The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, published as Holy Blood, Holy Grail in the United States, is a book written by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. It was first published in 1982 by Jonathan Cape in London as an unofficial follow-up to three BBC Two television documentaries from the Chronicle series. A paperback version was released in 1983 by Corgi Books. A sequel titled The Messianic Legacy was published in 1986. The original book was reprinted in an illustrated hardcover edition with added material in 2005.

In The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, the authors suggest that the historical Jesus married Mary Magdalene, had children, and that these children or their descendants moved to what is now southern France. There, they married into noble families that later became the Merovingian dynasty. This dynasty claimed a special right to the throne of France, a claim supported today by a secret group called the Priory of Sion. The authors argue that the legendary Holy Grail represents both the womb of Mary Magdalene and the royal bloodline she gave birth to.

When it was first released, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail became an international bestseller and increased interest in ideas related to its main argument. However, many professional historians and scholars criticized the book. They said most of its claims, ancient mysteries, and conspiracy theories were not based on real historical evidence. Historian Richard Barber called the book "the most notorious of all the Grail pseudo-histories… which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate."

In a 1982 review for The Observer, novelist and critic Anthony Burgess wrote: "It is typical of my unregenerable soul that I can only see this as a marvellous theme for a novel." The book’s themes were later explored in Margaret Starbird’s 1993 work The Woman with the Alabaster Jar and dramatized in Dan Brown’s 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code.

Background

A book that helped shape the project was L'Or de Rennes (later published as Le Trésor Maudit), a 1967 book written by Gérard de Sède with the help of Pierre Plantard. After reading it, Henry Lincoln convinced BBC Two to create a documentary series for their Chronicle program. The series became very popular and received thousands of letters from viewers. Lincoln then worked with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh to do more research. This research led them to the Dossiers Secrets at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. These documents claimed to show hundreds of years of medieval history, but they were actually written by Pierre Plantard and Philippe de Chérisey using the fake name "Philippe Toscan du Plantier." Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln did not know the documents were fake and used them as a main source for their book.

The authors compare themselves to reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal. They say that only by making educated guesses can you see the big picture in history. They argue that "it is not enough to only look at facts."

Content

In The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln suggest the existence of a secret group called the Priory of Sion, which they claim began in 1099 and had notable leaders such as Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. According to the authors, the Priory of Sion aimed to restore the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Franks from 457 to 751, to power in France and across Europe. They also state that the Priory of Sion created the Knights Templar as both its military force and financial organization.

The authors reinterpreted the Dossiers Secrets based on their own religious beliefs. They disagreed with Plantard’s earlier claim that the Merovingians were descendants only of the Tribe of Benjamin. Instead, they argued that the Priory of Sion protected the Merovingian rulers because they were believed to be descendants of Jesus and his wife, Mary Magdalene, who traced their lineage back to King David. The authors claimed the Holy Grail represented both the womb of Mary Magdalene and the royal bloodline she produced. They also stated that the Church attempted to eliminate all traces of this bloodline and its guardians, the Cathars and the Templars, to ensure that popes could rule without fear of being challenged by someone from Mary Magdalene’s family. The authors concluded that the modern goals of the Priory of Sion included these ideas.

The authors included a text called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an antisemitic and anti-Masonic document, in their story. They argued that this text was actually based on a plan created by the Priory of Sion. They claimed the original version of The Protocols was not about Judaism or a Jewish conspiracy, but instead came from a Masonic group that used the word "Zion" in its name. According to Baigent and others, the text was meant to remain private and was part of a strategy to control Freemasonry and reshape church and state according to secret Christian beliefs. After an unsuccessful attempt to influence Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, a man named Sergei Nilus supposedly altered the original text to create a false accusation against a group called Papus. This accusation implied that the group was involved in a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy, but some parts of the original text, which included secret Christian ideas, were not changed and remained in the published version.

Criticism

The claims in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail have been studied and criticized by many researchers over time. Organizations such as 60 Minutes, Channel 4, the Discovery Channel, Time Magazine, and the BBC have examined the book and concluded that many of its claims are not credible or can be proven. In a 1982 radio interview on France-Inter, Pierre Plantard said:

"I admit that The Sacred Enigma (the French title of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail) is a good book, but some parts are more fictional than factual, especially the part about the lineage of Jesus. How can you prove a family line that stretches over four centuries from Jesus to the Merovingians? I have never claimed to be a descendant of Jesus Christ."

The "Priory of Sion documents" do not mention a Jesus bloodline. The idea of a Jesus bloodline appears only in the hypothesis created by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. In the documentary Conspiracies On Trial: The Da Vinci Code, it is stated:

"The authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail reinterpreted the Dossiers based on their own religious ideas. They changed the focus of the documents from the Merovingian bloodline to the bloodline of Christ, altering the family connections to suggest they led to Christ's descendants."

Pierre Plantard claimed the Merovingians were descended from the Tribe of Benjamin. However, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail proposed a different idea: that the Merovingians were descended from both the Benjamin line and the Davidic line of the Tribe of Judah, as represented by the child of Mary Magdalen through a royal marriage.

When The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was first published, historian Marina Warner said:

"Thinking that Jesus was married or that his descendants were King Pippin and Charles Martel is not harmful. However, spreading false and exaggerated claims is problematic. These ideas mislead readers and distort historical reasoning."

Historian Ken Mondschein criticized the idea of a Jesus bloodline, writing:

"Keeping a family tree small for 2,000 years is not realistic. High infant mortality in the past could easily erase a bloodline. If even one child survived each generation, the number of descendants would grow rapidly. However, if descendants married only within their family, they would eventually become so closely related that their health would suffer."

Historian Richard Barber wrote:

"The Templar-Grail myth is central to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a book that is a classic example of conspiracy theories in history. The book uses suggestions and assumptions, not proven arguments, to support its claims."

In 2005, Tony Robinson narrated The Real Da Vinci Code, a Channel 4 program that examined the arguments in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and later The Da Vinci Code. The program included interviews with key figures, including Arnaud de Sède, who said his father and Pierre Plantard invented the Priory of Sion and called the story "piffle." The program concluded that the claims in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail were based on guesses rather than evidence.

Although the "Priory of Sion mysteries" have been proven false by journalists and scholars as one of the greatest literary hoaxes of the 20th century, some people worry that books, websites, and films inspired by the hoax may spread unfounded conspiracy theories. Others are concerned that these works may promote far-right ideologies.

As Robert McCrum, literary editor of The Observer newspaper, noted:

"Historical evidence and the historical method are important. Many books on history are not real history but imitations. These books attract many readers who believe they are learning real history, but they are not. Unfortunately, this type of writing is becoming more common today."

Influence and similarities

The 2003 mystery novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown includes references to the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Brown's story uses many ideas from this book as important parts of the plot. In 2005, authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh tried to sue Brown's publisher, Random House, for copying their work without permission. They argued that Brown used their research heavily and that a character in The Da Vinci Code was named Leigh, had a last name (Teabing) that is an anagram of Baigent, and looked similar to Henry Lincoln, another author. Brown also mentioned Holy Blood, Holy Grail in his book, calling it a major influence on his story. This led Baigent and Leigh to sue Dan Brown for copyright infringement, claiming that the main idea of their book had been stolen. However, on April 6, 2006, High Court Judge Peter Smith ruled that their argument was unclear and not well-supported. The court also noted that the trial increased sales of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, as reported by Nielsen BookScan and The Bookseller. The court decided that because Holy Blood, Holy Grail was presented as a work of historical claims, its ideas could be freely used in fictional works without violating copyright laws.

Stewart Copeland, a former drummer for the rock band The Police, wrote an opera titled Holy Blood, Crescent Moon, which was strongly inspired by Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

The 2008 documentary film Bloodline, created by filmmaker Bruce Burgess, explores the "Jesus bloodline" theory and other ideas from Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Burgess accepted the claims of an amateur archaeologist named "Ben Hammott," who said he found a treasure near Rennes-le-Château, France, including mummified bodies (one claimed to be Mary Magdalene) in underground tombs built by the Knights Templar under the Priory of Sion. However, in a 2012 interview, "Hammott" admitted that the tomb and related items were part of a fake created for a film set in England and were later destroyed.