The Secret Of The Cathars (2011)

by Michael Hillier

  “We think this is at least seven hundred and fifty years old. But personally I believe the contents may be much older.” Jackie peeled back the tapes which held the two halves of the bamboo tube together and lifted the top half clear.

  “My. Oh, my,” Bertrand breathed.

  Jackie put on her gloves. Then she lifted the scroll of fabric out of the container and laid it on the sheet. Philip removed the lengths of split bamboo and returned them to the bag, taking out the wooden rule as he did so.

  “Can you hold the top as you did before?” she asked him as she peeled it back.

  He placed the rule along the top edge.

  “We think the material may be waxed silk, Bertrand.”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid I would know less than you about that, but I have no reason to think that is incorrect.”

  “You will see that it is still remarkably flexible. This is the third time we have unrolled it and it shows no sign of deterioration. Of course we won’t do it again, once you have seen it, until we have it in controlled atmospheric conditions. However I judged that it was more important to get some idea of what the document is before we seal it away again.”

  She continued to unroll it very gently until it was laid out complete in front of him and lying almost flat on the sheet. The old Abbe watched in fascinated silence, his mouth slightly open. His eyes ranged down the columns of symbols. Then he sat down abruptly on his chair.

  “Oh, my God,” he said.

  Philip looked at him, checking to see that he was all right. “What is it?”

  His mouth opened a couple of times as he leaned against the back of the chair and he repeated, “Oh, my God.”

  “Do you know what it is?” asked Jackie.

  He looked up at her with his rheumy eyes. “Oh, indeed I do.”

  “Have you seen something like this before?”

  “Never! But I have heard rumours about the existence of this document.”

  “So what is it?” Philip entreated.

  “It is the list of the kings of Judah.”

  “Oh. Is that all?” His face reflected his disappointment. “I thought all that stuff was in the bible.”

  “You don’t understand.” Bertrand pulled himself to his feet and looked down again on the scroll. “This is the list as actually recorded by the high priests in the temple as it happened. You see these circular impressions down the right hand side?”

  “Yes.”

  “Those are the marks of the temple seal which have been applied against each entry and have been dusted with some sort of dye to make them legible. Only the one seal was ever made and it was never allowed to leave the inner chamber of the temple. Those marks completely authenticate this document as the original record of the kings of Judah.”

  “You mean this was originally in the temple in Jerusalem?”

  “I do. If you have this document carbon dated I am confident you will find it to have come from about a thousand years before Christ. In addition you will note that each line is in a different hand and the seal marks are irregularly spaced. I am almost sure that this is not a forged copy.”

  “But how on earth did it get here?”

  The Abbe shook his head. “About that, I’m afraid I haven’t a clue.” He raised his head and looked straight at Philip. “You may know more about that than me.”

  “All I know is that it was a part of the Cathar secret documents which were spirited away from Montsegur the night after the castle surrendered.”

  “Indeed? How very interesting.”

  “This is a fantastic discovery,” breathed Jackie. “The academic world will be set alight by it. Museums will compete to try and obtain it for their collections.”

  “That is certainly true,” said Dugard.

  “But what are the columns of information on the scroll?” asked Philip. “And why are there four columns?”

  Bertrand leaned forward. “You may be aware that Hebrew is written from right to left across the document and down its length. The first column beside the seal is the name of the king. This third name down, for example, is David, who everybody knows. Those symbols, from right to left, spell out his name. The next column is the date of accession, using the Jewish calendar, which won’t mean much to you.” He paused as he read on. “Ah, yes. The third column is the parentage. For example the fourth king is Solomon, whom the Jews know as Jedediah. And the parentage is recorded as ‘Son of David’. The final column is, I believe, the right to succeed. The set of symbols against Jedediah roughly means ‘birthright’. The whole thing is very simple, but I believe it is absolutely authentic.” He looked at Jackie. “How did you come by it”

  “Philip inherited it. He is a descendent of the last of the Cathars - a man called Phillipe de St Claire who escaped to England after the fall of Montsegur. Philip found a journal written by his ancestor which described where this and four other bamboo tubes had been hidden. He unearthed and reclaimed these tubes yesterday with my help.”

  “Four other tubes?” asked the Abbe. “What is in the other tubes?”

  “Unfortunately we don’t know. They were stolen before we could open them.” She sighed. “I am worried about them.”

  “Stolen? Who would do that?”

  Philip had been watching Dugard’s face closely. He was convinced the man had previously known nothing about the tubes. “We intend to find that out,” he said.

  Abbe Dugard turned his attention back to the sheet of fabric in front of him. His finger traced down beside the edge of the document.

  “Yes,” he said. “This is extremely interesting. You see this name. It is Zedekiah. He is generally taken to be the last king of the Jews because they were overrun by the Babylonians and taken into captivity in Babylon. However the list continues. And still the entries are authorised by the temple seal. Somehow the Jews must have secretly taken this scroll and the seal with them to Babylon and continued to install their kings, even though the kings had no temporal power.”

  “Who are these unknown kings?”

  Bertrand shook his head. “I’m afraid the names mean nothing to me at this stage. A lot of research will be required to trace the heritage. But it does mean that this is an absolutely unique document. Nobody has ever been presented with this information in the last two thousand years.”

  Jackie and Philip watched the old man as he continued to work his way down the list. “This is where the temple seal ceases to be used,” he said. “After this the authority of the high priest no longer confirms the position of the king.”

  “That’s strange,” said Jackie. “Why would that happen? Who is the last king to receive the temple seal?”

  “It’s… Oh, my God.” The Abbe collapsed with a thump into his chair. “Oh, my dear God.”

  “What’s the matter?” asked Philip. “Are you all right?”

  The old man regarded him for a while without seeming to register his question. At last he shook his as if to clear it and looked up. “Yes. Yes, I am well, thank you. I’ve just had a great shock. You see the last official King of the Jews is named as Yeshua. That is Ancient Hebrew for Jesus.”

  The others were surprised into silence as he pulled himself to his feet and pored over the scroll again.

  “Here it is, you see - Jesus the Nazarean - First son of Joseph - Acceded by birthright. The date is right. And on the line above is Joseph who also acceded by birthright.”

  He shook his head and sat down again. “That means the Jewish elders and high priests believed Jesus to be a normal human and not born of The Virgin Mary.”

  “My goodness,” said Jackie, “that will be something for the Church to cope with.”

  The Abbe suddenly had another thought. He struggled to his feet once more and peered at the scroll. A strange expression came on to his face as he read the next line. “According to this document the successor to Jesus is named as Sarah. It says she succeeds by birthright. The year of accession is the year usually accepted as the death of Chri
st on the cross.”

  He looked at Jackie. “You may be aware that there is a legend in parts of Southern France that Mary Magdalen escaped from Judaea to France bearing the child of Jesus. It would appear that the source of the legend by now had control of this scroll. Sarah is also the first woman on the list which suggests to me that the scroll has become a mere family tree, recording the succession of the bloodline.”

  He pointed back at the sheet of fabric. “You see, it carries on for centuries. After Sarah the names are no longer recorded in Hebrew. It looks like some sort of antique Latin but I can’t understand it.”

  “Let me have a look.” Jackie moved round the table beside him and bent over to study the scroll. After a while she shook her head. “No, I can’t read that either. As you say, Bertrand, it’s a sort of Latin script but the words aren’t recognisable as Latin vocabulary.”

  She continued down the list. “But it’s not Latin down here. In fact I think I can read it. It’s something like old Occitan.” She straightened up and looked at the other two. “Do you think the Cathars regarded themselves as some sort of successors to the Kings of Judah?”

  “That’s not very likely. They weren’t Jewish. They didn’t speak Hebrew.”

  “Of course that’s correct. But if what Bertrand says about it being a record of the succession of the bloodline, it may have crossed national and religious boundaries.”

  “But surely,” said Philip, “the Cathars were basically Christians - albeit heretical ones.”

  “Yes,” she agreed, “but after reading this, can you tell me what a Christian is?”

  There was a silence as they all absorbed the implications of her question. Philip, who regarded himself as a non-practicing Christian, was beginning to understand what a series of problems the scroll would raise when it was translated for serious Christians of all denominations.

  However Jackie had continued to read down the scroll to the bottom. “Here,” she suddenly said. “Look at this. Oh no!” She looked up at him. “Philip - what was the name of the father of your ancient ancestor?”

  “Um. I’m not quite sure I can remember. Wait a minute. Wasn’t it something like Edmund?”

  “Edmund de Saint Claire?”

  “I think so.”

  She burst into peals of laughter. “I’m sorry.” She patted him on the arm. “I’m sorry, my darling. If this scroll is what we think it is, it means you’re a distant descendent of Jesus and King David.” She shook her head. “This is unbelievable.”

  It was Philip’s turn to look shocked. “That can’t be. It’s just too ridiculous.”

  “Well, somebody has to be. And it won’t be just you. There are probably thousands of others who can trace the same descent. You just happen to be the first-born.” Jackie was still smiling. “This is a fantastic document. It will have to be very fully researched. I think it’s going to blow the religious world into little pieces.”

  Philip looked at Bertrand who sadly nodded his head and said, “I think that is true.”

  “It must be placed somewhere very safe.”

  A voice came from the doorway. “Believe me, it is going to be.”

  They all spun round to see the man who had entered, dressed in a charcoal grey suit, wearing a black shirt with a white dog-collar. He was of middle height and looked to be in his fifties, with a round, pink face and thinning white hair.

  “Oh, my God.” The Abbe sat down again in his chair with a bump.

  The man smiled broadly. “Not quite, my dear Bertrand. But I suppose I am moving in that direction. Let me introduce myself. I am Cardinal Clemente Galbaccino.” He turned to the man who had followed him in. “And this is…”

  “We know who this is,” said Philip with loathing. “It is Jean-Luc Lerenard, wanted by the police for questioning in connection with the murder of Andre Jolyon who was Mademoiselle Blontard’s assistant.”

  The cardinal raised his eyebrows. “Is this correct?”

  “It is untrue.” The big man said nothing more.

  “I didn’t say he murdered him,” said Philip. “What the police want to know is how and why he inveigled himself so quickly into Jacqueline’s employment after Andre’s death. Maitre Amboisard, the examining magistrate, will be asking a lot of questions of the Bishop’s Palace in Narbonne in the next few days.”

  “Ah, I understand.” Galbaccino shook his head. “Unfortunately he will not be able to receive any answers.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because nobody at the Bishop’s Palace knows anything about Monsieur Lerenard. I am the only one who knows about him and I will be returning to Rome later today.”

  “In that case they will be questioning you.”

  He shook his head again. “I am a papal emissary. I have diplomatic immunity. Nobody will even try to speak to me officially.”

  “They will certainly want to speak to Lerenard.”

  “But they will not be able to.” The cardinal smiled gently. “Within an hour Jean-Luc Lerenard will no longer exist.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He will be another person. I’m afraid I’m unwilling to go into details but, when the police go looking for him, they will find no records of Lerenard’s existence.”

  “What about the report I received,” broke in Jackie, “when I had him investigated before employing him?”

  Galbaccino smiled at her in a fatherly way. “I’m sorry to have to tell you that the report will prove to have been prepared on unsubstantiated information. One of the agency’s staff will be found to have slipped up and to have used data which he failed to check.”

  “So he’ll lose his job,” she said bitterly. “His career will be wrecked,”

  “He will be taken care of.” The cardinal shrugged. “However that is not what I have come here to discuss.”

  Jackie squared up to him. “So what do you want to discuss? I can guess, with that bully behind you.”

  “You want the scroll,” accused Philip. “The scroll which exposes Rome as a sham. You have stolen the other four bamboo tubes, haven’t you? But you have found out that this is the most important one.”

  “It is correct to say that they have come into my possession.”

  “So now you want to complete the set.”

  “You are afraid,” accused Jackie, “of what its publication will do to the millions of peasants who slavishly follow all your dictates.”

  The cardinal refused to be ruffled. “I do intend to persuade you to let me leave here with this - er - document which will complete the set.”

  “Do you know,” asked Philip, “that these five tubes are only one quarter of the number which left Montsegur in 1245?”

  “Ah, yes. I’m can tell you that all the remaining tubes were recovered within a very short time of the fall of the last Cathar stronghold.”

  “And you have them?”

  “One set is in the secret archive at the Vatican.”

  “In the Tower of the Winds?” asked Jackie.

  “You have heard of it. That is interesting.”

  “What about the other two sets?”

  “They were destroyed. All three sets proved only to have been copies of the original set which you found yesterday. Now the third set of copies will be destroyed. We will only keep the originals.”

  Realisation dawned on Philip. “Of course, they wouldn’t have wanted to risk the only set they had being lost forever. Tell me, what is in the other four tubes.”

  “Scrolls,” said the cardinal. “Similar to this one but more recent.”

  “Are they also lists of kings?”

  “One contains a list of the Merovingian heritage and the bloodline of the Cathars. One describes in detail the Cathar doctrine together with condemnation of the Christian Church and justification of the Cathar heresy. Another one describes the Cathar festivals and other major events in the Cathar calendar and their meaning. The final one gave full details of the locations of the Cathar treasure, the hope being that e
nough perfecti would survive after Montsegur to rebuild the faith.”

  Jackie said acidly, “And of course all the Cathar treasure has been taken to the Vatican for safe keeping.”

  “I don’t know exactly the location of all of it now,” said the cardinal. “However one must admit that it was a very valuable addition to Roman Catholic wealth in the middle ages.”

  “But none of the other scrolls are as important as this one,” she pointed out. “Did you hear what Bertrand read in the scrolls?”

  “We heard some of it when we were waiting outside the office.”

  “Then you will know that this scroll proves that Jesus was a mere mortal and that he sired a daughter to carry on the bloodline. This is the scroll, above all others, which you will not want to allow to enter the public domain.”

  “Yes,” said Philip, “you have come here to take it by force.”

  “I hope not,” said Galbaccino. “I hope to persuade you that it would be in everybody’s best interests to hand it over to me to take back to Rome for safe keeping.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, first of all you must appreciate that the Church - and I mean the whole of the Christian Church - not simply the Church of Rome - is a very important spiritual factor in many millions of people’s lives. People deeply need to believe in something stable and permanent. And I include sophisticated people like yourselves in that need, even though you may pretend that you are above such things.”

  “I can see the sense in that,” said Philip.

  “If you attempt to destroy or even diminish those beliefs you will cause a great deal of evil to inflict itself upon the world. You will destroy one of the main props to the way of life we enjoy in the Western world and further erode the family unit, on which our personal security is based. You will increase the acceptance of criminality. You may even increase the tensions between states which at present are partly allied by their common beliefs.”

  “I think that’s going a bit far.”

  “Is it?” The cardinal raised a cautionary finger. “Take a little time off to think about religion - with all its faults - and decide how often the stabilising factors in people’s lives can be traced back to the influence of religion. I’m not talking about extreme religious beliefs, which can often be destructive, but the honestly-held concepts of right and wrong.”