-Caveat Lector- from; http://www.iae.nl/users/vercoule/rennes.html Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.iae.nl/users/vercoule/rennes.html">RENNES LE CHATEAU HOMEPAGE</A> ----- THE VISITORS GUIDE FOR RENNES-LE-CHATEAU Foto's of visited locations from the book "The Tomb of God: The Body of Jesus and the Solution to a 2,000-Year-Old Mystery" With the spectacular view-point of Rennes-le-Château, its natural defences and abundant sources, man has always lived on this ancient site . In 1880 there was a discovery of Neolithic graveyards proving man's presence here for over 3000 years. The Gauls created an important commercial site with the natural crossroads they were well situated and it was easily defended by the high rocks. The name of Rennes-le-Château is believed to have come from the Gallic "Reda" meaning a "four wheeled chariot". There are many Roman remains which can still be seen parts of the stone paths leading from Carcassonne towards Spain via Rennes-le-Chiteau; the "roc du Bezu" and the "Col de St Louis"; chariot wheels; ancient coins bearing the heads of many emperors, and above all the consecrated holy baths in Rennes-les-Bains. But it was the Visigoths, driven back by the Huns of central Europe who created the prosperous town of Rhedae mentioned by eminent historians. In 410, after having pillaged Rome and taken possession of the colossal treasure of Jerusalem which had been brought back by Titus in the year 10, the Visigoths occupied the whole south of Gaul and also Spain where they created the most powerful and brilliant kingdom of all the western world with Toulouse as their capital. Convened to Christianity, highly civilised and talented builders,they made Rhedae throughout the centuries a complete stronghold,a powerful fortified town flanked by two citadels and encircled by a double set of ramparts. The fortresses sealed all means of access, protecting the oppidum with an impassable ring of 'castels' and towers linked by communication signals. The 'Merovingians' or 'Franks', led by Clovis, defeated the Visigoths at Vouillé, set fire to Toulouse and pushed them back to Carcassonne, where they enclosed themselves. Carcassonne became their frontier town, and undoubtedly the Visigoths judged it easier to evacuate their fabulous treasure towards Rhedae which was much better defended. One cannot contest the presence of the Merovingians in Rennes-le-château. Recently, when a mechanical digger was working on a road they discovered many tombstones from a Merovingian cemetery. The Visigothic kingdom, considerably weakened and reduced to a piece of land stretching from Carcassonne to their new capital Toledo, was submerged by the sudden invasion of Arabs which Charles Martel stopped at Poitiers. Without doubt Rhedae was saved, because a report by Bishop Theodulphe sent by Charlemagne, later in the 8th century to carry out a census of the important towns in the Midi, put it on an equal footing with Carcassonne and Narbonne. When the Franks finally drove back the Arabs and Visigoths towards Spain, Charlemagne, who had become the all-powerful master of an immense empire gave the city of Carcassonne to one of his leaders, thus creating the first Count of Carcassonne with Rhedae being a part of his lands. It was raised to the statute of a Royal City by the marriage of Almaric, son of a Visigoth King with the Frank Princess Clothilde. With these honours Rhedae became famous for its court. This was during the time of the famous Troubadours. In the 11th century the decline of Rhedae began. Ermengarde, the inheritor, daughter of a Count of Carcassonne and wife of a Vicomte of Beziers, suddenly sold all of Rhedezium to the house of Barcelona. Her descendants, the Trencavel family, later came to claim their rights of possession and once again tie themselves to the Count of Carcassonne. But in 1170, the King of Aragon, Alphonse II, claimed his rights as a pretender over Rhedezium, seized Rhedac which he destroyed, saving only the citadel "du haut" which stayed in the hands of the Trencavel family. In 1209, under cover of fighting against the Cathar Heresy, the Rhazes was put to blood and flre by Simon de Montfort and his crusaders, who were sent by the King of France, Philippe Auguste, to subdue the powerful Languedoc and re-tie the lands to the French Crown. T)ismantled and ruined it became a simple stranded small town, and it fell to Lieutenant Pierre de Voisins who became the founder of a new dynasty. Today many ossuaries hear witness to the bloody battles which took place in the area during all this period. Tracing the present access road in 1908, the workmen discovered an impressive ossuary (several hundred metres long), with skeletons laid and stacked up six to eight layers high oriented East/West. Another was discovered at the Pasdu-Loup near the fortress ramparts; and recently while digging then foundations for the water tower on the parking place, workmen discovered a natural rift full of skeletons thrown in haphazardly. The fault was immediately tilled in and the subfoundation of the water tower was displaced. The grand-son of Pierre de Voisins partially restored Rhedae and built a church dedicated to his patron saint: The Church of Saint Peter, It was also Pierre de Voisins who began the construction of the present château The plateau became covered with houses and roads and once again Rhedac became the main town of a powerful castelIan Alas! not for long. Suddenly "les routiers", an armed horde of "soldiers of fortune" pillaged and created terror wherever they passed, swooping, howling on the city, burning the houses, ruining the harvests and mercilessly slaughtering the inhabitants. Soon afterwards the Count Henri de Trastamarre, a fearsome bandit, loomed up from Spain, destroying everything in his path and then he too besieged an already agonising Rhedac. It was disastrous. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Voisins; the ferocious ruffians, specialised in atrocities, razed the fortifications, destroyed the church of Saint Peter, and crushed all that remained of the proud citadel. As if such a dreadful slaughter was not enough, the plague then took its turn striking the small handful of those who had escaped. Hence, the city of Rhedae dissapeared forever, whereas her twin, the city of Carcassonne is still intact to relate to us these 20 centuries of history. In a "eomte"' which became the Rhazés there is now only a small village : Rennes-lc-Ch&teau, with houses tucked away around the château of the Voi sins family and the church Qf Saint Magdalen. The name of the Voisins family was extinguished when their last daughter Jeanne married a Lord de Marquefave of Spanish origin. Blanche de Marquefave, born from this marriage, then married Pierre Raymond d'Hautpoul and as dowry gave him the barony of Rennes. Henri Baron d'Hautpoul immediately took the title of Seigneur de Blanchefort. The last Marquis de Blanchefort mated Marie de N6gre Dables who was of a large family from the plateau de Sault in 1732. She was left a widow 30 years later with no male heir. Marie de N&gre Dables-Dame d'Hautpoul de Blanehefort died in the chiteau of Rennes on the 17th January, 1781 at the age of 67. But it is as if Rhedae never wished to die, and the date of this end became the beginning of an incredible story THE ABBE ANTOINE BIGOU In January 1781, the Lady d'Hautpoul de Blanchefort, trustee of a great secret which had been passed down in her family from generation to generation, felt that the moment had come to follow her husband into the family vault. Having no sons she decided to confide this secret, along with some documents of considerable importance, to her confessor the abbé Antoine Bigou, who had been the parish priest for 7 years in Rennesle-château. The lady died peacefully on January 17th, 1781, asking the abbé in his turn to pass on the mysterioug secret to someone worthy of receiving it. The abbé was tenrified by what he had learnt, even more so as France was in a commotion of political events which would lead to the revolution of 1789. After deep reflection on the matter, he hid the documents in the Visigoth pillar which held up the altar in the church of Saint Magdalen. During these troubled times, in fear of his life, he decided to entrust to the stone pillar all that was to be passed on to future generations. Completing his ideas in 1791, he had a large gravestone placed and laid flat on the tomb of the Marquise, engraved with Latin inscriptions one of which "ET IN ARCADIA EGO" was in Greek lettering. He had this flagstone removed and transported from the "Tomb of ARQUES"(l) (a small funeral monument situated on the 0 meridian, between the villages of Peyrolles and Serres, at the hamlet of Pontils, on the road leading to the Col de Paradis on the way to Narbonne.). At the head of this tombstone he had another stone erected which intentionally draws our attention to numerous irregularities inserted in the epitaph, a cryptogram whose correct interpretation he thought would lead to a secret place.(2) Inside his church, at the time of the revolution, he considered it a good idea to turn face down an extremely old sculptured stone which showed a knight and a child on the same horse. Very soon afterwards, in 1792, after having been declared a rebellious priest, it became necessary for him to flee to Sabadell in Spain where he died 18 months later. He had now given the "Great Secret" orally to the Abbé Cauneille, an exile like himself, who in turn passed it on to two other pilests. -The Abbé Jean Vié, the parish priest of Rennesles-Bains from 1840 to 1870. -The Abbé Emile Francois Cayron, the parish priest of St Laurent de la Cabrerisse in the Aude, at the same period. But what did they really know? That a colossal and priceless treasure lay buried somewhere in the Rhazés, around Rennesle-Cha'teau and Rennes-les-Bains, in twelve hidden places which had been indicated to the abbé- Bigou by the Marquise de Blanchefort. The fonmer had left a coded message, of which he had inserted "a key" in the epitaph of the Marquise. They also knew of the existence of documents which had an extraordinanry historical importance. Two priests would later know how to take advantage of them: - Abbé Bérenger Saunière, who was born in Montazels in the "Haute Vallée de l'Aude" and was made the parish priest of Rennes-le-Château June 1st 1885. - Abé Henri Boudet who succeeded Jean Vié as the parish priest of Rennes-lesBains. From a poor family in Quillan, he was intentionally educated and formed by the Abbé Cayron. The presbytery was uninhabitable, the church run-down. But the Abbé, a handsome man of 33, was full of energy. During the parliamentary elections of October 1885, from his rocky pulpit held up by an ancient pillar. he encouraged his parishionets to vote against the republicans, a party who were against the Catholic Church.But the republicans were victorious, the priest was exiled to the seminary in Narbonne and his income was stopped. At the request of his parishioners he was reinstated the following year, or perhaps it was thanks to the Abbé Boudet. He then began the most important restoration work using donations which were given by monarchist sympathisers; a noble lady gave a new altar; the local council voted a small loan.Then an emissary of the Comtesse de Chambord (originally a Habsbourg) arrived. She had been widowed two years previously, her husband had been a pretender to the Crown of France, and last descendant of the Bourbon family. Had he become King it would have been under the name of Henry V.This envoy, who called himself Monsieur Guillaume, and who later often returned to watch over the restoration work, gave the cur6 the fabulous sum of 3 000 francs, a fortune at the time,This was in return for looking for and finding any precious documents hidden in the church that he would then transmit to him, in particular those which the Abbé Bigou had considered explosive to Rennes-le-château. Rennes-le-Château was certainly not a place unknown to the countess, since a Seigneur de Hautpoul, tutor to her husband, had struggled to place him on the throne of France, in the pIace of Louis XVII, the legitimate son of the "Lys a la tête coupée" (Louis XVI), who allegedly escaped from the Temple. (3) A document proving the survival of Louis XVII hidden at Rennes-le-Château by this of the Hautpoul family would have explosive in many ways. All the more so because the Count de Chambord apparently confided in his wife that he himself believed in this survival.Monsieur Guillaume, in reality Johann of Habsbourg, Archduke of Austro-Hungaria nicknanied "L'Etranger".(the foreigner) by the village people), would later be a constant visitor to Bérenger Saunière at the villa Bethania. L'ABBÉ BOUDET Enigmatic taciturn, thin and sickly, but an indefatigable walker, the Abbé Boudet, then aged 50 was a highly cultured and erudite man , especially in the fields of archaeology md incient languages. Meanwhile, the abbé Saunière was busy turning over the old church tiom top to bottom. Henri Boudet published a strunge book entitled "La Vraie Langue Celtique et Le Cromleck de Rennes-les-Bains." (The True Celtic Language and the Stonc Circle of Rennes-les-Bains), criticised from the moment of its publication as a fantastical ind indescridable work". Only the Reverend Father Vannier was close to the truth when he wrote "The abbé Boudet is the keeper of a secret which could be the cause of major upheavals".ln fact this book, full of humour and patent absurdities, completely at odds with the personality of the author, conceals between its lines the mysterious secret of the Hautpoul de Blanchefon, and gives the exact location of 12 chests each of which can be opened with a special number. The abbé Boudet himself reveals from the outset the object of the decoding - " to penetrate the secret of a local story, by the interpretation of a word composed in a foreign language". And in fact it is true that the contents of the book are ineonprehensible to anyone who is not in possession of the keys. To be exact, the author prides himself on page 26 on "speaking a certain jargon from the outside". And on page 11 there is an interesting passage which relates to the keys.... A strange book, and a strange priest, who, during his ministry at Rennes-les-Bains, took time to falsify grave stones in the cemetery and alter the surrounding area, changing the location of certain stone crosses and creating new ones. Disappointed at the way his book was received, the abbé Boudet then devised a plan to immortalize the Hautpoul secret which he held, in the stones of the St Magdalen church, by decorating it in such a way that it would provide the perfect illustration of his book. He chose the new cure Bérenger Saunière, protégé of the Bishop Monseigneur Arsene Billard, to carry out this project. MARIE DENARNAUD "Dans toute affaire cherchez Ia femme", is a French saying. As concerns the "affaire" of Rennes we find a simple hatmaker of 20, Marie Denarnaud , who came into the service of the abbé Saunière at the same time as her family. As though by chance she became his confidante and his helpineet, to the extent that. later, all the donations intended for the Abbé Saunière would be personally addressed to her and in his will she was made sole heir of all he possessed. Through her presence, her constant vigilance, her authority and feigned docility, she played a large pan in the strange activities of the Abbé Saunière. Faithful to her obligations she unceasingly pushed him into a predestined route, a route paved with gold from which they both henefitted to lead a lavish existence, all the while reJssigning a part of this wealth to the moving spirit for whom the abbC Boudet was certainly merely a front. (Did not Alfred Saunière, in a letter he wrote, ironise about the fact that he "was obeying orders"?). Dressed in the latest Paris fashions, wearing strange antique jewelry about her neck, Marinette moved arrogantly among these villagers who nicknamed her "La Madone". Nonetheless, out of respect , when she became aged and wrinkled, the villagers would refer to her as "Mademoiselle Marie" when they spoke of her. Day and night she would faithfully visit the graveyard, on a sort of pilgrimage, unless she was having strange meetings with... spirits? Very superstitious. and above all fearing the devil and his evil deeds, she never betrayed the secret, and died in 1953, aged 85, taking it with her to her grave. THE EARLY RESTORATION WORK Benefitting from the donations he had received, the abbé Saunière then began the restoration of the church. He started by removing the old altar, a simple rough piece of stone, cemented on one side into the wall on the right of the apse, and supported on the other by two old pillars, one of which had a "cross of silence" sculptured on it, a symbol frequently used by the Visigoths. During the handling of this heavy piece, a flagstone was broken, revealing a hiding-place. In side, they found a container filled with pieces of gold, and a treasure, apparently that of the local nobles, entrusted to their cure Antoine Bigou, in order that it might be safely hidden in the church before they escaped abroad, driven by the execution of Louis XVI and me fall of the monarchy. After this discovery, the work was postponed and tongues began to wag, especially when Elie Bot, Verdier and Rousset, who were helping with the restoration work, said they had seen the priest removing a wooden tube with wax seals on it from inside the "capsa" (the hiding-place intended to hold the relies of the saint venerated in the church). Later it was said that this tube contained two parchments and a manuscript. The latter, decoded by the abbé Boudet, gave the perfect anagram of the epitaph of the marquise, as well as the following message: BERGERE PAS DE TENTATION QUE POUSSIN TENJERS GARDENT LA CLEF PAX 681 PAR LA CROIX ET CE CHEVAL DE DIEU J'ACHEVE CE DAEMON DE GARDIEN A MIDI POMMES BLEUES. (shepherdess no temptation that Poussin Teniers hold me key Pax 681 By the cross and this horse of God I dispatch this guardian demon at midday Blue apples). This message refers to the church at St. Sulpice, an esoteric temple copied from the Temple of Solomon and finished at the time of the death of the marquise, on the territory of the abbéy of St. Germain des Pres, where the Merovingian kings were buried up until the construction of the basilica at St. Denis. It encourages the person who understands the message to remain silent, and not to do anything without receiving orders from his superiors, before the year 1891. Why 1891? Because the epitaph of the marquise clearly indicates this date. Since her death occurred in 1781, the inscription should have read XVII JANVIER MDCCLXXI =1781 but Antoine Bigou intentionally engraved XVII JANVIER MDCOLXXXI, replacing the second century with a 0, which does not exist in Roman numerals. Therefore we skip it te read MDCLXXXI :1681. If we use this 0, which reminds us of the zero meridian which passes through both St.Sulpice and Rennes-les-Bains, as épivot, to turn the date around, we get 1891 instead of 1681. 1891 In effect it was in this year that Bérenger Saunière made the famous discovery which he describes in the following manner in his journal (visible in the museum):"Letter from Cranes- DISCOVERY OF A TOMB - Rain." Let us examine the events surrounding this discovery.Everything was upside down in the church after the start of the restoration work, the discovery of the hiding-place with its treasure and the parehments. The workmen had been asked to leave for a break, so that the priest might have free reign to carry out his own researeh.But the elderly verger of the church (whose name was Antoine Captier, and whose grandson and namesake now runs the museum here) had to ring the angelus for the evening service as usual.On his way down from the belltower, he suddenly saw something shining in the top part of the old wooden baluster which had been thrownon its side during the restoration work. The piece of wood which enclosed the niche where there was wedged a phial containing a rolled-up parchment had dropped out when it fell. What should he do with such a discovery except take it straight to the curé who not only knew how to read and write, but was also familiar with ancient alphabets? Undeniably, the discovery of the phial marked the beginning of the era of Saunie rés wealth. On the paper signed by Jean Bigou, uncle of Antoine Bigou, and his predecessor as priest of the parish, was written a clue which led to the site where the pillar had been, not far from where the worlernen had discovered the stone hastily turned face down by Antoine Bigou a hundred years previously. It was indeed the same stone as described in the paper. In the cache was a skull, pierced by a ritual incision, like those carried out on the dead in the Merovingian era so that their souls might escape heavenwards ... and the entrance to a vault which the abbé immediately cleared away using his tools. Then he discovered steps which led down beneath the church (4). The "Dalle des Chevaliers" was the point of access to the tomb, but it was arranged to look like a hiding-place. Furthermore, the old parish register, dated 1694 (which can be seen in the museum), mentions at this exact location, the presence of the tomb of the "seigneurs de Rennes". >From this day onward, Bérenger Saunière and Marie Denarnaud lived as though they had access to an inexhaustible fortune. It is possible that they discovered the crypt and pillaged the tombs. What magnificent discovery did they make which enabled them to lead such a grand lifestyle and to flout everyone including the abbé Boudet, the Bishop, and the Vatican? AN INTERESTING GROTTO Then a strange game began. On the pretext of building a grotto on the village square on which the abbé wanted to make a garden, Marie and the cure went out to collect decorative stones in the vallee of the Bals, south of the village where the 'ruisseau de Couleurs' flows and where grottoes and natural faults go back into the rock, forming galleries and chambers, one of which could well be the "fabulous room" (the abbé later bought a piece of land on this spot). The Visigothic pillar of the old altar, reduced and shortened, was placed in the small garden against -the wall of the old stables. On June 21St, 1891, year of the recognition of the cult of St. Mary, Bérenger Saunière had a crude statue of the Virgin Mary placed on this base after a procession bearing the statue had wound its way through the village streets, and after he had engraved at the bottom "Mission 1891", aeq probable reminder of his own mission here. (5) MR ERNEST CROS This elderly engineer, graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, and a retired railway employee. used to spend his holidays in Quillan, where his wife owned the baths at Ginoles, He is worthy of mention for the role he played in the Rennes affair. A dedicated archaeologist, fascinated by ancient stones, he accused his friend BCrenger Saunière of treating these historical pieces with eontempt.to the point of placing the "Dalle des Chevaliers" on the floor as a step, exposed to the elements, in front of the hase of the statue of the Virgin Mary, and of erasing the inscriptions on the horizontal tombstone of the marquise of Blanehefort. It is thanks to the writings of Mr. Cros that we know of the existence in the cemetery of the gaivestone known as "Et In Arcadia Ego", which the abbé erased and had transported to be placed on top of the ossuary. It was also Mr Cros who discovered in the surrounding area the Templar stone of Coumesourde, which, to this day, remains an enigma as regards its presentation as much as its origin. (6) THE TWO PARCHMENTS The two parchments found in the sculptured Visigothie pillar of the altar could only be translated by a paleographer. Boudet suggested to the Abbé Saunière that he ask the Bishop of Careassonne, Monseigneur Felix Billard (well known for his taste for luxury), in short, eventual protector in financial affairs, who sent Saum'&e to Saint Sulpice to take orders from there, According to the book listing the celebration of masses, Saunière stayed in Paris for five days in March 1892. At Saint Sulpice, he was introduced to Emile Iloffet, famous occultist, author of many studies of freemasonry. He also met the singer Emma CalvC linked with Joseph Pdladan, who in 1891 founded the cabbalistic order of "la ROSE+CROIX DU TEMPLE FT DU GRAAL" (the Rose Cross of the Temple and the Grail) with the Count de Laroehefoucauld. These people would léter often be his guests at Rennes-le-château. The entire symbolism ot Saint Sulpice evokes the countryside around Rennes-lesRains 'md the secrets hidden there. B&renger Saunière brought back reproductions of three p tintings from Paris including - Lé, Bergers d1Arcadie, by Nicolas Poussin, painted during the reign of Louis XIII, between l6é'9 and 1639. We can see the tomb of Arques with the countryside around Blancheton in thc background, and the inscription "Ft In Arcadia Ego" on the tomb of the marquise - Li Tentation de St.Antoine, by David Teniers the Younger, painted around the same time St Antoine is celebrated on January 17th, the date engraved on the tomb of the marquise As soon as he returned from Paris, the abbé carefully covered over the cache beneath the "Dalle des Chevaliers". Then he and his servant began some very strange activities in the graveyard. Although a sepulchre ought to be considered saerQsanct, they displaced the horizontal tombstone of the dame d'Hautpoul and put it on the ossuary which they created. They also erased the inscriptions on the stone, and they continued their work in the daytime, without the slightest respect either for the dead or their descendants. When the local population reacted and questioned their activities they were told that the aim was to'make room' in the graveyard. Finally a complaint was lodged by the mayor at the local police station. Were the two of them simply pillaging the tombs, even going so far as to carefully sieve the earth in certain places, searching for jewels and precious stones? THE MAJOR CONSTRUCTIONS While Bérenger Saum-ere was travelling in France and abroad, never for longer than a week, bringing back subsidies, money orders were arriving from all over Europe in the name of Marie Denarnaud, most frequently from religious communities which would later lead to the Abbé being accused of trafficking in masses. The restoration of the church continued, and impressive amounts of money were spent on it. Decorator-artists were brought from Italy, and even though they were extremely pernickety in the quality of their work, Saunière was very demanding about the slightest detail, and frequently made them undo and redo parts of their work with which he was discontent. A secret room was constructed behind the sacristy, to which access was gained through the back of a row of cupboards. To the great satisfaction of the two abbés the church was finally finished and inaugurated in 1897, According to letters owned by various individuals, the restoration work alone cost 350 million centimes. After the inauguration of the church, work continued elsewhere in the village. Constructions werc erected on land bought at a high price in Marinettés name - a neogothic tower christencd Magdala. - an attractivc house in the Renaissance style - the villa Bethania. - a semi-circular gallery hugging the side of the clift with at the end of it , a second tower, crowned with a conservatory. - an orangerie. - a park with fountains and even a menagerie. The visikirs were surprised and the church peoplc scandaliscd by such a display of wealth. Immodest, like many "nouveaux richc", Bérenger Saunière led "the grand life", cheerfully throwing money out of the window, cntertaining famous personalities in a princely way, but also many other more questionable characters, to the great despair of the abbé Boudet who often made bitter comments. Slowly, after 1903, things began to changc. Monseigneur Billard had died the previous year. Then it was the turn of the Pope Léon X1II, a liberal-minded man and a protector of the Habsbourg family to leave this life. The lavish expenses incurred by the abbé Saunierés projects were so excessive that it became difficult for him to handle. He altered, and became a different man : cold, calculating and pretentious. With the new Pope Pius X and the new Bishop of Careassonne, Monseigneur de Beausdjour, he found two enemies eager to bring him down. >From 1909, after the splendour, came the dark period, that of interminable court cases and a lack of money. To subsist with the ever-faithful Marinette he was obliged to sell his expensive furniture, his silverware and his various collections. And to conclude thé situation the Vatican condemned him to a "suspens a divinis", which meant that he was deprived of his sacerdotal rights. The abbé Marty was nominated as the new priest at Rennes. (7) The Bishop made it clear that he would wipe the board clean if the abbé would return everything that he had misappropriated. But it had all already been put in Mariés name... Overwhelmed by this condemnation, the abb& began to develop serious health problems. And then, miraculously, everything was resolved when the abbé Boudet on his deathbed revealed the great secret of Rennes, and the location of one of the mysterious treasures, and when the new Pope Benoit XV, taking the same liberal views as Léon XIII, lifted all the sanctions which had been imposed by the previous Bishop. After 30 years of troubles, Bérenger and Marie were at last the grand masters of Rennes. They would be united by an unfailing complicity until their deaths. The abbé Saunière rediscovered his enthusiasm and vitality, and once again took the train from Couiza to an unknown destination, returning laden with gold. He then continued to spend enormous sums, making more and more extravagant projects, also signing an estimate for work to be carried out by his building contractor Elie Bot, from Couiza, which totalled some eight thousand million centimes. Until the day when Marinette discovered him prostrate in front of the Tour Magdala, on January 17th, 1917 - what a strange family coincidence! After having passed on the secret to his friend the abbé Riviere of Esperaza the cure of Rennes-le-Château died on January 22nd 1917, And later, the abbé Riviere, as he had promised, transmitted "le Grand Secret" to another man of the cloth... might it not have been the abbé Mazières? The story may have ended there, but we arc not yet finished After both Boudet and Saunière had passed away, Rennes-le-Chiteati once again became calm, and was able to shed its tears and pay hommage to those who gave their lives in the 14-18 war. The church tried to hush up the matter, putting pressure on Marie Denarnaud to sell the property. And memories faded with the passing of time... When the faithful Marie burnt certain private papers which had once belonged to the Abbé Saunière in the garden, as he had asked her to do before his death, might she perhaps have kept some as he had requested, to hide them in a safe place? Anything is possible. The Archduke Rudolph of Habsbourg, descendant of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor came in person to Rennes in January 1975 after having spoke at length with the abbé Mazières who was in retirement at "Bethanie" in Carcassonne. Why? On Janliary 21st, 1953, Marie Denarnaud passsed away, having left all she possessed to M, and Mrne. Noel Corbo NOEL CORBU It was pure chance which led Monsieur Corbu, an industrialist, to the plateau of Rennes, and a miracle which made Mademoiselle Marie consent to open her door to give him some water for the family picnic. It is true that his education and culture distinguished him from the average sort of person who would usually knock at the elderly lady's door asking for information. Also his personality perhaps reminded her of those she had frequently met while the abbé was alive, in the now-distant past when she had shone in the skies of Rennes. In fact, Noel Corbu was not just anybody. He was a doctor of sciences, and was related on his father's side to the Cartimpre family, on his mother's side to the WaldeckRousseau family and to the house of the Bourbons of Spain. Always courteous, little by little he won the confidence of Marie to the extent that she allowed him to move into the villa Bethania with his family. In July 1946, Marie made N6el and Itenriette Corbu legitimate heirs to her estate. Then M. Corbu went on his own to Morocco to try to set up a sugar refinery. But his failure soon brought him back to Rennes, in 1950. To support his family he opened a hotelrestaurant "La Tour", counting on the incredible beauty of the landscape and the history of the treasure to attract clients. Hence, it was No"el Corbu who revealed the "Rennes affair" to a large international pubic, explaining it in his own way, while desperately continuing to search everywhere for the famous treasure. And Marie would tease him, saying "Don't worry so much about it Nbel. One day I will tell you a secret which will make you a rich man... a very rich man...!" (8) However! Very recently a person fascinated by the history of Rennes had an article published in the press saying that "after inheriting in 1920, some books which once belonged to the abbé Boudet, he bad found amongst the pages of "Mai son Pittoresque" (by the same author as 'La Vraie Langue Celtiqué), a fragment of an act dated 4th March 1747, which mentioned that under the altar of a certain church on the site there was a crypt containing four tombs and two chests which held various documents and old books... "and a request that the existence of the crypt should remain secret ... the owner of the first half of the left mysterious parchment sent out a request to whoever might be in possession of the other half...". (Magazine Mysteria, April 1990). In 1960, the Corbu family sold the domain to a man from Lyon, M. Henri Buthion, who is still the owner today. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. 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