Customer Reviews

The Sion Revelation: The Truth About the Guardians of Christ's Sacred Bloodline

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Picknett and Prince are very well known to the trained Priory of Sion researcher. They are prominent members of the famous, and ludicrous, "Rennes generation". They are also known for their anti-scientific and singular approach to historical research. Their works are filled with numerous examples of source truncation and distortion of historical documents. Even if their books are always filled with footnotes, to disguise the lack of intellectuality and historical truth, the trained eye can see clearly the mark of pseudo-history in their books.
The "reviewer" Jeffrey J. Butz must be joking with the readers, by his comment... People are getting sick of the Priory of Sion intoxication. Plantard, dead since 2000, and his friend Chérisey (dead since 1985) must be laughing out loud with all this credulity. In a world that takes Dan Brown seriously, to the untrained eye, Picknett and Prince's footnotes may give the illusion of information. But only for a while... There is a great number of serious historical books on the Priory of Sion, most of all written in the French language. Serious people interested in the truth regarding the Priory of Sion hoax should be reading books by authors like Jacques Rivière, Jean-Jacques Bedu, Pierre Jarnac, Claire Corbu and Antoine Captier, Marie-France Etchegoin, Frédéric Lenoir, and many, many more. Most of these authors are writing about the subject matter since the 70's.
People that cannot read french can now easily grasp the truth regarding this popular hoax through the works of serious authors like italians Mario Arturo Iannaccone or Massimo Introvigne, or the british Bill Putnam and John Edwin Wood.
For almost a decade, british author Paul Smith has given the Internet readers an enormous ammount of historical data providing everyone with the sound truth about the Priory of Sion.
More and more intoxicated readers are getting saturated with distortion and noise like those present in Picknett and Prince's long and painfully fragile literary «opus».

Here is yet another entry into the always fascinating but perplexing genre of "The Mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and The Priory of Sion", which first leaped onto an unsuspecting world nearly twenty five years ago and has recently gained new life with Dan Brown's ubiquitous thriller "The Da Vinci Code."

The basic story, conveniently summarized by Picknett and Prince, concerns the activities of a poor parish priest in the 1890s who somehow got his hands on a great deal of money and came into contact with a large number of unusual people: royals, occultists, opera singers, and sundry other types. Tracing this priest's career led to the unveiling of a super secret society, the Priory of Sion, and its supposedly explosive secret: the survival of descendants of Jesus Christ and their claim to be the rightful rulers of France. (There's way more to the story than that, but that's the gist of it.)

Picknett and Prince try to sum up the evidence and tie up the loose ends, and they do a pretty good job of it, so far as is possible when dealing with a story that keeps on unfolding and always comes up with strange new twists. They debunk some of the more bizarre aspects, such as the Merovingian Dynasty's "right" to rule France and all of Europe, and prove(so far as anything in this story can be proven) that some of the chief protagonists, like Pierre Plantard, were habitual exagerrators if not downright liars.

However, the most interesting parts of this book deal with the odd coincidences and strange interconnections so many of the events and characters boast. Reading these sections, I was reminded of the game "Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon," because it turns out that nearly everyone in modern French and European politics has ties to people who supposedly have ties to the Priory of Sion. Furthermore, it appears that the Priory, whether or not it really exists, has an interest in European unification which it shares with some less than savory groups, both past and present.

Reading this book will clear up some questions about the whole Priory mystery, but it will leave you with dozens more to ponder.

Kudos to the authors (and shame on those who are addicted to denial and zero-think debunking).

The type of intelligence operation documented in the book was common in the Cold War, and no one would blink an eye if they were told the KGB or CIA had initiated such an operation. Considering the intelligence and special operations backgrounds of some of the Priory characters, their use of such techniques is practically predictable. But it took Picknett and Prince to recognize the pattern.

There are still odd aspects to the interweaved threads of the Priory, the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery, and the Merovingian Legends (such as the book by Jules Vernes), and plenty to speculate about. But as far as what the Priory really is ... the book is well worth the read to answer that question. And yes, it is not a simple answer. But then, reality is often far more complex than we give it credit for.

Basically what Picknett and Prince (believers in the Priory of Sion) have tried to do is to absorb all the damning negative evidence about Pierre Plantard and try to come up with all kinds of various excuses to try to make the subject matter sound serious. But their attempt contains significant omissions, sloppy treatment of the facts and hilarious unjustifiable assumptions that only specialists in the subject matter are able to spot - this is just another howler of a book from them. All interest in the Priory of Sion in France was terminated during the mid-1980s because by that time it was generally realised in that country that the whole thing was a Fake (and the books by Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh were never taken seriously in France either). The authors never bothered to contact authorities like Jean-Luc Chaumeil, who can easily prove by providing primary source evidence that the whole thing was a fake from beginning to end. You do not have to be a hyper-sceptic to know that this whole subject matter is fake but you need to be hyper-gullible to take the Priory of Sion seriously.

Why read a 430-page book about what is known to be a hoax? I myself was reluctant until I read a quote from this book in Armin Risi's outstanding _Machtwechsel Auf Der Erde_ that pointed out a connection to political events and political figures. Some of this has already been mentioned on other works but I did like Picknet and Prince's _The Templar Revelation_.

This book is divided into two parts: Illusion and Reality. The first part deals with the mythology of the Priory of Sion (PS). What it has said about itself, what its members have said, what they have written, the documents they planted, what others have written about it. Here we encounter the various stories of the Merovingians, Mary Magdalene, Jesus' bloodline, John the baptist, Leonardo, Rennes-les-Chateau, Sauniere, treasures, templars, medieval orders and conspiracies, Plantard etc. What we find is that most of the theater about the PS is often not of their own doing but they suddenly found themselves in the spotlight and that the PS didn't really use or abuse this sudden fame. We also get to meet every character involved, and there are lots and lots of them throughout history who obviously don't have any direct connection with PS. The authors do a good job of following almost every trail and are critical and objective. They identify the lies, the fabrications, the manipulations but also point out where there might be a trace of truth, and they admit, when necessary, that they have reached the limits of research and are not sure what to make of this or that. They are not dogmatists, either pro or con PS. They just give a fair assesment of the whole PS event. But if the mythology is mostly unreliable, what is this all about? The authors hint at some political current underlying the actions and beliefs of PS and its circle of influence.

In the second part, Reality, the authors present their case of what PS is all about given that the PS mythology is just illusion. We move from religious heresy to esoteric groups to political events and find some of the same characters involved in the PS illusion plotting and carrying out political conspiracies around the time of WWII and after in France. The authors discuss an aweful lot of esoteric groups and character, spending a full chapter of the branches and divisions of Masonry and the supposed differences between them. Yet by the end of the book you realize that that line of investigation doesn't lead anywhere. Unfortunately it's only in the last chapter and 30 pages that the authors discuss recent politics in Europe. The authors claim that throughout the history in question one informal group and doctrine has turned out to exert the most influence and is behind important historical events. To make their case they somewhat lose the objectivity displayed in part one. The connections between characters are murky. At best there may be a doctrinal connection although this cannot be easily established either.

I found it dissappointing that there are no photographs in this book. A lot of places, artifacts, buildings are discussed in detail, that would have required pictures. The organization of the book could also have been better. Perhaps a straightforward chronological order would have helped clarify things. If some of the articles on Wikipedia are to be trusted, there are some factual errors in this book as well. I would give it a 3.5 / 5. It is very readable and humorous at times.

This book did satisfy my initial interest by showing the doctrines the ruling elites of different countries and through different times hold and the methods they use to achieve their goals. These methods have changed over time and that shows that the elites are learning from their failures. At the same time the newer ways are even more sinister and despicable. Some paragraphs quoted in this book, written by some curious
characters centuries ago, are shocking in so far as they read like recipes used by the self-righteous elites of today to force their twisted agenda onto the world. If one wants to understand, for instance, why the neocons do what they do and how they go about doing it, one will find some of the skincrawling answers here.

Recommended as a first and perhaps only book if you want to find out what PS, Rennes-le-Chateau, and the relationship between politics and esotericism is about and how that has impacted and continues to impact present days politcs.

I enjoyed reading the book at first, but after about 75 pages I simply couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe I just didn't know enough before picking up the book, but I was completely lost in the deluge of names, titles, and politics of France. I skipped far ahead in the book and it still seemed to lead nowhere. Eventually I skipped to the end...even that seemed uneventful.

Now if your obsessive about French politics and Pierre Plantard you might feel like your in heaven when you read this, it just didn't work out that well for me.

Also noticeable was a nearly complete lack of maps, photos, or graphics. These would have broken the book up nicely and provided a break from the endless amount of teasing, yet ultimatly non-connecting facts and names.

If possible, you might want to pre-read a few of the pages if they are available on amazon. It might give you an idea of how the book is structured throughout.

Anyone who is interested in learning about the Priory of Sion and also about the Merovingian myth, will enjoy this easy to read book. It is well researched and based upon my own research, I agree with the conclusions presented in this well written book.

Picknett and Prince present information that poses questions about age-old
theories. The surprise ending is well worth the read and the bibliography
and references are extensive. Bettye Johnson, author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.

I am afraid that I don't get this book. It seems to be material moulded to fit the preconceptions or the aims of the authors. The writing style is dense, but the story just didn't make me want to finish it, not matter how hard I tried.

For me it just seemed to be faction, rather than facts, mixed with what the authors wanted the story to be. I can only hope for more actual source material, because for me it is an interesting story and I am sure there must be more to it than what these authors make it out to be. I am giving it 2 stars, because there were a few tidbits which I was able to use as the basis for further research of my own.

Picknett & Prince have produced, in The Sion Revelation, another item in the debunking of Pierre Plantard genre that fails to conclude a convincing argument. Indeed, The Sion Revelation is no revelation at all, but a blatant attempt to convince the readers that Plantard was a charlatan; however, their arguments against his veracity in the end merely leave one wondering if Pinknett & Prince "protesteth too much." At no point do the authors of this droll account consider that Plantard might have been exactly who and what he said he was, and that his disclosure of spurious documents might have covered a hidden aggenda. In the final analysis, however, it is unimportant whether or not Plantard was a charlatan or authentic. What is important is that authors such as Pinknett & Prince do a great disservice to an important topic by utilizing a so-called "history" to defame a character, rather than to elucidate and inform their unfortunate readers.

The authors conducted significant researh into the Prioy of Sion and came up with a much more plausible view of it than the Dan Brown version. Without divulging any of the findings, I will suffice it to say that the research is exhaustive, and that there is a good effort to provide background as well as a reasonable hypothesis for the Priory and the shell game conducted by Pierre Plantard and crew. The book, however, isn't a page turner, and is a bit dry to go through. Kudos to the authors for positing a better theory than we have seen before - but the readability leavse something to be desired.