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Holy Blood, Holy Grail

by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln

3.37 of 5 stars 3.37 · rating details · 5,962 ratings · 474 reviews

Is the traditional, accepted view of the life of Christ in some way incomplete?

• Is it possible Christ did not die on the cross?
• Is it possible Jesus was married, a father, and that his bloodline still exists?
• Is it possible that parchments found in the South of France a century ago reveal one of the best-kept secrets of Christendom?
• Is it possible that these parchments...more

Paperback, 496 pages

Published January 15th 1983 by Dell Publishing (NY) (first published 1982)

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Dec 05, 2008 Terence rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-general, science-pseudo-science-history

I must have picked this book up around the time it came out, which would have made me a sophomore in high school.

When I became a "real" historian, I came to realize just how much of it was hyperbolic tripe but even as a youth, I understood that 90% was speculation (to put it kindly).

The two things it did do for me were:

1. Reveal a Dark Age world of Europe that I hadn't encountered before.

2. Gave the alternate-history buff in me a whole new set of "what-ifs" to think about.

10 likes · like · see review

Jan 12, 2011 Tamra rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who wants to know more about The Da Vinci Code

Recommended to Tamra by: Trisha

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I read The Da Vinci Code and it made me want to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which was apparently the only book Dan Brown based his own research on.

Only problem with all the "research"? Holy Blood, Holy Grail is at best laughable. They'll tell you something like, "Person A knew Person B who was at a play that Person C also attended, though we have no knowledge they actually knew each other. Furthermore, Person B was born in Italy and from all that we know that Person C passed on essential inform...more

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 24, 2008 Bryan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: not-worth-finishing

Reading this book is like slogging uphill through a mudslide - after a while you lose track of where you are, and it doesn't seem worth the effort to keep going.

7 likes · like · see review

Oct 20, 2008 Steve rated it 1 of 5 stars

Alrighty....Here's another tin foil hat conspiracy book. Holy Blood Holy Grail was dragged into English court as part of the authors complaint of plagiarism against Dan Brown's The Manet Code...HAHAHA..Da Vinci.My joke and the lawsuit and the book are all similar to Dan Brown's Oeuvre by being boring and poorly written. That might have been Leigh and Baigent's best argument.

What offends me about this book is that it takes something that is fundamentally interesting (the history of the gospels, t...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 29, 2008 Marti rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 31, 2009 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Catholics and Evangelical Christians

Recommended to Lisa by: David

I read this book and ate up every last bit of speculation, theory, and downright invention. The photos creeped me out, and I daydreamed about the possibility that the Knights Templar really had links to Jesus Christ, and that the Freemasons were more than just a bunch of weird old guys that did some boring, yet secret, junk in an old building downtown. Years later, a Freemason mistakenly left a lengthy message on our answering machine in Palm Desert, California. He gave intricate, specific detai...more

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Jun 15, 2008 Juli added it

The fact that I read horribly written books about templars, and things of that ilk, is one of my shameful secrets. I don't believe a word that I've read, but they suck me in.

That part in the Dan Brown book (don't remember if it was DaVinci or Angels) where he was listing off the books in that guy's library? I have all those books...Oh the shame :)

This book, as all similar books, could be about 200-300 pages shorter as they restate their theories in multiple ways. They also all seem to use the s...more

9 likes · like · see review

May 16, 2013 Alex Lindner rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a book that presents many points of evidence showing fallacies in the Christian religion. It mainly delves into the depths of the secrets of the Knights Templar and the order of Sion, who allegedly created and later broke off from the Knights Templar. "Could 'ET IN ARCADIA EGO' also perhaps be an anagram? Could the verb have been omitted so that the inscription would consist only of certain precise letters?" (Baigent, 46). The authors use mechanics like this to...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Iceman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Até à pouco tempo atrás, pensava que o Santo Graal se tratava de uma taça em madeira onde supostamente Jesus Cristo havia bebido na última ceia que efectuou com os seus apóstolos. Assim e julgando ser mais um mito do que propriamente um dado histórico, nunca dei muita importância a esse facto, sem ser quando lia algo sobre a idade média e a constante e quase obcecante busca pelo Graal.
Após ler o famosíssimo “Codigo Da Vincai” fiquei deveras surpreendido com as revelações que o autor fazia. Servi...more Até à pouco tempo atrás, pensava que o Santo Graal se tratava de uma taça em madeira onde supostamente Jesus Cristo havia bebido na última ceia que efectuou com os seus apóstolos. Assim e julgando ser mais um mito do que propriamente um dado histórico, nunca dei muita importância a esse facto, sem ser quando lia algo sobre a idade média e a constante e quase obcecante busca pelo Graal.
Após ler o famosíssimo “Codigo Da Vincai” fiquei deveras surpreendido com as revelações que o autor fazia. Servindo-se duma história policial, Dan Brown começava por fazer referências a quadros de Leonardo Da Vincai, da simbologia contida nas obras, para acabar por nos conduzir a todo um mistério mais intricado que punha em causa a própria igreja católica e toda a filosofia/crença que esta defende. Nesse mesmo livro, o autor acabava por dar referência de uns 3 livros que, segundo ele, estariam na génese de todo o trama do livro.
Independentemente de ter gostado ou não do livro, o certo é que esse assunto sobressaiu na minha mente. A minha curiosidade ficou espicaçada e decidi que tinha que saber mais sobre o assunto, queria saber se realmente Leonardo Da Vincai sabia “demais” e se tinha deixado mesmo aquelas mensagens nos seus quadros. Queria saber o que seriam aquelas organizações que Brown refere, se o Santo Graal era, ou não, o que ele sugeria e, mais importante, queria saber até onde poderia ter ido a hipocrisia da igreja católica.
Efectuei então uma busca por bibliografia sobre os temas abordados, busca essa que me levou a um texto bastante curioso “Protocolos dos Sábios de Sião” e um outro livro ”Segredo dos Templários”, que me parecia ser um complemento daquele que, desde logo, me pareceu ser o mais completo, aquele que Brown foca e, neste momento, não tenho dúvida em afirmar que foi neste que Brown se inspirou para escrever o seu policial.
”O Sangue de Cristo e o Santo Graal” é um livro que segundo os autores (Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, Richard Leigh) surgiu um pouco por acaso. Tudo começou em 1969 quando um dos autores comprou um pequeno livro de bolso, onde factos históricos, mistérios e conjecturas se misturavam entre si. Nesse texto, intitulado “O tesouro maldito”, fazia-se referência a um tesouro, encontrado por acaso em 1890 por um padre em Rennes-le-Château. E é através deste facto, ao princípio um facto curioso, que o autor começa uma pequena investigação que, pouco depois e devido a algumas descobertas interessantes, o obrigam a iniciar uma investigação mais séria. Tudo isto em 1970.
E é num simples livro de bolso que foi parar às mãos de um especialista em História, que se inicia uma investigação que irá demorar mais de 10 anos!
Uma investigação que teve direitos a primeiras páginas e a reacções tempestuosas das mais variadas personagens políticas e religiosas, que fizeram de tudo para tentar desacreditar as conclusões dos autores.
E se esta foi uma investigação histórica e científica, porquê todas essas reacções contra o livro? Seria o livro um perigo para a sociedade? Teria ele revelações que colocariam em causa todo um sistema político ou social? Desmascaria certas convenções? Certamente! As teorias deste livro, teorias essas assentes em provas fundamentadas, são simplesmente demolidoras para a igreja católica.
Em 1885, em Renens-le-Château, o padre dessa aldeia, Bérenger Saunière, aquando das obras na sua pequena e pobre igreja, fez uma descoberta de algo que se encontrava enterrado naquela igreja. Este facto é indesmentível, pois nessa altura ele pede para ser recebido no Vaticano e após o seu regresso, a sua vida muda por completo, começando então a levar uma vida de opulência que os fracos rendimentos de um simples padre eram impossíveis de sustentar. Reconstruiu a sua igreja, mandou fazer um palacete que nunca chegou a habitar (Vila Bethânia) e inclusivamente mandou construir uma torre dando-lhe o nome de Torre Magdala. Sabe-se também do poder que demonstrava possuir sobre o Bispo da localidade e do medo e respeito que o Vaticano demonstrava ter por ele. Saunière veio a falecer em 1917, altura em que os seus gastos atingiram o equivalente a vários milhões de libras. De onde veio essa inexplicável riqueza? Que tesouro é que ele descobriu a ponto de o próprio Vaticano lhe prestar vassalagem?
É assim que com este, aparente, pequeno mistério, os investigadores iniciam os seus estudos e, partindo de Rennes-le-Château, lar ancestral de Bertrand de Blanchefort, quarto grão-mestre dos Templários, os autores iniciam uma viagem tão espantosa quanto polémica. De início não tinham nada em mente, apenas um novelo que tinham curiosidade de desenrolar, estando eles muito longe de imaginarem o que aquilo ia dar.
Não pretendo aqui dissertar sobre os mistérios abordados no livro. Iria levar muito tempo e retiraria o interesse do livro, mas toda esta investigação leva-nos a conhecer de perto os Templários e o porquê da sua formação. As lutas e altos interesses políticos subjacentes à ordem. O Priorado de Sião, cuja acção foi, demonstradamente essencial, continuando ainda hoje a existir. O profundo mistério do Santo Graal. O que realmente foi (é) o Santo Graal? Será que os Templários ou o Priorado de Sião possuíram alguma vez esse Santo Graal? Qual o papel dos Cátaros e quem foram eles? O lendário Templo de Jerusalém, onde supostamente o Santo Graal esteve escondido e onde os Templários tiveram a sua primeira sede, vindo do templo o nome da Ordem. Que dinastia é essa dos Merovíngios que o Priorado de Sião continua a idolatrar? Que papel foi o de Jesus Cristo ou o porquê da suposta crucificação quando ele, comprovadamente, descendia de uma linhagem real? Qual o papel de Maria Madalena? Muitos desconhecem que também ela era de linhagem real. Teria sido Jesus Cristo casado com Maria Madalena? Teriam tido descendência?
Foi no concílio de Niceia, em 325 d.C., que foi decidido que Jesus era um deus e não um profeta mortal, foi aí estabelecida a data da páscoa e sabe-se que é por essas alturas que a Bíblia é composta através de alguns evangelhos cuidadosamente seleccionados, sendo os outros textos que falavam de Cristo, abolidos e, nalguns casos destruídos. É então nessa altura que Jesus assume o estatuto que hoje goza, todos esses textos foram desde então alvos de sucessivas correcções e omissões, sendo actualmente um produto de editores e escritores do século IV. E os envagelhos apócrifos , descobertos aqui e ali, que descrevem situações completamente opostas às narradas na Bíblia?
Enfim, não quero aqui expressar a minha opinião pessoal sobre este fabuloso mistério, nem pretendo levantar muito o véu., apenas pretendo transmitir a enorme sensação que esta obra me proporcionou. Através de factos históricos, somos confrontados com toda uma teia muito intensa e extensa, que foi elaborada com um sentido muito simples e claro.
Um livro que deve ser lido (estudado) com um espírito aberto, pois põe em causa convicções e crenças que estão, há muito, enraizadas na nossa cultura, na nossa sociedade, na própria forma de ser e de pensar das sociedades ocidentais, pondo mesmo em causa a própria fé de cada um e mina por completo, as estruturas da religião católica.
Este livro não uma “teoria da conspiração”. É uma obra histórica, escrupulosamente estudada, documentada e pensada. Ao autores sabiam o que podiam estar a criar, fizeram-no em consciência, apenas pretendem dar a conhecer ao mundo o que descobriram, que a História que sempre nos contaram, se calhar, não foi bem assim.
Se quiser ir mais além do que Dan Brown descreve em “O Código Da Vincai”, aconselho a ler este livro.(less)

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Dec 13, 2012 Sean Donnelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Holy Blood, Holy Grail is about a secret society that tries to restore a certain bloodline. The book Holy Blood, Holy Grail begins with a French priest in a region of France called the Languedoc. He finds some strange transcripts there, which later leads him to become rich. The investigation of the authors' though, leads to something more amazing than they ever thought before. They discover the region was closely associated with the Knight's Templar, leading them to investigate that lead. This l...more

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Jul 19, 2012 K J Bennett rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first read this about 15 years ago. It seems that Dan Brown may also have done so.

The original book, and the revised edition I read several years later, put forward compelling arguments in favour of an alternative history of the established religious version propounded in canonical teaching. Although cleared of plagiarism, Dan Brown appears to have drawn heavily on much of the source material as did the authors of 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'.

The authors at no point claim that their theories are f...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Jennifer marked it as to-read

Shelves: faith

Speculation, yes. But even the bible contains much speculation (yes, that is my opinion and you don't need to agree with me, that is fine and I am perfectly ok with that). The basis for my opinion is as follows. The new testament wasn't even written until 60 yrs after Jesus' death, by people who most likely never heard him speak. It is really difficult to guess what sort of motives they may have had or wether they were trying very hard to shape the New Testament stories according to the old test...more Speculation, yes. But even the bible contains much speculation (yes, that is my opinion and you don't need to agree with me, that is fine and I am perfectly ok with that). The basis for my opinion is as follows. The new testament wasn't even written until 60 yrs after Jesus' death, by people who most likely never heard him speak. It is really difficult to guess what sort of motives they may have had or wether they were trying very hard to shape the New Testament stories according to the old testament prophecies. Also, the council of Nicea picked and chose what documents could be a part of the New Testament in 325 CE. Would we choose the same books today? In addition, countless re-transcribings of the sacred texts and translations have occurred resulting in uncountable mis-translations and errors.

Did you know:
Mary Magdalene was NOT ever called a prostitute in the bible?
In 1969 the Catholic church issued a Papal Bull recanting the claim they had earlier made that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. That was news to me. And I was never even Catholic.

Jesus, as a rabbi, would have been EXPECTED to be married and have children according to Judaic custom. Of course this is by no means proof that he did marry and have children, but it is not outside the realm of possibility.

So of course this book is probably 90% speculation. But I stand by my opinion, that lots of things are speculation.

I heard about this book from a friend in church during our Unitarian Universalist bible study group. When I get the time I look forward to reading it.

----------------------------
Excerpt from wikipedia article on Mary Magdalene:
Pope Gregory the Great's homily on Luke's gospel dated 14 September 591 first suggested that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute: "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? ... It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts."(homily XXXIII)[14]

In 1969 the Vatican, without commenting on Pope Gregory's reasoning,[15] implicitly rejected it by separating Luke's sinful woman, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdala via the Roman Missal.[16]

This identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute was followed by many writers and artists until the 20th century. Even today it is promulgated by some secular and occasional Christian groups. It is reflected in Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis's novel The Last Temptation of Christ, in José Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, Jean-Claude La Marre's Color of the Cross and Hal Hartley's The Book of Life.
It was because of this association of Mary as a prostitute that she became the patroness of "wayward women", and "Magdalene houses" became established to help save women from prostitution.[17]
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Mar 26, 2011 Robyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, hard-going-in-places, religion-and-spirituality

While much of the evidence in this has been debunked since it's writing, and most of the research has been called into question, this is an interesting book nonetheless, with much more depth, twists and turns than The DaVinci code, which stole many of these author's ideas. There are many concepts in this book, some are very dubious, and others seem downright plausible. If one approaches this with the right spirit; which is to say, with an open mind, but with the desire to do lots of independent...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Notary Tim rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book should be under fiction instead of religion, as the conspiracy put forth in it is so obviously a bunch of hookum that anyone who actually reads the book should be able to see that their sole source is playing them for reasons that never become clear. This is the sort of book that brings out the worst sort of conspiracy nuts -- those who will believe it because they want it to be true, not because there is actual proof or overwhelming evidence that it true. It is worth reading ONLY if y...more

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Jul 09, 2009 Ian . rated it 3 of 5 stars

2*'s seems a bit harsh for this denser-than-all-hell-factopedia. Truly one of the most dense books I've ever picked up. Probably deserves 5*'s. I just can't give it a full rating because I never finished it. I got too lost in the details. Trying to correlate everything, verify facts, people online, ll that stuff just became too hard. And that's what i do when I read a book where the author keeps throwing knowledge at me I've never heard before. I keep trying to validate it in my mind. Sadly, as...more

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May 22, 2009 Chrissy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 14, 2012 Lyra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Holy Blood, Holy Grail discusses the hidden secrets of Christianity that the authors discovered after intense research in France. These 'secrets' include the history and biblical information of the scriptures found in their source of information, a book called Dossiers Secrets and the legend of the Holy Grail. As a Catholic, I was interested in finding what more I could grab from this book and I did pick up quite a bit of information. The information found in this book gave me a new understandin...more

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Mar 06, 2012 David Spencer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Uncritical as I was at age 12, borrowing this from my friend's mom, I would have given this book 5 stars in the feverish conspiracy fugue I was gripped by over the course of reading this. However, my Pyrrhonian skepticism was never far behind any new discovery, and to the internet I turned and found nutjobs mixing less artful and beguiling form and content into their parroting of this book as gospel, and I quickly (with internal irritation at getting suckered) re-read the book with a search engi...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jesus was born of a virgin, raised the dead, turned water into wine, and was resurrected after his crucifixion. OK. BUT SAYING THAT HE HAD CHILDREN IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING IN THE WORLD!
I read this book when it was first published and it's speculations have fertilized my thinking since then. Even if the thesis is wrong, the wild, richly detailed landscape you cross with it is thought-provoking and conspiratorially satisfying.
In the '90s some boson claimed to have fraudulently placed the prio...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Fox rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, history, humor, mystery, own, religion, 2012

Yeah, I admit to wanting to shelve this under humor. I admit to reading this book, knowing full well what I was getting into. I admit to being intrigued by the very honest mystery of Sauniere and Rennes Les Chateaux in general. I admit all of that, and readily.

From a speculative history/alternative history standpoint the book is pretty much fine. From the standpoint of actually trying to be history? It's not so great. The bulk of the book is based on pure speculation, on trying to tie all the st...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Amalie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, did-not-finish

I read "The Da Vinci Code" years back and I know, basically, Dan Brown got his "research" from this. There are some sentences here, repeated exactly the same way in "The Da Vinci Code".

If you are interested in conspiracy theories only then you'll like this. This book has been published even before I was born, so why read after more the 2 decades, specially after "The Priory of Sion" myth was debunked by journalists and scholars as one the great hoaxes of the 20th century? Well, I just happened t...more I read "The Da Vinci Code" years back and I know, basically, Dan Brown got his "research" from this. There are some sentences here, repeated exactly the same way in "The Da Vinci Code".

If you are interested in conspiracy theories only then you'll like this. This book has been published even before I was born, so why read after more the 2 decades, specially after "The Priory of Sion" myth was debunked by journalists and scholars as one the great hoaxes of the 20th century? Well, I just happened to come across the book.

I found it to be poorly argued. I expected better arguments. I did read the book rather quickly but skipped a lot in the second part regarding "the Priory of Zion". Only thing I paid attention to was the theory about the writer of the Fourth Gospel which they claim to be Lazarus who was Jesus' "brother-in-law" because he was the brother of Mary of Bethany who is actually Mary Magdalene who was Jesus' "wife" and Barabbas is Jesus himself?? or "his son"... Here's an Idea Barabbas was an alien!

The main fault in this book is they talk about "A" and talk about "B" and they say A+B = C then soon after that, they say it can also be D and even E , F...Z. There's no end. It seems they were unbiased in the beginning but by half a way, they want to prove they are correct and will represent anything and the end result is they have a big pile of mess.

Only thing I've read in this area is the Gospels and I recognized they are twisting everything written there. It's so crazy, they pick the sentence which they want to focus on and come to conclusions without reading the befores and afters. They say Jesus talked in allegories and then they take the literal meaning of what he said. I'm pretty sure at one point they said Jesus might have been a terrorist, a Zealot.

But this is a book which will check your ability to be open minded and I was. So here's the catch "Could Jesus have been married?" "Could Mary M have been his wife?" "Could she have been carrying his child?" Sure, why not, I suppose so, he was human after all. I'm ok with even the whole theory about Merovingians. BUT could "Jesus and his disciples have purposely faked his death at the crucifixion?" Nope. And sorry, my mind is wide shut now. Christianity couldn't have survived with such a lie. Come on, people! That's one of the lamest assumptions I can think of.
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Apr 12, 2013 D Hermann rated it 2 of 5 stars

An amusing, fairly far-fetched book. Best read as fiction. This book gained it's fame through its influence on the da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. In fact, the character of Leigh Teabing in Brown's novel is a reference to two of the authors of Holy Blood: Leigh and Baigent (Teabing being an anagram of Baigent). I also read that the authors unsuccessfully sued Dan Brown's publisher for plagiarism.

The challenge with Holy Blood is that it is largely based upon documents believed to be authentic by the...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Arthur Hiller rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: conspiracy

Die Urmutter aller neueren Verschwörungsbücher, so weit es es sich nicht um 9/11 handelt. Zugleich die Ursuppe aus der Dan Browns Sakrileg entstiegen ist. Die ersten zweihundert Seiten sind sogar spannender zu lesen als der Thriller, der allerdings meine Hauptkritik vorweg genommen hat: die Schlüsse die Lincoln/Baigent/Leigh aus ihrer Recherche ziehen sind geradezu absurd. Da zu Zeiten der Veröffentlichung ein Nachfahre der Merowinger und damit Nackomme Christi im Europaparlament saß, würden die...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Simon Johansen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: britain-and-ireland, 1980s, history, has-not-aged-well, australia-and-new-zealand

Yep, the book famous for inspiring "The DaVinci Code" with its central theory that the Merovingian dynasty in France was descended from Jesus Christ himself, and this truth was safeguarded through history by a vast network of secret societies masterminded by the Priory of Sion.

What this reminds me most of is "The Spear of Destiny", the British WW2 veteran Trevor Ravenscroft's book about the spear that supposedly pierced the side of Christ. While "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" is nowhere as crazy, it's...more

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May 03, 2013 Valmay rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book to my father long before Dan Browns ‘Da Vinci Code’ was published. Whether it is historically accurate or not I'm still not sure, but there are plenty of references provided should the reader wish to check up on facts. I've since read reports that some of the references are questionable, but when you are writing about a subject, in a way that some people would consider blasphemous, it's bound to cause upset and have people say such things.

I sometimes found it heavy going, but wo...more

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Aug 07, 2008 Anthony rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Templar buff, Catholic history buffs, conspircacy theorists.

Plausible theories about the Knights Templar and early christianity. Hard to verify and perhaps stretched to make their point. It was however an enjoyable read and offers plausable explainations to a lot of history plagues by holes.

Worth the time for those interested in catholic history or knights templar.

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Apr 07, 2011 Dan Cooper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Impressive for its comprehensive thoroughness in exploring a multitude of possibilities, in support of their premise that winds up remaining unproven, yet attractively supported.

Fundamentalist Christians will obviously be miffed at the very thought that such propositions could be made about their religion. But the speculation is valid, well thought-out, and presented as just what it is: speculation about an assemblage of related possibilities that, connected in just such a way, would explain one...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Scotchneat rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: esoterica, mystery

Oh man, I forgot how much I loved this book. Seminal text for the nutters.

Without giving TOO much away, this is an "expose" starting with Rennes-le-Chateau in Southern France (still regretting not getting there). And if you know anything about that story, then it's a small hop to the Templars, the Cathars, the Rosicrucians, secret treasure and Masons. Underneath that is a more secret society that claims leadership from royal lineage, to Newton and Debussey, of all people.

Very hard not to think...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Pete daPixie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: conspiracy-schmiracy

I had forgotten that I had read this book. Which says it all really. I'm a sucker for anything pertaining to the historical Jesus, and have a Goodread bookshelf with that same title. Even so, I can't put 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' in that genre. Conspiracy-schmiracy shelf is more appropriate.
To be fair, the idea that J.C. was married is historically plausible, that he survived the cross is accepted in the Muslim religion, and that Mary Magdalen arrived in the south of France along with brother Laz...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Kaydon_the_dino rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: wtf-did-i-just-read

I love me a good conspiracy theory, I always have. Nibiru? Sure. Illuminati? Alright. Dinosaurs living in the jungles of Africa? Bring it. I love these sorts of flights of fancy and the more probable the better. Even as a hard core skeptic I love it all.

And that's the problem with "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", it doesn't have any moment of "wait! Actually that might be possible!" It is all a sort of just so story, a boring slog through the flimsiest of "proofs" and "what ifs" . It's was laughable h...more

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About Michael Baigent

Michael Baigent was born in New Zealand in 1948. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Canterbury University, Christchurch, and holds a master's degree in mysticism and religious experience from the University of Kent in England. Since 1976 he has lived in England with his wife and children.

Baigent is a Freemason and a Grand Officer of the United Grand Lodge of England. He has...more

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The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-up in History (Plus)

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