things in common: the structures of their lodges, the organisation, the rites and also the same objectives. Both Rose-Croix and Rosicrucians affirm that their origin is to be found far away back in time. Some pretend that they are the heirs of the Templars. Some others even see their origin in the old Egypt. It is difficult to confirm or to refute these affirmations.
The legends of Rennes-le-Chateau, the Prieuré de Sion and the Merovingian dynasty have been added to show the continuity of our story as well as the credulity of most people when the myths of the past are recalled to life in view, of course, a possible personal profit.