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The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail cover art

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

By: Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln
Narrated by: Simon Prebble
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Summary

A nineteenth century French priest discovers something in his mountain village at the foot of the Pyrenees which enable him to amass and spend a fortune of millions of pounds. The tale seems to begin with buried treasure and then turns into an unprecedented historical detective story, a modern Grail quest leading back through cryptically coded parchments, secret societies, the Knights Templar, the Cathar heretics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and a dynasty of obscure French kings deposed more than 1,300 years ago. The authors' conclusions are persuasive. At the core is not material riches but a secret, a secret of explosive and controversial proportions, which radiates out from the little Pyrenees village to all the way to contemporary politics and the entire edifice of the Christian faith. It involves nothing less than the Holy Grail.
©1983 Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln (P)2006 Penguin Audio
  • Abridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Enough to seriously challenge many traditional Christian beliefs, if not alter them." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

"Like Chariots of the Gods?...the plot has all the elements of an international thriller." (Newsweek)

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What listeners say about The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A well researched book.

I listened to this book having had a basic understanding of most of the groups and theories involved, The Knights Templar, The Bible, The Priory of Scion etc, and I think this is well explained and well researched description of the connections that could be made between them. However I did feel they presented certain theories as fact without giving sufficient explanation and leaned heavily on assumptions, creating some very tenuous links. I think if you listen to this with a balanced and perhaps slightly skeptical ear you will find it very entertaining.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining Nonsense

The premise behind this tale is that Mary Magdalen bore Jesus a child, the descendents of which joined the ancient Merovingian families of France and survive to the present day.

The evidence given for this is based on parchments allegedly discovered by Berenger Sauniere in Rennes Le Chateau in the 19th Century combined with documents released by an organisation called the Priory or Sion through the 1950s and 1960s.

There are a lot of holes in the evidence and an astonishing number of assumptions made. Also I ask whether the members of the so called Priory of Sion in its modern form have some sort of motive in perpetrating a hoax that took in the authors.

Nevertheless, this is an entertaining and well narrated audiobook based around an intriguing but ultimately unproven hypothesis.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

True or Not

Basically lets look at what we are saying is true or not true here. What you read or listen to in the pages of this or the after the event, concocted for the good of the church load of rubbish that is written in the bible.
The thing for me is that some place all their faith in a book we know was put together giving a slant in favour of the church in the 5th centuary.
My thoughts expressed here may lead some to think I am not a spiritual person but I believe Jesus survived the cruxifiction and lived on for many years.
Try looking at him as a mortal, you may get closer to him that way

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Twisting the thought process

Enjoyed the audio of this book immensely although factual dates did distract sometimes from what was being said. Having said that it was a great listen and recommend it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good research, interesting topics, dragged on a bit

Although everyone will believe what they want, the book has put some good research together and some different twists to suggest that Priory de Sion hold some explosive information. However, if it was that explosive why hasn't it been revealed. I enjoyed the book, but was lost from time to time on where it was going.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Dissapointment

I had been looking forward to listening to this book for some time and was completely dissapointed. After all the hype about the contents of the book being or not being stolen and transformed into the Da Vinci code I could not believe how boring it was. It was a book I placed into the archive and it will not be coming out again.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

interesting but a hard read

interesting but a hard read. lots of names and dates to remember mostly French.
despite that is tantalizingly mysterious. hypothesis is very plausible. The authors have clearly researched thoroughly. brush up on your French geneology though.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

interesting reading

I really enjoyed the book and found it engaging to listen to.

I would recommend this if you are interested in an alternative way of thinking about history.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A very thought provoking listen

Fantastic book with lots of facts, hard at times due to jumping from one year to another but overall a brilliant book. Thought provoking and challenging the way I view past events that have impacted the present day.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a great historical subject

this is one of the great theories and is also plausible .I've read it 3 times and listened 4 and i glean a bit more information every time

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1 person found this helpful