Here at Rhedesium
we have created a site with passion and deep respect for Rennes-le-Château and its environmental, archaeological and historical past. Our team of historians & researchers work tirelessly to uncover, document, and publish information about the events and figures that have shaped this famous Affair! And although it is not a professional site [in an academic sense] it is nevertheless an informed amateur site and is the result of the personal studies of various researchers [in the UK and abroad] conducted at various levels.
Rhedesium hopes to stimulate interest and bring to light new scholarship as well as dispel misinterpretations and misunderstandings around the Rennes Affair. We believe in open information and accept submissions from academics and non-academics alike. It is designed as a forum to share new scholarship relating to Rennes-le-Château - its history, mythology and folklore (ancient, medieval and modern).
If there is one recent book we would recommend that captures the magic of this type of research and, indeed, our approach to finding new discoveries we cannot recommend highly enough the book by
Simon Miles called
The Map and the Manuscript. Simon's research necessitates a whole paradigm shift in current thinking - and we at Rhedesium think this shift [which will eventually be required by all Rennes researchers] just hasn't been recognised yet!
The site keeps abreast of French research offering translations of texts to open further avenues of investigation to English speaking researchers. Rhedesium hopes to be a go-to source for anyone looking to get to the truth of the complex world of the Affair of the Two Rennes [as we like to also refer to it]. It represents a blend of
scholarly research and
speculative exploration. We favour this double-pronged approach because a dry list of timelines does not always illuminate the truth of events. Why? As one blog writer asserted;
"
Take someone like the Iceman found in Europe. His frozen remains date to 3000 BC, but in academic spheres you're not allowed to suggest that the Iceman was a world traveller & that he could have gone to Asia and back, or that he could have been a wealthy and renowned man, a shaman or Mystic or a Healer. He could have been on a mission for something, or making new discoveries or he could have been a king. The point I am making is that there's no room for imagination and history - if it wasn't directly presented to us then we cannot 'see' this aspect of the Iceman when he is presented as just a body in ice. Perhaps only fiction writers should teach history. If you want to tell the truth you write Fiction - it's the difference between saying Alfred the Great wanted to unify England to spread Christianity and make written accounts of everything - which historians report dryly, versus Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction "The Last kingdom" in which Alfred the Great's dream to unify England, to spread what he believed to be the True Religion, lead poor Farmers out of the dark of ignorance into the elucidation of writing and religion all because as a child he was taken to see the Pope and to study in Rome inspiring what would be his life's work. This is what forged the course of history. It seems to me that the moment you even entertain an alternate idea you are forever associated with that idea and blacklisted. BUT it is okay to be curious and ask questions.....”
And in fact to illustrate the point above some universities actually advise prospective students to read Bernard Cornwall to get an idea of history when considering applying to study for a History degree! How ironic is that?
The same blog writer continued;
'...
we are taught history in a very minimalistic way [&] very reductionary......perhaps history should be taught more like a detective crime scene with whiteboard and string, notes, pictures and artifacts connected in a giant spiderweb. Otherwise theories, evidence, documents, forensics and other archaeological remains and ideas [littering]
most of human history, which hasn't been written, won't be and are not explored. It's rather misleading to teach history in the context of "all we can safely say through the written word" rather than using all avenues possible to record history........”
This seems an excellent approach so we will often cross between historical fact and speculative fiction blending archaeological evidence, local folklore, religious history and oral testimony as well as facts and a little bit of imagination to build a picture of the life and times of Saunière.
For more about the personal Rhedesium story - you can read
HERE.This site also publishes a magazine on an ad hoc basis and aims for once or twice a year - if you would like to purchase a copy visit our
STORE.
You can click on the link below to be taken to a wide array of articles.
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