Holy Blood, Holy Grail (32 page)

Pierre Plantard is the direct descendant, through Dagobert II, of the Merovingian kings. His descent has been proved legally by the parchments of Queen Blanche of Castile, discovered by the Abbe Sauniere in his church at Rennes-leChateau (Rude) in 1891.

These documents were sold by the priest’s niece in 1965 to Captain Roland

Stanmore and Sir Thomas Frazer, and were deposited in a safe-deposit box of Lloyds Bank Europe Limited of London.”

Shortly before this item appeared in the press, we had written to Philippe de Cherisey, with whom we had already established contact and whose name figured as frequently as Pierre Plantard’s as a spokesman for the Prieure de Sion. In reply to one of the questions we asked him, M. de Cherisey declared that Franpois DucaudBourget had not been elected Grand Master by a proper quorum. Moreover, he added, the Abbe DucaudBourget had publicly repudiated his affiliation with the Order.

This latter assertion seemed unclear. It made more sense, however, in the context of something M. de

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Cherisey enclosed in his letter. Some time before, we had obtained, from the Sub Prefecture of Saint-Julien, the statutes of the Prieure de Sion. A copy of these same statutes had been published in 1973 by a French magazine.” However, we had been told in

Paris by jean-Luc Chaumeil that these statutes were fraudulent. In his letter to us M. de Cherisey enclosed a copy of what were said to be the

Prieure de Sion’s true statutes translated from the Latin. These statutes bore the signature of jean Cocteau; and unless it had been executed by an extremely skilful forger, the signature was authentic. We certainly could not distinguish it from other specimens of Cocteau’s signature. And on this basis, we are inclined to accept the statutes to which the signature is appended as genuine.”9 They are set out below:

ARTICLE ONE There is formed, between the undersigned to this present constitution and those who shall subsequently join and fulfill the following conditions, an initiatory order of chivalry, whose usages and customs rest upon the foundation made by Godfroi VI, called the Pious, Due de Bouillon, at Jerusalem in 1099 and recognised in 1100.

ARTICLE Two The Order is called “Sionis Prioratus’ or “Prieure de Sion’.

ARTICLE THREE The Prieure de Sion has as its objectives the perpetuation of the traditionalist order of chivalry, its initiatory teaching and the creation between members of mutual assistance, as much moral as material, in all circumstances.

ARTICLE FOUR The duration of the Prieure de Sion is unlimited.

ARTICLE FIVE The Prieure de Sion adopts, as its representative office, the domicile of the Secretary General named by the Convent. The Prieure de Sion is not a secret society. All its decrees, as well as its records and appointments, are available to the public in Latin text.

ARTICLE SIX The Prieure de Sion comprises 121 members. Within these limits, it is open to all adult persons who recognise its aims and

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accept the obligations specified in this present constitution. Members are admitted without regard to sex, race or philosophical, religious or political ideas.

ARTICLE SEVEN Nevertheless, in the event that a member should designate in writing one of his descendants to succeed him, the Convent shall accede to this request and may, if necessary in the case of minority, undertake the education of the above designated.

ARTICLE EIGHT A future member must provide, for his induction to the first grade, a white robe with cord, at his own expense. From the time of his admission to the first grade, the member holds the right to vote. On admission, the new member must swear to serve the Order in all circumstances, as well as to work for PEACE and the respect of human life.

ARTICLE NINE On his admission, the member must pay a token fee, the amount being discretionary. Each year, he must forward to the Secretariat General a voluntary contribution to the Order of a sum to be decided by himself.

ARTICLE TEN On admission, the member must provide a birth certificate and a specimen of his signature.

ARTICLE ELEVEN A member of the Prieure de Sion against whom a sentence has been pronounced by a tribunal for a common-law offence may be suspended from his duties and titles, as well as his membership.

ARTICLE TWELVE The general assembly of members is designated the Convent.

No deliberation of Convent shall be deemed valid if the number of members present is less than eighty-one. The vote is secret and is cast by means of white and black balls. To be adopted, all motions must receive eighty-one white balls. All motions not receiving sixty-one white balls in a vote may not be re-submitted.

ARTICLE THIRTEEN The Convent of the Prieure de Sion alone decides, on a majority of 81 votes out of 121 members, all changes to the constitution and the internal regulation of ceremonial.

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ARTICLE FOURTEEN All admissions shall be decided by the “Council of the thirteen Rose-Croix’. Titles and duties shall be conferred by the Grand

Master of the Prieure de Sion. Members are admitted to their office for life. Their titles revert by right to one of their children chosen by themselves without consideration of sex.

The child thus designated may make an act of renunciation of his rights, but he cannot make this act in favour of a brother, sister, relative or any other person. He may not be readmitted to the Prieure de Sion.

ARTICLE FIFTEEN Within twenty-seven full days, two members shall be required to contact a future member to obtain his assent or his renunciation. In default of a deed of

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acceptance after a period of reflection of eighty-one full days, renunciation shall be legally

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ARTICLE SIXTEEN By virtue of hereditary right confirmed by the preceding articles, the duties and titles of Grand Master of the Prieure de Sion shall be transmitted to his successor according to the same prerogatives. In the case of a vacancy in the office of Grand Master, and the absence of a direct successor, the Convent must proceed to an election within eighty one days.

ARTICLE SEVENTEEN All decrees must be voted by Convent and receive validation by the Seal of the Grand Master. The Secretary-General is named by Convent for three years, renewable by tacit consent. The Secretary-General must be of the grade of Commander to undertake his duties.

The functions and duties are unpaid.

ARTICLE EIGHTEEN The hierarchy of the Prieure de Sion is composed of five grades: 1st Nautonnier number:1Arche of the 2nd Croise number:313 Rose-Croix 3rd Commandeur number:9 4th Chevalier number: 27The nine 5th Ecuyer

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number:81commanderies total number: 121of the Temple ARTICLE NINETEEN

There are 243 Free Brothers, called Preux or, since the year 1681, Enfants de Saint Vincent who participate neither in the vote nor in Convents, but to whom the Prieure de Sion accordg certain rights and privileges in conformity witht the decree of January 17th, 1681.

ARTICLE TWENTY The funds of the Prieure de Sion are composed of gifts and fees of members. A reserve, called the ‘patrimony of the Order’, is settled upon the Council of the thirteen Rose-Croix. This treasure may only be used in case of absolute necessity and grave danger to the Prieure and its members.

ARTICLE TWENTY-ONE The Convent is convoked by the Secretary-General when the Council of the Rose-Croix deems it useful.

ARTICLE TWENTY-TWO Disavowal of membership in the Prieure de Sion, manifested publicly and in writing, without cause or personal danger, shall incur exclusion of the member, which shall be pronounced by the Convent.

Text of the constitution in XXII articles, conforming to the original and to the modifications of the Convent of June 5th, 1956.

Signature of the Grand Master

JEAN COCTEAU

In certain details, these statutes are at odds both with the statutes we received from the French police and with the information relating to Sion in the “Prieure documents’. The latter shows a total membership of 1,093, the former of 9,841. According to the articles quoted above, Sion’s total membership, including the 243 “Children of Saint Vincent’, is only 364. The “Prieure documents’, moreover, establish a hierarchy of seven grades. In the statutes we received from the French police, this hierarchy has been expanded to nine. According to the articles quoted above, there are only five grades in the hierarchy.

And the specific appellations of these grades differ from those in the two previous sources as well.

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These contradictions might well be evidence of some sort of schism, or incipient schism, within the Prieure de Sion, dating from around 1956

when the “Prieure documents’ first began to appear in the

Bibliotheque Nationale. And indeed, Philippe de Cherisey alludes to just such a schism in a recent article.z It occurred between 1956 and 1958, he says, and threatened to assume the proportions of the rift between Sion and the Order of the Temple in 1188 the rift marked by the

“cutting of the elm’. According to M. de Cherisey, the schism was averted by the diplomatic skill of M. Plantard, who brought the potential defectors back into the fold. In any case, and whatever the internal politics of the Prieure de

Sion, the Order, as of the January 1981 Convent, would seem to constitute a unified and coherent whole.

If FranQois Ducaud-Bourget was the Prieure de Sion’s Grand Master, it would appear clear that he is not so at present. M. de Cherisey declared that he had not been elected by the requisite quorum. This may mean that he was elected by the incipient schismatics.

It is uncertain whether he is subject to or in violation of Article Twenty Two of the statutes.

We may assume that his affiliation with Sion whatever it may have been in the past no longer exists. ‘

The statutes quoted might seem to clarify the status of Francois Ducaud-Bourget. They make clear, anyway, the principle of selection governing the Prieure de Sion’s Grand Masters. It is now

comprehensible why there should have been Grand Masters aged five or eight. It is also comprehensible why the Grand Mastership should move, as it does, in and out of a particular bloodline and network of interlinked genealogies. In principle, the title would seem to be hereditary, transmitted down the centuries through an intertwined cluster of families all claiming

Merovingian descent. When there was no eligible claimant, however, or when the designated claimant declined the status offered him, the Grand

Mastership, presumably in accordance with the procedures outlined in the statutes, was conferred on a chosen outsider. It would be on this basis that individuals like Leonardo, Newton, Nodier and Cocteau found

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their way on to the list. M. Plantard de Saint-Clair

Among the names that figured most prominently and recurrently in the various

“Prieure documents’ was that of the Plantard family. And among the numerous individuals associated with the mystery of Sauniere and Rennes-leChateau, the most authoritative seemed to be Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair .z’

According to the genealogies in the “Prieure documents’, M. Plantard is a lineal descendant of King Dagobert II and the Merovingian dynasty.

According to the same genealogies, he is also a lineal descendant of the owners of

Chateau Barberie, the property destroyed by Cardinal Mazarin in 1659.

Throughout the course of the inquiry we had repeatedly encountered M.

Plantard’s name. Indeed, so far as release of information during the last twenty-five years or so was concerned, all trails seemed to lead ultimately to him. In 1960, for example, he was interviewed by Gerard de Sede and spoke of an “international secret’ concealed at Gisors.zz During the subsequent decade he seems to have been a major source of information for

M. de Sede’s books on both Gisors and Rennes-leChateau .z3 According to recent disclosures, M. Plantard’s grandfather was a personal acquaintance of Berenger Sauniere. And M. Plantard himself proved to own a number of tracts of land in the vicinity of Rennes-leChateau and Rennes-les-Bains, including the mountain of Blanchefort. When we interviewed the town antiquarian at Stenay, in the Arennes, we were told that the site of the

Old Church of Saint Dagobert was also owned by M. Plantard. And according to the statutes we obtained from the French police, M. Plantard was listed as Secretary General of the Prieure de Sion.

In 1973 a French magazine published what seems to have been the transcript of a telephone interview with M. Plantard. Not surprisingly he did not give very much away.

As might be expected, his statements were allusive, cryptic and provocative raising, in fact, more questions than they answered.

Thus, for example, when speaking of the Merovingian bloodline and its royal claims, he declared, “You must explore the origins of certain great French families, and you will then comprehend how a personage named Henri de

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Montpezat could one day become king. ‘z4 And when asked the objectives of the Prieure de Sion, M. Plantard replied in a manner whose evasiveness was predictable, “I cannot tell you that. The society to which I am attached is extremely ancient. I merely succeed others, a point in a sequence. We are guardians of certain things.

And without publicity. 125

The same French magazine also published a character sketch of M.

Plantard, written by his first wife, Anne Lea Hisler, who died in 1971.

If the magazine is to be believed, this sketch first appeared in Circuit, the

Prieure de Sion’s own internal publication for which M. Plantard is said to have written regularly under the pseudonym of “Chyren’:

Let us not forget that this psychologist was the friend of personages as diverse as Comte Israel Monti, one of the brothers of the Holy Vehm, Gabriel

Trarieux d’Egmont, one of the thirteen members of the Rose-Croix, Paul

Lecour, the philosopher on Atlantis, the Abbe Hoffet of the Service of

Documentation of the Vatican, Th. Moreaux, the director of the Conservatory at Bourges, etc. Let us remember that during the Occupation, he was arrested, suffered torture by the Gestapo and was interned as a political prisoner for long months. In his capacity of doctor of arcane sciences, he learned to appreciate the value of secret information, which no doubt led to his receiving the title of honorary member in several hermetic societies.