The Priest's Treasure of Rennes-le-Château
A village priest's sudden wealth sparked theories about buried treasure, the Holy Grail and a secret society.
What was reported
Bérenger Saunière was the parish priest of Rennes-le-Château, a hilltop village in the south of France, from 1885. He spent large sums restoring the church and building a villa and a tower, the Tour Magdala, and people wondered where the money came from.
From the 1950s, a local hotel owner and then the writer Pierre Plantard promoted the idea that Saunière had found secret parchments and treasure. The story fed into the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982), and later The Da Vinci Code.
Explanations offered
Saunière was disciplined by his bishop for selling masses, the likely source of his money. Plantard later admitted that the parchments, and the 'Priory of Sion' he said was behind them, were his own invention. The village still draws treasure hunters, and digging there is banned.
- When
- From the 1950s
- Where
- Rennes-le-Château, Aude, France
- Witnesses
- Villagers, writers and treasure hunters
- Status
- Hoax
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.