FINAL WARNING: The Curtain Falls
Also during the restoration, a flagstone dating to the 7th or 8th century
was removed, allegedly revealing a burial chamber, which contained
skeletons; and because of the amount of money he would soon begin
to spend– a treasure of some sort. There has been much speculation
about what this treasure could have been.Some talk had centered around the Holy Grail. The Grail was believed
to be a chalice made of gold, which was first used by Melchizedek as
he offered bread and wine to Abraham on Mount Moriah. It was
guarded in a Phoenician temple in Tyre, the city of Hiram, the king who
designed and built Solomon’s Temple. It fell into the hands of the
Queen of Sheba, who gave it to King Solomon, and it was last used by
Jesus and the disciples during the Last Supper. Other traditions have
said that it was used by Mary Magdalene or Joseph of Arimathea to
catch the blood of Jesus as it dripped off of His body while He hung on
the cross. It was believed that Joseph took the cup to Glastonbury in
England; while others claim that Mary took it with her to Marseilles in
France.The Cathars, who descended from the Bogomils in Bulgaria, and
existed around the 10th and the 11th centuries, were perceived to be a
wealthy people, and were said to possess a treasure beyond material
wealth. In January, 1244, three months before the fall of their fortress
in Montsegur, two men got out with the gold, silver, and money. As
their defeat seemed eminent, the northern invaders served them with
terms of surrender in March, and gave the Cathars two weeks to make
a decision. One of the terms of this ‘cease-fire,’ was that if anyone tried
to escape, they would be killed. A day before the surrender, when they
would have been released, four men escaped on a rope, down the
sheer western face of the fortress. According to legend, the risk was
made to protect their treasure. But if all their gold and silver had been
smuggled out three months before, what did they risk their lives to
protect. Was it the Holy Grail?The Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table searched for the Grail, and
legend has it that three of them seen it– Galahad, Percival, and Bors.
Later stories revealed that the Grail was kept at the Church of St. Mary
Magdalene in Rennes-le-Chateau, which is where she made her home.Others believe that the treasure Sauniere found may have been the