Paul Smith

The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail Illustrated Edition (2005) just cannot be taken seriously and can be regarded as being even worse to all the previous editions of this book. The authors certainly fail to provide any visual material that can be used as ‘evidence’ to substantiate their various theories and arguments.

Page 48 of this book contains a photograph of a pool located in the area of Rennes-le-Château that Henry Lincoln became excited about because he hoped it would fit in with his geometric theories relating to his "pentagram" that he believes exists on the landscape, and relating to a "mystery" in the area.

The caption to the photograph on page 48 reads thus:

"A mysterious pool, once in the centre of a triangular field at Coume-Sourde, near Rennes-le-Château and close to La Valdieu – the Valley of God. It fulfils the requirement for a mikveh – a bath of ritual purification."

There is of course a much simpler, and alternative, explanation…

From a letter by Roy Davies dated 31 October 1985, who directed the BBC2 Chronicle documentary The Shadow of the Templars in 1979:

"As far as the pool is concerned I can only tell you not to pay too much attention to Henry’s gobbledegook! – for it seems to me that’s what all that business about ‘underlying geometry’ is! In fact, when Henry used all his maps there was nothing at the absolute centre of the Pentagram he drew on the map. The pool was hundreds of yards (if I remember correctly) away from the centre which fell on a scree slope. The pool itself is in a farmer’s field near a secondary road and the old man in a nearby house told us it was a pool used by the local women to wash their clothes before piped water. The trees provided a screen to stop the water evaporating in the hot summer sun."

This one example sums everything up about this book and the authors’ continuing activities – spanning decades – of attempting to create a mystery where none existed in the first place.