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==History== | ==History== | ||
Under Article III.c of the original 1956 Statutes of the Priory of Sion, the association was named after the nearby mountain called Sion by the French town of Annemasse. It was devoted to opposing ] in the area through its journal, ''Circuit''. The 1956 Priory had its headquarters in ]'s house in Annemasse and was officially registered at the sub-prefecture in Saint-Julien-en-Genevoise on May 7th, 1956, by André Bonhomme and Pierre Plantard. |
Under Article III.c of the original 1956 Statutes of the Priory of Sion, the association was named after the nearby mountain called Sion by the French town of Annemasse. It was devoted to opposing ] in the area through its journal, ''Circuit''. The 1956 Priory had its headquarters in ]'s house in Annemasse and was officially registered at the sub-prefecture in Saint-Julien-en-Genevoise on May 7th, 1956, by André Bonhomme and Pierre Plantard. It was dissolved sometime after October 1956 but intermittently revived by Plantard between 1962 and 1993 as an ] order and crypto-political ] dedicated to the restoration of ] and ] in ] to further his ] royalty bid. | ||
Pierre Plantard began writing a manuscript and produced "parchments" (created by his friend, ]) that Father ] had supposedly discovered whilst renovating his church. These documents purportedly showed the survival of the Merovingian line of ] kings. |
Pierre Plantard began writing a manuscript and produced "parchments" (created by his friend, ]) that Father ] had supposedly discovered whilst renovating his church. These forged documents purportedly showed the survival of the Merovingian line of ] kings. Plantard manipulated Saunière's activities at Rennes-le-Château in order to "prove" his claims relating to the Priory of Sion. | ||
Between 1961 and 1984 Plantard contrived a mythical pedigree of the Priory of Sion claiming that it had been founded in ] during the ] by ]. Research in the ] mysteries led Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln to the ] ''Secret Files of Henri Lobineau'', compiled by "Philippe Toscan du Plantier", that became the source for their book, ''],'' in which they reported claims that: | |||
As further teases, between 1961 and 1984 Plantard, it is claimed, selectively revealed enimagic textual productions. These increasingly elaborated on pieces of a 2,000 year puzzle, so it is claimed. This puzzle involved a mythical pedigree of the Priory of Sion, claiming to have been founded in ] during the ]. | |||
⚫ | * with a list of illustrious grand masters (]), the Priory of Sion has a long history starting with the creation of the ] as its military and financial front; | ||
* it had a large role in partaking in and promoting the "underground river of ]", the ], in Medieval Europe; | |||
* it is sworn to returning the ] dynasty, that ruled the Frankish kingdom from ] to ] C.E., to the thrones of ] and Jerusalem; and | |||
* the order protects these royal claimants because they are the literal descendants of ] and his wife ]. | |||
⚫ | These authors furthered that the ultimate goals of the Priory of Sion are: | ||
Serendipidous research in the late 1960s by Henry Lincoln expanded into a three man team of researchers who eventually were so facinated (and well connected, with the BBC) that they produced a documentary concerning the mysterious claims about Sauniere and Rennes-le-Chateau. | |||
They eventually wrote a book, attempting to find exoteric (real world evidence) for these esoteric claims of the Priory of Sion story. This book, ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' was co-written and researched by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. They took their starting point in the attempt to veryify any of these curious stories about ] mentioned in other ongoing "Priory Documents" like the ''Secret Files of Henri Lobineau'', compiled by "Philippe Toscan du Plantier". The ironic issue about these documents was that they could appear within the Biblioteque Nationale of France--and be placed on microfiche--without ever having much documentation of how they got into the library in the first place. Additionally, over time, it was noticed by researchers that someone seemed to be editing or correcting the crudly copies in longhand. Subsequently, cleanly typewritten copies integrating the changes were placed in the library without documentation as well. The process of their appearances--without much fanfare and sometimes nearly impossible to get or withheld or hidden--was compouned by the editing process that was going on. This proces itself would be hard to pull off by itself, and it was probabaly illegal. However, nothing happened. This still meant nothing in terms of their historical accuracy. However, as the co-authors wrote, it almost implied that someone was testing or teasing them to explore further. | |||
It is a mistake to say that the "Priory Documents" became the source for the book ''].'' This is because the book itself is a very cool and analytical attempt to find any proof at all of the wild claims of the "Priory" documents instead of a book that elaborated on their curious, poeteic, or seemingly esoteric qualities. | |||
If the "Priory" documents claim themselves to be a partial record of an esoteric (secret) tradition in European culture and politics, ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' was an attempt to find exoteric evidence of this esoteric tradition. | |||
One of the most secure bases of public, exoteric 'double-checking' of this claimed esoteric tradition of the Priory of Sion is the documentable, archival evidence the co-authors brought to bear. They found archival documents that backed up certain "wild" ideas of the documents. Particluarly, they found confirmation of the interpersonal linkages between all the hypothesized Priory of Sion "navigators" (as they are presumably called) for over 850 years! That chapter (and related appendix) provides enough incentive in itself for reading the book for those interested in European political and religious history. | |||
Interestingly, since some of information discovered by the co-authors in their attempt to verify the claims of the "Priory" documents" would have been unavailable during the period of the limited publication of the information about the presumed Priory of Sion starting in the 1950s, this was one of the factors that kept the co-authors exploring: they realized or presumed that these 'people' releasing this high quality information might indeed have a more accurate "inside track" to some historical issues in European history since verifications kept coming up whenever they looked for them--even in the most arcane achival sources. | |||
This is hardly a book review of ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail''. However, it is hard to separate out the esoteric claims of the Priory of Sion from its most thorough exoteric exploration to date in that co-authored book. To put it simply, there are unnerving hundreds of exoteric correlations that can be brought to bear from open historical records that provide a form of verification of this esoteric tradition. The recommenation is to pick of a cheap paperback to see what all the fuss is about. | |||
Some of the issues that you will find are a great deal of correlative information that the authors themselves admit is only partial, though suggestive. That being said, they argue that the publicly available evidence does lead to the high probability that there is a long term secret society related to Christian origins, connected to something like the Priory of Sion. | |||
Amongst the reputed 'double checked' pieces of information: | |||
* there are indeed records of a Priory of Sion from the period in question with various ownership documents and church documents connecing them to abbeys in France and in Palestine. | |||
⚫ | * |
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* The Merovingians are claimed to be of Jewish heritage and of the lineage of the person called Jesus Christ, or Joshua ben Joseph. Only one of the correlative information nuggets was that there was indeed a Jewish principality in the Pyrenees area during the period in question. | |||
* This Merovingian bloodline, it is claimed, in the ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' reconstruction was the original 'military arm' of the Roman Catholic Church. However, it is argued that the Church's king-making of Charlemagne in 800 (from a subordinate 'bureaucratic' line in the Merovingian court) was seen by the Merovingians (and the Carolingians) as a form of usurpation. To counter this, on the one hand, the Carolinginans have documented back-marriages into the Merovingians. On the other hand, the Church seems to have intentionally destroyed all evidence of the relationship between it and the "priest kings" of the Merovingians. The argument from the historical dynamics is that the Carolingians and the Church were usurpers of the Merovingians. | |||
* From the point of view of the Merovingians, ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' narrative and 'plot line' uncovers a thread of family intermarriages and Crusades as the Merovingian lineages attempt to get back into power--sometimes getting very close though always falling back in various failed attempts on the brink of success. The storyline spans around 1400 years. Given even a cursory knowledge of European history, the bloodlines were of course known. However, what the book brings to the fore is the implication of potential ideological/religious motivations, held together by a secret society of their 'retainers' who understand in in essense worship the Merovingian bloodline as the "Holy Grail"--the cup, the carrier, and (in their reconstruction) the womb of Mary Magdelene. Interesting additional information about this thesis comes out in the later published books ''The Second Messiah'' and ''The Templar Revelation'' which are recommended reads on the Madelene thesis mentioned here. In short, the book explores in the avilable public archival evidence any clues that could support or demote this claim of an esoteric motivation of Merovingian bloodlines. The story moves from dynastic intermarriages, to alternative Gnostic Christianity, to esoteric motivations for the First Crusade. | |||
* Throughout, the Priory of Sion, it is claimed, has a role in partaking, promoting, and preserving the "underground river of ]", the ], in Medieval Europe and even to the present. The book ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' came out before the public release of the Qumran documents in the early 1990s. This cache of additional first century CE documents actually back up their exoteric thesis of support. See ''The Templar Revelation'' and ''Grail Knights of North America''. | |||
* A branch of the Templars is reputed to have fostered the Scottish Branch of Freemasonry. This is further elaborated in the later book ''The Temple and the Lodge.'' | |||
* Because of the claimed heritage from Jesus, the Priory of Sion bloodlines have formed a sort of a "personal secret court" of adherents, a true secret society interested in international politics from the removal of the Merovingians in the 800s. The Priory is claimed (by Plantard and other documetns) to be sworn to return the ] dynasty that ruled the Frankish kingdom from ] to ] C.E., to the thrones of ] and Jerusalem; and | |||
* as mentioned above, the Priory is claimed to be the protection for these "kings that never ruled", these royal claimants. The bloodline additionaly, in a European sense, has a religious context of course if these claims are indeed correct because they would be literal descendants of ] via his wife ], who according to various traditions they uncovered appeared in the South of Gaul (France) in the years before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. | |||
⚫ | These authors |
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* the founding of a "] ]" that would become the next ] and usher in a ] of peace and prosperity; | * the founding of a "] ]" that would become the next ] and usher in a ] of peace and prosperity; | ||
* the supplantation of the ] with an ] ] ] by revealing the ] and a "]" which would prove ] views and ] claims; and | * the supplantation of the ] with an ] ] ] by revealing the ] and a "]" which would prove ] views and ] claims; and | ||
* the grooming and installing of the ] of a ]. | * the grooming and installing of the ] of a ]. | ||
Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln came to their own interpretation of the '']'', where they used the spelling "Sion" in the name, which they viewed as one of the most persuasive evidence for the existence and activities of the Priory of Sion: | |||
* The original version emanated from an irregular Masonic organization that used the name "Sion" but had nothing to do with an international Jewish ]. | * The original version emanated from an irregular Masonic organization that used the name "Sion" but had nothing to do with an international Jewish ]. | ||
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* Since Nilus did not recognize a number of references in the text that reflected a background in a Christian cultural context, he did not change them. This fact established that the original version could not possibly have come from the first ] in ] (]). | * Since Nilus did not recognize a number of references in the text that reflected a background in a Christian cultural context, he did not change them. This fact established that the original version could not possibly have come from the first ] in ] (]). | ||
Accepting these hypotheses as facts, some fringe ] viewed the Priory of Sion as a fulfillment of prophesies found in the ] and further proof of an ] conspiracy of epic proportions. | |||
However, a great deal in the book ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail,'' to those who bother to read it, is full of strategic political evidence that modern historians would accept from many areas. It's a very good book of historical synthesis. | |||
⚫ | However, since modern historians do not accept ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' as a serious contribution to scholarship, all these claims are regarded as being part of an intriguing but dubious ]. French authors like Franck Marie (1978), Jean-Luc Chaumeil (1979, 1984, 1992) and Pierre Jarnac (1985, 1988) have never taken Pierre Plantard and the Priory of Sion as seriously as Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh, always concluding that it was all a hoax in their respective books and outlining the reasons for their verdicts that these authors never reported comprehensively since their books were pro-conspiracy-theory-oriented. | ||
The evidence they bring to bear in the attempt to verify, correlate, and 'double check' the mysterious and teasing information in the Priory Documents is astoundingly revealing because it enriches European history from archival records in many different countries in an astonishing story that is backed up by the probity of an astoundingly dry bibliography. As mentioned above, some of these documents would have been unavailable or unopened at the time of the presumed fabrication of 'Le Dossier Secrets'--showing an underground stream of information may indeed be well guarded and selectively revealed for a larger purpose. | |||
In 1989, Pierre Plantard tried but failed to salvage his reputation and agenda by claiming that the Priory of Sion had actually been founded in 1681 at Rennes-le-Chateau. In September, ], he claimed that ] had once been grandmaster of the Priory of Sion. Pelat was a friend of the then-] ] and center of a scandal involving French Prime Minister ]. A French court ordered a search of Plantard's home, turning up many documents, including some proclaiming Plantard the true king of France. Under oath, Plantard admitted that he had fabricated everything, including Pelat's involvement with the Priory of Sion. Plantard was ordered to cease and desist all activities related to the promotion of the Priory of Sion and lived in obscurity until his death on 3 February, 2000, in Paris. | |||
Why? Perhaps part of the "timeline" goals hinted to the researchers by Plantard, required it. | |||
⚫ | Most recently, due to Dan Brown's bestselling novel ''],'' there has been a new level of public interest in the Priory of Sion. | ||
⚫ | |||
The book ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' is actually astoundingly comprehensive if one judges it on historical acumen. Plus, it has the intellectual fortitude to discuss history as strategy instead of simply accept a hegemonic idea of history as merely a series of "random" events that accumulate. For anyone vaguesly awake and politically aware in the present era, it is obvious that an assumption of a story of history as a mere random accumulation of events is closer to a 'conspiracy theory', when one is faced with all the ] seen in the past or the present, a parapolitics that was just as complex in any period. | |||
What most academic historicans ideologically dislike about ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' has nothing to do with it being an undocumented case. What is disliked is that it proposes a different and more intellectually challenging type of historiography: a parapolitical history of Europe as the basis from which to work on any accurate history, which would be a history full of juicy plots and different human agendas in conflict with one another for public hegemony that either succeed or fail in certain projects. Of course this is in addition to the accumulation of events in a linear path of history, instead of opposed to it. May people want to claim historiography is "required" to be an either an accidental accretion or a total conspiracy. It is very possible that both should meet in the middle and share something from one another's perspectives instead of battling ideologically. | |||
If nothing more, ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' has recovered one particular strand of the parapolitical history of Europe--if the Priory of Sion "thesis" is correct. If correct, the authors argue the Priory is a major subjective plot of a handful of interlinked aristocratic elites that continue into the present with just as much of a strong sense of themselves and their 'mission' as ever. However, the co-authors modestly state that all of their own research is only tentative, and should be elaborated in many places. This has been done in the past 25 years across a score of books. | |||
In short, to know the book ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' is to appreciate it as a historiographic spark. It has fired a whole 'historiography of strategy'--looking at occult and arcane European historical issues, bloodline dynamics, and plots and coups--in the past 25 years. | |||
Frankly, ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' has enriched the fabric of European historiography by calling into question whether we live in some presumed radically different modern world or simply an extension of an ongoing past. Serious historians would always vote on the latter--regardless of their opinion of the Priory of Sion thesis and information, of which there is a lot. | |||
For an unknown rationale, in 1989 Pierre Plantard began to backtrack, and then attempted to come back into the public eye. He attempted to salvage a reputation (and/or leadership, after supposedly renouncing it? It is unknown.) by claiming that the Priory of Sion had actually been founded in 1681 at Rennes-le-Chateau. Why this would be claimed is unknown. It may be another hint. It may be an attempt to distance himself from the explosive publicitiy that the ideas he was connected to achieved by the late 1980s. | |||
Whether any "public claims" like denouncing or denials--after 20 years of slow accumulation and editing of ''Le Documents Secrets''--can be taken seriously, is the question given that the topic of investigation is a secret society that may have decided to keep itself secret for a while longer if possible. | |||
However, given all the exoteric evidence seen in ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' it is hard to put the cat back in the bag, so to speak--if the stories are true. The co-authors have documented something of interest to be sure. To weigh the historical activities and interconnections discussed in ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' can only done justice by reading it for oneself, while keeping in mind a whole 'mini-industry' of this issue has been mined for 25 years without seriously challenging the main thesis. | |||
In September, ], Plantard claimed for unknown reasons something entirely different from what he told the researchers of ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail''. Perhaps he was threatened? It would be hard to have 'lied' because of the 'shadow' of public, exoteric evidence that had highlighted the Priory issue. Plantard claimed then that ] had once been grandmaster of the Priory of Sion. Pelat was a friend of the then-] ] and center of a scandal involving French Prime Minister ]. To see how this indeed could be possible would be to understand the backbone of the French Resistance in WWII seems to have had a Priory basis, as well as involved the very people we are talking about as a group who were familiar with each other. | |||
It is hard to say. Thus, perhaps the Priory of Sion "navigator" lists were just enough of a tease to spark interest, though perhaps they did keep other things to themselves? Or perhaps they wished to postpone the white hot publicity for a while? | |||
Regardless, a French court ordered a search of Plantard's home, turning up many documents, including some proclaiming Plantard the true king of France. Interestingly, such claims were only exoterically verified by the hard labors of the co-authors of ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail.'' It is a separate issue from the historian's issue of the Priory of Sion whether we want Plantard or monarchy as a form of government. | |||
The bloodline however is indeed there. An instance of a documentable bloodline and any political discourse that would legitimate that bloodline as "required monarchy" should be kept separate. | |||
Under oath, perhaps seeing they had played their hand overly soon, Plantard then claimed that he fabricated everything, including Pelat's involvement with the Priory of Sion. However, with such a twisted path that ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' has documented this Plantard dismissal can hardly be considered reliable. | |||
Moreover, regardless of Pantard's "dismissal of himself as a fraud", it would be hard to explain away the very real "Mafia-type" meetings that the co-authors of ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' report they conducted with Plantard in the early 1980s. These meetings had to be in "neutral areas" of extreme publicity and privacy, like in one instance they relate, a specially rented and closed cinemas where Plantard actually was accomanied by a large 'bodyguard' according to the authors! Someone who is perpetrating a hoax, hardly has these resources available. | |||
Regardless of the truth about the issue of the Priory of Sion, Plantard was ordered to cease and desist all activities related to the promotion of the Priory of Sion. He died on 3 February, 2000, in Paris. | |||
⚫ | Most recently, due to Dan Brown's bestselling novel ''],'' there has been a new level of public interest in the Priory of Sion |
||
However, the best books carry on this tradition of the parapolitical historical research of Europe, because they truly add to our collective historical knowledge instead of merely a political program. Many of these co-researchers in the past 25 years are, happily, just as skeptical as the authors of ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' ever were. That makes for a thoroughly dispassionate history, despite its exciting topics of long term continuity. | |||
===Cryptic motto=== | ===Cryptic motto=== | ||
]'s '']'']] | ]'s '']'']] | ||
'''''Et in Arcadia ego...''''' is supposedly the official motto of both the Plantard family and the Priory of Sion, according to a claim that first appeared in 1964. '']'' is a Latin phrase, that most famously appears as a tomb inscription on the ''ca.'' ] ] painting, ''The Arcadian Shepherds'', by French painter ]. It literally means, "And I in Arcadia". However, the addition of the ellipsis (which was not there in the Poussin painting), suggests a missing word. Although it would not be needed in Latin grammar, ''sum'' has been one suggested completion to mean: "And I am in Arcadia". Furthermore, it has been theorized by Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger that the completed phrase ''Et in Arcadia ego sum'' is an ] for ''Arcam Dei Tango Iesu'' which means "I touch the tomb of God – Jesus". The implication is that the tomb contains the ] of ] the central figure in Christian theology. Regardless of the accuracy of this extraordinary claim, it is not considered part of the |
'''''Et in Arcadia ego...''''' is supposedly the official motto of both the Plantard family and the Priory of Sion, according to a claim that first appeared in 1964. '']'' is a Latin phrase, that most famously appears as a tomb inscription on the ''ca.'' ] ] painting, ''The Arcadian Shepherds'', by French painter ]. It literally means, "And I in Arcadia". However, the addition of the ellipsis (which was not there in the Poussin painting), suggests a missing word. Although it would not be needed in Latin grammar, ''sum'' has been one suggested completion to mean: "And I am in Arcadia". Furthermore, it has been theorized by Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger that the completed phrase ''Et in Arcadia ego sum'' is an ] for ''Arcam Dei Tango Iesu'' which means "I touch the tomb of God – Jesus". The implication is that the tomb contains the ] of ] the central figure in Christian theology. Regardless of the accuracy of this extraordinary claim, it is not considered part of the official history of the painting by Poussin that contains the phrase, which is well documented. | ||
==Cultural influences== | ==Cultural influences== | ||
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A second List of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion that included the names of Roger Patrice Pelat and Thomas Plantard appeared in 1989, but it should not be confused with the above list that belonged to a version of the Priory of Sion that Plantard rejected. When Plantard tried to make a comeback and a revival of the Priory of Sion in 1989 following his retirement in 1984 he claimed that the above list was bogus and a part of the ''"Secret Files"'', which by then had been exposed as a fraud by French researchers and authors. | A second List of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion that included the names of Roger Patrice Pelat and Thomas Plantard appeared in 1989, but it should not be confused with the above list that belonged to a version of the Priory of Sion that Plantard rejected. When Plantard tried to make a comeback and a revival of the Priory of Sion in 1989 following his retirement in 1984 he claimed that the above list was bogus and a part of the ''"Secret Files"'', which by then had been exposed as a fraud by French researchers and authors. | ||
However, the whole issue is hardly that easy to sweep under the rug. This is because, since the publication of ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'', there is a continuous documented line of three-fold interpersonal, organizational, and interest connections between the people claimed as "navigators" of the Priory of Sion. In conclusion, perhaps all that can be said is that all the secrets have yet to be revealed. Though it is stretching the limits of naivete to expect to call whatever "it" is, a hoax at this stage. | |||
==External links and references== | ==External links and references== |
Revision as of 19:22, 20 February 2005
Prieuré de Sion, usually rendered in English translation as Priory of Sion or even Priory of Zion, is an elusive protagonist in many works of both non-fiction and fiction. It has been characterized as anything from the most covertly powerful secret society in Western history to a modern Rosicrucian-esque ludibrium. It is generally believed that the Priory of Sion is in large part an elaborate hoax.
History
Under Article III.c of the original 1956 Statutes of the Priory of Sion, the association was named after the nearby mountain called Sion by the French town of Annemasse. It was devoted to opposing gentrification in the area through its journal, Circuit. The 1956 Priory had its headquarters in Pierre Plantard's house in Annemasse and was officially registered at the sub-prefecture in Saint-Julien-en-Genevoise on May 7th, 1956, by André Bonhomme and Pierre Plantard. It was dissolved sometime after October 1956 but intermittently revived by Plantard between 1962 and 1993 as an initiatory order and crypto-political vanguard party dedicated to the restoration of chivalry and monarchy in France to further his impostor royalty bid.
Pierre Plantard began writing a manuscript and produced "parchments" (created by his friend, Philippe de Cherisey) that Father Bérenger Saunière had supposedly discovered whilst renovating his church. These forged documents purportedly showed the survival of the Merovingian line of Frankish kings. Plantard manipulated Saunière's activities at Rennes-le-Château in order to "prove" his claims relating to the Priory of Sion.
Between 1961 and 1984 Plantard contrived a mythical pedigree of the Priory of Sion claiming that it had been founded in Jerusalem during the First Crusade by Godfrey de Bouillon. Research in the Rennes-le-Château mysteries led Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln to the pseudohistorical Secret Files of Henri Lobineau, compiled by "Philippe Toscan du Plantier", that became the source for their book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, in which they reported claims that:
- with a list of illustrious grand masters (see below), the Priory of Sion has a long history starting with the creation of the Knights Templar as its military and financial front;
- it had a large role in partaking in and promoting the "underground river of esotericism", the Alph, in Medieval Europe;
- it is sworn to returning the Merovingian dynasty, that ruled the Frankish kingdom from 447 to 751 C.E., to the thrones of Europe and Jerusalem; and
- the order protects these royal claimants because they are the literal descendants of Jesus and his wife Mary Magdalene.
These authors furthered that the ultimate goals of the Priory of Sion are:
- the founding of a "Holy European Empire" that would become the next hyperpower and usher in a new world order of peace and prosperity;
- the supplantation of the Roman Catholic Church with an ecumenical messianic state religion by revealing the Holy Grail and a "Judas Testament" which would prove Ebionite views and Desposyni claims; and
- the grooming and installing of the anointed king of a Greater Israel.
Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln came to their own interpretation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, where they used the spelling "Sion" in the name, which they viewed as one of the most persuasive evidence for the existence and activities of the Priory of Sion:
- The original version emanated from an irregular Masonic organization that used the name "Sion" but had nothing to do with an international Jewish conspiracy.
- The original version was not intended to be inflammatory or released publicly, but was a program for gaining control of Freemasonry.
- The person responsible for changing the text in about 1903 was Sergei Nilus in the course of his attempt to gain influence in the Court of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The presence of esoteric cliques in the royal court led to considerable intrigue. Nilus' publication of the text resulted from his failure to succeed in wresting influence away from Papus and an otherwise unidentified "Monsieur Philippe".
- Since Nilus did not recognize a number of references in the text that reflected a background in a Christian cultural context, he did not change them. This fact established that the original version could not possibly have come from the first Zionist Congress in Basel (1897).
Accepting these hypotheses as facts, some fringe Christian eschatologists viewed the Priory of Sion as a fulfillment of prophesies found in the Book of Revelation and further proof of an anti-Christian conspiracy of epic proportions.
However, since modern historians do not accept Holy Blood, Holy Grail as a serious contribution to scholarship, all these claims are regarded as being part of an intriguing but dubious conspiracy theory. French authors like Franck Marie (1978), Jean-Luc Chaumeil (1979, 1984, 1992) and Pierre Jarnac (1985, 1988) have never taken Pierre Plantard and the Priory of Sion as seriously as Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh, always concluding that it was all a hoax in their respective books and outlining the reasons for their verdicts that these authors never reported comprehensively since their books were pro-conspiracy-theory-oriented.
In 1989, Pierre Plantard tried but failed to salvage his reputation and agenda by claiming that the Priory of Sion had actually been founded in 1681 at Rennes-le-Chateau. In September, 1993, he claimed that Roger-Patrice Pelat had once been grandmaster of the Priory of Sion. Pelat was a friend of the then-President of France François Mitterrand and center of a scandal involving French Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy. A French court ordered a search of Plantard's home, turning up many documents, including some proclaiming Plantard the true king of France. Under oath, Plantard admitted that he had fabricated everything, including Pelat's involvement with the Priory of Sion. Plantard was ordered to cease and desist all activities related to the promotion of the Priory of Sion and lived in obscurity until his death on 3 February, 2000, in Paris.
Most recently, due to Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, there has been a new level of public interest in the Priory of Sion.
Cryptic motto
Et in Arcadia ego... is supposedly the official motto of both the Plantard family and the Priory of Sion, according to a claim that first appeared in 1964. Et in Arcadia ego is a Latin phrase, that most famously appears as a tomb inscription on the ca. 1630 classical painting, The Arcadian Shepherds, by French painter Nicolas Poussin. It literally means, "And I in Arcadia". However, the addition of the ellipsis (which was not there in the Poussin painting), suggests a missing word. Although it would not be needed in Latin grammar, sum has been one suggested completion to mean: "And I am in Arcadia". Furthermore, it has been theorized by Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger that the completed phrase Et in Arcadia ego sum is an anagram for Arcam Dei Tango Iesu which means "I touch the tomb of God – Jesus". The implication is that the tomb contains the ossuary of Jesus the central figure in Christian theology. Regardless of the accuracy of this extraordinary claim, it is not considered part of the official history of the painting by Poussin that contains the phrase, which is well documented.
Cultural influences
The Priory of Sion has had several influences on popular culture, not all of them entirely accurate or serious:
- The Priory was the template for the Grail order in the Preacher comic book series and, more loosely, the Millennium Group in the Millennium television series.
- The Priory, portrayed as more of a Goddess mystery religion, plays a large part in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code.
Alleged Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion
- Ugo de Blancheford (1150-1151)
- Bernard de Tremblay (1151-1153)
- Guillaume de Chanaleilles (1153-1154)
- Evrard de N...? (1154-1154)
- Andrè de Montbard(1155-1156)
- Bertand de Blancheford (1156-1169)
- Philippe de Milly (1169-1170)
- Eudes de Saint-Amand (1170-1180)
- Arnaud de Toroge (1181-1184)
- Gérard de Rideford (1184-1188)
- Jean de Gisors (1188-1220)
- Marie de Saint-Clair (1220-1266)
- Guillaume de Gisors (1266-1307)
- Edouard de Bar (1307-1336)
- Jeanne de Bar (1336-1351)
- Jean de Saint-Clair (1351-1366)
- Blanche d'Evreux (1366-1398)
- Nicolas Flamel (1398-1418)
- Rene d'Anjou (1418-1480)
- Iolande de Bar (1480-1483)
- Sandro Filipepi AKA Botticelli (1483-1510)
- Leonardo da Vinci (1510-1519)
- Charles III (Duke of Bourbon-Montpensier) (1519-1527)
- Ferdinand de Gonzague (1527-1556)
- Michel de Notre-Dame AKA Nostradamus(1556-1566)
- Duc de Longueville & Nicolas Froumenteau (1566-1575)
- Louis de Nevers (1575-1595)
- Robert Fludd (1595-1637)
- Johann Valentin Andrea (1637-1654)
- Robert Boyle (1654-1691)
- Isaac Newton (1691-1727)
- Charles Radclyffe (1727-1746)
- Charles de Lorraine (1746-1780)
- Maximillian de Lorraine (1780-1801)
- Charles Nodier (1801-1844)
- Victor Hugo (1844-1885)
- Claude Debussy (1885-1918)
- Jean Cocteau (1918-1963)
- Pierre Plantard (1963-1981)
A second List of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion that included the names of Roger Patrice Pelat and Thomas Plantard appeared in 1989, but it should not be confused with the above list that belonged to a version of the Priory of Sion that Plantard rejected. When Plantard tried to make a comeback and a revival of the Priory of Sion in 1989 following his retirement in 1984 he claimed that the above list was bogus and a part of the "Secret Files", which by then had been exposed as a fraud by French researchers and authors.
External links and references
- Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. Holy Blood, Holy Grail, 1982 (ISBN 055212138)
- Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. The Messianic Legacy, 1987 (1989 reissue: ISBN 0440203198) The sequel to Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
- Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger. The Tomb of God: The Body of Jesus and the Solution to a 2,000-year-old Mystery, 1996 (ISBN 0316879975)
- Paul Smith. Priory of Sion: The Pierre Plantard Archives 1937-1993
- Miriam Ibbotson The Priory of Sion Hoax: an A-Z
- Steven Mizrach. Priory of Sion: the Facts, the Theories, the Mystery
- Lisa Shea. Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei and Priory of Sion
- Massimo Introvigne. Beyond "The Da Vinci Code": What is the Priory of Sion?
- Wieland Willker. Codex Bezae and the Da Vinci Code: A textcritical look at the Rennes-le-Chateau hoax
- Laura Miller. The Da Vinci crock
- History Today: Unraveling the Da Vinci Code