Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard (born March 18, 1920, died February 3, 2000) was the principal figure associated with the known history of the Priory of Sion, and is widely believed to have been the main creator of many of the claims about the Priory's supposed past history that later inspired the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code among others. March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Prieuré de Sion, usually rendered in English translation as Priory of Sion or even Priory of Zion, is an elusive protagonist in many works of both non-fiction and fiction. ... Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a controversial New York Times bestselling book by authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, which was published in 1982 by Dell (ISBN 055212138) in London. ... For the movie, see The Da Vinci Code (film). ...

He used the surname Plantard de Saint-Clair from 1975 onwards, a constellation he made up himself following a published interview with Jean-Luc Chaumeil in the magazine l'Ère d'Aquarius. The surname Saint-Clair was adapted to his own surname on the basis that this was the family name associated with the area of Gisors, and Plantard began his mythmaking activities of the 1960s with Gerard de Sede in relation to the Gisors story as previously begun by Roger Lhomoy (see below). Gerard de Sede (1921-2004) (real name Gerard de Sede de Lieux) was an author who popularised the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau by re-writing a Pierre Plantard manuscript that failed to find a publisher: this was the 1967 LOr de Rennes (later republished under various titles such...

Early life

Pierre Plantard from 1937 onwards began forming phantom associations with the aim of "purifying and renewing France" showing his anti-semitic and anti-masonic inclinations. On 16 December 1940 Plantard wrote a letter to Marshal Pétain expressing his belief in a "terrible ‘Masonic and Jewish’ conspiracy" against France and warned that Pétain should act quickly to counter this threat – with Plantard offering "a hundred reliable men … who are devoted to the cause." Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The Masonic Square and Compasses. ... December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Philippe Pétain Marshal Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain, was a French soldier and Head of State of Vichy France, from 1940 to 1944. ...

Plantard's phantom associations included the French Union (1937), the French National Renewal (1941) and the Alpha Galates (1942 and 1946). The German authorities had refused permission for Plantard to form the French National Renewal, and when Plantard disregarded another prohibition in the case of the Alpha Galates it earned him a four-month sentence in Fresnes Prison. Police Reports (entitled File Ga P7) relating to Plantard's pre-war and wartime activities are contained in the Paris Prefecture of Police, and from this early stage on in Plantard's life it was observed about him that: "Plantard, who boasts of having links with numerous politicians, seems to be one of those dotty, pretentious young men who run more or less fictitious groups in an effort to look important and who are taking advantage of the present trend towards taking a greater interest in young people in order to attract the Government's attention" (Police Report on Plantard's French National Renewal dated 9 May 1941). May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). ...

1956 version of the Priory

Plantard founded the Priory in 1956 with Andre Bonhomme, both of them being signatories to the 7 May 1956 Priory of Sion Statutes and Registration Documents that had to be deposited at the Sub-Prefecture of Saint Julien-en-Genevois to conform with the 1901 French Law of Associations (all French associations, groups and clubs must register with the authorities). Pierre Plantard at the time was working as a draughtsman for a company in the town of Annemasse, in the Haute-Savoie region of south-east France. Devoted to the "Defence and Liberty of Low-Cost Housing", the association attacked the property developers of Annemasse through its journal Circuit. Plantard's group published a periodical called "Vaincre" (Conquer), which was frequently laced with anti-Semetic, anti-Masonic and pro-Nazi remarks. May 7 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (128th in leap years). ... Haute-Savoie is a French département, named after the Alps mountain range. ...

Development of the Priory story

During the early 1960s, Plantard put himself forward as a Merovingian claimant to the throne of France, descended from King Dagobert II. This position was apparently influenced by an article that he had read by Louis Saurel in the French magazine Les Cahiers de l'Histoire Number 1 (1960). Louis Saurel's article had argued that Dagobert II was the last effective independent Merovingian King before the "Mayors of the Palace" began taking control. There is no prior evidence that Plantard or his family claimed descent from the Merovingian dynasty, and the format of Louis Saurel's 1960 article in Les Cahiers de l'Histoire was later copied in a 1964 Priory Document ascribed to "Anne Lea Hisler" entitled "Rois et Gouvernants de la France". Plantard in reality was the son of a butler and a cook, who had no recorded links to the Merovingians. Also see: France in the Middle Ages. ... Dagobert II the Young (ca 650 – December 23, 679) was a Frankish king, the son of Sigebert III, one of the rois-fainéants (do-nothing kings) and the last Merovingian king of Austrasia. ...

This period of Plantard's activities coincided with his meeting French author Gerard de Sede, who with the collaboration of Plantard published in 1962 the book Les Templiers sont parmi nous, which related to the Gisors story that was begun by Roger Lhomoy (Lhomoy was de Sede's pig-farmer during this time). The book seems to have been the genesis of what was soon to become the popular version of the Priory of Sion, with the well-known ingredients – Godfrey de Bouillon, the Knights Templar, and so on: all of which can be easily proved to be historical fiction because the various claims as found in the Priory Documents never existed before the early 1960s in any shape or form, and cannot be substantiated from the known historical records. Furthermore, letters in existence dating from the 1960s written by Pierre Plantard, Philippe de Cherisey and Gerard de Sede to each other confirm that the three were engaging in an out-and-out confidence trick, describing schemes on how to combat criticisms of their various allegations and how they would make-up new allegations to try and keep the whole thing going - these letters (totalling over 100) are in the possession of French researcher Jean-Luc Chaumeil, who has also retained the original envelopes. Jean-Luc Chaumeil during the 1970s was part of the Priory of Sion cabal and wrote books and articles about Plantard and the Priory of Sion before splitting from it during the late 1970s and exposing Pierre Plantard's past in French books. The Priory, Plantard claimed during the mid-1960s (but not before, and certainly not in 1956), was a secret inner circle of the Templars, which had survived the extinction of the original order, and had been manipulating events in Europe over centuries to keep alive the "rightful" Merovingian royalty. Gerard de Sede (1921-2004) (real name Gerard de Sede de Lieux) was an author who popularised the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau by re-writing a Pierre Plantard manuscript that failed to find a publisher: this was the 1967 LOr de Rennes (later republished under various titles such... Godfrey of Bouillon (c. ... This article is about the medieval military order. ...

Influenced by the hotelier Noel Corbu who claimed that a treasure had been discovered by the previous occupant of his hotel, Father Bérenger Saunière, Plantard claimed that this treasure included parchments that substantiated his descent from Dagobert. Plantard began writing manuscripts, and produced "parchments" (created by his friend, Philippe de Cherisey) that Saunière had supposedly discovered whilst renovating his church. These documents purportedly showed the survival of the Merovingian line of Frankish kings. Plantard manipulated Saunière's activities at Rennes-le-Château in order to "prove" his claims relating to the Priory of Sion. He, or an associate, also planted "arcane" home-made documents produced by a cheap stencil kit in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. These documents purported to corroborate the Priory's version of history. Noel Corbu was a hotelier in the Central French town of Rennes-le-Château. ... Bérenger Saunière Francois-Bérenger Saunière (April 11, 1852-January 22, 1917) was priest in the church of the French village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Aude département, from 1885 to 1909. ... Philippe de Cherisey (1925 – 1985) was a French writer and radio humorist, he was also an actor who worked under the name of Amédée (with Jeux interdits,1952, being the most notable film that he appeared in). ... Statue of Charlemagne (also called Karl der Große, Charles the Great) in Frankfurt, Germany. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... The new buildings of the library. ...

Later life

Plantard later rejected these claims during the late 1980s when he revised the mythological pedigree of the Priory of Sion, claiming it had nothing to do with the Knights Templar, that the "Dossiers Secrets" was written under the influence of LSD, and that the Priory of Sion had in fact been founded in 1681 at Rennes-le-Château by the grandfather of Marie de Negri d'Ables. This revised version of the Priory of Sion had been influenced by the opening of the "Sauniere Museum" in Rennes-le-Chateau in May 1989. For other uses, see LSD (disambiguation). ... Events March 4 - Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania. ...

In September, 1993, Plantard claimed that Roger-Patrice Pelat had once been grandmaster of the Priory of Sion. Pelat was a friend of the then-President of France François Mitterrand and center of a scandal involving French Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy. A French court ordered a search of Plantard's home, turning up many documents, including some proclaiming Plantard the true king of France. Under oath, Plantard admitted that he had fabricated everything, including Pelat's involvement with the Priory of Sion.[1] Plantard lived in obscurity until his death on 3 February 2000 in Paris. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The President of France, known officially as the President of the Republic (Président de la République in French), is Frances elected Head of State. ... (help· info) (October 26, 1916 – January 8, 1996) was a French politician. ... French politician Pierre Beregovoy Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy (December 23, 1925 - May 1, 1993) was a French Socialist politician. ...

External links and references

• Second part of the interview of Jean-Luc Chaumeil where he mentions his discovery of the bewitched hill and the owner of the abbé's estate, Henri Buthion, as well as his tumultuous relations with Pierre Plantard (Priory of Sion)!

• Paul Smith. Priory of Sion: The Pierre Plantard Archives 1937–1993 The most extensive resource for an exposure of Pierre Plantard as a hoaxer.

• Massimo Introvigne. Beyond The Da Vinci Code: History and Myth of the Priory of Sion