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

Thu Apr 15 21:03:50 UTC 2004

It might be helpful to know that if you come to my city, Cologne 
(Germany), and ask anyone about Sion, you will be, without hesitation, 
guided to a well-known local brewery of that name.

Then again, that might not be helpful at all. :-)

Magnus

Jimmy Wales wrote:

> 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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