Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a nonfiction work of pseudohistory and New York Times bestseller written by BBC producers and authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln and published in 1982 by Dell (ISBN 055212138).It details their own quest for the Holy Grail by investigating the mysteries of Rennes-le-ChÃÂâteau and constructing a conspiratorial view of the history of France.
After a decade of research, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln came to the following controversial conclusions:
- There is a secret society known as Priory of Sion that has a long and illustrious history dating back to the First Crusade starting with the creation of the Knights Templar as its military front.
- It had a large role in partaking in and promoting the "underground river of esotericism," the Alph, in Medieval Europe.
- It is devoted to returning the Merovingian dynasty, that ruled the Frankish kingdom from 447 to 751 C.E., to the thrones of Europe and Jerusalem.
- It protects these royal claimants because they are the literal descendants of Jesus and his wife Mary Magdalene.
- The Roman Catholic Church killed off all remnants of this dynasty -- the Cathar heresy of Languedoc and the Templars -- during the Inquisition, in order to gain power through the "spiritual" dynasty of Peter instead of the "holy blood" (i.e. Sangreal) of Mary Magdalene's descendants.
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