The Priory Of Sion

Is The "Secret Organization" Fact Or Fiction?

(CBS) 
This was the theme of a book he co-authored in the 1980s called "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" which was an international bestseller and on which Dan Brown acknowledges he drew for "The Da Vinci Code." Just how many dozens of other books it also inspired can be seen in the bookshop at Rennes Le Chateau. So does Lincoln still believe in that story today?

"I can't say that it's a fact because it isn't. It's an idea. But it fits the facts that we have, very few though they be," Lincoln says.

One of those alleged facts is featured prominently at the beginning of "The Da Vinci Code." On a page headed "Fact," Dan Brown says that the Priory of Sion, which is central to the secret at the heart of his book, is a real organization. He says that at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris — the French National Library — you can find proof that it was founded in Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades. That proof is in some documents known as the Dossiers Secrets or Secret Files.

So 60 Minutes decided to check out those Secret Files. The Bibliothèque Nationale made exact copies for the 60 Minutes team to look at because they said the originals were too fragile to handle.

We soon found what we were looking for. One document gives the history of the Priory of Sion dating back to the 12th Century, and there's a list of Grand Masters that includes such illustrious names as Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci. This information would be astounding — except for one thing.

"I do know what was going on in Jerusalem in the 12th Century, I do know. I spent 40 years working on it and what these people say — did not happen," says Jonathan Riley-Smith, the former professor of ecclesiastical history at Cambridge University and a leading authority on the Crusades.

French researchers have also questioned the authenticity of these secret files ever since they were deposited in the Bibliotheque Nationale in the 1960's. Their attention came to focus on a man named Pierre Plantard, who claimed to be the current Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. But evidence at the police headquarters in Paris tells a different story. Historian Claude Charlot, who is director of police archives, says there’s a file on Plantard, who died in 2000, showing that during World War II he was investigated by the secret services. So what was their conclusion?

"The investigation said, 'He is a young man whose mind — as we say in French — is cloudy. He is a fantasist; he is not a serious person,'" Charlot said, with the help of a translator.

One of Plantard's fantasies was to set up right-wing, anti-Semitic organizations, similar in style to medieval orders of chivalry. But in reality these organizations existed only on paper.

"I noticed that in one of the police reports it was noted that his organization 'French National Renewal' was described as a ‘phantom group.' That he claimed it had 3,000 members and the police found it had only four," Bradley remarked.

Charlot says it was a pure invention.