NEW ISSUE OF RHEDESIUM AVAILABLE SOON: END OF FEBRUARY 2009

Pre-Orders now being taken HERE

In this issue: 
 
Interview with Christian Doumergue 
 
A few months a most interesting book came to our attention. It is called ‘La Tombe Perdue (The Lost Tomb)’ and is written by Christian Doumergue. Christian is a well known researcher in France, but he is not so well known here in England. He has written several books on Rennes le Château, searching out documents relating to the affair of Rennes. His major sphere of interest is Mary Magdalene, and this eventually led him to the historical Jesus. His latest book appears to support some of the assertions in the ‘Saunière Papers’ found by Hammott et al. Therefore it seemed we should interview him at our earliest opportunity... 
 
On the Origins of the Magdalene Legend 
 
The Magdalene legends exist, & their creation and remembrance were collected & held by certain individuals, who ensured that they were preserved. But how were these legends gathered & preserved? How did these legends ‘survive’ & what was the motive for ensuring their survival? Are they purely in the imaginations of those people who wanted to invent life histories for biblical characters, or is it possible that persons close to the Magdalene knew her ‘story’ and preserved it, and handed it down for future generations? What form have these ‘legends’ taken, and using recent archaeology can we build a picture of what could have happened to Mary after the Crucifixion? 
 
The ancestry of Rene d’Anjou 
 
Was Rene d’Anjou the source of the Arcadian theme, and was he also the originator of that enigmatic phrase ‘Et in arcadia ego…’? He is known to have excavated for a tomb (although not specifically a ‘divine’ tomb, but the tomb of Mary Magdalene). He composed mottos. He devoted his talent to painting emblems, arms, mottos, hunting scenes and rustic scenes and he spoke Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian and Catalan. He played and composed music, wrote poems, was interested in theology, astronomy, mathematics and medicine. He was also interested in geography and in the law. 
 
After Guercinos outing on the Arcadia theme, Nicolas Poussin then painted his most famous painting, the ‘Shepherds of Arcadia’. The famous tomb in Poussin’s painting, which has the ‘et in arcadia ego ..’ motto on the face of the tomb, was said (in the 1970’s) to represent a tomb found on land held by the Duc de Joyeuse. Henrietta-Catherine de Joyeuse had remarried in 1611 Charles de Lorraine, fourth Duke of Guise. (Her first marriage had been to Henri de Bourbon. Their daughter Marie Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier married Gaston Jean-Baptiste, Duc de Orleans. He was a son of Henry IVth & Marie de Medici. Gaston himself married later Marguerite, a daughter of Charles IVth , & their daughter went on to marry Cosimo III de Medici). 
 
This Lorraine bloodline traced back to Rene D’Anjou. So - we have Rene d’Anjou, interested in bloodlines, flirting with esoteric knowledge, and searching for divine tombs. We have certain families, connected by blood, being in some way related to these activities? Would you then be surprised to hear that there is much more to Rene D’Anjou than meets the eye? A lot more to him that will link him to the story as told in ‘Holy Blood Holy Grail’? He is linked to a Brotherhood of Notre Dame de Sion & the origins of this group are found in Lorraine. Rene d’ Anjou has links with the Priory of Saint Dagobert II at Stenay. And would you be surprised that Hugh of Champagne, that enigmatic individual, who joined the Knights Templar (well before the Templars were officially accepting recruits) and who gave land to Saint Bernard for the Monastery of Orval is also allied to Rene’s bloodline? 
 
St Dogbert - Martyr 
 
This is a translation of the Latin poem entitled ‘De Sancta Dagoberto martyr prose’, which is said to have come from the archives of the Monastery of Orval. The poem is believed to date from at least the Middle Ages. Latinist Gino Oliviero, who translated the poem, declares that the Latin is late, but nevertheless dated before the reformation of King Charles in 813. In this most interesting poem, it is said that Dagobert II was not exiled to Ireland, but to a monastery in France called Cale. This Cale monastery is attested to in the sources of Bede and Gregory of Tours. The actual is the famous Chelles Monastery founded by Saint Balthild, widow of King Clovis II of Neustria circa 658. What else can this poem tell us about the life of Dagobert II? 
 
Some Comments on Le Serpent Rouge. 
 
How should we read this poem? Is it a proverbial map on the ground and if so where? Or should it be read in a different way? How does it relate to the rest of the information presented in the Dossiers Secretes? Should we read the poem in light of the other information given in this whole Priory document? 
 
The Dagobert Parchement Finally Deciphered 
 
For months now rumours have circulated amongst the Rennes Research community that the Dagobert Document - or the 'small parchment' - has finally been deciphered. The man said to have accomplished this is an amateur mathematician, hobby cryptologist, and American. In September of 2008 I met this researcher in the French village of Esperaza where he introduced me to his research. He made extraordinary claims. He claimed to have solved categorically once and for all, the ‘solution’ to the smaller parchment. Meticulous, and well researched, his theory absolutely covers all the points raised by the Parchment. Always concise and to the point, as he explained his theories, I soon realised that he was on to something. His findings permit him to link this parchment all the way back to those associated with Saint Sulpice and its founders. And he believes that something they held important and dear to their hearts is encoded in the mystery at Rennes .... 
 
A real Tomb of God? The story of Veronica. 
 
In this issue you can read an interview with French researcher Christian Doumergue. Doumergue talks of his latest book ‘The Lost Tomb’, in which he posits a theory regarding what happened to the body of Christ after the Crucifixion. Locating a medieval manuscript, Doumergue claims it contains references to a last resting place of Christ. With the help of ‘information’ and clues provided by Henri Boudet (a priest of the nearby village of Rennes les Bains) and others, such as Philippe de Cherisey, Doumergue asserts that the Magdalene rescued the body with accomplices and she carried out this ‘reburial’ in a new tomb in France. When delving into the manuscript Doumergue used, the Vindicta Saluatoris, and its manuscript tradition, and by comparing it to other sources, it does seem possible that a tradition originally associated with a body of Jesus (or at least objects associated with the body of Jesus) became garbled & may have been behind certain later ‘legends’ associated with Veronica, who was really Mary Magdalene. 
 
What Happened to the Visigothic Treasure? 
 
An archaeologists dream, many have searched for this elusive treasure. Was it real, does it still exist and is it buried somewhere, still waiting to be found? Just what was the Visigothic treasure, and its story? And how is it related, if at all, to the mystery of the affair at Rennes le Chateau? 
 
de Cheriseys tomb of the Grand Roman …what might it look like? 
 
De Cherisey, throughout his works, seems to allude to a burial of some importance. And when he describes the tomb and the burial, he does so with great clarity, as if the tomb is very real and he has actually seen it. Using his words then, what might this important burial look like, a tomb said to be of the Grand Roman? And who is the Grand Roman? 
 
News & Reviews 
 
Reviews of the ‘Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar’, the Priory Dossiers released by the Bloodline directors, a discussion on the significance of the sign of the 4, a review of the new theory being put forward about the Sauniere story by Isaac Ben Jacob, a study on the so called ‘Chrestiens’ (a strange descriptive word found in the Hammott ‘Sauniere’ papers )…. and much more.