Leonardo and the da Vinci Code

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Dan Brown's novel replays some ideas which were popularised in The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail - Is there a secret society like the Priory of Sion dedicated to restoring Jesus' royal line to the Throne of France ?

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, though a novel, draws heavily on a theory made popular in the 1980s by three authors called Lea, Baignant and Lincoln. Their book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail proposed that a secret society called the Priory of Sion was dedicated to protecting a great secret. Jesus had survived or avoided crucifixion. He and his wife Mary Magdelen had sailed to Septomania - modern day Languedoc - and founded a dynasty that would one day come to the throne of France.

Although much of the supposed evidence supporting this theory is known to have been fabricated by eccentric Frenchmen, there are many curious threads that bear investigation. For example it is true that there is an ancient local tradition that Jesus and Mary did sail to the Languedoc. Even some Cathars seem to have believed it. Catholic chroniclers were delighted that the town of Beziérs fell on the feast day of St Mary Magdelene. They took the Crusaders' massacre of the 20,000 inhabitants of the town as suitable punishment for their beliefs.

Some other interesting circumstantial facts are that there were indeed heavy Jewish influences in the area, possibly even a Jewish kingdom based in Narbonne. Certainly, there were important centres of Jewish learning here, and even more surprising it is from here that modern Kabbalah studies started in Europe.

Also, it is true that Rennes-le-Château was once a great Visigothic city, and it is not impossible that some great treasure was buried there. The area overflows with legends of subterranean passageways and hidden treasure.

The whole subject is wide open to serious researchers and armies of cranks, but whatever the truth, it is certain that the Priory of Sion and its documents are fraudulent.