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Pierre PlantardAbout the mid-1960s, Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard heard about the story of the "mysterious wealth" of Abbé Bérenger Saunière as it was told by Noel Corbu. An exchange of letters between the two soon took place. Already then Pierre Plantard (born March 18th, 1920) was a man with a questionable past. During World War II, he was an admirer of Adolf Hitler and had cheered the German invasion of his homeland. In the early 1950s, he was convicted of fraud and embezzlement, and spent some time in prison. In 1956, Plantard founded the "Priory of Sion" - an association registered by the French authorities on May 7th, 1956 as an entity at Plantard´s request. Always in need of money, Plantard tried to bring his association into business with the congregation and with local authorities by running a school-bus line in conjunction with the church - but in vain. His club also published a periodical which soon ran out of funds. The "Priory of Sion" went out of business just three months after its foundation. But not forever... As soon as Plantard heard of the story told by Corbu, he decided to beef it up. Corbu had claimed that Abbé Saunière had discovered the treasure of Blanche of Castille. Plantard altered this to nothing less than the Holy Grail itself. And more. He reanimated his "Priory of Sion" and refashioned it into a secret brotherhood of Grail-keepers, which had once ranked among its Grand Masters Leonardo Da Vinci and which was now headed - as a point of honor - by Plantard himself. Enlisting the help of his friend Philippe de Chérisey, he also manufactured some "parchments" which had allegedly been found by Saunière in 1891. Again in need of money, Plantard and de Chérisey wrote a book about their "discovery", but could not find a publisher for it. In 1967 they convinced Gérard de Séde to re-write the manuscript and the book was eventually published under the title "L'Or de Rennes" but did not find much readership. However, in 1969, the story attracted the attention of Henry Lincoln, a British journalist connected with the BBC. Lincoln met Plantard and in 1970 the BBC broadcast a first "documentary" regarding the "mystery" of Rennes-le-Château, Abbé Saunière and the Holy Grail. Lincoln and his co-authors, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, produced a lengthy BBC TV documentary which was followed by their book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" (U.S. title: "Holy Blood, Holy Grail") in 1982. A TV sequel, "The Messianic Legacy", followed in 1987. In 1989, Plantard, who had by then long broken up with de Chérisey and Lincoln, stated: "As regards the question of the 'famous' parchments published by 'a person' who claims authority in the matter, that is a fabrication by Philippe de Chérisey for a film on Rennes.." Philippe de Chérisey himself had already made several confessions much earlier that the story told in "L'Or de Rennes" was a total forgery. Plantard died a convicted fraud and debunked hoaxer on February 3rd, 2000. But that did not stop others from re-narrating the myth he had invented. In 2006, Baigent and Leigh sued Dan Brown, claiming that Brown had stolen entire chapters from "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" for his novel "The Da Vinci Code". A British court overruled their claim.
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