Major Points:
In the book there are a few major points that are presented as historical fact but are actually just myths. The authors used them as if they were facts to support their hypotheses. I will discuss the most prominent of these and discuss their legitimacy.
1. Leonardo Da Vinci was a leader of a secret society called the Priory of Sion.
This first claim is rather bold, seeing as how it was quite a while ago and if it was a secret, how are people just finding out about it now? Let's start by discussing what exactly the Priory of Sion is. There are a few different groups that have used this name, but for our sake we're specifically talking about the one founded by Pierre Plantard. In 1960 he fabricated a bogus history for the organization based off of a real historic group called Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Zion. Plantard asserts that this order was trying to raise the Merovingian Dynasty into power in France, and it is expounded upon over the years and is finally brought to popular media in this book. Leonardo Da Vinci's part in this whole thing is where it goes up for interpretation. The most influential bit of evidence that there is for the argument that Da Vinci was involved with the Priory of Sion is that Plantard's book contains a list of the "Grand Masters"; one of which is Leonardo Da Vinci.
2. This group wanted the Merovingian dynasty to rule France and the rest of Europe.
First off, the Merovingian Dynasty ruled a lot of Europe for about 300 years. It was founded by Childeric, but it was his son Clovis who gave the dynasty real power when he united the territories containing modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the western part of Italy, a large part of Switzerland, and Germany and the Netherlands on the west bank of the Rhine river. According to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the Merovingians were descendants of Jesus, and survived after they lost power in 751 C. E.. The Priory of Sion's part in all this is that they believe they have discovered descendants of the Merovingians and are determined to return them to the throne. In Holy Blood, Holy Grail It is asserted that this is factual, when Baigent's only source has been proven to be both fake and plagiarized.
3. The Merovingian family belongs to the lineal descent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene so the Priory of Sion protects them.
There is no tangible evidence to support this claim, it is made up solely to support the allegations in this book and The Da Vinci Code. Through the research I have done I have had no luck in finding a single substantial point of evidence to support the claim that the Merovingian Dynasty is descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In fact, it is still not even proven that Jesus and Mary had a child together.
All three of these major plot points are nothing more than an interesting read. They have no legitimacy outside of their own mythical infrastructure.
1. Leonardo Da Vinci was a leader of a secret society called the Priory of Sion.
This first claim is rather bold, seeing as how it was quite a while ago and if it was a secret, how are people just finding out about it now? Let's start by discussing what exactly the Priory of Sion is. There are a few different groups that have used this name, but for our sake we're specifically talking about the one founded by Pierre Plantard. In 1960 he fabricated a bogus history for the organization based off of a real historic group called Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Zion. Plantard asserts that this order was trying to raise the Merovingian Dynasty into power in France, and it is expounded upon over the years and is finally brought to popular media in this book. Leonardo Da Vinci's part in this whole thing is where it goes up for interpretation. The most influential bit of evidence that there is for the argument that Da Vinci was involved with the Priory of Sion is that Plantard's book contains a list of the "Grand Masters"; one of which is Leonardo Da Vinci.
2. This group wanted the Merovingian dynasty to rule France and the rest of Europe.
First off, the Merovingian Dynasty ruled a lot of Europe for about 300 years. It was founded by Childeric, but it was his son Clovis who gave the dynasty real power when he united the territories containing modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the western part of Italy, a large part of Switzerland, and Germany and the Netherlands on the west bank of the Rhine river. According to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the Merovingians were descendants of Jesus, and survived after they lost power in 751 C. E.. The Priory of Sion's part in all this is that they believe they have discovered descendants of the Merovingians and are determined to return them to the throne. In Holy Blood, Holy Grail It is asserted that this is factual, when Baigent's only source has been proven to be both fake and plagiarized.
3. The Merovingian family belongs to the lineal descent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene so the Priory of Sion protects them.
There is no tangible evidence to support this claim, it is made up solely to support the allegations in this book and The Da Vinci Code. Through the research I have done I have had no luck in finding a single substantial point of evidence to support the claim that the Merovingian Dynasty is descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In fact, it is still not even proven that Jesus and Mary had a child together.
All three of these major plot points are nothing more than an interesting read. They have no legitimacy outside of their own mythical infrastructure.
Although it is a very tantalizing book it has been proven to be mostly false by BBC, 60 minutes, Discovery Channel, and Time Magazine. Robert McCrum was quoted as saying, "There is something called historical evidence – there is something called the historical method – and if you look around the shelves of bookshops there is a lot of history being published, and people mistake this type of history for the real thing. These kinds of books do appeal to an enormous audience who believe them to be 'history', but actually they aren't history, they are a kind of parody of history. Alas, though, I think that one has to say that this is the direction that history is going today…" He argues a very good point because people believe what they want to and if they read something like that and it piques their interest they are bound to disregard blatant irregularities.