RENNES-le-CHATEAU
Local History
1) In Gaulish times there was a temple there dedicated to the
god ARA. It is from this name that the place-name Rennes-le-Château
is derived. It was the Visigoths who first changed the name - they
called it Radaès. Then came Rada, Rédé, Rédéa, Rèda-Castel and -
finally - Rennes-le-Château. The Celts worshiped the god Ares by
moving physically closer to him, i. e. by establishing themselves on
a mountain side while protecting themselves from the elements. A
cavern close to a mountaintop was, for them, the ideal place of
worship: at Rennes-le-Château there was a cave situated very close
to the summit. This religion lasted until the area was christianised.
Following the customs of the time the priests, monks and preaching
friars built their churches on the sites of the former pagan altars.
In this way the former temple to Ares was covered by the Church of
St. Mary Magdalene, a building that does not seem to have changed
its location down the centuries, even though it was destroyed
several times. This structure was built during the Visigothic
occupation.
2) When the Saracens invaded the region from Spain the
strongholds built by the Visigoths fell into their hands. The siege
of Radaès lasted quite a long time, as it was the regional capital
and was therefore heavily fortified. The survivors, after walling up
in the former temple everything that they were unable to take away
with them, escaped by an underground passageway leading towards the
present-day chateau, and from there to the place known as
Blanchefort. A branch of this underground passage descended towards
the River Sals, opposite Coustaussa. The river was crossed at a ford
(which still exists), while the exit from this underground passage
has been blocked by a landslide; even so, the resumption of their
escape route towards Coustaussa is still visible on the left-hand
side of the road to Arques.
3) After Charlemagne put the Saracens to flight a new
population took up residence there, but we do not know very much
about this period. We have to wait until the Albigensian Crusade to
find the name Rédé reappearing in history. It is stated that Rédé
would have fallen after Montségur and that a part of the Cathars’
possessions would also have been walled up in the temple before the
surrender, but we do not know anything precise about this.
4) The really great historical period of this area - at least
as far as those people in whom we are interested is concerned - lies
during the domination of this area by the Counts of VOISIN. After
the fall of the Cathars and their allies (Some Christian lords had
followed the great Cathar chiefs, not out of religious conviction
but out of the obedience of a vassal to his master: this was the
case with the Count of Aniort and his brothers. Calm having been
restored, a major trial was held at Carcassonne. There they pleaded
their cause, succeeded in having the charges against them dismissed
and had their possessions restored to them on condition that they
change their name. Ever since then the family has borne the name of
De Niort, after a small village adjoining the Sault plateau. ) the
survivors of the fighting parcelled out the area among themselves.
The results of the fighting at The Razé fell to the Chevalier de
Voisin, a minor nobleman without appanage, son of the Count of
VOISIN (-le-Bretonneux, near Paris) and a vassal of Simon de
Montfort (whom he had followed in his adventures) who had been lucky
enough to survive the fighting. He took the title of Count Pierre I
of VOISIN, lord of the Razé.
Later he was appointed
seneschal. His elder son succeeded him under the name Pierre II,
while the younger son, Paul-Guillaume, was suspected of turning to
brigandage. We have to wait until the Hundred Years War (1365) to
encounter a Count of VOISIN in history again. During that time the
Grandes Compagnies laid the area to waste. The seigneur of the
period, Alaric I of VOISIN, decided to exterminate them. He formed
his knights and vassals into a unit and advanced in front of the
mercenaries. They met near St. Paul de Fenouillet. After a fierce
battle the mercenaries prevailed and what remained of Alaric’s
troops retreated to Rèda-Castel pursued by those of the Grandes
Compagnies, who besieged the town, which was soon captured and
destroyed. All that remained was the castle, although a cannonball
had penetrated a tower of the ramparts, the Tour Marsala (Marsala =
Sainte Barbe).
A tremendous explosion
destroyed everything, but the keep was unharmed - the resistance
continued until. . . After the mercenaries had razed the church of St.
Pierre to the ground they found the entrance to an underground
passage. They rushed into it thinking that they could seize the
chateau from the inside, but they never reached it: at a turning of
the underground passage there was a rocking flagstone and all those
who ran onto it fell into a well. There they lie to this day. After
this adventure the siege was raised. Dating from around the same
period is the passage running to Rèda-Castel constructed for the
wife of Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile. Blanche de Castile, the
third woman to bear this name (she was actually Blanche de Bourbon)
once sought refuge with the Count of VOISIN, who, by virtue of his
possessions was as much a vassal of the King of France as he was of
the King of Castile, but this episode does not contribute anything
to our story.
We need to jump forward
to the Wars of Religion to open a new chapter on this area. The
Calvinists overran the area and destroyed those towns whose
inhabitants refused to conform to their ideas. Rèda-Castel and its
town were destroyed once more: the chateau, houses, churches -
everything was razed to the ground. The surrounding towns shared the
same fate. It is from this period that the neighbouring town of
Espéraza takes its name: it is not a distortion of the French word ’espérance’
(hope) but a contraction of the Occitan expression ’Es-per-raza’,
which in French means ‘C’est pour raser’ (‘This is for razing to the
ground’). The family of VOISIN disappeared from the region after
this adventure.
5) Tired of so many misfortunes, the Razé slowly came back to
life, and new families came to establish themselves there. Rennes-le-Château
entered into the ownership of the family of ’Hautpoul de Blanchefort
’. It seems that these new lords were rich and powerful, as other
noble families sought their friendship and alliances through
marriage. This was the period of the Bourbon Kings, and we have to
wait for their fall before the town of Rennes-le-Château enters
history again. At that time it was a staging-post on the émigré
route to Spain. The curé of the time hid the émigrés and gave them
food and drink. When he felt that he had gone too far and that the
civil authorities were on their way to arrest him, he buried his
meagre possessions in the church and wrote the history of his local
area on pieces of parchment, hiding them in one of the pillars
supporting the altar. Then he too departed - never to return.
6) Rennes-le-Château was still a prosperous village, despite
being isolated: no road suitable for vehicles connected it to the
other towns, only a rough mule track to Rennes-les-Bains. There was
little money in the area. The inhabitants, who were completely
self-sufficient, lived well but modestly. However, the whole range
of trades and crafts was represented there.
The curé of the period, Bérenger Saunière, implored the Mayor to
vote him a credit of 91 francs and 60 centimes to pay for repairs to
the roof of the church, but neither the curé nor the Commune had
such a sum, even though the rain leaked onto the altar. One morning
the old bell-ringer, while performing his duties, was almost hit on
the head by a piece of wood that had fallen from the belfry. He
kicked it inside and continued ringing the Angelus.
That evening he came
across the piece of wood again and, out of curiosity, picked it up
and found it rather light for its size. Looking at it more closely
he found that it was hollow and that it contained some ferns. Inside
the ferns he found a parchment wrapped around a bone. The text on
this parchment was written in Latin. He took it to the Curé who
said, ’This is certainly a relic and its history’. For several days
the Curé tried to translate this puzzle without much success. So he
went to Paris and returned with a translation. On the following
Thursday, assisted by the choirboys, the curé set about lifting a
slab inside the church, but it was heavy and it took the whole
morning to budge it. Finally, around midday, the task was finished.
Where the slab had been there was a large hole and, at the bottom of
it, the beginning of a staircase. He sent the choir away, saying to
them: ’Come back all of you in two hours - there’ll be sweets for
everyone’. Then he locked up the church. At two o’clock in the
afternoon the door was still closed. It was only opened again at
four o’clock when the curé, quite radiant with joy, handed out the
sweets he had promised.
From this day forward he started spending a great deal of money on
all manner of things: after making sure the church was repaired and
decorated he had a large and beautiful house built where all were
welcome to dine, and he also did a great deal for the village and
its inhabitants, repairing their houses and giving their daughters
dowries. But he had great problems with the Bishop. He was accused
of all sorts of things: making a pact with the Devil, trafficking in
Masses, espionage, acting as a letter box for clandestine messages,
etc. , accusations which did not, however, prevent him spending and
building.
7) One day a lady, who was both pious and quite rich, said
that she thought it was unseemly that people were continuing to say
Mass (in this beautiful church restored to new condition) on such an
old altar. With the agreement of the curé and without any regard for
archaeology, she had the old altar, which dated from the Carolingian
period, or perhaps even from that of the Visigoths, demolished and
had it replaced with the one that is there now. Once again there was
a ’find’: in one of the pillars which held up the heavy altar slab
the workmen found three parchments which the non-juring curé of the
time of the Convention had hidden there This time the translation
was an easier task. It is thanks to the first two parchments that we
know what we have written above about the local history of the
region.
The contents of the
third parchment were not divulged, but Curé Saunière’s subsequent
conduct is a clear indication of its content. He asked some workmen
who were busy building the conservatory at that time to come into
the church with their shovels and pickaxes He made them dig behind
the altar and soon there appeared the neck of an earthenware jar. He
wanted to continue on his own: he had just found the secret
hiding-place of the curé who had fled to Spain. It was in this
earthenware jar that he found the magnificent ciborium which he
offered to the canon of St. Paul de Fenouillet to thank him for
having pleaded his cause before the court in Rome.
8) Where did curé Saunière get all this money?
In the light of what we have said above there is no doubt that it
was from a treasure: in moving the slab known as the tombstone of
the Chevalier he had discovered the path to the Temple. Now let us
try to trace the origins of this treasure or treasures.
A) The
Visigoths: Alaric I, King of the Visigoths, twice besieged Rome.
On the first occasion he obtained a ransom from it; on the
second occasion he sacked it and then died the following year.
To give this prestigious chief a tomb worthy of him his soldiers
diverted a river, dug the tomb in the dried riverbed and then,
after the burial, restored the river to its original course.
According to custom his possessions should have been placed in
the tomb with him, but the King’s share was not perhaps the
whole of the treasures of Rome. History tells us that the
Visigoths, having returned to their own territory, could not
agree on the election of the new king. Some of them, about
40, 000 all told, refused to recognise Alaric’s successor and,
after helping themselves to the war booty, crossed the mountains
and eventually established themselves in the region in which we
are interested. The site of Radaès lent itself admirably to
resistance. It is said that the pursuers long besieged the
fugitives, but never once set foot on the plateau. After the
dissident Visigoths had made Radaès into their capital it was
only logical that they should deposit their treasure there.
B) The Cathars: we know that the Crusaders, when they
penetrated Montségur, found nothing. We also know that, on the
morning of the surrender, three men, on the orders of their
chief, were let down from the ramparts by ropes. Were they given
the task of taking the treasure somewhere else, or of being the
sole survivors who would pass their beliefs on to future
generations?
C) The Templars: they had a powerful presence in the region,
with a commandery at Campagne-sur-Aude and an observation post
on Mont du Bézu. At Blanchefort there was a castle which
belonged to them. Of their own free will or by force the nobles
were obliged to march with them. Proof that the Templars were
mixed up in the affair of the treasures is that on the slab
known as the tombstone of Blanchefort there were signs, with
Latin inscriptions, which only the Templars used. There was also
a certain ’taboo’ on the Templar possessions, which meant that
their hidden treasure has come down through the centuries
without anyone being able to get their hands on it. Anything
belonging to the Templars has always inspired great fear in
those who had to guard it or had reason to approach it.
D) Blanche de Castile: a parchment found at the scene
shows that the mother of St. Louis came to Rédé, heavily guarded
and loaded down with innumerable items of baggage. According to
the parchment this baggage was buried in an underground passage
below the former chateau of the Counts of VOISIN and then walled
in. Obviously the fact that this baggage was entrusted to such a
powerful ally suggests that it must have contained something
quite precious. This happened in June 1249, when the King was on
Crusade and not yet a prisoner, so it could not have been his
ransom but must have been what remained of the royal treasure.
The Lady Regent, sensing that her end was near, insisted on
putting it somewhere secure, the barons of the court having too
strong a desire to appropriate it to themselves.
E) Blanche de France: daughter of St. Louis, born in
Jaffa in 1252. She was Blanche de Castile (the second to bear
that name) by virtue of her marriage to the Infant of Castile.
She also stayed at Rédé: it was for her that the former castle
of the Templars was restored and given the name Blanchefort. The
story that follows took place during the reign of Philippe III
the Bold. Following the assassination of the heir to the throne
of Castile (the husband of Blanche de France) and the kidnapping
of their two children the King of France convened the meeting of
the Three Kings (France, Majorca and Aragon). When the
discussions achieved no result a war ensued, which France lost.
In the treaty that followed it was stipulated that the Infants
of Castile would be returned to their mother on condition that
both she and they renounced the throne of Castile and that the
family lived in France. In return a considerable sum of money in
gold would be sent to the widow every year during her lifetime.
In principle she lived at Lunel but she made frequent visits to
Blanchefort. It was during a visit to Blanchefort that the
little caravan carrying the recipient of this gift of gold was
attacked, the escorts killed and the mules and their burden
stolen. Everyone in the area assumed that it was Count
Paul-Guillaume who had launched the attack and that he hid his
booty in the underground passages of the chateau. A short time
afterwards Count Paul disappeared (revenge?, exile? - no one
will ever know).
9) By what route
did curé Saunière reach his treasure?
On the first occasion this was via the site of the tombstone of the
Chevalier. According to the enquiry made after Saunière’s death, for
a long time the faithful walked on planks in the centre of the
church, facing the altar. This location is incorrect, as when
digging at the site indicated we had evidence that, down the
centuries, no one had excavated at this place. After Curé Saunière
had had the tiled floor relaid the hole underneath the tombstone was
blocked up, yet he continued to go down to visit his treasure. This
suggests that once he was in the underground passages he must have
found other exits - and two facts prove it:
One evening when he went into the cemetery some people followed him.
Suddenly he disappeared. The pursuers hid and awaited his return but
he never emerged, yet the following morning he said Mass in the
church. There is yet another path that leads to the former temple.
He found it in the rock garden. One night a man followed the Curé
and saw him go underground after he had been digging in this garden.
He followed him down and surprised him rummaging in a barrel full of
gold coins. The curé, furious at having been surprised, escorted the
man up again and led him into the church, where he made him swear on
the Gospel never to speak of what he had just seen. The man kept his
word for the whole of his life, but on his deathbed he did speak,
without however revealing the exact place where the curé had been
digging.
10) The ’baggage’ of Blanche de Castile: it is necessary to
make a distinction between the treasure of the curé and the hidden
treasure of the Regent. I have held in my hands the parchment which
deals with this matter and I can say that the underground passages
where this ’baggage’ is (or was) are something quite separate and do
not communicate with the former temple or, if there ever was such a
communicating passage, then it has been walled up. On the parchment
are two handwritings. One is lifeless and faded: this is the hand in
which the main drawing and text are done. The whole document is
dated and signed by Brother Dominique de Mirepoix on 29 June 1249.
The signatory says that he assisted the Lady Regent in burying her
baggage and drew the plan on her orders. The second handwriting is
very fine, as if done with a point, and the ink is black (whereas
the first is blueish). The text only provides a few complementary
indications, such as ’Souterrain remblayé par SMBC’ (’Underground
passage filled in by SMBC’) and, at the place where the baggage was
hidden: ’Ici est enfoui la Puissance’ (’Here there is buried
Power’). This second handwriting is neither dated not signed but is
undoubtedly more recent.
11) The slabs and their inscriptions.
On a tombstone that was
found, after a landslide, caught in the roots of a holm oak were the
following inscriptions:
‘Au sommet d’un
angle, la croix pattée du Temple’ (‘At the apex of an angle, the
cross-formy of the Temple’); ‘à l’intérieur une ligne médiane
chevauchée par ’IN MEDIO’’ (‘on the inside a median line
overlapped by ’IN MEDIO’’); ‘aux bouts des lignes de l’angle
’RN’ et ’SIL’’ (‘at the ends of the lines of the angle ’RN’ and
’SIL’’); ‘en-dessous de tout ’PRAE-CUM ou GUM’’ (‘below
everything ’PRAE-CUM or GUM’’).
a) The inscription is crudely executed and, in my
opinion, is the work of a fugitive or a survivor of the
massacres who wanted to leave to the initiated a sign that would
enable them to find something again. A person who knew the area
well would know there was a Templar observation post on Mont
Bézu. You can still see on a stone the Templar’s cross-formy:
this would be the summit. If you stand at this point, on the
right-hand side there is a place called ’Rocos Négros’ (‘Black
Rocks’).
And here is the
straight line: on the left, dominating a hillock, you can see
the bell-tower of the village of Sausil. So now we have our
three points of reference. It is therefore a question of finding
in the extension of the median line a place where the words ’PRAE-CUM’
are to be found. The extension of the median line takes us to
Rennes-le-Château.
b) On the
slab called the ‘tombstone of Blanchefort’ (it was used around
the year 1781 to cover the tomb of a lady of this family) we
find the words we are looking for, and others besides, which are
translated below.
‘Rendre ou
Rennes Au roi ou du Roi’ (‘Return or Rennes To the king or
of the king’)
‘les coffres ou dans la cave ou’ (‘the coffers or in the
cave or’)
‘l’avoir souterrain’ (‘the underground possessions’).
- Several different phrases can be constructed with these
words, depending on one’s state of mind and whether one
tries to incorporate the following words, which can be
translated as ’PRAE’ = before, ’CUM’ = with or ’GUM’ = Goth
(i. e. Visigoth). Various phrases can be constructed but what
it all boils down to is that a royal treasure has been
deposited in an underground passage. As for the sign at the
top, according to specialists in Templar inscriptions this
would mean a staircase. About the two letters PS quite a few
things can be said: for some people it means PARSE, which in
Low Latin means the ’share’. When incorporated into this
phrase this gives an idea of sharing (the king’s share). It
is also possible that the letters ’PS’ are the position of
the staircase, and one can find quite a few other
definitions besides.
- There remain the eight ‘bars’ in the inscription ’ARCIS
CELLIS’, where once again one can let one’s imagination run
free. These might refer to the eight steps of a staircase or
to eight barrels of gold - other interpretations are also
possible.
Now where was this
slab originally? If it was located in or near the church of
Saint Mary Magdalene then its inscriptions are valid for the
former Celtic temple and its entrances, but if it was located at
the entrance to the underground passage running to the church of
Saint-Pierre then we need to re-examine everything and the word
GUM can then be eliminated - only CUM will then be valid.
Whatever the case, this tombstone was obviously very important,
otherwise Curé Saunière would not have taken such great care to
eradicate the inscriptions. As for its use to cover an ossuary
this is pure fantasy - completely out of the question.
c) The figure 8 seems to play a major part at Rennes-le-Château,
as we find it on the pillar of the old altar, on its lateral
sides, combined in a curious way to form a double zigzag. Also
on this pillar there is a square at the end of a curved stem
containing 8 circles - could these be 8 barrels? There are also
other inscriptions, unfortunately partly hidden by some cement.
There are also some where the second pillar of the old altar is
located.
12) RESULTS OF
THE RESEARCHES
A) On my own
account I excavated both under and behind the altar but found
nothing.
I also excavated in line with and in front of the altar - again
nothing. Under the staircase of the pulpit is another staircase
that runs down to the cemetery. In the small tower to the left
of the sacristy it seems that the stones of the party wall with
the apse are arranged in the form of a discharging arch, but
this is vague. Under the floor of the sacristy I found the
beginning of a staircase running southwards. Its steps were
roughly hewn and it was as wide as the entry to the sacristy. In
the year in question I had to abandon my researches, as both my
holidays and my financial resources had come to an end.
B) Some years later, a quite wealthy person agreed to
finance my work, my holiday and my staff. So I returned. We
wasted a great deal of time in vain discussions and in trips to
obtain an excavation permit. At the beginning I was also made to
tear up the floor of the church, starting from the pulpit: my
sponsor, a pendulum enthusiast, had located the entrance of the
underground passageways there - but we found nothing. I
persevered as far as the foundations of the church, digging as
far as virgin soil. We found the outline of numerous empty
vaults. We resumed the same task along the south wall, with
approximately the same result, the only difference being that
all the human remains, which were missing on the other side, had
been placed there higgledy-piggledy. On the advice of a female
clairvoyant we were urged to excavate behind the Altar - but
found nothing. The winter and the snow then obliged us to stop
work.
C) With Mr. Domergue and his friends we dug an approach
trench about 18 metres long through solid rock, starting from
his property. Mr. Domergue was convinced that the entrance to
the underground passages was near the Altar, but the approach
trench got as far as the area underneath the altar and we found
nothing. This same researcher had already dug on his own,
starting from a place that was part of the former presbytery,
following the course of a bricked-up chimney which seemed to
have served as a breather. He abandoned it, having lost the
route of the chimney.
He also dug from the
path that ran alongside the cemetery at the north-west angle of
the cemetery, but again without result. He used explosives to
remove the cover of a well situated on his property. It was
there that he found the parchment of Dominique de Mirepoix. In
principle it is in this well that the underground passage should
emerge. In its inner walls nothing looked as if it had been made
with human hands. He also began digging in the foundations, in
the tank under the old forge, but without result.
D) Long before these excavations took place researchers
from Carcassonne had shut themselves up inside the church. They
excavated without asking anything and without saying anything
afterwards as to whether they had found anything or not.
E) Plenty of other researchers have come and dug without
result.
13) They say
that, down the centuries, two people have succeeded in entering the
underground passages:
A shepherd pursuing
an escaped goat followed it into a hole where he found human
remains and where the soil was strewn with gold coins. He
brought quite a large quantity of the coins out with him but was
accused of theft and executed. They also say that a priest found
some treasure in the time of Louis XIV. In 1959, when I was
working in the church, a postman came in and said to me:
’There is an
underground passageway which runs from the church to the
chateau, but I wouldn’t go there for anything in the world’.
He also said to me:
’The Curé
Saunière used to get a lot of money orders sent to him
through the post’.
14)
A) We now
have to draw some sort of conclusion from the foregoing.
As regards the Celtic Temple - The best way of penetrating it
would be to follow the first route of Curé Saunière, i. e. the
site of the slab called the ‘tombstone of the Chevalier’.
Knowledge of this location is not entirely lost: two people are
in on the secret but it’s a secret that they are keeping to
themselves. Not very much work would be required in the rock
garden to find the second path. But in both cases you would run
up against the veto of the Municipality.
B) From all that has been written above we can conclude
that there are two quite separate things with no connection
between them:
1° The
former Temple with its treasure or treasures.
2° The underground passageway of the castle
containing the ’baggage’ of the Lady Regent.
C) If it
should ever be someone’s good fortune to penetrate into the
underground passages or the former Celtic Temple then the
greatest caution is urged: oubliettes, fall-traps and other
kinds of traps can unleash themselves in the path of the unwary.
The stone mechanisms of mediaeval times were built to last, as
the adventure of the mercenaries of 1365 proves.
25 April 1967
signed : J. CHOLET