The idea of a Jesus bloodline suggests that descendants of the historical Jesus may have lived through history, possibly even today. This theory is not found in the Bible or other historical records, but it has become popular in culture, especially after Dan Brown's 2003 book The Da Vinci Code and its 2006 movie version, which used the idea as part of their story. Most scholars do not accept this idea as true. The claimed Jesus bloodlines are different from the Bible's description of Jesus' ancestors and from the supposed relatives of Jesus, such as his brothers and other family members, who are sometimes called the Desposyni.
Jesus as husband and father
Some unusual Christian beliefs have suggested that Jesus Christ may have been married. However, historical records do not provide any clear information about this topic. Bart D. Ehrman, who leads the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, noted that while a few historical scholars believe it is possible Jesus was married, most experts who study the New Testament and early Christianity consider these claims unreliable.
Some sources focus on the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. Gnostic writings, such as the Gnostic Gospel of Philip, mention that Jesus "kissed her often" and called Mary his "companion." In the 13th century, some writings claimed that a religious group called the Cathars believed Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a family relationship. A document from before 1213, written by Ermengaud of Béziers, described Cathar beliefs as including the idea that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife. Another anonymous source repeated this claim. A book called Historia Albigensis, written by Peter of Vaux de Cernay between 1212 and 1218, described Cathars as believing Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ concubine. These sources must be treated carefully because the authors were not Cathars and were writing about a religious group that was being actively suppressed. There is no evidence these beliefs came from earlier Gnostic traditions, but Cathar ideas later appeared in 20th-century books claiming Jesus had children.
In the late 19th century, some stories began describing Jesus and Mary Magdalene as married and having a child. A French writer named Louis Martin, who used the name Léon Aubry, wrote in 1886 that after Jesus’ death, Mary Magdalene and the family of Lazarus brought his body to Provence, where she had a child named Maximin. A reviewer at the time called this story "certainly strange."
In the late 20th century, many books claimed Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a family. In 1972, Donovan Joyce wrote The Jesus Scroll, claiming to have received a mysterious document from a man named Max Grosset. Joyce said the document described Jesus as married and having a son whose crucifixion he witnessed. He also claimed Jesus survived his own crucifixion and lived in Masada. Scholars dismissed this story as fictional.
Barbara Thiering, in her 1992 book Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls, suggested Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two children. She placed these events in Qumran and claimed Jesus was revived after an incomplete crucifixion. She also said he later divorced Mary Magdalene and married another woman. Scholars like Michael J. McClymond called this account "fanciful."
In 2007, a television documentary and book titled The Jesus Family Tomb argued that bones found in the Talpiot Tomb in Jerusalem belonged to Jesus and his family. The authors, Simcha Jacobovici and Charles R. Pellegrino, claimed inscriptions on the bones, including "Judah, son of Jesus" and "Mariamne" (linked to Mary Magdalene), supported this idea. Most scholars, including archaeologist Amos Kloner, rejected this theory.
In the same year, a book by Sylvia Browne, a psychic medium, claimed Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a family.
The Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars studying the historical Jesus, concluded there was no evidence Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. They noted that Mary Magdalene was a respected follower of Jesus, not a repentant prostitute. Stories about Jesus and Mary Magdalene fleeing to France are similar to other medieval legends, such as Joseph of Arimathea bringing a thorn from Jesus’ crown to England. Historians often call these stories "pious frauds" from the Middle Ages.
In 2014, Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson suggested that a 6th-century story called Joseph and Aseneth might actually describe Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The story, found in an ancient anthology, was interpreted by some as an allegory for Jesus’ spiritual marriage to the soul. Jacobovici and Wilson argued it was a reference to an actual marriage, believed by a religious group that thought Jesus was married and had children.
Israeli scholar Rivka N. (name incomplete in original text) has also studied these claims, but no further details are provided in the text.
Jesus as ancestor of a progeny
In 1982, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln wrote a book called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (called Holy Blood, Holy Grail in the United States). They argued that the idea of Jesus being married and having children was important to understand the meaning of his life. They claimed that the "sangraal" from medieval stories did not refer only to the Holy Grail (the cup used at the Last Supper) but also to the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, who they said had a child. According to their story, after Jesus died, Mary Magdalene went to France with their child, and their descendants later connected with the Merovingian rulers of the Frankish kingdom. These rulers were later nearly destroyed by the Albigensian Crusade, but a small group of their descendants were protected by a secret society called the Priory of Sion.
The Priory of Sion was inspired by earlier writings by Pierre Plantard, who claimed in the 1960s and 1970s that he was descended from the Merovingian kings and the biblical Tribe of Benjamin. However, Plantard later admitted that the Priory of Sion was a hoax, and the documents used by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln were forgeries planted in French institutions. Historians criticized the claimed lineage of this bloodline as inaccurate and unsupported by real historical records.
In 1993, Margaret Starbird wrote The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail. She suggested that Mary Magdalene had a daughter named Sarah with Jesus, who later became a figure in Cathar beliefs and Provencal traditions. Starbird claimed Mary Magdalene fled to Egypt and then France after Jesus’ death, and she connected this story to a religious site in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. She also said the name "Sarah" means "Princess" in Hebrew, linking her to the royal bloodline of the Jewish king. Starbird also believed Mary Magdalene was the same person as Mary of Bethany, Lazarus’ sister. While she accepted the idea of a Jesus-Mary Magdalene lineage, she focused more on the spiritual meaning of Mary Magdalene than on her descendants. Some scholars noted that Starbird engaged with academic discussions about her ideas, though her methods and conclusions were often questioned.
In 1996, Laurence Gardner wrote Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed, claiming that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were ancestors of all European royal families. His 2000 book, Genesis of the Grail Kings, added that the Jesus bloodline could be traced back to Adam and Eve, and that the first humans were primate-alien hybrids created by ancient beings called the Anunnaki. Gardner continued writing about this topic in later works.
In 2000, Marylin Hopkins, Graham Simmans, and Tim Wallace-Murphy wrote Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-Le-Chateau and the Dynasty of Jesus. They based their claims on a 1994 statement by a person named "Michael Monkton," who said he was descended from a secret group called Rex Deus (the "Kings of God") and from Hugues de Payens, a medieval figure. However, Monkton claimed the evidence for his lineage was lost, and critics said his story resembled ideas from Barbara Thiering’s controversial work.
The most famous work about a Jesus-Mary Magdalene lineage is The Da Vinci Code, a 2003 novel by Dan Brown. It became a global bestseller and was later adapted into a movie. Brown used many ideas from earlier books, including Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, and claimed the details in his story were true. He said the Holy Grail referred to Mary Magdalene, and that knowledge of her and Jesus’ descendants had been hidden by a secret group. The Catholic Church warned people not to take the book’s claims as facts, but the novel sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. Brown mixed real historical facts, plausible-sounding but false details, and pure speculation.
Brown’s book was similar to Holy Blood and the Holy Grail but did not link the hidden knowledge to the Cathars. He also used ideas from other writers, including Hugh J. Schonfield’s 1965 book The Passover Plot, which claimed Jesus was accidentally killed by a Roman soldier and that Lazarus and Joseph of Arimathea faked his resurrection. Two authors of Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent and Leigh, sued Brown’s publisher, Random House, for plagiarism, arguing that Brown had stolen not just ideas but the structure of their work. Random House defended Brown, saying that since Holy Blood was presented as non-fiction with speculative claims, Brown was free to use its ideas in a fictional story. A judge questioned whether Holy Blood was factual or fictional, but the case was not fully resolved.
Adherence
In response to books, websites, and movies like The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code, many people in the late 20th and early 21st centuries became interested in the idea that Jesus had descendants, even though there is no proof to support this claim. Some view this as an interesting idea to think about, while others believe it is a true and important belief that should not be questioned. Some of these people think that a descendant of Jesus might one day appear as a great leader and a messiah, ruling a holy European empire during an event they see as a spiritual return of Christ.
The beliefs of these people are influenced by writings from authors who challenge traditional views. Writers such as Margaret Starbird and Jeffrey Bütz reinterpret Christian history and mythology to question current beliefs. Some of these authors portray Mary Magdalene as a symbol of spiritual equality between men and women, linking her to the idea of the "mother goddess" or "sacred feminine," often associated with the Black Madonna. Others suggest that the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and their supposed daughter, Sarah, should be seen as a "holy wedding" and "holy family," to challenge traditional views of gender roles and family values. These ideas are not accepted by scholars who study Christianity and are considered similar to ideas rejected by mainstream Christianity.
Mainstream Christian groups do not support the idea of a Jesus bloodline as a religious belief. They teach that Jesus, believed to be God the Son, remained unmarried and lived a life of purity. He died, rose from the dead, went to heaven, and will return to Earth. These teachings make the idea of a Jesus bloodline and related beliefs impossible.
Some fundamentalist Christians believe the Antichrist, described in the Book of Revelation, will claim to be from the royal line of King David to falsely claim he is the Jewish Messiah. This would aim to influence Jewish and pro-Jewish people to support his goals. A growing number of fringe Christian scholars also think the Antichrist may falsely claim to be from the Jesus bloodline to take advantage of public interest in this idea.
Criticism
The idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children and that this is connected to the Merovingians or their supposed modern descendants is strongly rejected by most Christian and secular historians, such as Darrell Bock and Bart D. Ehrman, as well as journalists and researchers like Jean-Luc Chaumeil, who has studied this topic extensively.
In 2005, UK television presenter and amateur archaeologist Tony Robinson created and narrated a detailed program that challenged the claims made by Dan Brown and others, including Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, in their book The Real Da Vinci Code. The program, shown on Channel 4, included long interviews with key figures and cast serious doubt on the claim that Mary Magdalene arrived in France, among other related stories. It also interviewed people living in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a town central to the cult of Saint Sarah.
Robert Lockwood, who works in communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, says the idea that the Church hid the truth about a Jesus bloodline is a deliberate attempt to spread false information against Catholics. He sees this as part of a long history of anti-Catholic attitudes in American Protestant culture, which began with the Reformation in 1517.
In general, it is very unlikely that someone who lived thousands of years ago would have a small number of living descendants today. Steve Olson, author of Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins, wrote an article in Nature explaining that, based on probability, this is statistically improbable.
Historian Ken Mondschein laughed at the idea that a separate bloodline from Jesus and Mary Magdalene could have survived.
Chris Lovegrove, who reviewed The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail when it was first published in 1982, said the idea of a Jesus bloodline was not important, even if it were proven to exist despite all evidence against it.