Gérard de Sède
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Gérard de Sède (5 June 1921 – 29 May 2004) (real name Gérard de Sède de Lieux) was a French author and member of various surrealist organizations. He is best-known for being part of the Priory of Sion hoax, and writing the book Le Tresor Maudit de Rennes-le-Chateau which introduced various (forged) medieval documents into the public consciousness.
He was born in Lioux, Vaucluse.
De Sede popularised the "mystery" of Rennes-le-Chateau by re-writing a Pierre Plantard manuscript that had failed to find a publisher. This was the 1967 L'Or de Rennes (later republished under various titles such as Le Trésor Maudit de Rennes-le-Chateau and Signe Rose+Croix,etc). In a 2005 TV documentary [link], his son Arnaud stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of the Priory of Sion — to quote Arnaud de Sède in the programme, "frankly, it was piffle".
L'Or de Rennes was a seminal and influential book, according to the authors, for the 1982 pseudohistory book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which itself was used as source material by the bestselling 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code.
References
- [Obituary] by Marcus Williamson published in The Independent (UK)
- Da Vinci Declassified, 2006 TLC video documentary
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