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I used to live within a few km of Rennes-leChâteau. It is indeed Templar country, and my tiny village was a Templar village. However, I read "Holy Blood Holy Grail" and - well, words fail me - it is supposition based on supposition based on supposition. In other words, rubbish (forgive me being candid). But it's an interesting area and the Cathar castles are magnificent, and the atmosphere engendered by the whole Cathar heresy and the savage repression (inter alia by Simon de Montfort) does lend a certain historical frisson.Last year, cycling part of the Voie des Piémonts from SE France, I detoured south of Carcassonne to the village of Rennes le Chateau. It's a place of some notoriety, not least because it featured prominently in a 1980's best-seller called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a completely over-the-top conspiracy theory opus, which allegedly inspired Dan Brown to write his best selling - and even more outlandish - The Da Vinci Code.
However, Rennes Le Chateau is a deliciously mysterious place, steeped in very real history. There used to be a Visigoth castle here, and it was for a time the “capital” of a small Visigoth kingdom. The top of the mountain had been a Celtic sacred site, and the Romans apparently sited small temple of Isis there. The Visigoths built a Christian chapel on the site in the 6th century. The present church was built on top of that in early medieval times and retained a few elements of it.
Now, in 1885 a new young priest ofvery limited means was appointed to this little parish, Abbé Saunière. For some years he lived a quiet life on his isolated mountain ministering to his 80 parishioners, supported by a tiny stipend. The old church was very delapidated by then, and he started some simple renovations. In the process he took off the altar stone, which rested on two stone Visigoth pillars from the original chapel. One of them was hollow, and inside he found parchment documents, some supposedly written in code. At the same time his bell ringer found a glass vial containing a document concealed inside a hole under the wooden ballustrade of the pulpit stair. Saunière never revealed what he learned, (if anything) from these discoveries.
But we do know that he became a very wealthy man almost overnight. He completely renovated the church, built himself an impressive mansion/presbytery, with an orangery and formal garden, then a sort of folly, a look-out called the Tour Magdala, and he even paid for the construction of a road up to the village, (which was handy for me).
The tower was a homage to Mary Magdalen, and the church itself is named after her.
Apparently he must have spent millions of francs on his renovations and building programs. The place is a gem.
When the Bishop of Carcassonne found out about his profligate spending, he sacked him, but Saunière appealed to the Vatican and was reinstated. Much has been subsequently made of that fact. Skulduggery indeed!
The plot thickens here, because there is a curiously ubiquitous devotion to the Magdalene in France. One suggested origin for this dates back to, wait for it, the CATHARS, who revered her, and believed that she was the wife of Jesus, and had been smuggled out of Palestine and brought to southern France and safety after the events recounted in the Gospels.
Here it all gets a bit dodgy, because the legends in these parts dating back a thousand years associate Mary Magdalen with the Holy Grail, whatever that was.
Enter some 20th century French and British researchers who maintained that the Holy Grail was in fact Mary’s child by Jesus. Then along comes Dan Brown, who rips off their ideas with his Da Vinci Code nonesense . (A couple of writers sued him, and lost at a trial at the Old Bailey).
It’s all a big mystery, and even the Knights Templar are mixed up in it too. A grand master of the Templars had an estate nearby, and no one knows what happened to the Templar treasure after they too were eradicated by the French King in the 14th century. (Accused heretics again, and certainly the order was fabulously wealthy). Was this the source of Saunière’s wealth?
I’d better shut up. I hope that wasn’t too incoherent.
Some pics.
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I mention the HBHG book in the context of contributing to the widespread interest in Rennes. I am aware that its premise has been thoroughly debunked. However, I understand that there had been a couple of books written by French authors predating that about the mystery concerning Saunière's wealth. In the museum at Rennes they display this newspaper article from 1956I used to live within a few km of Rennes-leChâteau. It is indeed Templar country, and my tiny village was a Templar village. However, I read "Holy Blood Holy Grail" and - well, words fail me - it is supposition based on supposition based on supposition. In other words, rubbish (forgive me being candid). But it's an interesting area and the Cathar castles are magnificent, and the atmosphere engendered by the whole Cathar heresy and the savage repression (inter alia by Simon de Montfort) does lend a certain historical frisson.
I read that book soon after it was published in English. It was an absolutely fascinating and an eye opener into life, values and morals in mediaeval times.More grounded reading about the Cathars — an old book, but a very good one:
Montaillou
In the early 1300's the village of Montaillou & the surrounding mountainous region of Southern France was full of heretics. When Jacquest...www.goodreads.com
Couldn't agree more. The Cathar Trail is a fantastic walk: https://www.creme-de-languedoc.com/Languedoc/activities/sentier-cathar-trail.php you get to visit an amazing castle almost everyday.We walked the Cathar Way in 2014 from Port-La -Nouvelle on the coast to Foix
It was a wonderful journey and we visited each of the Cathar castles/settlements built on hills high above the ground and most needing a climb
I read that book soon after it was published in English. It was an absolutely fascinating and an eye opener into life, values and morals in mediaeval times.
Sigh. People.While the notion that Saunière found some Visigothic artifacts of value beneath his church is certainly plausible, the absolute swamp of fabrication and fantasy that surrounds every part of this mystery makes it difficult to give any theory much credence. So perhaps, then, we should apply the rule of Occam’s Razor to cut through the baloney. What is the simplest and least complicated explanation for his wealth? Well, Saunière was a charming man and does appear to have accepted gifts from wealthy women. Moreover, during the last decade of his life, as Bishop de Beauséjour investigated him, charges of trafficking in masses led to the loss of his title. It appears that Saunière was collecting payment for prayers on a large scale.
I am told it is more complete than the translation. Bon chance!I'm re-reading it in french -a friend found an old copy in a charity shop and gave it to me as a challenge...
Never let the truth ruin a good story, eh?That Saunière was just a scam artist is far less interesting then mysterious stories of hidden Templar treasure.
Don’t know, but how many others got to wash Jesus’ feet?History buffs. Why is it that Mary Magdalene is so revered in France?
She was said to have lived in a cave in Provence for 30 years, and her relics are said to be in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, near Aix.History buffs. Why is it that Mary Magdalene is so revered in Franc
Couldn't agree more. The Cathar Trail is a fantastic walk: https://www.creme-de-languedoc.com/Languedoc/activities/sentier-cathar-trail.php you get to visit an amazing castle almost everyday.
Last year, cycling part of the Voie des Piémonts from SE France, I detoured south of Carcassonne to the village of Rennes le Chateau. It's a place of some notoriety, not least because it featured prominently in a 1980's best-seller called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a completely over-the-top conspiracy theory opus, which allegedly inspired Dan Brown to write his best selling - and even more outlandish - The Da Vinci Code.
However, Rennes Le Chateau is a deliciously mysterious place, steeped in very real history. There used to be a Visigoth castle here, and it was for a time the “capital” of a small Visigoth kingdom. The top of the mountain had been a Celtic sacred site, and the Romans apparently sited small temple of Isis there. The Visigoths built a Christian chapel on the site in the 6th century. The present church was built on top of that in early medieval times and retained a few elements of it.
Now, in 1885 a new young priest ofvery limited means was appointed to this little parish, Abbé Saunière. For some years he lived a quiet life on his isolated mountain ministering to his 80 parishioners, supported by a tiny stipend. The old church was very delapidated by then, and he started some simple renovations. In the process he took off the altar stone, which rested on two stone Visigoth pillars from the original chapel. One of them was hollow, and inside he found parchment documents, some supposedly written in code. At the same time his bell ringer found a glass vial containing a document concealed inside a hole under the wooden ballustrade of the pulpit stair. Saunière never revealed what he learned, (if anything) from these discoveries.
But we do know that he became a very wealthy man almost overnight. He completely renovated the church, built himself an impressive mansion/presbytery, with an orangery and formal garden, then a sort of folly, a look-out called the Tour Magdala, and he even paid for the construction of a road up to the village, (which was handy for me).
The tower was a homage to Mary Magdalen, and the church itself is named after her.
Apparently he must have spent millions of francs on his renovations and building programs. The place is a gem.
When the Bishop of Carcassonne found out about his profligate spending, he sacked him, but Saunière appealed to the Vatican and was reinstated. Much has been subsequently made of that fact. Skulduggery indeed!
The plot thickens here, because there is a curiously ubiquitous devotion to the Magdalene in France. One suggested origin for this dates back to, wait for it, the CATHARS, who revered her, and believed that she was the wife of Jesus, and had been smuggled out of Palestine and brought to southern France and safety after the events recounted in the Gospels.
Here it all gets a bit dodgy, because the legends in these parts dating back a thousand years associate Mary Magdalen with the Holy Grail, whatever that was.
Enter some 20th century French and British researchers who maintained that the Holy Grail was in fact Mary’s child by Jesus. Then along comes Dan Brown, who rips off their ideas with his Da Vinci Code nonesense . (A couple of writers sued him, and lost at a trial at the Old Bailey).
It’s all a big mystery, and even the Knights Templar are mixed up in it too. A grand master of the Templars had an estate nearby, and no one knows what happened to the Templar treasure after they too were eradicated by the French King in the 14th century. (Accused heretics again, and certainly the order was fabulously wealthy). Was this the source of Saunière’s wealth?
I’d better shut up. I hope that wasn’t too incoherent.
Some pics.
View attachment 88111 View attachment 88112 View attachment 88120 View attachment 88113 View attachment 88114 View attachment 88115
View attachment 88116 View attachment 88117 View attachment 88118 View attachment 88119
The history is both fascinating and an utterly disturbing tale of crusades and genocide (the real history not the Holy Blood and Holy Grail stuff). We had a very memorable trip, more or less every night's accomodation was an adventure and we met some real characters.
My favorite place in the area is Rennes les Baines, at least partly because I love hot springs. It's in a beautiful valley. Likely the baths and pool are closed because of COVID now.Last year, cycling part of the Voie des Piémonts from SE France, I detoured south of Carcassonne to the village of Rennes le Chateau. It's a place of some notoriety, not least because it featured prominently in a 1980's best-seller called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a completely over-the-top conspiracy theory opus, which allegedly inspired Dan Brown to write his best selling - and even more outlandish - The Da Vinci Code.
However, Rennes Le Chateau is a deliciously mysterious place, steeped in very real history. There used to be a Visigoth castle here, and it was for a time the “capital” of a small Visigoth kingdom. The top of the mountain had been a Celtic sacred site, and the Romans apparently sited small temple of Isis there. The Visigoths built a Christian chapel on the site in the 6th century. The present church was built on top of that in early medieval times and retained a few elements of it.
Now, in 1885 a new young priest ofvery limited means was appointed to this little parish, Abbé Saunière. For some years he lived a quiet life on his isolated mountain ministering to his 80 parishioners, supported by a tiny stipend. The old church was very delapidated by then, and he started some simple renovations. In the process he took off the altar stone, which rested on two stone Visigoth pillars from the original chapel. One of them was hollow, and inside he found parchment documents, some supposedly written in code. At the same time his bell ringer found a glass vial containing a document concealed inside a hole under the wooden ballustrade of the pulpit stair. Saunière never revealed what he learned, (if anything) from these discoveries.
But we do know that he became a very wealthy man almost overnight. He completely renovated the church, built himself an impressive mansion/presbytery, with an orangery and formal garden, then a sort of folly, a look-out called the Tour Magdala, and he even paid for the construction of a road up to the village, (which was handy for me).
The tower was a homage to Mary Magdalen, and the church itself is named after her.
Apparently he must have spent millions of francs on his renovations and building programs. The place is a gem.
When the Bishop of Carcassonne found out about his profligate spending, he sacked him, but Saunière appealed to the Vatican and was reinstated. Much has been subsequently made of that fact. Skulduggery indeed!
The plot thickens here, because there is a curiously ubiquitous devotion to the Magdalene in France. One suggested origin for this dates back to, wait for it, the CATHARS, who revered her, and believed that she was the wife of Jesus, and had been smuggled out of Palestine and brought to southern France and safety after the events recounted in the Gospels.
Here it all gets a bit dodgy, because the legends in these parts dating back a thousand years associate Mary Magdalen with the Holy Grail, whatever that was.
Enter some 20th century French and British researchers who maintained that the Holy Grail was in fact Mary’s child by Jesus. Then along comes Dan Brown, who rips off their ideas with his Da Vinci Code nonesense . (A couple of writers sued him, and lost at a trial at the Old Bailey).
It’s all a big mystery, and even the Knights Templar are mixed up in it too. A grand master of the Templars had an estate nearby, and no one knows what happened to the Templar treasure after they too were eradicated by the French King in the 14th century. (Accused heretics again, and certainly the order was fabulously wealthy). Was this the source of Saunière’s wealth?
I’d better shut up. I hope that wasn’t too incoherent.
Some pics.
View attachment 88111 View attachment 88112 View attachment 88120 View attachment 88113 View attachment 88114 View attachment 88115
View attachment 88116 View attachment 88117 View attachment 88118 View attachment 88119
Saintes Marie de la Mer is definitely worth a visit. Multi-layered history up to the present role in European gypsy life and German occupation during WWII.Last year I took a coastal route from Nîmes to Béziers so I must have passed within 20km or so of Saintes Marie. I sadly missed out. Should have done more research.
And not overrun with tourists, etc. as is Rennes-le-Chateau.I agree. I stayed in an airbnb there; the closest accommadation I could find to Rennes-le-Château
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Despite what I read on that website, @VNwalking, I find it impossible to believe that mass offerings could pay for his lavish lifestyle and beautiful backyard. More pics for those who are interested.That Saunière was just a scam artist is far less interesting then mysterious stories of hidden Templar treasure.
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