Rennes-le-Château
Encyclopedia
Rennes-le-Château is a commune
in the Aude
department in Languedoc
in southern France
.
This small French hilltop village is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories, and for being the location of an alleged buried treasure
discovered by its 19th-century priest Bérenger Saunière
, the precise nature of which is disputed by those who believe in its existence, because of the sheer diversity of conflicting theories.
to the northeast and the Pyrenees
to the south. The area is known for beautiful scenery, with jagged ridges, deep river canyons and rocky limestone plateaus, with large caves underneath.
Like many European villages, Rennes-le-Château has a complex history. It is the site of a prehistoric encampment, and later a Roman colony
(or at least Roman villa or temple, such as is confirmed to have been built at Fa
, 5 km (3.1 mi) west of Couiza
).
Rennes-le-Château was a Visigoth
site during the 6th and 7th centuries, during the trying period when the Visigoths had been defeated by the Frankish
King Clovis I
and had been reduced to Septimania
. It was the center of the county of Razès
.
It was the site of a medieval castle around 1002, though nothing remains above ground of this medieval structure – the present ruin is from the 17th or 18th century.
Several castles situated in the surrounding region in the Languedoc were central to the battle between the Catholic
church and the Cathars at the beginning of the 13th century. Other castles guarded the volatile border with Spain
. Whole communities were wiped out during the campaigns of the Catholic authorities to rid the area of the Cathar heretics during the Albigensian Crusades and again when Protestants fought for religious freedom against the French monarchy two centuries before the French Revolution
.
has an extremely complex history, having been rebuilt several times. The earliest church of which there is any evidence on the site may date to the 8th century. However, this original church was almost certainly in ruins during the 10th or 11th century, when another church was built upon the site - remnants of which can be seen in Romanesque
pillared arcades on the north side of the apse
. This survived in poor repair until the 19th century, when it was renovated by the local priest, Bérenger Saunière. Surviving receipts and existing account books belonging to Saunière reveal that the renovation of the church, including works on the presbytery and cemetery, cost 11,605 Francs over a ten year period between 1887 and 1897.
One of the new features was the Latin inscription Terribilis est locus iste above the front doors, taken from the Common Dedication of a Church, which translates as: "This is a place of awe"; the rest of the dedication reads "this is God's house, the gate of heaven, and it shall be called the royal court of God." The first part of the dedication is above the front doors – the rest inscribed on the arches over the two front doors of the church.
Inside the church, one of the added figures was of a devil
holding up the holy water stoup, a rare, though not unheard of addition found in French churches in this particular style. Its original head was stolen by persons unknown in 1996 and has never been recovered.
The new figures and statues in the church were not specially made, but were chosen by Saunière from a catalogue published by Giscard, sculptor and painter in Toulouse
who - among other things - offered statues and sculptural features for church refurbishment.
Saunière also funded the construction of another structure dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Named after his church, he built the Tour Magdala on the edge of the village which he used as his library, situated on a belvedere that connected it to an orangery. The tower has a promenade linking it to the Villa Bethania
, which was not actually used by the priest. He stated during his trial that it was intended as a home for retired priests. Surviving receipts and existing account books belonging to Saunière reveal that the construction of his estate including the Tour Magdala and Villa Bethania (including the purchases of land) between 1898 and 1905 cost 26,417 Francs.
Following Sauniere's renovations and redecoratations, the church was re-dedicated in 1897 by his bishop, Monsignor Billard.
In 1910-1911 Bérenger Saunière was summoned by the bishopric to appear before an ecclesiastical trial to face charges of trafficking in masses
, was found guilty and suspended of the priesthood. When asked to produce his account books he refused to attend his trial.
's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code
. The modern reputation of Rennes-le-Château rises mainly from claims and stories dating from the mid-1950s concerning the local 19th-century priest Father Bérenger Saunière. These stories influenced the authors of the worldwide bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
in 1982, and that work in turn influenced Dan Brown when he wrote The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003.
The first known popular article about Father Bérenger Saunière was written by Roger Crouquet in the Belgian magazine Le Soir illustré, published in 1948. The author was visiting the Aude to meet his friend Monsieur Jean Mauhin, who originated from Belgium and had moved to Quillan
to open a factory making bells and hats, and at his suggestion decided it would be a good idea to visit Rennes-le-Château. There Crouquet collected the testimonies of the villagers about Saunière, one person told how the priest "preferred wine and women to practising the priesthood. At the end of the last century he had a rather original idea. He placed in foreign newspapers, especially in the United States, an advertisement announcing that the poor priest of Rennes-le-Château lived among heretics and had only the most meagre of resources. He moved the Christians of the whole world to such pity by announcing that the old church, an architectural gem, was heading for unavoidable destruction if urgent restoration work was not undertaken as soon as possible." Crouquet also added: "The stoup which decorates the entrance to the chapel is carried by a horned devil with cloven hooves. An old woman remarked to us: 'It's the old priest, changed into a devil'."
Crouquet's article faded into obscurity and it was left to Noël Corbu
, a local man who had opened a restaurant in Saunière's former estate (called L'Hotel de la Tour) during the mid-1950s, to turn the village into a household name. Corbu began circulating stories that Father Saunière had discovered "parchments" while renovating his church in 1892 that were to do with the treasure of Blanche of Castile
, and which "according to the archives" consisted of 28,500,000 gold pieces. This was the treasure of the French crown assembled by Blanche de Castile to pay the ransom of Saint Louis, a prisoner of the infidels, the surplus of which she had hidden at Rennes-le-Château. Saunière had only found one part of it, so it was necessary to continue his investigations.
Corbu also claimed that Rennes-le-Château was the capital of the Visigoths called Rhedae, but this was another exaggeration: it was Narbonne
that held that position. His claim can be traced back to a book by Louis Fédié entitled Le comté de Razès et le diocèse d'Alet (1880), that contained a chapter on the history of Rennes-le-Château; published as a booklet in 1994. Nöel Corbu incorporated this story into his essay L'histoire de Rennes-le-Château that was deposited at the Departmental Archives at Carcassonne
on 14 June 1962. Fédié's assertions concerning the population and importance of Rennes-le-Château have since been contradicted by archaeology and the work of more recent historians.
Corbu's story inspired author Robert Charroux
to develop an active interest, and in 1958 with his wife Yvette and other members of The Treasure Seekers' Club (that he founded in 1951), scanned the village and its church looking for treasure using a metal detector
.
Corbu's story was published in the book by Robert Charroux Trésors du monde in 1962 , that caught the attention of Pierre Plantard
, who decided to use and adapt Corbu's story for his own gain involving the mythological history of the Priory of Sion
, that inspired the 1967 book L'Or de Rennes by author Gérard de Sède
. De Sède's book contained reproductions of "parchments" allegedly discovered by the priest Bérenger Saunière alluding to the survival of the line of Dagobert II
and Plantard claimed to be directly descended from that monarch. Plantard and de Sède fell out over book royalties and Philippe de Chérisey
, Plantard's friend, claimed to have forged the parchments as part of the plot. At the same time, Plantard and de Chérisey were also involved in planting fabricated documents in France's Bibliothèque Nationale
that dealt with the secret history of the Priory of Sion.
In 1969, a British supporting actor
and screenwriter for the BBC
by the name of Henry Lincoln
read de Sède's book while on holiday in the Cévennes
in 1969 that led him to inspire three BBC Two
Chronicle
documentaries between 1972-1979, working some of its material into the 1982 bestseller Holy Blood, Holy Grail, that he co-wrote with Michael Baigent
and Richard Leigh
. The book claimed Bérenger Saunière discovered proof (possibly the Marriage Certificate) that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
were married and their descendants became the Merovingian dynasty
. It was possible that this was the secret of the Priory of Sion and that Pierre Plantard could have been the descendant of Jesus Christ. The source of Saunière's wealth could have involved the blackmailing of the Vatican
.
This theme was then picked up and carried further in 2003 in Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novel never specifically mentioned Rennes-le-Château, but some key characters in the book had related names, such as Saunière, named after the priest, and "Leigh Teabing", whose first name was derived from Richard Leigh, and last name, Teabing, was an anagram of Baigent.
The extraordinary popularity of The Da Vinci Code reignited the interest of tourists, who come to the village to see sites associated with Saunière and Rennes-le-Château.
In November 1956 Monsieur Cotte of the Société des arts et des sciences de Carcassonne asked the membership during its monthly session about the treasure of Rennes-le-Château, which led to an investigation of the subject matter. Two members conducted on-the-spot research in March 1957 that lasted for one year. Local historian René Descadeillas commented: "They found no evidence anywhere to support the assertion that, down the ages, any individual, family, group or clan could have accumulated a precious treasure-hoard at Rennes and then concealed it in the locality or its environs. What is more, the activities of the Abbé Saunière were undoubtedly eloquent of the sort of stratagems that he was accustomed to using in order to enrich himself."
In more recent times, a much-publicised 2003 excavation of the floor of the Tour Magdala by the Mayor of the village produced a stone, and not any anticipated treasure, following-up claims made by a Canadian who said he was related to one of the foremen who supervised Saunière's works. Another request, at the same time, was also made to excavate the church, but permission was refused by the Directions Régionales des Affaires Culturelles (or DRAC), the archaeological body of France.
, the Knights Templar
, the Cathars, the treasures of the Temple of Solomon that was the booty of the Visigoths that included the Ark of the Covenant
and the Menorah (the seven-branched candlestick from the Temple of Jerusalem). From the 1970s onwards claims have extended to the Priory of Sion, the Rex Deus, the Holy Grail
, ley line
s, sacred geometry
alignments, the remains of Jesus Christ, alleged references to Mary Magdalene settling in the south of France, and even Flying saucer
s. Well-known French authors like Jules Verne
and Maurice Leblanc
are suspected of leaving clues in their novels about their knowledge of the 'mystery' of Rennes-le-Château.
Christiane Amiel has commented: "No new theory has ever succeeded in entirely replacing any of the previous ones and, as the researches have intensified, so the various lines of investigation have accumulated and crossed in a system of ramifications in which criticism of one line of approach simply gives rise to others" and, "Today the vogue is for analysing and checking the most minute details, for comparing and contrasting rival theories, for reviving old and unexplored lines of enquiry in a new guise, and for an unbridled pluralism which mixes together erudition and extrapolation, and makes recourse to geology, history, prehistory, esotericism, religious history, mysticism, the paranormal, ufology and other fields."
Rennes-le-Château conspiracy theories continue to be a popular ingredient in a publishing industry that is growing exponentially, and is the subject of press articles, radio and Television programmes and films. Websites and Blogs devoted to the alleged 'mysteries' exist in many different countries and authors' interviews can be accessed on podcast
s.
considered the various allegations surrounding the village of Rennes-le-Château as pure myth "so beloved of occultists and 'aficionados' of the Unexplained". He ranks the stories among those of the Bermuda Triangle
, Atlantis
and ancient astronauts
as a source of "ill-informed and lunatic books". Likewise another archaeologist Bill Putnam, co-author with John Edwin Wood of The Treasure of Rennes-le-Château, A Mystery Solved (2003, 2005) has dismissed all of the popular allegations as pseudo-history.
Laura Miller, contributor to the New York Times books section, commented how the village of Rennes-le-Château had become "a town that had become the French equivalent of Roswell
or Loch Ness
as a result of popular books by Gérard de Sède."
Christiane Amiel commented in 2008 that the treasure of Rennes-le-Château "seems to elude all the investigations that people make into it. Like the fairy gold which, in the popular fables, turns into manure as soon as a human being touches it, it remains impalpable. It can only exist as long as it remains on the distinctive level of the dream, between the real and the imaginary."
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Aude
Aude
Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
department in Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
This small French hilltop village is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories, and for being the location of an alleged buried treasure
Treasure
Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...
discovered by its 19th-century priest Bérenger Saunière
Bérenger Saunière
François Bérenger Saunière was a Roman Catholic priest in the French village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Aude region, officially from 1885 until he was transferred to another village in 1909 by his bishop, a nomination he declined and subsequently resigned...
, the precise nature of which is disputed by those who believe in its existence, because of the sheer diversity of conflicting theories.
History
Mountains frame both ends of the region — the CevennesCévennes
The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
to the northeast and the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
to the south. The area is known for beautiful scenery, with jagged ridges, deep river canyons and rocky limestone plateaus, with large caves underneath.
Like many European villages, Rennes-le-Château has a complex history. It is the site of a prehistoric encampment, and later a Roman colony
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
(or at least Roman villa or temple, such as is confirmed to have been built at Fa
Fa, Aude
Fa is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-Population:...
, 5 km (3.1 mi) west of Couiza
Couiza
Couiza is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.Couiza is located at the foothills of the Pyrenees, on the road between Limoux, going towards Carcassonne and Quillan, going towards Perpignan...
).
Rennes-le-Château was a Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
site during the 6th and 7th centuries, during the trying period when the Visigoths had been defeated by the Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
King Clovis I
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
and had been reduced to Septimania
Septimania
Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
. It was the center of the county of Razès
County of Razès
The County of Razès was a feudal jurisdiction in Occitania, south to Carcassonne, in what is now southern France. It was founded in 781, after the creation of the Kingdom of Aquitania, when Septimania was separated from that state.-History:...
.
It was the site of a medieval castle around 1002, though nothing remains above ground of this medieval structure – the present ruin is from the 17th or 18th century.
Several castles situated in the surrounding region in the Languedoc were central to the battle between the Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
church and the Cathars at the beginning of the 13th century. Other castles guarded the volatile border with Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Whole communities were wiped out during the campaigns of the Catholic authorities to rid the area of the Cathar heretics during the Albigensian Crusades and again when Protestants fought for religious freedom against the French monarchy two centuries before the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
Population
Church of Saint Mary Magdalene
The village church dedicated to Saint Mary MagdaleneMary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
has an extremely complex history, having been rebuilt several times. The earliest church of which there is any evidence on the site may date to the 8th century. However, this original church was almost certainly in ruins during the 10th or 11th century, when another church was built upon the site - remnants of which can be seen in Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
pillared arcades on the north side of the apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
. This survived in poor repair until the 19th century, when it was renovated by the local priest, Bérenger Saunière. Surviving receipts and existing account books belonging to Saunière reveal that the renovation of the church, including works on the presbytery and cemetery, cost 11,605 Francs over a ten year period between 1887 and 1897.
One of the new features was the Latin inscription Terribilis est locus iste above the front doors, taken from the Common Dedication of a Church, which translates as: "This is a place of awe"; the rest of the dedication reads "this is God's house, the gate of heaven, and it shall be called the royal court of God." The first part of the dedication is above the front doors – the rest inscribed on the arches over the two front doors of the church.
Inside the church, one of the added figures was of a devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
holding up the holy water stoup, a rare, though not unheard of addition found in French churches in this particular style. Its original head was stolen by persons unknown in 1996 and has never been recovered.
The new figures and statues in the church were not specially made, but were chosen by Saunière from a catalogue published by Giscard, sculptor and painter in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
who - among other things - offered statues and sculptural features for church refurbishment.
Saunière also funded the construction of another structure dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Named after his church, he built the Tour Magdala on the edge of the village which he used as his library, situated on a belvedere that connected it to an orangery. The tower has a promenade linking it to the Villa Bethania
Villa Bethania
The Villa Bethania was constructed in the French village of Rennes-le-Château between 1901-1905 as part of the former estate of the Abbé Bérenger Saunière, in the name of his maidservant Marie Dénarnaud.-History:...
, which was not actually used by the priest. He stated during his trial that it was intended as a home for retired priests. Surviving receipts and existing account books belonging to Saunière reveal that the construction of his estate including the Tour Magdala and Villa Bethania (including the purchases of land) between 1898 and 1905 cost 26,417 Francs.
Following Sauniere's renovations and redecoratations, the church was re-dedicated in 1897 by his bishop, Monsignor Billard.
In 1910-1911 Bérenger Saunière was summoned by the bishopric to appear before an ecclesiastical trial to face charges of trafficking in masses
Simony
Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...
, was found guilty and suspended of the priesthood. When asked to produce his account books he refused to attend his trial.
Modern fame
The village received up to around 100,000 tourists each year during the height of popularity of Dan BrownDan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
. The modern reputation of Rennes-le-Château rises mainly from claims and stories dating from the mid-1950s concerning the local 19th-century priest Father Bérenger Saunière. These stories influenced the authors of the worldwide bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail is a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln....
in 1982, and that work in turn influenced Dan Brown when he wrote The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003.
The first known popular article about Father Bérenger Saunière was written by Roger Crouquet in the Belgian magazine Le Soir illustré, published in 1948. The author was visiting the Aude to meet his friend Monsieur Jean Mauhin, who originated from Belgium and had moved to Quillan
Quillan
Quillan is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-Geography:Quillan is located at the foothills of the Pyrenees, on the road between Carcassonne and Perpignan....
to open a factory making bells and hats, and at his suggestion decided it would be a good idea to visit Rennes-le-Château. There Crouquet collected the testimonies of the villagers about Saunière, one person told how the priest "preferred wine and women to practising the priesthood. At the end of the last century he had a rather original idea. He placed in foreign newspapers, especially in the United States, an advertisement announcing that the poor priest of Rennes-le-Château lived among heretics and had only the most meagre of resources. He moved the Christians of the whole world to such pity by announcing that the old church, an architectural gem, was heading for unavoidable destruction if urgent restoration work was not undertaken as soon as possible." Crouquet also added: "The stoup which decorates the entrance to the chapel is carried by a horned devil with cloven hooves. An old woman remarked to us: 'It's the old priest, changed into a devil'."
Crouquet's article faded into obscurity and it was left to Noël Corbu
Noel Corbu
Noël Corbu is best known as a former restaurateur in the Southern French village of Rennes-le-Château, who from the mid-1950s circulated the story that Bérenger Saunière discovered the treasure of Blanche of Castile....
, a local man who had opened a restaurant in Saunière's former estate (called L'Hotel de la Tour) during the mid-1950s, to turn the village into a household name. Corbu began circulating stories that Father Saunière had discovered "parchments" while renovating his church in 1892 that were to do with the treasure of Blanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....
, and which "according to the archives" consisted of 28,500,000 gold pieces. This was the treasure of the French crown assembled by Blanche de Castile to pay the ransom of Saint Louis, a prisoner of the infidels, the surplus of which she had hidden at Rennes-le-Château. Saunière had only found one part of it, so it was necessary to continue his investigations.
Corbu also claimed that Rennes-le-Château was the capital of the Visigoths called Rhedae, but this was another exaggeration: it was Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
that held that position. His claim can be traced back to a book by Louis Fédié entitled Le comté de Razès et le diocèse d'Alet (1880), that contained a chapter on the history of Rennes-le-Château; published as a booklet in 1994. Nöel Corbu incorporated this story into his essay L'histoire de Rennes-le-Château that was deposited at the Departmental Archives at Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
on 14 June 1962. Fédié's assertions concerning the population and importance of Rennes-le-Château have since been contradicted by archaeology and the work of more recent historians.
Corbu's story inspired author Robert Charroux
Robert Charroux
Robert Charroux was the best-known pen-name of Robert Grugeau .-Early career:Robert Charroux worked for the French post office until becoming a full-time writer of fiction in the early 1940s...
to develop an active interest, and in 1958 with his wife Yvette and other members of The Treasure Seekers' Club (that he founded in 1951), scanned the village and its church looking for treasure using a metal detector
Metal detector
A metal detector is a device which responds to metal that may not be readily apparent.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
.
Corbu's story was published in the book by Robert Charroux Trésors du monde in 1962 , that caught the attention of Pierre Plantard
Pierre Plantard
Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard was a French draughtsman, best known for being the principal perpetrator of the Priory of Sion hoax, by which he claimed from the 1960s onwards that he was a Merovingian descendant of Dagobert II and the "Great Monarch" prophesied by Nostradamus.-Surname:Pierre...
, who decided to use and adapt Corbu's story for his own gain involving the mythological history of the Priory of Sion
Priory of Sion
The Prieuré de Sion, translated from French as Priory of Sion, is a name given to multiple groups, both real and fictitious. The most notorious is a fringe fraternal organisation, founded and dissolved in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard...
, that inspired the 1967 book L'Or de Rennes by author Gérard de Sède
Gérard de Sède
Géraud Marie de Sède de Liéoux was born in Paris to parents who supported the right-wing politics of Action Française....
. De Sède's book contained reproductions of "parchments" allegedly discovered by the priest Bérenger Saunière alluding to the survival of the line of Dagobert II
Dagobert II
Dagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:...
and Plantard claimed to be directly descended from that monarch. Plantard and de Sède fell out over book royalties and Philippe de Chérisey
Philippe de Chérisey
The marquess Philippe de Chérisey was a French writer, radio humorist, and actor...
, Plantard's friend, claimed to have forged the parchments as part of the plot. At the same time, Plantard and de Chérisey were also involved in planting fabricated documents in France's Bibliothèque Nationale
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
that dealt with the secret history of the Priory of Sion.
In 1969, a British supporting actor
Supporting actor
A supporting actor is an actor who performs roles in a play or film other than that of the leads.These roles range from bit parts to secondary leads. They are sometimes but not necessarily character roles. A supporting actor must also use restraint not to upstage the main actor/actress in the...
and screenwriter for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
by the name of Henry Lincoln
Henry Lincoln
Henry Lincoln is an English author, television presenter, scriptwriter and former Supporting actor. He co-wrote three Doctor Who multi-part serials in the 1960s, and —starting in the 1970s— authored a series of books and inspired documentaries for the British television channel BBC2,...
read de Sède's book while on holiday in the Cévennes
Cévennes
The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
in 1969 that led him to inspire three BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
Chronicle
Chronicle (UK TV series)
Chronicle was a BBC Television series shown monthly and then fortnightly on BBC Two from 18 June 1966 to its last broadcast in May 1991.Chronicle focused on popular archaeology and related subjects.The BBC have made some editions available ....
documentaries between 1972-1979, working some of its material into the 1982 bestseller Holy Blood, Holy Grail, that he co-wrote with Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent is an author and speculative theorist who co-wrote a number of books that question mainstream perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is best known as co-writer of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail....
and Richard Leigh
Richard Leigh (author)
Richard Harris Leigh was a novelist and short story writer born in New Jersey, USA to a British father and an American mother, who spent most of his life in the UK. Leigh earned a BA from Tufts University, a Master's degree from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D...
. The book claimed Bérenger Saunière discovered proof (possibly the Marriage Certificate) that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
were married and their descendants became the Merovingian dynasty
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...
. It was possible that this was the secret of the Priory of Sion and that Pierre Plantard could have been the descendant of Jesus Christ. The source of Saunière's wealth could have involved the blackmailing of the Vatican
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:*Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized by international law, consisting of the Pope and the Roman Curia...
.
This theme was then picked up and carried further in 2003 in Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novel never specifically mentioned Rennes-le-Château, but some key characters in the book had related names, such as Saunière, named after the priest, and "Leigh Teabing", whose first name was derived from Richard Leigh, and last name, Teabing, was an anagram of Baigent.
The extraordinary popularity of The Da Vinci Code reignited the interest of tourists, who come to the village to see sites associated with Saunière and Rennes-le-Château.
Excavations
The sudden interest in Saunière's church generated by the stories circulated by Noël Corbu during the 1950s inspired two excavations of the church of St Mary Magdalene. The first was conducted by Dr André Malacan in May 1956, who, after excavating the subsoil of the church at the depth of approxiamtely one metre, discovered some bones that included a skull bearing an incision, but they failed to discover "anything of any interest". Dr Malacan died in 1997, and the skull is currently in the possession of his family. Between 1959-1963 Jacques Cholet, an engineer from Paris, also conducted several digs in the church, and also failed to discover anything of interest.In November 1956 Monsieur Cotte of the Société des arts et des sciences de Carcassonne asked the membership during its monthly session about the treasure of Rennes-le-Château, which led to an investigation of the subject matter. Two members conducted on-the-spot research in March 1957 that lasted for one year. Local historian René Descadeillas commented: "They found no evidence anywhere to support the assertion that, down the ages, any individual, family, group or clan could have accumulated a precious treasure-hoard at Rennes and then concealed it in the locality or its environs. What is more, the activities of the Abbé Saunière were undoubtedly eloquent of the sort of stratagems that he was accustomed to using in order to enrich himself."
In more recent times, a much-publicised 2003 excavation of the floor of the Tour Magdala by the Mayor of the village produced a stone, and not any anticipated treasure, following-up claims made by a Canadian who said he was related to one of the foremen who supervised Saunière's works. Another request, at the same time, was also made to excavate the church, but permission was refused by the Directions Régionales des Affaires Culturelles (or DRAC), the archaeological body of France.
Centre of conspiracy theories
The entire area around Rennes-le-Château became the focus of sensational claims during the 1950s and 1960s involving Blanche of Castile, the MerovingiansMerovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...
, the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, the Cathars, the treasures of the Temple of Solomon that was the booty of the Visigoths that included the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
and the Menorah (the seven-branched candlestick from the Temple of Jerusalem). From the 1970s onwards claims have extended to the Priory of Sion, the Rex Deus, the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
, ley line
Ley line
Ley lines are alleged alignments of a number of places of geographical and historical interest, such as ancient monuments and megaliths, natural ridge-tops and water-fords...
s, sacred geometry
Sacred geometry
Sacred geometry is the geometry used in the planning and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, tabernacles; as well as for sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens and holy wells, and the creation of religious art...
alignments, the remains of Jesus Christ, alleged references to Mary Magdalene settling in the south of France, and even Flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
s. Well-known French authors like Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
and Maurice Leblanc
Maurice Leblanc
Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.- Biography :Leblanc was born in...
are suspected of leaving clues in their novels about their knowledge of the 'mystery' of Rennes-le-Château.
Christiane Amiel has commented: "No new theory has ever succeeded in entirely replacing any of the previous ones and, as the researches have intensified, so the various lines of investigation have accumulated and crossed in a system of ramifications in which criticism of one line of approach simply gives rise to others" and, "Today the vogue is for analysing and checking the most minute details, for comparing and contrasting rival theories, for reviving old and unexplored lines of enquiry in a new guise, and for an unbridled pluralism which mixes together erudition and extrapolation, and makes recourse to geology, history, prehistory, esotericism, religious history, mysticism, the paranormal, ufology and other fields."
Rennes-le-Château conspiracy theories continue to be a popular ingredient in a publishing industry that is growing exponentially, and is the subject of press articles, radio and Television programmes and films. Websites and Blogs devoted to the alleged 'mysteries' exist in many different countries and authors' interviews can be accessed on podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s.
Criticism
Archaeologist Dr Paul BahnPaul Bahn
Paul G. Bahn is a British archaeologist, translator, writer and broadcaster who has published extensively on a range of archaeological topics, with particular attention to prehistoric art...
considered the various allegations surrounding the village of Rennes-le-Château as pure myth "so beloved of occultists and 'aficionados' of the Unexplained". He ranks the stories among those of the Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
, Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
and ancient astronauts
Ancient astronauts
Some writers have proposed that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity or prehistory and made contact with humans. Such visitors are called ancient astronauts or ancient aliens. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of human cultures,...
as a source of "ill-informed and lunatic books". Likewise another archaeologist Bill Putnam, co-author with John Edwin Wood of The Treasure of Rennes-le-Château, A Mystery Solved (2003, 2005) has dismissed all of the popular allegations as pseudo-history.
Laura Miller, contributor to the New York Times books section, commented how the village of Rennes-le-Château had become "a town that had become the French equivalent of Roswell
Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,366 at the 2010 census. It is a center for irrigation farming, dairying, ranching, manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum production. It is also...
or Loch Ness
Loch Ness
Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. Its surface is above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as "Nessie"...
as a result of popular books by Gérard de Sède."
Christiane Amiel commented in 2008 that the treasure of Rennes-le-Château "seems to elude all the investigations that people make into it. Like the fairy gold which, in the popular fables, turns into manure as soon as a human being touches it, it remains impalpable. It can only exist as long as it remains on the distinctive level of the dream, between the real and the imaginary."
Further reading
- Christiane Amiel, "L’abîme au trésor, ou l’or fantôme de Rennes-le-Château" in, Claudie Voisenat (editor), Imaginaires archéologiques, pages 61-86 (Ethnologie de la France, Number 22, Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2008). ISBN 978-2-7351-1210-4
- Jean-Jacques Bedu, Rennes-Le-Château: Autopsie d'un mythe (Portet-sur-Garonne: Ed. Loubatières, 1990). ISBN 2-86266-142-2 Reprinted in 2003, ISBN 2862663727
- Claude Boumendil, Gilbert Tappa (editors), Les Cahiers de Rennes-le-Château, Archives – Documents – Études, Number 11 (Éditions Bélisane, 1996). ISBN 2-910730-12-3 http://www.insolite.asso.fr/rennes/biblio/biblio34.htm
- René Descadeillas, Mythologie du trésor de Rennes: histoire véritable de l'abbé Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château (Mémoires de la Société des Arts et des Sciences de Carcassonne, Annees 1971-1972, 4me série, Tome VII, 2me partie; 1974). Reprinted by Savary, Carcassonne in 1988, then by Editions Collot, Carcassonne, in 1991.
- Christian Doumergue, L'Affaire de Rennes-le-Château, 2 volumes (Marseille: Ed. Arqa, 2006). ISBN 2-7551-0013-3 (volume 1). ISBN 2-7551-0014-1 (volume 2)
- Abbé Bruno de Monts, Bérenger Sauniére curé à Rennes-le-Château 1885-1909, Editions Belisane (Collection les amis de Bérenger Sauniére, 1989, 2000). ISBN 2-902296-85-1
- Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood. The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau: a mystery solved (Sutton Publishing Limited, 2003) ISBN 0750930810. Reprinted and revised paperback edition published in 2005. ISBN 0750942169
- Jacques Rivière, Le Fabuleux trésor de Rennes-le-Château, Editions Belisane (1983). ISBN 2-902296-42-8
- David Rossoni, L'histoire rêvée de Rennes-le-Château: Eclairages sur un récit collectif contemporain (Books on Demand Editions, 2010). ISBN 2810611521
- Gérard de Sède, L'or de Rennes ou la Vie insolite de Bérenger Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château, Paris: Julliard, 1967. Reprinted in paperback with the collaboration of Sophie de Sède entitled Le Trésor maudit de Rennes-le-Château, J'ai Lu (L'Aventure mystérieuse series), 1968.
External links
- Village's official website
- Photos of Rennes-Le-Chateau
- The Secret of the Priory of Sion, CBS News '60 Minutes' (CBS Worldwide Inc.), 30 April 2006, presented by CBS correspondent Ed Bradley, produced by Jeanne Langley
See also
- Noel CorbuNoel CorbuNoël Corbu is best known as a former restaurateur in the Southern French village of Rennes-le-Château, who from the mid-1950s circulated the story that Bérenger Saunière discovered the treasure of Blanche of Castile....
- Villa BethaniaVilla BethaniaThe Villa Bethania was constructed in the French village of Rennes-le-Château between 1901-1905 as part of the former estate of the Abbé Bérenger Saunière, in the name of his maidservant Marie Dénarnaud.-History:...
- Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the DamnedGabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the DamnedGabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is the third and final game in the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games by Sierra Online. The game was designed by Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight's creator. In a departure from the previous two entries, the score is composed by David...
, 1999 computer game which takes place in the town. - Beale ciphersBeale ciphersThe Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over USD$63 million as of September, 2011. The other two ciphertexts allegedly describe the content of the treasure, and list the names...
for a somewhat similar lost treasure story in VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.