THE MYSTERIOUS BOOK OF TOBIT AUCTION
A Little Too Neat?
Last year there was a flurry of excitement when a medieval document came on to the open market for sale via an auction house. The excitement was within the Rennes-le-Château research community because the document was said to have been taken from a ‘coffre’ (a trunk/chest) originally belonging to the Hautpoul family. No elaboration was given on which branch of the Hautpoul family was involved. Indeed the seller remained anonymous.
The medieval document consisted of a leaf or sheet from the ancient biblical text of the Book of Tobit, dated to the 12th century: its provenance was the scriptorium at Chartres. The manuscript was dated to between 1140—1145.
The leaf was originally kept with other medieval documents, for example a franchises of Bugarach of 1307. The leaves were reunited by a notary of the Aude, Bernard Siau, of Couiza (in 1782), who had control of a number of manuscripts from the ‘coffre’ belonging to the Hautpoul family. What had happened to these archives since 1782 was not divulged.
There was no information on how this leaf came into the family of Hautpoul. The auction house confirmed the authenticity of the leaf, and the ‘coffre’, and that the documents in the coffre related to the Hautpoul family as suggested by Coligny. He said;
"This is confirmed by the content of the documents, citing the family or places where they had Lordship (Bugarach and other places in the Aude)".
This is important because we now come to why Rennes-le-Château researchers got so excited. There was a 5 page commentary on the Book of Tobit linked with the medieval document. It was written in modern hand and dated to the early 20th century. On no real basis it was suggested that because of the religious content, the commentary was written ‘most probably’ by an ecclesiastic, a priest ...! Breathlessly researchers began to wonder was this priest with access to Hautpoul documents Saunière?
Maybe I am just strange but to me this all seemed a little too neat. Files related to the Hautpoul trunk of documents? Who is supplying these papers? Where and how did these seller get access to the papers? What is the connection with the commentary? And even more suspiciously it seems that as a condition of the sale the Auction house had to provide a commentary and precis of this 5 page commentary from the 20th century - even though this commentary itself was not initially for sale! Apparently the Auction house confirmed that the paper the commentary was written on was from the 20th century, but it would be very easy to procure some paper, say from a book 120 years old (one can buy them on ebay!). There was no photographs, i believe, of this commentary either. So although the Auction house was selling a bona fida medieval document - as part of the condition of the sale they had to make mention of this bizarre commentary.
It all seemed a little to neat that a sheet from a medieval book of Tobit (note just a sheet)
appears, and to top it all, we have a twentieth century commentary .... Said to be by a priest who would have had access to the Hautpoul archives. It seems opportune that the leaf was from the Book of Tobit. Out of all the books of the Old and New Testament that could have been found .....in the current climate of research it seems suspicious that it is the Book of Tobit
that appears! As far as I am aware, if the priest involved was Saunière, then there is no evidence that he had access to the archives of the Hautpoul family. We know, however, that he had in his possession the Parish registry that was once in the hands of his predecessor Bigou. It was the village Parish Register which had been kept by the priests of that village between 1694 and 1726. Listed here was the Will of Henri d’Hautpoul (dated 24th April 1695) where he specifies that upon his death he wants to be buried in the parish church of Rennes ‘tomb of my ancestors’. However, this is not the same as 'access to the Hautpoul archives'!
As we see it is Bigou who is directly connected with an Hautpoul. Do we know for certain Saunière had such direct access too?
The Parish Register, with the dates given, means that the Register was only kept for 30
years or thereabouts. One wonders how Saunière got access to it? Unless after its 30 years it was buried somewhere in the archives of the church or municipal offices? Having this Register and inspiring him to look for the Tomb of the Lords, we can speculate that there may have been perhaps papers buried in any crypt under the Church, for it seems probable that Saunière did access the ‘tomb of the Lords’. But would these archives and papers relate to the Hautpoul family? Which specific members? Does it seem strange to us today - that members of the family are buried in unknown places but their archives could be in a crypt under a church?
In relation to the appearance of a sheet of a medieval manuscript with a twentieth century
commentary ... we know that the Hautpoul family married into the de Nègre line. Perhaps a
modern descendant sold the document? Whatever is playing out behind the scenes it seems obvious that the commentary is to ruffle feathers in the Rennes researcher community. And below we will see why. This is the blurb about the commentary in its entirety:
‘At the end of the presentation of 5 pages, someone proposed a summary of an old commentary. The words in capital letters are found in the summary. We will note it thereafter:
“We give here the summary of a long biblical comment & history, {someone} writing at the beginning of the XXth century, and which accompanied this medieval illuminated sheet {of the Book of Tobit}. Its author was probably an ecclesiastic, who had had access to the “trunk of Hautpoul” in which this document was preserved.
This manuscript contains the beginning of the history of Tobias: it tells us that being a child, Tobias went to the TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM and later he was taken as a prisoner in captivity in a foreign country. There, he found grace near the King, who gave him the capacity to go freely everywhere. He thus went to the city of RAGES, carrying with him TEN TALENTS OF MONEY{SILVER} which the King had entrusted to him. He found there someone named Gabel, to which he gave all this quantity of money to; a HANDWRITTEN DOCUMENT (“chirograph”: “SUB CYROGRAPHO”) was then written. The history is continued: Tobias returned to visit each person of his relationship to bring the CONSOLATION to him. One reads moreover that after sundown Tobias left to bury the body of AN ASSASSINATED PERSON. The verse mentions an episode where the DEMON ASMODÉE is mentioned. The last words of the manuscript mention a specific amount of time - three days and three nights.
As the continuator of the LIBER TOBIÆ indicates , it is the “chirograph” which in this account will have the greatest importance, because it should be used to be able to recover the
earlier ten talents of money or silver. Up to his death, Tobias gave it to his son, also named Tobias, and says to him: “YOU WILL GATHER UP A LARGE TREASURE”. Tobias took this chirograph, but as he did not know the way to the city of RAGES, which was located in an inaccessible mountain named EX-BÉTHANIS, he met a young man of a noble line who,
knowing the routes, led Tobias to it. Accompanied on the way by Cyon, they followed the course of a river, where Tobias caught a fish, of which he roasted & salted. After these
adventures detailed in this book, Tobias became very rich, and a second writing was written. To find the money deposit, and thanks to the chirograph, Tobias gave this instruction to his companion: “REDDIS CHIROGRAPHUM”, or “REDDAS CYROGRAFUM”. He brought back a very great fortune in the house of Anne. One of the last sentences of LIBER TOBIÆ was: “IT IS GOOD TO HIDE THE SECRECT OF THE KING” (“ SACRAMENTA REGIS”).
The preceding text (left-hand column of the column of the parchment) starts with this maxim: “IT IS ALLOWED to the JEWS TO FOLLOW THEIR LAWS”, and ends in a curse: any province which will not want to celebrate the solemnity (the thirteenth day of the twelfth month), WILL PERISH BY the SWORD AND FIRE, and will be destroyed.
Curiously, one finds in this layer several lessons differing from the traditional text of the Vulgate, for example some omissions of words; moreover, the orthography of the proper names (names of people or places) is sometimes non-conventional. According to an older tradition (and more detailed), the chirograph of Tobias was a handwritten document which had been divided into two parts: one was kept by Tobias, the other was preserved with the ten talents of silver/money . It was then necessary to join together the two parts of this chirograph to be able to take again possession of the deposit.
This money was contained either in trunks (IN ARCIS), or in bags (IN SACCELLIS) seals; one needed several beasts of burden to transport it. The talent was a measurement containing six thousand drachmas (the drachma being a silver coin); which makes approximately forty-five kilogram's. Maybe, for ten talents: 60.000 drachmas, or 450 kg. If one considers the amount of the money to the weight, ten talents will have a rough value of 30.000 gold francs. But if one considers the quantity of parts (60.000) contained in these ten talents, and if we regard their median value on the market of archaeology, with a minimal estimate of six million gold francs.
The named city “RAGES” (or RHADÈS?), is located in mountain “EX-BETHANIS”, close to Medie Terra. This very old city, from which it remains to determine the exact localization, was almost completely destroyed by invaders during the XIIIth century (either a little time after the writing of our manuscript). (end of the summary of the comment made up at the beginning of XXth .)
The capitalised French text is listed as follows:
"TEMPLE DE JÉRUSALEM
RAGÈS
DIX TALENTS D'ARGENT
DOCUMENT
MANUSCRIT
SUB CYROGRAPHO
CONSOLATION
D'UNE PERSONNE ASSASSINÉE
DÉMON ASMODÉE
LIBER TOBIÆ
TU AMASSERAS UN GRAND TRÉSOR
RAGÈS
EX-BÉTHANIS
REDDIS CHIROGRAPHUM », ou « REDDAS CYROGRAFUM
LIBER TOBIÆ "IL
EST BON DE CACHER LE SECRET DU ROI » (« SACRAMENTA REGIS »).
IL EST PERMIS
AUX JUIFS DE SUIVRE LEURS LOIS »,
PÉRIRA PAR LE GLAIVE ET LE FEU
IN ARCIS
IN SACCELLIS
La cité nommée « RAGÈS » (ou RHADÈS ?), est située dans la montagne « EX-BETHANIS"
What is also interesting is the comments made by Roch de Coligny. He mentioned the oddities in some of the text where words had been changed, for example, “there are errors. {Where it says} "accompanied by Cyon. In fact, CYON is the Greek word meaning DOG:
Tobie was accompanied by a dog, and not by "cyon”. Other error readings: EX-place called Bethany. In fact, the authorized versions (available on internet) indicate "Ec-Batani”. Coligny
also distanced himself very clearly from any speculation that this material was anything to do with treasure hunting at Rennes-le-Chateau! (see here: http://www.rhedesium.com/m-roch-de-coligny-au-cabinet-honoreacute-durfeacute.html). However, this in itself may raise more points as in the Notes i have added at the end of that page!
It would seem that Rennes researchers are definitely being manipulated into seeing these capitalised texts as significant in some way, or indeed helping them to see that only one theory is viable as the solution to the enigmatic Saunière! Using motifs we have seen before in the Rennes Affair - motifs of phonetic clues, the use of capitalisation in texts to tell another 'story' (for example as we see in Le Serpent Rouge) and the use of clues, particularly some kind of document which has been cut in two which needs to be reasembled together again. This motif is clearly used by Chérisey in CIRCUIT. Together with these signature motifs, the underlying interpretation some Rennes researchers felt were echoing some of the information given in the Priory of Sion mythology.
How is it that the research community even became aware of this auction material?
So the capitalised text gives us a clue that it is related to Rennes, and if we didn't know any better we might wonder if this text is what gave Chérisey all his ideas to concoct the so called Saunière parchments for the whole of his ‘hoax’. Surely not though!
How might a Rennes researcher interpret this capitalised text and commentary?
TEMPLE DE JÉRUSALEM - i.e. Solomons Temple
RAGÈS - City of Rages, Median city of Rages (now Shahr-e Rey, near Tehrn, Iran). Or phonetially Razes? In the Chartres document the city of Media was written as Medie Terre - which some observer might refer to the Mediterranean.
DIX TALENTS D'ARGENT - Ten talents of silver - The talent (Latin: talentum, from Ancient Greek: τάλαντον "scale, balance") is one of several ancient units of mass, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal. A Greek, or Attic talent, was 26kg, a Roman talent was 32.3 kg, an Egyptian talent was 27 kg and a Babylonian talent was 30.3kg. Ancient Israel adopted the Babylonian talent, but later revised the mass. The heavy common talent, used in New Testment times, was 58.9 kg. So ten talents of silver, at a weight of 30.3kg (i.e. at the time of Solomon) would be around 303kg of silver.
DOCUMENT MANUSCRIT - Document manuscript - this commentary? The Book of Tobit? A different manuscript?
SUB CYROGRAPHO - Sub = under, up under, close to, beneath, below, CYROGRAPHO = autograph? No actual Latin word in dictionary but used in early medieaval manuscripts.
CONSOLATION = encouragement, amelioration, consolation (or The Traditio, immersion ritual (Consolation)(http://www.cathar.net/Witness3000/worship/207_worship_consolation.html)
D'UNE PERSONNE ASSASSINÉE - An assasinated person (Gelis?)
DÉMON ASMODÉE - Asmodeus, the Demon.
LIBER TOBIÆ - Book of Tobit (Tobit is a book of the Old Testament in those versions of the
Bi-ble following the Greek Septuagint (generally Roman Catholic and Orthodox versions). It does not appear in the Hebrew Bible and is placed with the Apocrypha in Protestant versions of the Bible. A type of wisdom literature, the book was probably written as late as the 2nd or even the 1st century BC in Palestine.
The narrative begins with Tobit, a pious Israelite of the tribe of Naphtali, who has become blind in Nineveh despite his good works and uprightness. Sorely afflicted, he asks God to let him die (see 1:1-3:6). On the very day of Tobit's prayer, Sarah, a young relative of Tobit living in the
Median capital, Ecbatana, also prays for death. She has been married seven times, and every one of her husbands has been killed on their wedding night by the jealous demon Asmodeus. The prayers of both are heard, and the archangel Raphael is sent to help them (see 3:7-17). At this point, Tobit decides to send his son Tobias to the Median city of Rages (now Shahr-e Rey, near Tehrn, Iran) to recover money left there in trust with a friend. Raphael (disguised as Azarias, another of Tobit's relatives) appears, to accompany and guide Tobias. En route, Tobias catches a large fish in the Tigris River and is advised by his heavenly guide to keep its heart, liver, and gall because of their magical healing properties (see 6:1-8). When they reach Ecbatana, the archangel persuades Tobias to marry Sarah. On the wedding night, Tobias, using the heart and liver of the fish as instructed by the archangel, routs Asmodeus (see 6:9-8:21). The next four chapters relate Raphael's journey to Rages, to recover the money held in trust. Tobias, Sarah, and Raphael return to Nineveh, where Tobias uses the gall of the fish to restore his father's sight. Raphael then reveals his identity and departs. Immediately afterward, inspired by the archangel's final exhortation, Tobit composes and recites a hymn of praise to God (chap. 13). In chapter 14, the last, Tobit lives 100 years more in great happiness and, before dying, predicts the destruction of Nineveh. Tobias departs with Sarah for Ecbatana, where they eventually hear of and rejoice over the fall of Nineveh before Tobias dies at the age of 127.(http://mb-soft.com/believe/txs/tobit.htm)
TU AMASSERAS UN GRAND TRÉSOR - You amass a great treasure. Who? Tobit? Someone else?
EX-BÉTHANIS - Ex-Bethany? Bethania? Villa Bethania?
REDDIS CHIROGRAPHUM or REDDAS CYROGRAFUM - Reddis (Rennes?) chirographum : autograph, person's own handwriting / written charter. ? Reddas: (Rennes?)reddo : to repeat, recite, represent, imitate, pay up, deliver. reddo : to give back, restore, return / answer, translate, render , cyrografum old English word .. means 'A Writ'
"IL EST BON DE CACHER LE SECRET DU ROI » (« SACRAMENTA REGIS »). It is good the secret of the King is hidden. sacramenta = sacrificum : sacrifice. regis regalis : of a king, royal, regal. regius : royal, regal. rex regis : king.
In repsect of Rennes-le-Chateau i am reminded of the Aniort family (which married into the Hautpoul family) and their 'information from the archives of the House of Aniort which suggested a family document dating from the tenth century which said that "la pierre levee Pontils regarde des attics et aux caves du roi". I am also reminded that the Reddis Cellis stone is interpreted by some to refer to the 'depot, at Rennes, of the King.'
IL EST PERMIS AUX JUIFS DE SUIVRE LEURS LOIS - It is allowed to the Jews to follow their own Laws.
PÉRIRA PAR LE GLAIVE ET LE FEU - Will perish by the sword and fire.
IN ARCIS - arcis, arca : chest, box, money box, coffin, cell. Or the Blanchefort 'et in arcadia' funerary stone?
IN SACCELLIS — saccellis = sacculus : purse, little bag, little sack - the Fleury tableau in the church at Rennes-le-Chateau?
La cité nommée « RAGÈS » (ou RHADÈS?), est située dans la montagne « EX-BETHANIS - Villa Bethania? = Saunieres Domaine? (Mountain of Rennes le Chateau (phonetics), Sauniere's Villa Bethania domaine?).
Is the Sot Percheur document also being hinted at? Especially as we have already seen in the commentary that '.... Tobias caught a fish, of which he roasted & salted'. The Sot Percheur document (http://www.portail-rennes-le-chateau.com/sotpecheur.htm) when translated yields this message: Silly (or stupid, funny, or drunk) fisherman at the mouth of the Rhone, he turned his fish on the grill twice. A devil popped up and tasted it 25 times. Cooked, all that remained was the bone. An angel watched and made a golden comb," signed B.S. Cur.
With the phonetic CYON which is probably meant to be SION - all the essentials are here for the Rennes story to take off. The mystery of the ‘treasure of Rennes’ has always involved in one way or another the lost treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem which is Solomon's Temple, built on Mount Sion, Sion also being the name for Jerusalem. In the twentieth century commentary Rages is phonetically Razes. The weight and type of money indicates the treasure itself. A document, split in half, related to Reddas (an old name for Rennes le Château) needs to
be made whole again to find the treasure. You need to go to the Razes and the mountain where Bethania is situated (i.e. Saunière’s domaine). There is a reference to an assassinated person, and in the context of our story this is the priest Gelis. He was brutally murdered in the presbytery of the church he was priest of : Coustaussa. The demon Asmodeus has been referred to by Saunière with his devil inside the Church (although this was only first suggested by de Séde). The Jews are referred to (this is found in the Secret Dossiers, which advocates the
importance of the Rennes Affair which is a Jewish Affair). The mention of Arcis most certainly is meant to indicate the Marie de Négre alleged tombstone (pictured below). Reddis/Cellis/Regis/Arcis? IN SACCELLIS - a purse or little bag.... Is this to indicate
the Fleury tableau (pictured below)?
be made whole again to find the treasure. You need to go to the Razes and the mountain where Bethania is situated (i.e. Saunière’s domaine). There is a reference to an assassinated person, and in the context of our story this is the priest Gelis. He was brutally murdered in the presbytery of the church he was priest of : Coustaussa. The demon Asmodeus has been referred to by Saunière with his devil inside the Church (although this was only first suggested by de Séde). The Jews are referred to (this is found in the Secret Dossiers, which advocates the
importance of the Rennes Affair which is a Jewish Affair). The mention of Arcis most certainly is meant to indicate the Marie de Négre alleged tombstone (pictured below). Reddis/Cellis/Regis/Arcis? IN SACCELLIS - a purse or little bag.... Is this to indicate
the Fleury tableau (pictured below)?
REDDIS CHIROGRAPHUM , or REDDAS CYROGRAFUM : Reddis (Rennes?) chirographum : autograph, person's own handwriting / written charter. ? Reddas: (Rennes?) to represent, imitate, pay up, deliver.—reddo : to give back, restore, return / answer, translate, render '
What was the Reddis chirograph? A handwritten document which had been divided into two parts: one was kept by who? The other was preserved with the ten talents of silver/money. It was then necessary to join together the two parts of this chirograph to be able to take again possession of the deposit.... In Chérisey’s novel CIRCUIT the following text occurs:
Charlot: Whichever way you look at it, somebody will no longer be waiting for me at Notre Dame de la Garde.
Marie-Madeleine: Somebody?
Charlot: Somebody who must present me with half of a banknote bearing the head of Victor Hugo. I have the other half of the note that he would present to me.
He (Charlot) shows his half of the banknote. Marie-Madeleine, herself, produces the other half which matches. Both of them then produce their own documents and compare them. They match and together they go on to find the 'treasure'.
A strange echo perhaps, in the Reddis chirograph!
What was the Reddis chirograph? A handwritten document which had been divided into two parts: one was kept by who? The other was preserved with the ten talents of silver/money. It was then necessary to join together the two parts of this chirograph to be able to take again possession of the deposit.... In Chérisey’s novel CIRCUIT the following text occurs:
Charlot: Whichever way you look at it, somebody will no longer be waiting for me at Notre Dame de la Garde.
Marie-Madeleine: Somebody?
Charlot: Somebody who must present me with half of a banknote bearing the head of Victor Hugo. I have the other half of the note that he would present to me.
He (Charlot) shows his half of the banknote. Marie-Madeleine, herself, produces the other half which matches. Both of them then produce their own documents and compare them. They match and together they go on to find the 'treasure'.
A strange echo perhaps, in the Reddis chirograph!
You can read more here about who bought the auction material and what they assert they have discovered:
http://www.rhedesium.com/1/post/2012/06/june-21st-2012.html
http://www.rhedesium.com/1/post/2012/10/mercure-de-gaillon-announcement-of-13th102012.html
Mercure de Gaillon announcement of 13th/10/2012
http://www.rhedesium.com/1/post/2012/06/june-21st-2012.html
http://www.rhedesium.com/1/post/2012/10/mercure-de-gaillon-announcement-of-13th102012.html
Mercure de Gaillon announcement of 13th/10/2012