But these “dossier secrets” were exposed as forgeries, and historians agree that there is no proof that the Priory has existed since the eleventh century. With the help of his friend Phillipe de Chérisey, Plantard crafted fake parchments containing coded messages, all of which were introduced under pseudonyms into the Bibliothèque Nationale in the 1960s. The more widely accepted account of the Priory of Sion tells that Pierre Plantard, after hearing the story of Bèrenger Saunière (a rumored member of the Priory who existed in the eleventh century), created a series of documents including false genealogical records that suggested his relation to the Merovingian line. On the first page of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ titled “Fact,” Brown claims it is a “European secret society founded in 1099,” and writes that in 1975, documents were found that identify figures like Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci as Priory members. That is why many figures were interested in studying or writing about the Holy Grail.Īs a secret society, the Priory of Sion is shrouded in mystery. Because of its association with Christ, the Grail became one of the great relics sought after by kings and knights for centuries. In one such tale, the man with the lance that pierces Jesus’ side on the cross is cured of blindness by the blood in the cup. It is said that the Grail has the power to heal all wounds and possesses miraculous powers such as the ability to prolong natural life and the ability to revive the recently deceased. It is most often identified as the plate, or cup used by Jesus at the last supper or the vessel that caught Jesus’ blood during his crucifixion. The Holy Grail is a sacred object that has been featured in various literature and certain Christian traditions. While the ‘The Da Vinci Code’ is set in the fairly recent year of 2003 and is fiction, it does make references to real historical subjects like the Holy Grail, the origin of the Priory of Sion, the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD etc.

The unique combination of fact and fiction, causing the reader to question every theory, has made the book a controversial goldmine and a great topic of discourse. The book, which is often considered Brown’s best work, took the world by storm.

Author of da vinci code