The Sion Revelation by Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince

Author:Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2006-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

One Le Charivari “scoop” that turned out to be nothing of the sort was its splash of the “treasures of Rennes-le-Château,” with photographs supplied by Mathieu Paoli. These showed golden, bejeweled plate and vessels allegedly found by Saunière and sold secretly via the Banque Fritz Dörgé in Budapest to the Habsburgs that were now supposedly in Switzerland (and, somewhat confusingly, now said to be owned by followers of the mystic Rudolf Steiner). At least this is plausible, as Saunière was in contact with the bank, but the pictures turned out to be of something quite different: the hoard of sixth-century treasures discovered at Petrossa, Romania, in 1837 and now in the Bucharest museum. (Despite this disappointing setback, the Romanian connection may still be significant through the link between Paoli/Scheswig and Todericiu/Carnac.)

At the same time Plantard and the Rennes-le-Château story enjoyed banner headlines in the weekly publication Pégase, edited by Chaumeil. Several articles appeared on various aspects of the Rennes mystery: in September 1973 there was a piece on Plantard—who also looked out enigmatically from the cover—entitled “From Jarnac to Gisors,” by Michel Vallet, who under the nom de plume Pierre Jarnac was to become one of the most indefatigable researchers into the Rennes-le-Château affair. Even then, Vallet was not entirely won over by Plantard, writing that after learning about Saunière’s discovery of treasure, “with some outside assistance, he [Plantard] conceived a fantastic genealogy in which he enthroned himself ‘Descendant of the Merovingian Kings’ and in consequence sole legitimate descendant of the throne of France. But he did not stop there; he constituted a secret sect that he entitled the Priory of Sion.” 13

After Pégase carried an interview with Philippe de Chérisey the following month, there followed one with “master” Plantard. It was only now that he openly claimed to be the modern representative of the Merovingian bloodline and rightful King of France—previously readers had had to work this identity out for themselves from the Dossiers Secrets’ tantalizing trails. For example, in a letter to Chaumeil in July 1974, Plantard declared (with somewhat perverse logic): “I am indeed the direct and legitimate descendant of the line of Sigebert IV, himself son of Dagobert II, King of Austrasia. Let those who contest it prove the contrary!” 14 But bizarrely, after this flurry of publicity, the story went to sleep for another four or five years—until the next flurry.

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