[WikiEN-l] [arcadian127 at yahoo.co.uk: Priory of Sion]

Thu Apr 15 17:50:19 UTC 2004

I see that this page is the subject of quite a little edit war.  I
know nothing about it one way or the other, and just wanted to bring
it to the attention of a wider audience.

--Jimbo

----- Forwarded message from arcadian127 <arcadian127 at yahoo.co.uk> -----

From: arcadian127 <arcadian127 at yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 18:48:04 +0100 (BST)
To: jwales at bomis.com
Subject: Priory of Sion

Dear Sir,

Your definition for the entry "Priory of Sion" in
Wikepedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion

is a mish-mash of romantic twaddle.

I keep trying to change the definition by creating a
more realistic account but my version keeps getting
deleted. Furthermore, the link to our website:
http://www.priory-of-sion.com
is part of the useless romantic definition

I do not want that article to use a Link to our
website because we do not want to be associated with
that particular "definition" - it is pure nonsense.

I have used a partly translated chapter from a book by
Pierre Jarnac as the main part of my definition - no
copyright has been violated because Jarnac and myself
interchange each other's material - he uses my
material freely in his books.

I enclose the definition on the Priory of Sion that is
a reasonable definition below this message - Is there
any possibility that you can make this version stick
without it being constantly deleted?

Thank you very much.

Most Sincerely Yours,
Paul Smith

Pierre Jarnac, Les Archives de Rennes-le-Chateau
pp.567-575 (1987) 

Historical Note on the Priory of Sion 

For the obviously capable reader who has an uncanny
ability to transform a tiny French village of 70
inhabitants into the secret society capital of France,
then the name "Priory of Sion", itself, appears to be
a mysterious and untouchable entity. After the name of
this organisation appears on the scene, one Pierre
Plantard swiftly follows and with him a whole secret
society seemingly hidden away for centuries
re-emerges. 

In reality, the name "Priory of Sion", given almost 40
years ago by Pierre Plantard to an organisation
without any financial goals, is hardly original. Not
only is the name "de Sion" found close to where
Plantard lived, hence the mountain in Haute-Savoie
called, "Mont Sion" on the route to Annecy-Geneva,
this name also goes back to a religious community at
the time of the Crusades, whose demise came after
several centuries on the outskirts of Orleans. 

In 1967, those for whom this confusion was to be most
profitable, bestowed upon themselves the legacy of
this ancient order, one that was far from their own. A
book called the LIVRE DES CONSTITUTIONS DU PRIEURE DE
SION, allegedly published in 1954 in Geneva and which
to everyone's great chagrin has never been seen (it
has been established by Pierre Jarnac that this book
never existed), claimed a link with the original
religious community called "Sion". The only trace of
this Phantom Book is to be found in - guess where? -
the Bibliotheque Nationale in one of those mysterious
pamphlets that were deposited in the 1960s under the
name "Dossiers Secrets". 

Where a historical connection does emerge is that a
"Priory of Sion" was recorded as having existed. Only
its real name was the "Abbey of Notre Dame of Mount
Sion", or "of the Mount of Sion". Godefroi de
Bouillon, in 1099, founded the Abbey of Notre-Dame of
Mount Sion in Jerusalem; it was a religious community
comprised of monks. Situated at Saint-Jean of Acre it
subsisted until 1187, however, in 1291, with the
Muslims reclaiming Acre from the Crusades, the monks,
having lost their possessions in the Holy Land, fled.
The last of the monks from this order went to Sicily
on the invitation of Count Roger and his wife, the
Princess Adelasie. 

In France other monks of this community, who were
living close to Orleans, had previously been brought
back by Louis VII in 1149 when he returned from the
Crusades. They started a priory of Saint-Samson of
Orleans. They were given a donation and confirmed by
Pope Adrian in 1158. By 1281, this community was
already in decline as there are records that show that
only two members were in their choir, then in 1289
there was only one member. At this point in time the
abbey was on the verge of extinction, but then its
other members from Sicily came over to find refuge
after years of persecution. This last community, for
whom Henri IV offered to build an abbey, died out in
the early part of the 17th century for various reasons
such as lack of recruitment, ageing monks, no money,
etc. 

E.G. Rey, an archivist from Paris, living in Orleans
during the 1880s became interested in the Abbey of
Notre-Dame du Mont Sion. He found out that the
archives of the Priory of Saint-Samson, repatriated
from Sicily in the 14th century, were kept in the
department of the Loiret, where they had been placed
during the Revolution. Therein he discovered a Charter
of the Acts for the Priory of Saint-Samson of Orleans.
In particular, in the Act by Pope Alexander III there
is confirmation that the Monks of Mount Sion are the
owners of the Priory of Saint-Samson of Orleans. Rey
was also able to compile a list of all the Abbots of
Notre-Dame de Sion. 

The only outstanding traits of this religious
community are that they had an illustrious founder,
Godefroi de Bouillon, and a religiously inspired name.
Otherwise they were an Order without much history and
void of prestige. Because of their relative obscurity
they were probably chosen by Plantard and Co as
perfect fodder for their bogus historical claims. 

Note from Paul Smith: 

In 1989, following a period of retirement from 1984,
Pierre Plantard revived his bogus Priory of Sion with
a new Pedigree and Mythological History - the
"Dossiers Secrets" version of the Priory of Sion was
rejected as a fraud with it being written under the
influence of LSD in 1967 by Philippe Toscan du
Plantier - the latest 1989 version of the Priory of
Sion had nothing to do with either the Crusades or the
Templars but had rather been founded in 1681 in
Rennes-le-Chateau. 

Pierre Plantard also concocted a new and different
List of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion that was
to prove his downfall - he claimed that Roger Patrice
Pelat had been a Grand Master. When the French
Magistrate Thierry Jean-Pierre investigated the
financial scandal involving Pelat he ordered the
search of Plantard's house in 1993 that yielded a
hoard of documents claiming that Plantard was the
"true King of France" - detaining Plantard for a
subsequent 48-hour interrogation Thierry Jean-Pierre
forced a confession from Plantard that the claim was
made up. Plantard was let-off with a warning - and he
was never to revive his Priory of Sion activities
again. 

Plantard lived in hiding between 1993 and his death in
2000. This was not the first time that Plantard was in
trouble with the French Legal System - Plantard had
served time in prison previously during the 1940s and
1950s. 

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