Rennes le Château

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Rennes-le-Château is a medieval castle village and a commune in the Aude département, in the Languedoc area in southern France, an area known for its towering mountains, deep gorges, forests, caves, wild remote plateaus and access to the Mediterranean.

1 History of the Village
2 Modern fame
- 2.1 Skeptical views
3 Bibliography
4 Rennes-le-Château in fiction
5 See also
6 External links

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History of the Village

This predominantly rural area has a very rich history, as evidenced by its castles, cathedrals, vineyards and museums. Mountains frame both ends of the region - the Cevennes to the northeast and the Pyrenees to the south. Jagged ridges, deep river canyons and rocky limestone plateaus, with vast caves beneath, make it a highly scenic spot.

Over the centuries religious and political conflicts have caused much havoc in the area. The ruined castles which cling precariously to hilltops played a leading role in the struggles between the Catholic church and the Cathars at the beginning of the 13th century. Others 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 later, when Protestants fought for religious freedom against the French monarchy.

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Modern fame

The modern reputation of Rennes-le-Château rises from rumours dating from the mid-1950s concerning a local nineteenth century priest Bérenger Saunière, who was alleged to have mysteriously acquired and spent large sums of money (despite the existence of much evidence proving the contrary). He was even said to have visited several heads of state, though there is no evidence for this whatsoever. These rumours were given wide local circulation in the 1950s by Noel Corbu, a local man who had opened a restaurant in Saunière's former estate who probably hoped to attract business. They moved from local to national importance when they were incorporated by Pierre Plantard into his mythology of the Priory of Sion, which influenced the authors of the popular 1982 book The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail.

From this point on Rennes-le-Château became the centre of conspiracy theories claiming that Saunière uncovered hidden treasure and/or secrets about the history of the Church that threatened the foundations of Catholicism. Since the mid-1950s, the area has become the focus of increasingly sensational claims involving the Knights Templar, the Priory of Sion, the Rex Deus, the Holy Grail, the treasures of the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant, ley lines, geometric alignments, and others. Elements of these ideas were later incorporated into Umberto Eco's 1989 novel Foucault's Pendulum, Michael Baigent's, Henry Lincoln's and Richard Leigh's bestselling The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Dan Brown's bestselling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, and the computer game Gabriel Knight III. As a result, the village now attracts visitors who look for hidden treasures and evidence of conspiracy.

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Skeptical views

Almost all historians reject these conspiracies as nothing more than fantasy, but people seem to love a good story. According to writers such as Paul Smith (see link below), Monsignor George Boyer in 1967 (Vicar General of the parish of Carcassonne), Rene Descadeillas, Jacques Rivière, Jean-Luc Chaumeil, Jean-Jacques Bedu, Vincianne Denis, Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood, and Marie Francine Etchegoin — the stories of Saunière's "mysteries" were based on nothing more than a minor scandal involving the sale of masses, which eventually led to the disgrace of both Saunière and his bishop. His 'wealth' was short-lived and he died relatively poor. Published by French Editions Belisane from the early 1980s onwards, the evidence for this ranged from the archives in the possession of Antoine Captier, which includes Saunière's correspondence and notebooks, and the minutes of the ecumenical trial between Saunière and his bishop between 1910-1911 which are located in the Carcassonne Bishopric.

The fraud began when Noël Corbu wanted to attract visitors to his local hotel in Rennes-le-Château by spreading the story that Saunière became rich when he found a royal treasure in his church. In 1956, the first newspapers started printing this fictional story. This ignited a flame: visitors with shovels flooded the town and Corbu got what he wanted. But the number of articles and books about the treasure kept on growing. This attracted a number of persons such as Pierre Plantard. His childhood dream was to play a vital role in the history of France. So he called himself a descendant of King Dagobert II. Written proof was fabricated. This ‘Medieval proof’ of his royal roots was hidden in the ‘Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris’. These documents also mention the ancient ‘Priory of Sion’ (Which was in fact the name of an organization that he founded himself in 1956 with 3 of his friends.). Even the journalists that were investigating the treasure found the story too silly to be printed. So Plantard asked his friend, Gérard de Sède, to write a book about it. ‘L’Or de Rennes’ (the Gold of Rennes) came out in 1967 and was in instant success. A BBC reporter called Henry Lincoln read the story, dug deaper, and with the help of two others wrote ‘Holy Blood – Holy Grail’. Published in 1982, the book promoted Plantard from royal to divine blood, thus making him an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

The fact that Philippe de Chérisey – who helped Plantard with his fraud – admitted having fabricated the historical documents didn’t help. The fact that the medieval documents were written in modern French didn’t help. The proof that ‘official’ documents were typed on Plantard’s personal typewriter didn’t help. Even a book of Gérard de Sède, denouncing the fraud, and later confirmed by his son, didn’t help. Finally: the fact that Dan Brown wrote the biggest bestseller of all about it, certainly didn’t help to make people see the truth. As he puts it: "Everybody loves a good conspiracy."

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Bibliography

René Descadeillas, Mythologie du Trésor de Rennes: Histoire Veritable 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 in 1991 by Editions Collot, Carcassonne.]
Jean-Jacques Bedu, Rennes-Le-Château: Autopsie d'un mythe (Ed. Loubatières; 31120 Portet-sur-Garonne; 1990 - recently reprinted in 2003.)
Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau, A Mystery Solved (Sutton Publishing Limited, Gloucestershire GL5 2BU, England, 2003.)

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Rennes-le-Château in fiction

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German novels about Rennes-le-Chateau

Die Ketzerin vom Montségur (The Heretic of Montsegur) and Die Erbin des Grals (The Grail's Heiress) by the German author Helene Luise Köppel relate the Rennes-le-Château myth. The first tells the tale of the Cathars and the discovery of the Grail in Rennes-le-Château. The sequel tells the fictional tale of Bérenger Saunière's housekeeper and lover, Marie Dénarnaud, who knows the secret of the treasure he found in Rennes-le-Chateau.

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Video game about Rennes-le-Chateau

In 1999, Sierra released the third installment of the Gabriel Knight series: Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. Written by Jane Jensen, the game takes place in Rennes-le-Chateau, and is centered around the 'Rennes-le-Chateau mysteries.'

Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned IMDB web site

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Musical References

In 2000 King Diamond released a concept album entitled House of God which centered on Rennes le Chateau.

Danny Carey, drummer for the band Tool has expressed a considerable amount of interest in the history of the Chateau, devoting a section of his website to information on the subject.

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