Bérenger Saunière

This is the mystery of how a corrupt priest would, through multiple bizarre twists of history, inspire the media franchise that is the Da Vinci Code.

The priest was François Bérenger Saunière, born on April 11, 1852, in Montazelles, a small village in the Haute Department of Southern France.

He was the eldest of seven children, the son of a man who managed the local flour mill and served for a time as mayor.

It was a respectable family, but not a wealthy one, and the priesthood offered a solid path for a bright eldest son.

And then the book goes up to the Rennes-le-Château, this extraordinary mountain top village in Languedoc in the south of France.

where a young priest, Saunière, on a very low salary, suddenly came in for a lot of money so that he was able to rebuild the church and build extensively elsewhere in the village.

How did he get his money? People have asked.

And was it because he discovered treasure? Was he onto a secret? The book says that he was onto this particular secret.

This is the mystery of how a corrupt priest would, through multiple bizarre twists of history, inspire the media franchise that is the Da Vinci Code.

The priest was François Bérenger Saunière, born on April 11, 1852, in Montazelles, a small village in the Haute Department of Southern France.

He was the eldest of seven children, the son of a man who managed the local flour mill and served for a time as mayor.

It was a respectable family, but not a wealthy one, and the priesthood offered a solid path for a bright eldest son.