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This document was only deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris
June 1966, although it claims to be copied from Stüblein's
book of 1884, and has a note in the name of Abbé Joseph Courtaly of
Villarzel-du-Razès (a village in the Rennes-le-Château area) dated April 1962
who said:
"The book by Eugène STÜBLEIN, edition of
Limoux 1884, having become very rare, and being perhaps one of the rare owners
to have it in his library, I owe it to myself to satisfy the numerous requests
of researchers to make a reproduction of the plates of the book, no. XVI to
XXIII on the countryside of RENNES-LES-BAINS, RENNES-LE-CHATEAU and ALET."
Courtaly was indeed
the parish priest of Villarzel-du-Razès and he died in November 1964, nearly two
years before these documents were deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Courtaly had retired in
Villarzel-du-Razès in 1961 after becoming very ill. He is reported to
have made many trips to Rennes-les-Bains to take the waters there and is known
to have met Pierre Plantard there.
Eugène Stüblein was
a respected astronomer and meteorologist, who also wrote some works on the
history and antiquities of the Aude. However, his published works are well
known, and there is no record of one called Pierres Gravées
du Languedoc. (Note: there is no record of there being a book called La
Vraie Langue Celtique... by the Abbé Boudet either but this book clearly existed
at the beginning of the 20th century).
The engravings in
this collection include the two tombstones of Marie de Nègre d'Ables and the
Knight's Stone, which is captioned 'Stone from the sepulchre of the princes
Sigebert IV, Sigebert V and Béra III in St Magdalene's church'. (There is
nothing to explain how Stüblein could have known that these people were buried
beneath the stone, which is supposed to be one of the great secrets of
Rennes-le-Château and the Merovingian survival.)
There is something
suspicious: the drawing of the Knight's Stone is a genuine one, taken from the
1905 Bulletin of the Society for Scientific Study of the Aude - although
Stüblein's signature and the date 1884 have been added. The accompanying text
has also been changed to read 'Carolingian tombstone found in 1882-3 under the
altar of the Roman church of Rennes-le-Château'.
Obviously, the
1882-3 date was added to explain how the drawing appeared in a book allegedly
published in 1884. But that fact remains that Saunière only arrived in
Rennes-le-Château in 1885, discovering the Knight's Stone as late as 1887 or 88.
This discrepancy
proves that these supposed pages of Stüblein's work is either a fabrication or
Saunière didn't find the Knight's stone.
S. ROUX: THE RENNES-LE-CHATEAU AFFAIR - A REPLY TO LIONEL BURRUS
November 1966
This consists of two
documents. The first is a copy of an article from the Semaine Catholique
Genevoise (Geneva Catholic Weekly) by Lionel Burrus entitled 'Faisons le
Point' ('Taking Stock'). This defends Henri Lobineau against critics of his
work, and identifies Lobineau as Leo R. Schidlof, who died in Vienna on 17
October 1966 at the age of 80. It also states that Schidlof got his genealogical
information about the Merovingians from Emile Hoffet, as well as claiming that
the 'Lobineau' document in the Bibliothèque Nationale comprises only a few pages
taken from a much longer 50-page work originally written in German.
'S. Roux's' riposte
attacks both Burrus and Schidlof, even accusing the latter of being a Soviet
agent.
One again, however,
all of these complications fail to bear close scrutiny. There was no such
journal as the Geneva Catholic Weekly.
This document seems
to have been intended as a device to reveal the identity of Lobineau - Schidlof
having conveniently died a month before it was deposited in the Bibliothèque
Nationale.
PIERRE FEUGÈRE, LOUIS SAINT-MAXENT & GASTON DE
KOKER: THE RED SERPENT - NOTES ON ST GERMAIN DES PRES AND ST SULPICE OF
PARIS
Dated February 1967,
this is the odd one out of all the papers in the Dossiers secrets, and by
far the most enigmatic.
Whereas the others
were historical narratives that told (or claimed to tell) the true story of the
Saunière affair and the survival of the Merovingian lineage, The Red Serpent
is a curious, symbolic prose-poem, with 13 stanzas named after the signs of the
zodiac (with an extra sign, Ophiuchus the Serpent-Bearer, inserted between
Scorpio and Sagittarius), combined with a series of plans and diagrams relating
to the seminary of St Sulpice and the nearby church of St Germain des Pres in
Paris. The connection between the poem and the other material is not readily
apparent, except that some of the allusions in the poem are to St Sulpice. It is
dated 17 January 1967.
There is, in fact,
no explicit reference to Rennes-le-Château or the Saunière affair in the poem at
all. Yet, to someone with a knowledge of Rennes-le-Château, it seems that
certain of the allusions are intended to draw attention to it - for example, to
the demon Asmodeus associated with the phrase Par ce signe tu le vaincras.
Significantly,
The Red Serpent was placed in the Bibliothèque Nationale just a few months
before Gérard de Sède's L'Or de Rennes introduced the
mystery to a wider French public. Several of the Rennes-related allusions are to
places or objects specifically highlighted by de Sède in his book. It is as if
the poem was intended to inspire curiosity, which would be more or less
immediately satisfied by L'Or de Rennes. In other words, it seems to have
been designed in order to draw the attention of certain people to the
Rennes-le-Château and Rennes-les-Bains area. The unanswered question is: who was
it aimed at?
(The purpose of the
earlier Dossiers secrets seems to have been to provide de Sède with
apparently genuine sources of reference for his book. For example, he cites the
Eugène Stüblein book as if it is a bona fide source - although, as we have seen,
it is certainly a fabrication. De Sède was presumably unaware of the dubious
nature of the material he was being provided with - and it can be reasonably
assumed that it was Pierre Plantard, who was effectively acting as de Sède's
consultant, who drew his attention to it.)
There is a further
level of mystification about the names of the alleged authors. They are not, for
once, pseudonyms - but all three were found dead, having hanged themselves, in
different parts of France, on the 6 and 7 March 1967. According to the deposit
slip, The Red Serpent (dated, as we have seen, 17 January 1967) was
placed in the Bibliothèque Nationale on 15 February, some three weeks before the
three alleged authors died.
However, subsequent
research found that none of these people had any connection with the others, or
even with esoteric activities - and that the deposit slip had been falsified.
The text was actually placed in the library on 20 March - after the
deaths. It is clear that whoever was really behind the Dossiers secrets
picked out three deaths that happened within the space of 24 hours, in order to
add a touch of the macabre to their handiwork - a similar trick employed in the
case of both Leo Schidlof and the Abbé Courtaly.
PHILIP TOSCAN DU PLANTIER: THE SECRET FILES OF HENRI LOBINEAU
Dated April 1967, this work completed the
process of introducing the world to the Priory of Sion. In the previous texts,
the secret society had been mentioned as being behind the Saunière affair, but
no other details were given. The Secret Files of Henri Lobineau included more
about the formation and history of the organisation, as well as - famously - a
list of its alleged
Grand Masters
from the 12th to the 20th centuries. The Secrétaire of the Prieuré de Sion Gino
Sandri said this is in 2003:
| "There is a key which can light many
points. This history is not to take literally but it allured Gerard
de Sède, fascinated by the nobility and which bases all his novel
" La race fabuleuse " ("the
fabulous race") on this topic and the prégnant myth of the hidden
king. He seizes the advisability of putting in scene mysterious "a
marquis de B" of which he receives the confidences. The play becomes
extensive then since this 'marquis of B' maintains a correspondence
with innumerable "researchers" using with this intention a beautiful
writing paper decorated with an unknown blazon! Who hides behind
this enigmatic aristocrat who has multiple relays in Razès? Our
investigation made it possible to establish that there was a bond
between this "marquis of B" and the author of the booklet entitled:
"Un trésor Mérovingien à Rennes le château " "a Mérovingien
treasure in Rennes le Chateau". This last, of Belgian nationality,
had habit, at the time of its Parisian stays, to go down, under the
name of d'Antoine l'Ermite (Anthony the Hermit), with l'Hôtel du
Mont d'Or, 19 rue du Mont d'Or, Paris 17ème (Hotel of the Mount of
Gold, 19 street of the Gold Mount, Paris 17th). From the 13 to May
17, 1966, he occupies the room n°2 there then, from the 8 to June 19
of the same year, the room n°1. He deposits his publication with the
National Library then, publication which receives the [reference
number] 8 Lj 9 9537. Another publication is used as reference to
Gerard de Sède: " Secret files of Henri Lobineau "by Philippe Tuscan
de Plantier. According to Gerard de Sède, this name is unknown at
this address and Philippe Toscan de Plantier lives in Bodrun in
Turkey. April 11, 1967, this young professor of philosophy [is
arrested] by the drug squad and held for possession of LSD [whilst]
in the residence of his friend Anne-Marie Rossi, 17 quay of
Montebello in Paris. The police force were quite well informed!
"honest Man", Philippe Toscan of Plantier does not denounce "his"
supplier. The big national dailies of the time [print] an account of
these various facts. Gerard de Sède was a faithful reader of these
large Parisian newspapers and he could not have been unaware of
these various facts!
For half-century now, lived a curious character who was called
Henri Lobineau or "Count de Lénoncourt". One could meet him in Paris, where he
lived, in Gisors or Rennes-le-Chateau where he had established the headquarters
of a strange dispensary. This discrete character had distinguished
himself during the second world war. He operated in occupied France and
Switzerland for the Count de Selborne, the person in charge of the SOE. When the
war was over, he carried out multiple and discrete activities, seeking
treasures, negotiating old currencies. He was a relation of Léo Schidlof,
antique dealer and historian of art residing in Vienna. Léo Schidlof is the
author of the catalogue of a great exposure on the old miniatures in Geneva, in
1956. If curiosity pushes you there, consult some specimens of this trilingual
catalogue; the English version is far from being the translation of the French
text, it is the same for the German version! Mr N says Henri Lobineau attended a
Parisian engineer living which was in Foch. Moreover, this same year, this
superb apartment of the Foch avenue was destroyed by a fire. There was no
investigation. This year 1967 is rich in varied fact . Is it necessary to speak
about Fakar Ul Islam found died in station of Melun following an unfortunate
fall from the night train Paris-Geneva? Still a fact various if you want it
well. This same year an opuscule
"Le Serpent Rouge " "the Red
Snake", is the subject of the registration of copyright. However, the three
authors mentioned committed suicide quasi simultaneously. Is delirious is
contagious what brought certain authors a little overworked to affirm that
Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair and the Priory of Sion assassinated three people
by hanging! The contents of these small opuscules are certainly delirious
but there resides some interesting things at the bottom of it. Then, a last
coincidence: in this year 1967, several
paperboards
of files of the Priory of Sion are concealed, at the time of a burgling, in the
apartment of Philippe de Chèrisey, located 37, street Saint-Lazare in Paris. Is
there a relationship between all these facts? Five years later a journalist, a
part time singer, will try to sell these papers for the highest offer."
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CIRCUIT
Although not strictly part of the Dossiers secrets, the following works
nevertheless developed some of the same themes.
One of the books in
this category is Nicholas Baucéan's In the Country of the White Queen,
published in October 1967 by Phillip de Chérisey. 'Baucéan' is a phonetic
rendering of beausant, the name given to the black and white flag of the
Templars. It is likely that de Chérisey was the real author.
Philippe de
Chèrisey's own novel Circuit, published in Liège, Belgium in 1968, of
which there is apparently only one copy - in the Bibliothèque Nationale. The
book incorporates several of the themes of the Dossiers secrets.
Circuit was also the name of the 'in-house journal' of the Priory of Sion.
Philippe de
Chèrisey's The Gold of Rennes for a Napoleon, privately
published by de Chèrisey in Paris in December 1975.
Jean Delaude's
The Circle of Ulysses, published by Éditions Dyroles in Toulouse, July 1977.
This incorporated some of The Secret Files of Henri Lobineau. Jean
Delaude ('John of the Aude') was also the name of a reporter who wrote some of
the articles on Rennes-le-Château in the regional press in the 1960s, but this
may be a coincidence. It is believed that the real author was, again, Philippe
de Chèrisey.
Philippe de
Chèrisey's The Enigma of Rennes, privately published, June 1978.
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