Arsène Lupin is one of the most popular fictional heroes in France. Gentleman thief, ironic, audicious and always with a certain viruosity. His victimes treated with a rare elegance.

His creator, the famous French writer Maurice Leblanc was born in Rouen in November 1864. In February 1905, Leblanc publishes his first story about Arsène Lupin in ‘Je Sais Tous’ Magazine as a French answer to Sherlock Holmes. Fuelled by his success, Leblanc would pen Arsène Lupin stories well into the 1930s, producing a total of 21 works.

There are many references to the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château in his works. Arsène was the second name of Monseigneur Billard, who is buried besides a statue of St. Lupin in the Cathedral of Carcassonne. One of Billard’s predecessors, the eminent Monseigneur de Bonnechose who venerated St. Hermes and St. Lupin, baptized little Maurice. Patrick Ferté has summed up all relations between the books of Leblanc and the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château in his book Arsène Lupin, Supérieur Inconnu.

Three works appear to involve the mystery in particular: 813, the Countess of Cagliostro and the Golden Triangle.

To name one example, in one story, Leblanc writes about a priest called Gélis who has decoded two sentences and now holds the key to the secret of a castle. Within the same paragraph there’s speak of a Battle of Arques (a village very close to Coustaussa, where Gélis was brutally murdered). To break the code, Leblanc says, Gélis has searched through many archives and biographies. This is all the more amazing when you realize that this was written in 1906. Saunière was still alive and the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château didn’t exist yet. Even though it was a horrendous crime, the assasination of Abbé Gélis was a tiny story on a national scale.

Maurice Leblanc died on 6th November 1941 in Perpignan.

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François-Marius Granet (1777-1849)

This French painter was well-known for his works in which he played with light in a magnificent way. Everything in his works is sacrificed to the tone. During his life he worked various periods in Rome and Paris.

In 1819, Granet was decorated by the French King Louis-Philippe as a Knight in the Order of Saint Michel. At the same time he was nominated conservator of the Versailles art collection.

Granet developed a deep interest into the history of Knight’s Templar. He painted a number of scenes about the great moments in the history of the order. In 1834 he painted what is thought to be one of his principal works: The Death of Poussin.

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Emma Calvé (Rosa-Emma Calvet) 1858-1942 was one of the most famous opera singers of her day. She was deeply attracted to, and a leading participant in, the thriving esoteric scene in Paris, taking as a lover one of the most renowned occultists of the time, Jules Bois.

In 1894 Emma bought a château at Cabrières in the Aveyron region. This was said to be the place where the book of Abraham the Jew, used by the great medieval alchemist Nicolas Flamel, was hidden. A book written in 1655 by Pierre Borel makes this connection: Now the book by which Flamel said he came to achieve the Great Work is that of Abraham the Jew. Many have worked to recover it… but these searches have been useless. I have nevertheless been assured by a gentleman of Rouergue called M. de Cabrières, tenant of his château of Cabrières near Millau, where I went specially to see this Monsieur, that he had the original of this book, which M. le Cardinal de Richelieu recovered a short time before his death. Allegedly, Saunière met this internationally acclaimed opera-star on one of his trips to Paris.

Emma was often to be found at St. Sulpice, mystic heart of the French capital at the time. It is there that Gérard de Sède claimed they first met in his book The Accursed Treasure of Rennes-le-Château. It is said Calvé and the Abbé had a passionate affair. It is a fact that villagers of Rennes-le-Château have testified hearing a strong and melodic opera voice singing during some of Saunière’s lavish parties in the Villa Bethania. There’s, no tangible proof however that Calvé ever set foot in Rennes-le-Château.

Recording of Emma Calvé from 1907

Emma Calvé was member of a Martinist order as demonstrated by her signature on this document made in Paris on November 11th, 1892, at the cabaret “Chat Noir”. It shows her signature and “SI” or “Supérieur Inconnu”, the third degree of the Martinist Order. It is said Saunière was member of a Martinist lodge in Lyon. Calvé’s tomb in Milau shows some esoteric imagery like an iron bee. Emma Calvé is said to have been related to Melanie Calvet, the farmer girl who saw the Virgin Mary at La Salette.

The alleged relation between Calvé and Saunière was brought back into the spotlight when Patrice Chaplin published her book City of Secrets, in which she claims they knew eachother very well. Thanks to Mark Naples for the Cabrières story. ,©2007-2009 rlcresearch.com, all rights reserved

Jules Verne (1828-1905)

In his books, the world famous writer of 20.000 leagues under the sea, appears to make references to Rennes-le-Château, it’s mystery and the general area around the village, specifcally Mount Bugarach.

Clovis Dardentor for example has ‘Clovis’ in its title, the first Merovingian King. It is a treasure hunt story. A key figure in the novel is a certain Captain Bugarach who talks about the ruins of his castle in Vialasse. Apparently they have the shape of a ship with three bridges. The ruins of the Château de Vialasse, near Rennes-le-Château that really exist, point towards mount Bugarach. At some stage, in the book a castle features with the name of ‘Blanca’ (Blanchefort?). Another prominent place in the book is a place called ‘Bains des Reine’, the old name for Rennes-les-Bains. Verne specifies that the water of the spring there is salty and smells like sulphur, something visitors of Rennes-les-Bains will recognize.

In Les mirifiques aventures de Maitre Antifer, the hero of the story searches for a legendary treasure but he is unable to locate it. There are references to Asmodeus, the devil displayed in the Eglise Madeleine and to the iron mines around Mount Bugarach.

Verne’s book Magellania is perhaps connected to the journeys and disappearance of Johann Salvator of Habsburg, who visited Saunière just before he left on his last known voyage.

A very informative book about Jules Verne, his references to the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château was written by Michel Lamy (in French): Jules Verne, Initié and Initiateur.

Jules Verne was buried in the Cemetery de Madeleine in Amiens.

The tomb of the author, which is considered to be a masonic piece of art, echoes the atmosphere of his works. It displays one of his heroes or perhaps Verne himself escaping from the grave and reaching his hand for the sky. The monument is situated in a corner of the cemetery, exactly on top of the Roseline or Paris Meridian, the old zero-meridian of the world that passes through St. Sulpice and the site of the Poussin Tomb at Les Pontils, close to (again) the village of Rennes-le-Château.

As a special service of RLC Research, you can download full versions of two of the relevant books discussed here:

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Nicolas Poussin,  (1594-1665)

Allegedly, Poussin’s motto was ‘tenet confidentiam’ or ‘keeper of secrets’., What did Poussin know and did he leave any clues in his work?

Young Nicolas Poussin ran away from home when he was eighteen to find refuge in Paris in the Ateliers of Flemish masters Ferdinand Elle and Georges Lallemand. In 1624 he arrived in Rome, the city he had always wanted to work in because of his love for the Italian masters. By that time he had an impressive command of the Latin language and classical literature which didn’t go unnoticed. Cardinal Francesco Barberini became his patron and master. He worked on one of the chapels St. Peter’s Basilica and painted various other works across Rome. Among his later patrons were splendid names like French Cardinal Richelieu and Cassiano dal Pozzo for whom he produced his magnificent first series of the Seven Sacraments.

Both, Series of, Seven Sacraments by Nicolas Poussin

In 1656 while living in Rome, Poussin received a visit from the Abbé Louis Fouquet, the brother of Nicolas Fouquet, superintendent of finances to King Louis XIV of France. From here the Abbé sent a letter to his brother describing his meeting with Poussin. In this letter he makes the following statement:

‘He and I discussed certain things, which I shall with ease be able to explan to you in detail – things that will give you, through Monsieur Poussin, advantages which even kings would have great pains to draw from him, and which, according to him, it is possible that nobody else will ever be able to rediscover in the centuries to come. And, what is more, these are things so difficult to discover that nothing now on this earth can prove of better fortune nor be their equal.’

The letter was first published by Anatole de Montaiglon in his book Archives de l’Art français (2ème série, tome II, 1862).

Nicolas Poussin died in 1665 in Rome where he was buried in the Basilica San Lorenzo in Lucina. Châteaubriand, French Ambassador in Rome, raised a monument to Poussin above the artist’s mausoleum in 1820. It carries a dedication and a bas-relief displaying his most famous painting The Shepherds of Arcadia., At the bottom, there’s an inscription that perhaps answers the question, whether Poussin preserved esoteric clues in his work. It states:

‘PARCE PIIS LACRIMIS VIVIT PUSSINUS IN URNA VIVERE QUI DEDERAT NESCIUS IPSE MORI HIC TAMEN IPSE SILET SI VIS AUDIRE LOQUENTEM MIRUM EST TABULIS VIVIT ET ELOQUITUR’.

This curious expression speaks about how Poussin has given his life without really dying. He is silent now but if you’re prepared to listen you can hear him speaking through his paintings.

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