Codex Bezae and the Da Vinci Code
A textcritical look at the Rennes-le-Chateau hoax
Author: Wieland Willker

"The imaginary is something that tends to become true." (Andre Breton)


Short intro:
The so called "Rennes-le-chateau hoax" became internationally famous due to the books "The Holy Blood + the Holy Grail" by Lincoln, Baigent and Leigh, and recently due to the book "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.
The parchments have been claimed to be found by Berenger Sauniere during restoration work in a small church in Rennes-le-Chateau, sometime around 1891. After that Sauniere became very rich, supposedly. It is pretty sure that he did not find any parchments, but that these have been created later for various reasons. Some accounts make it probable that Philippe de Cherisey has created them.
Cherisey once said that when he learned in 1961 that the archive of the Mairie of Rennes-le-Chateau had burned down, he invented the story, that the mayor had made a copy of the parchments, discovered by the Abbe. And so he created such a copy himself based on Gospel texts and inserted a code in it. The result he gave to Gerard de Sede. Compare: Jean Robin "La Colline Envoutee" (Guy Tredaniel, 1982). Cherisey also said that he constructed the parchments after discussing the story with the actor and radio host Francis Blanche, who wanted to make a radio program about Rennes-le-Chateau.

Later in 1971, after a quarrel about royalties, Plantard revealed that the parchments were fakes. Pierre Jarnac, who wrote a book about the case, once showed the "original copies" of the parchment in a BBC special. It is said that a note on parchment 1 in Plantard's handwriting states: 'This is the original document faked by Phillipe de Cherisey which Gerard de Sede reproduced in his book L'Or de Rennes-le-Chateau.' Cherisey then wrote a text called 'Stone and Paper' in which he described the construction of the text and the code. This text has so far not been published, unfortunately. Compare: Pierre Jarnac "The Archives of the Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau"

It is said that the parchments are currently in the possession of a writer, Jean Luc Chaumeil, who received them from de Cherisey. It is also said that Chaumeil has subjected the parchments to tests proving that they do not date from before the early 1960s.

To my knowledge, no published photo of the "original" parchments exists today, only transcriptions or reproductions!
If there ever where "parchments" at all is very doubtful, because Cherisey wrote: "The gospels are of recent manufacture, photocopies of two sheets of paper composed a little before the publication of Gerard de Sede's book."


For those unfamiliar with the story, read "pro-mystery" accounts here:
  • The Mysteries of Rennes-Le-Chateau
  • The story
  • Rennes Discovery Alan Scott
  • The Secret of Rennes-le Chateau
  • Les parchemins Jean Pierre Garcia
  • The Mystery Of Rennes Le Chateau Paul Gledhill
  • Parchment Alan Akeroyd
    There are many, many more websites. Just use the appropriate key words (Rennes le Chateau, parchment, Sauniere etc.) in Google.

    Here are some "contra" sites:
  • Priory-of-Sion.com
  • The story behind the Parchments
  • wikipedia: Priory of Sion hoax
  • wikipedia: Berenger Sauniere
  • wikipedia: Philippe de Cherisey
  • wikipedia: Pierre Plantard
  • wikipedia: Priory of Sion
  • wikipedia: Rennes-le-Chateau

    Some information about Codex Bezae:
  • Facsimile of Codex Bezae (Password: any, any)
  • Transcription of Codex Bezae (from Scrivener)
  • Description of Codex Bezae (by Robert Waltz)
  • Description of Codex Bezae (Catholic Encyclopedia)

    If you want to know what "textual criticism" is, have a look here:
    Links on textual criticism of the Bible

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