|
Historian [[Richard Barber]] wrote:
{{cquote|The Templar-Grail myth…myth{{nbsp}}[.. is at the heart of the most notorious of all the Grail pseudo-histories, ''The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'', which is a classic example of the conspiracy theory of history… history{{nbsp}}[...] It is essentially a text which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate… debate{{nbsp}}[...] Essentially, the whole argument is an ingeniously constructed series of suppositions combined with forced readings of such tangible facts as are offered.<ref name=Barber>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Barber |title=The Holy Grail, The History of a Legend |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd |year=2005 |isbn=9780140267655}}</ref>}}
In 2005, [[Tony Robinson]] narrated ''The Real Da Vinci Code'', shown on [[Channel 4]], a critical evaluation of the main arguments of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln (and subsequently Dan Brown). The programme included lengthy interviews with many of the protagonists. Arnaud de Sède, son of [[Gérard de Sède]], stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of a 1,000-year-old [[Priory of Sion]], and described the story as "piffle."<ref>{{cite AV media |title=The Real Da Vinci Code |publisher=Channel Four Television |people=[[Tony Robinson]] (presenter) |date=3 February 2005}}</ref> The programme concluded that, in the opinion of the presenter and researchers, the claims of ''Holy Blood'' were based on little more than a series of guesses.
Despite the "Priory of Sion mysteries" having been exhaustively [[debunker|debunked]] by journalists and scholars as France's greatest 20th-century [[literary hoax]];,<ref name="Putnam & Wood 2003">{{Cite book|author=Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood | title=The Treasure of Rennes-le-Château. A Mystery Solved | publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=2003|isbn=0750930810}}</ref><ref name="Bradley 2006">{{Cite journal| last = Bradley | first = Ed | author-link = Ed Bradley | title = The Priory Of Sion: Is The "Secret Organization" Fact Or Fiction? | year = 2006 | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-priory-of-sion/ | access-date=16 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Katsoulis 2009">{{Cite book|author=Melissa Kasoutlis | title=Literary Hoaxes: An Eye-Opening History of Famous Frauds | publisher=Skyhorse |year=2009|isbn=978-1602397941}}</ref> some commentators express concern that the proliferation and popularity of [[pseudohistory|pseudohistorical]] books, websites and films inspired by the Priory of Sion hoax contribute to the problem of unfounded [[List of conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories]] becoming mainstream;<ref name="Thompson 2008">[[Damian Thompson]], "[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575347/How-Da-Vinci-Code-tapped-pseudo-fact-hunger.html How Da Vinci Code tapped pseudo-fact hunger]", ''Daily Telegraph''. 13 January 2008. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.</ref> while others are troubled by how these works romanticize the [[reactionary]] ideologies of the [[far-right politics|far right]].<ref name="Klinghoffer 2006">David Klinghoffer, "The Da Vinci Protocols: Jews should worry about Dan Brown’sBrown's success" {{Cite web |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDY0YmNhMjc5YThmZWIxY2VjNmM3MWE0YjU1MDFhYTg= |title=The da Vinci Protocols by David Klinghoffer on National Review Online |access-date=28 March 2008 |archive-date=7 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907001650/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDY0YmNhMjc5YThmZWIxY2VjNmM3MWE0YjU1MDFhYTg= |url-status=dead }}, ''National Review Online'', 2006. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.</ref>
Quoting [[Robert McCrum]], literary editor of ''The Observer'' newspaper, about ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'':
{{cquote|There is something called historical evidence – there is something called the [[historical method]] – and if you look around the shelves of bookshops there is a lot of history being published, and people mistake this type of history for the real thing. These kinds of books do appeal to an enormous audience who believe them to be 'history', but actually they aren't history, they are a kind of parody of history. Alas, though, I think that one has to say that this is the direction that history is going today…today...<ref>{{cite AV media |title=The History of a Mystery |series=[[Timewatch]] |publisher=[[BBC Two]] |date=17 September 1996}}</ref>}}
==See also==
|