«Les choses pour lesquelles nous ne cherchons pas d'explication, parce qu'elles

  nous paraissent évidentes, sont presque toujours les plus riches et mystérieuses.».

Fra. Robert Adelsohn Bels

«The things for which we do not seek explanation, because they seem obvious to us,

 are almost always the richest and most mysterious. ».

I made a new discovery while I was planning my next holidays in the south of France. When looking closely to the map of the Cathars region and the mysterious area around Rennes-le-Château, I spotted some 30 km west of it, a place called “les Baillessats”.

This toponym is made of two words “Bailles” and “Sats”.

What the word “Sats” means is for me unknown. I asked members of our Dynasty, Nadine and Alain Bels, living in southern France, in St. Lieux Lafenasse, for the meaning of this word in the French dialect of this region. They answered me:

“Tout d'abord pour l'explication du mot "Sats" qui veux dire: 

"je crois, je sais, j'en suis sûr".

Ce mot vient du verbe “Savoir”. Je ne sais pas si cela va vous aider”.

-------------------

“First of all, for the explanation of the word “Sats” that means: "I believe, I know, I am sure of”.

This word comes from the verb "to Know". I don't know if it is going to help you”.

However, I know all too well what the word “Bailles” means. The patronymics Bels - Belles - Bailles - Beyls and other such as Bellis - Belis - Baillies - Baylies - Bailys are orthographically written differently but are phonetically identical. They are homonyms! Remember that this particularity was the main reason behind the written variations of the patronymic in Flanders, England and Scotland before the XXth century. In this case, this toponym may indicate a place where particular people or important people worthy of being mentioned, called “Bailles”, once settled.

Is this not another coincidence on the already impressive long list?

Another curiosity of the toponym is the presence of the article “Les” (the) that indicates the plural form of the word. We know that in southern France the words “Baile-Baille” were used in the Middle Ages to indicate, I quote: “un agent royal, similaire au bailli” or “a royal agent, similar to the bailiff (magistrate, judge)”. The toponym may therefore also mean: “The Royal Agents”.

In this case, the toponym may indicate a place where Royal agents had their seat. This “seat”, I will try find out of what kind it was, by going on the spot in a few months. I visited the Castle of “La Peyrepertuse” last year, ignoring all about this “Les Baillessats” location I could have seen from the top of the fortress. Some 6 km as the crow flies from the far end tower (top right).

If "Les Baillesats" means the "Baile-Baille" (Royal agents), then what were these officials doing in one of the most remote, isolated and geographically cut off places from the rest of France?

This hamlet is only accessible via Cubières-sur-Cinobles, itself a small village located in the northern part of the Galamus Gorges. Said Gorges, with dizzying cliffs over 300 m high, were the work of the small Agly river. The very narrow road linking Cubières-sur-Cinobles to Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet (southern part of the Gorges), cut into the side of cliffs and, in places, pierced into the rock, was only completed in 1892, after two years of spectacular work, for only 2 km long. Wanting to link the “Les Baillesats” to these royal agents, makes no sense at all.

Another coincidence is already waiting for us.

We know that the Bels from Flanders had a title linked to the word “Lormier or L’Ormier”. We know also that the Bels from the South of France may have had something to do with a title linked to the “Lolmier”. So, we might expect that this Bailles (Bels) from “les Baillessats” may also have something to do with a “Lormier, L’Ormier or Lolmier”.

And incredibly, as it sounds, it is precisely the case…

At the centre of the map, we notice the “Forêt de l’Orme” or “Forest of the Orme” and the locality on the edge of it is called “Les Baillessats” !

We now have for the third time the case “Bels-Lormier”. And linked to them, we have two times the mention “Baron”. This title is apparently missing on the third case but looking more closely to it, we discover that the Royal agents, in the Middle Ages, were called “Baron”. Therefore, originally, the title Baron was given to all big Lords of a Kingdom.

Like those of Duke, Marquis, or Count, the titles of Viscount or Vidame originate in a land jurisdiction. On the contrary, the title of baron comes from a quality, that of the High Lord. At the beginning of feudalism, it is a generic term designating the big vassals and the high nobility.

Another approach makes it also very likely that this “Les Baillessats” are linked to the Bailles patronymic and not simply to the “Royal agents”.

We know that some Lords and Knights Bels descended to the South of France:

• at the time of the crusade against the Cathars (1209-1229).
• at the time of the Count of Barcelona Wilfredo (Guifred) “el Velloso” wedding with Winidilde van Vlaanderen, daughter of a Count of Flanders (ca. 879).
• at the time of the “Reconquista” (ca. 750), the Carolingians military campaigns against the Arabs in South of France and Spain,
• at the timewhen Flemish knights went down to Rennes-le-Château as close protection for a daughter and the son of Dagobert II, Sigisbert IV (681).
• at the time when Flemish knights secretly close-protected and escorted Dagobert II to Rennes-le-Chateau after his return from captivity in England (ca. 675).

There is even some more to it! Our Knights may very well have been in contact with the South of France as soon as the early VIIt^h century. We know that our Lineage was very close to the early Counts of Flanders. We know also that the ancestor of these Counts was Lydéric I van Buc and that he married Richilda, a Merovingian princess and sister of Dagobert I.

Historical documents report that Lydéric I van Buc was fs of Mérovée de Dijon, Prince Saluart of Dijon (607-630) and Eringarde (Ermengaert) of Roussillon (*unknown), daughter of Girard (Gerard) of Rouessilon. Now, the Roussillon region is precisely located in the deepest part of the Southwest of France. Rennes-le-Château was less than 50 km away from the Roussillon´s northern border.

In the year 1014, a Knight Bels had an administrative function in Spain, close to the Pyrenean Mountains. Was he living there? What about his other family members? Were they living with him, in Spain or in nowadays France? This question is irrelevant because, in those times, the whole region, from the Pyrenees up to Narbonne and even further up north, did not belong to France but to the Counts of Barcelona. So were all the Bels (and variants) Families, living north or south of the Pyrenean Mountain Range, living in one country, Spain, better said in Catalonia!

Nonetheless, to function properly at the Count’s Court, the Bels Knight could not live across the mountain range. The trip from home to work and back is quite unrealistic. But his other family members and even other branches of the Lineage, could very well have settled in Baillessats as they did in Villardebelle, Belcastel-et-Buc, Les Bels, Les Bayles, Bales, Montbel, Les Baihards, Ambels, etc.

I quote Pierre Riché:

“…In the southern part of the Empire (of Charlemagne), land reconquered from the Moslems was put into cultivation by the monks of Roussillon and the Aude valley and by the “Hispani”, Gothic refugees who were accorded important privileges by the Carolingian Kings (right of [aprisio])...”.

In his capitulary “Pro Hispanis” King Charles le Chauve (the Bald), promised that the one who cleared land would become its owner:

“…It is our further desire to reward those who have rescued the desert lands from aridity and delivered them to cultivation, in whatever country they may be, by granting them all that they have cleared within their “aprisions”; that they may keep it and possess it freely on condition that they always perform the royal services due in the country of their residence. They are perfectly free to sell their aprisions, to exchange them, give them away, or leave them to their heirs, if they have no sons or nephews; their other relatives will succeed as heirs according to their own law… They are authorised to conserve and possess the goods in peace, tranquillity, according to ancient customs, to pasture animals upon them, cut the wood, bring in the water necessary as the need arises, according to ancient customs and without anyone’s opposition…”.

Did the Knights Bels (Bayle, Baille, and Belle) in southern France and in northern Spain, come in the possession of their lands that way? If yes, then we just hit a serious stumbling stone on our speculation path! Because it simply contradicted the Carolingian society foundations! We know, it was only three-party based: Those who fought, those who prayed and those who laboured. These three groups were absolutely separated from each other.

At the turn of the 19th century, decades before the great unprecedented population movements of the 20th century, the only places in France where we find the Bels and Bayles, are exactly located in the regions where we found them in historical documents. They most probably settled in these southern regions:

1. At the time some Flemish knights escorted the Merovingian King Dagobert II on his return from England (see page 252) to Rennes-le-Château.
2. At the time of his assassination, when Flemish knights escorted his daughter and son, to their escape from the Ardennes to Rennes-le-Château.
3. And certainly, centuries later, as members of Charlemagne's troops when they were on their way to Spain invaded by the Muslims.

The maps show the births in France of people with the Bels and Bayles surnames. Since the early Middle Ages, these families have remained concentrated in the foothills of the Pyrenees. We have now the proof that Bels and Bayles were present in the region for more than 1400 years.

These maps show also the location of the Bels (left) and Bayles (right) according to the official French birth census for the years between 1891 and 1990. They are the best proof of the existence of these interfamilial links, outside Flanders, we also encountered in Germnany, Northern England and Scotland, and confirm that, the names of the places where they settled, originated either from their names and/or from Flanders.

As far as we go back in time and as we have seen, all along this Essay, our ancestors were sort of counsellors or “Right Hands” to several rulers across Europe. Most of them were reported as High Barons (baronobis), Barons, Marquis, Lords, Magistrates, Knights, Crusaders, etc. All functions that made them, definitively, belong to the group of the “intellectuals” rather than to those who fought, prayed, or ploughed.

This established fact eliminates the hypothesis that the Bels (Belle) gained the places where they settled down, by their own manual work.

Later in history, as we see very strongly in Flanders and in Italy, some nobles began to do business. In the process, they became big merchants that soon became very rich and powerful. So became, the society foundations in the Middle Ages, a new social group called the “Patricians families”. The Bels and, more specially the Belle, from Flanders (Ypres, Bruges, etc.) were considered, for centuries, as very powerful “Patricians”. They most probably did not “work” themselves in the textile world but had people working for them.

Their financial power sometimes outranked by far the one of most nobles. They very rapidly modified the social physiognomy of the Middle Ages. As we have seen earlier, our lineage received from the Marguerite II Countess of Flanders, the hereditary title of “Marshall of Flanders”.

This was in recognition of the substantial military and financial aid it had received from us. The substantial amount of money received came from several sources, but the main one was from the textile and drapery trade, which brought Flanders international recognition. So, in addition to our knightly and baronial status, we also belonged to one of Flanders' greatest patrician families.

Historical records write about this wealth and power:

“…The Belle Lineage, with its “astonishing wealth and power”, played here a crucial role, if not the most important of all. They helped via finances and diplomatic relations, to stabilise the situation of the County of Flanders and to insure its power for the future…”.   And …

“…Marguerite II of Flanders (Marguerite of Constantinople), youngest fa. of Baudouin IX, Latin Emperor of Constantinople and Emperor of Romania (1204-1205) (x Marie de Champagne) fa. Henri Ier, Count of Champagne, named Boudewijn van Belle (Balduinus IV), hereditary Marshall of Flanders for: «… Zij zijn het die Vlanderen gered hebben…» or «…It is them who saved Flanders…».

Therefore, do reality and logic contradicted the acquisition of lands, by some Members of the Bels, Bayle, Baille, Belle lineages, by reclaiming them for cultivation, unless they had it done by somebody else! However, this last possibility is in total contradiction with the capitulary “Pro Hispanis” from King Charles le Chauve, we saw previously and whose spirit was: “that the one who does the work be granted the lands” but not their daydreaming partners!

That the Bels/Belle, being definitively not peasants, did not get their lands by clearing woods nor rendering them cultivable, is evident. How did they come in their possession then? Were they given these lands for military, diplomatic, consultative, and advisory services (Auxilium et Concilium), rendered at the courts of Merovingian and Carolingian rulers?

This seems, for me, to stick quite more to the reality than seeing our Knights, Barons, and crusaders, clearing woods! This seems also to be much more consistent to the history of our Dynasty.

Did we not get our lands and estates, in Flanders, for services rendered to the Counts of Flanders, in Normandy, for services rendered to the Dukes of Normandy, in north England for services rendered to William the Conquerors and his heirs, and so on?

These facts permit us to extrapolate and to apply, quite logically, these “Liberalities” also to the South of France and to north of Spain that, in those remote times, belonged to the Counts of Barcelona.

Before leaving Flanders, I would like to quote an interesting passage out of a Charta dated 1414. In this document is written that Jehan, Count of Flanders and duc of Burgundy had very serious money problems due to the incessant wars with France.

To make a long text short, the Count asked for help and, once again, members of our Dynasty came to help.

Messire Jehan de Balliol agreed to buy the estate of Oudenem that belonged to the Count´s family.

It is recorded in the Charta that Jehan paid cash for the estate of Oudenem and its dependences Nipkerke, Steenwerke and Castre. The Seignior Jehan de Balliol had High, Middle and Low justice and the trade was done for perpetuity. Source: Francis Bayley. The Bailleuls of Flanders. Appendix Nr. XXII. Page 190.

The Bels had a castle in or near Albi and they had a castle in Ambels, near Ambialet. With the locality of “Les Baillessats”, we find them again in the middle of the Cathars world. The ruin of the castle of Peyrepertuse, to mention only one of the major Cathars strongholds, is located only 15 km away from “Les Baillessats”.

Did the Bels have a small castle built in “Les Baillessats”? I do not know, and I do not think so. The area is much too isolated. Belcastel & Buc is also isolated, but the city of Limoux is only 14 km away and very accessible. Until now, I could not find the slightest evidence of any constructions, but to tell the truth, I spent only half a day on the site! An aerial survey with modern drones would be necessary to detect ancient archaeological remnants.

All I found in this deserted place was a stone engraved with a date: 1465. The stone was deliberately hidden by another, rather large, stone embedded in the bottom of the wall of an old house, keeping it hidden from view. I would never have discovered it, had not one of the 12 inhabitants spontaneously and generously guided me to the cache. He pointed it out to me, after I had explained the purpose of my presence in his hamlet. The inhabitants, of German origin, settled there for one reason or another, and I don't know how they were informed of the presence of such a cache.

In the year 1465, nothing special happened in the region, in France and even Europe that would have been worth to mention it in the Chronicles of the Time. As in 1465, Baillessats was inhabited, something must have happened either in this very isolated locality, or with the few families that were living there. Something these people considered worth to engrave, in a stone, the year of the event.

Or was it just the work of a lazy man, of the village idiot or of an illuminated moron that really had nothing else to do as to engrave the numbers of a year in a stone, in a hidden place, so that nobody could see it ?

Moreover, why engrave a date in stone to pass a message to future generations, and then go hide it for centuries to come? This makes absolutely no sense unless there is something secret about it that we must discover, as in the case of the church of St. Mary Magdalene, in Rennes-le-Château and the small church of St. Michael, in Périllos!

The hamlet of Baillessats lies at a small dead-end road, some 3,5 km way from another small village called Cubières-sur-Cinoble (105 inhabitants) to whom it belongs. This village happened to have been the living place of the Bélibaste family and the birthplace of the shepherd and last Cathar Parfait, named Guillaume (William) Bélibaste, or in occitan: Guilhèm Belibasta (1280-1321). The coordinates of the hamlet are: 42.880066, 2.452442

A "Parfait" is one who has received the "Consolamentum", the equivalent of ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. This ritual was also practiced by the Parfaits on the faithful at the point of death but conscious. It replaced the Catholic sacraments.

In the municipal archives of Narbonne, there is the “Rocques inventory” that mentions : " a fief of two earthworks [al pla Babilase] or (Babilast) on the soil of Cubières at the rate of six deniers per annum. mesterées ". The lord of Cubières, the archbishop of Narbonne, made this concession in the middle of the XVIth century to a certain Jean Chambert.

The historian Pierre Bascou (+2018) was rather leaning towards another version. He advanced the hypothesis that Bélibaste may have been born in Baillessats. Some arguments support his working hypothesis:

“…The “balibast plan” confronts quite often the herms of the lord. This invites us to situate it, the [al pla Babilase] at the limits of the lordship of Cubières. On the other hand, it seems, on reading the document, that near the "balibast plan", the inhabitants of Fourtou hold land for which they are indebted of the tax to the archbishop. This would allow us to locate this place, said north of the town… ”.

Baillessats is indeed situated north of Cubières-sur-Cinoble and, as said earlier, is a hamlet belonging to this village! Fourtou is a small village counting 70 inhabitants (source INSE 2015), situated only 10 km north of Baillessats, as the bird flies. By a sinuous mountain road, it takes from Baillessats to Fourtou, some 30 minutes’ drive to bypass the summit of a mountain of low height (931 m above sea level) called “Le Pech de la Paille”.

Mr. Bascou added:

“…More recently by stripping the “Levoir des reconnaissances du lieu de Cubières faites en l'année 1619 - CE 11 : 4E112/1G1 » - this is a notebook used for the recovery of the seigniorial tax, I met several times the toponym "al Balibast plan”. There is even a sheepfold known as the "jasse de plan Balibast". There is no doubt that this toponym refers to the family of the perfect Cathar William Bélibaste, trying to situate it, I then made the connection with the name "Baillessats…".

If Bélibaste and his family were living in Baillessats, as were some members of our family, what kind of relations did we have with them? Do the words Bailles-sats, Béli-bates, Bel-castel and Am-bels not hide, in their individualities, the same root telling us about their long-ago common origin: Bels and Bailles themselves issued from Belle (Balliol in Latin)?

We know that in small villages, people have strong bonds. These bonds are even stronger in hamlets. What to say about the bounds that united them, bounds created by the sharing of their daily lives, living in autarky for several generations, in such an isolated place and of extremely difficult access due to the rough configuration of the terrain that surrounds it? What did our family come to know, “Sats”, due to this unique situation, that others did not know?

William Bélibaste was denounced to the Roman Catholic Church’s Inquisition, after Chrismast of 1320. In the spring of 1321, he was persuaded by his acquaintances, the shepherd Peter Maurini and Arnald Cicredi (Arnaut / Arnaud Sicre), who came from Cathar circles in Occitania, to travel to the county of Foix, where a lucrative marriage between Arnald's sister and a son of Wilhelmine Maurini could allegedly take place.

It was a trap. Quickly arrested, he was taken to Villerouge-Termenès castle, 21 km as the crow flies from Belcastel-et-Buc. He was then condemned and burned as a heretic by Palmier's inquisitor, Bishop Jacques Fournier, who later became Pope Benedict XII.

“...The heretic is not the one who burns in the flame, it is the one who lights the pyre...”. William Shakespeare (*1564 +1616).

The hidden engraving gives the number 1465, that is almost certainly a date. If we assume it is a date, then this date lies only four to five generations away from the William Bélibaste affair.

As we have seen, "Baillessats" means the "Bailles know". Did the inhabitants of Bailles want to convey a message about a particular event linked to a "neighboring" family to which the famous Cathar William Bélibaste belonged?

If the engraver of the stone really wanted to inform us that he knew that something very important had happened, in 1320, with an important figure of the village, named Bélibaste, why then mention the year 1465? Why the gap of 143 years? And why hide the inscription?

Given that "1465" is a date, what could have happened in that year that was so important to the Bailles of the village, to prompt them to record it and hide it for future generations?

All I could find for the year 1465, in France, was what is known as “The War of the Public Weal”. This was a serious conflict between the king of France and an alliance of feudal nobles, in defiance of the centralized authority of King Louis XI of France.

Charles le Chauve (the Bold), as heir to the duke of Burgundy, whose fiefs in France included Flanders, and who held the Imperial lands of Holland and Brabant, sought to make the Duchy of Burgundy independent of the French throne. His plan was to forge it into a kingdom of his own between France and Germany, stretching between the North Sea on the north and the Jura Mountains on the south; and from the Somme River on the west to the Moselle River on the east, restoring the ancient kingdom of lotharingia.

Although our lineage originated in Flanders, I doubt very much that Charles the Bald's aspirations could have had any repercussions, or triggered any concern, on the daily lives of our dynasts, isolated in the vast wilderness of the Ariège, Aude, Hérault, Tarn and Pyrennées Orientales, to the extent that they decided to engrave the year of the event on a stone and then hide it from the world.

Could this number “1465” have another meaning that escapes us?

We'll look at the House of Bourbon's connection with the Rennes-le-Chéteau affair later. For now, let us note the following: Isabelle de Bourbon (1437-1465) was fa. of Charles I de Bourbon x Agnes de Bourgogne. She was a princess of royal blood, descended from Saint-Louis by Robert de Clermont, the founder of the Capetian House of Bourbon.

What's really interesting to know is Isabelle's connection with Flanders. It was in Lille, a Flemish town with the name “Rijsel”, that she married her cousin Charles the Bold, bringing the seigneury of Château-Chinon as her dowry.

It may have been a stroke of luck that she married in Flanders, but it was more than a stroke of luck that she died in Flanders too, at Saint-Michel Abbey in Antwerp. Her tombstone is also in Flanders, in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Antwerp. The year of her death was 1465.

Also in Flanders, we have a member of our dynasty, Judokus van Belle, who in 1465 was Lord of Doulieu and Marschalk of Flanders.

Another dynast, Isabelle Belle, who died in 1465, is buried in Boesinghe (Flanders) with her husband Jacop Brievere. Jacop is listed in 1462 as an alderman of Ypres. During the Middle Ages, it was customary to name one or more of one's children after people from ruling or highly influential families. Isabelle Belle, named Isabelle, like Isabelle de Bourbon, is therefore proof that the latter was a very influential family in Flanders. 

Did the “Bailles” of “Les Baillessats” want to draw our attention to clues that would enable us to locate their Flemish origins, between Lille (Rijsel) and Antwerp (Antwerpen)? That's one hypothesis to consider. But there are still others.

We know that members of our lineage, the Sicre/Bayls from Axe-les-Thermes (in the Pyrenees) were involved in the history of the Cathars and contributed to the arrest of this William Bélibaste. As the Bailles and the Bayls are one and the same family, they must have known what had happened, especially as William Bélibaste originated from the village of Cubières-sur-Cinoble from which the "Baillessats" hamlet was part.

These Bels/Bayls/Bailles were, with absolute certainty, also involved in the Rennes-le-Château mysteries. Several clues point in this direction, such as the proximity of our sites, and our involvement in Cathar and Templar affairs. The historic RLC site is 32 km from "Belcastel & Buc" and 25 km from "Les Baillessats", and all our residences were right in the middle of the vast Cathar and Templar estates of southern France.

Wherever they were, Cathars or Templars, we were there also! It is almost impossible not to have been involved in one way or another in their history. Living with wolves for centuries, you learn about their nature and sometimes become like them.

The small castle of Belcastel & Buc is one of the few castles and fortresses in the south of France, along with the castle of Villerouge-Termenès (only 18 km east of Villardebelle and 21 km from Belcastel-et-Buc), not to have been destroyed during the crusade against the Cathars. This is another mystery. A plausible explanation would be that the small château de Belcastel & Buc had no military vocation. It was probably more a simple residence, lightly fortified, than a stronghold in the military sense of the term. This could also explain the thinness of the walls.

My motto is "Mens Agitat Molem" (3 for Spirit and 4 for Matter), the total of which, 7, is transcribed as 347. The number 7 doesn't seem to be totally foreign to things that concern me. I was born on the 7th month of the year, at precisely 7 o'clock GMT, finished writing my first book, and self-published it, in my 49th year (7 x 7).

Now, as it happens, the distance measured as the crow flies between the ruins of our Château de Belscastel & Buc and the Château de Rennes-le-Château is exactly 1347 m. Coincidence?

And what about the distance between our ruins of Belcastel and the ruins of the Perillos’ castle. It is 4290 m or 3 x 1430 m. What clue lies behind these strange arrangements of figures. The fist link representing the spiritual link (3 over 4) to RLC, while the second represent the material link (4 over 3) to Perillos?

How I came in the first place to choose the 3 and 4 combinations, is rather “by chance”.

Decades ago, my IQ was evaluated at 134. Although having a Coat of Arms going back centuries in time, I did not have my own Motto. Then, on day, I got the intuition to use this IQ number. I used the numerological value of 3, that represent the Spirit and value of 4, that represent the Matter. The result 7, being considered a symbol of mystery, knowledge, and intuition, what perfectly fits my personality.

Is it also by pure chance that by adding together the numbers in the mysterious figure "1465", hidden in "Les Baillessats", we come to the number 7 as does my Motto 3+4=7? Adding the numbers gives (1+4+6+5) = 16 and (1+6) = 7? Is there a Quantum entanglement at play here, as well?

So emerged into my life, coming from nowhere, the combination of 347, or was it my life that has been influenced by these entanglements? How else could we explain such coincidences as the distance between Belscastel et Buc and RLC, being 1347m, and the alleged value of my IQ 134 (7)? Idem for the values of Perillos?

And what means the hidden date of 1465, in the “Baillessats”? Did our dynasts want to secretly inform us that, it was a “member of our lineages” that stood behind the arrest of the last Cathar Perfect, William Bélibaste, 143 years earlier? This time, unfortunately, the force of the Matter (4) winning the battle over the force of the Spirit (3). Is all this really pure chance?

RLC is the hot spot for many deep and unsolved mysteries that range from the Merovingians, the Visigoths (of Jerusalem through Rome), the Cathars, the Templars, Blanche de Castille (King of France), to the priest Béranger Saunière at the end of the XVIIth century. To complete the list, we must not forget the mysterious, the secret and the powerful organisation called the Order of Sion, today the Priory of Sion, which operates hidden in the background since its establishment on the Mount Sion, in Jerusalem, at the time of the first crusade in the Holy Land.

But there is one more:

I think Father Saunière has been informed, probably and most certainly, by his religious hierarchy, of something interesting that may be in his church. On the occasion of the works, he carried out at the very beginning of his ministry, in 1887, he indeed discovered a number of documents in a pillar which would have collapsed at the time of his work, and which have revealed to him the existence of the tomb and probably also the existence of the crypt with the places through which they could be accessed.

The reason why I believe this is that his hierarchical superior, Monsignor Félix-Arsène Billard, was appointed and promoted to the archbishop of Carcassonne by his mentor of the time Monseigneur of Bonnechose. We know from the pastoral ordinances, which are accounts of the visits that the bishop made at regular intervals in the church of his diocese that Monseigneur de Bonnechose was particularly attentive, meticulous in all the churches he visited as if he were really seeking to find something.

As I got a little closer to the subject, I realized that, during the 18th century, and in any case, until 1740, everyone knew the existence of the tomb and the crypt.

Unfortunately, the revolution in 1792 caused the last bishop of the diocesan of Alet from which depended at that time RLC, to go into exile, to Sabadell, near Barcelona, ​​and took with him the archives, the relics, etc.

After the storms of the revolution, several priests went back to Languedoc and brought back with them the archives that had been taken away before the revolution. They simply handed them over to Carcassonne, which had just been newly created by Mr. Portanis, minister of cults under Napoleon I. It seems to me that these archives must always be there.

In any case, it seems obvious to me that the bishops who succeeded one another in Carcassonne, including Monsignor Bonnechose, must have known about these archives, and perhaps found something particular in them. That may have been the reason why they commissioned, not only Abbé Saunière but probably also other priests, in other villages, to see if there was not something special or interesting to find in their church. This is how things may have happened to me.

During the VIth century, the Visigoths invaded the region. In those times, the bishop of Carcassonne had to flee his cathedral in great urgency to take refuge, more to the south, in Redae, the old name of Rennes-le-Château.

If the bishop of Carcassonne withdraws to RLC, he did not withdraw alone, his chapter and the treasure of the cathedral, which are the relics, accompanied him as well. He hid them for the Visigoths, in a safe place, which is very probably Rennes-le-Château, and with all the pageantry suitable for the preservation of relics, most likely in a cave or a cavern.

The well-known RLC highland terrain is very rugged and isolated and is geological of the type of soil that was bound to offer good opportunities for caves, caverns, and underground galleries, where there were plenty ways to hide this kind of treasure.  Source:  Paul Saussez.

Therefore, we must add to the Rennes-le-Château mysteries the one of the Bishop of Carcassonne at the time of the Visigoth’s invasion of the city. That is now a total of eight material or spiritual treasures hidden somewhere in and around Rennes-le-Château! Maybe also in the unexplored and inaccessible galleries of the caves of the Bugarach Mountain that has always been considered a sacred mountain such as the Mount Kailash in Tibet.

If some members of our lineages were living farther from Rennes-le-Château, it did not change the main picture at all. The Bels from “Les Bels”, the Bayles from “Les Bayles”, and those the Bels from “Bellès” were only 50 km away from the Cathars´ stronghold of Montségur and far much closer to other of their settlements! The Bels from “Ambels” were only 21 km away from the Cathars capital “Albi”.

These are the distances to the main places of the Cathars and Templars. They had indeed countless other settlements such as the Castles of Peyrepertuse and of Quéribus, respectively 14 km and 21 km away from “Les Baillessats”, etc. The lost and abandoned village of Périllos is 50 km from “Les Baillessats”.

That the mysterious small church of Périllos and its ghostly village has also something to do with the Rennes-le-Château mysteries and with our Lineages became obvious after:

• The noun “Sarda” is mentioned on the epitaph of the Tomb of Miss Catherine Coustal buried in the small cemetery of Périllos.
• The year of the death of Miss Coustal was 1891 or I89I which inversed gives I68I. That is precisely the mysterious “inscription” found in Rennes-le-Château on the Visigoth altar’s pillar, of the St. Marie Madeleine church.
• A very unconventional iron effigy of Mary Magdalene, which represents the Rennes-le-Château’s statue of Mary Magdalena but mirrored, surmounts a mysterious and anonymous tomb. More about these three aspects about page 327 and subsequent.

No one on Earth has a tomb surmounted by such an effigy, not even the Abbé Béranger Saunière. What will be the last will of our dear Brother Henry Lincoln whose whole life was also dedicated to Mary Magdalena?

If the circumstances were favourable to me, I would like to be buried in the south of France, in the small, abandoned cemetery of Belcastel-et-Buc, a stone throw away from the ruins of our castle. An effigy of Mary Magdalena would surmount my tomb! Or at least, have some of my ashes thrown on this aeternum locum dormiendi, adjoining our ruined castle and hamlet.

The proximity of Périllos to “Les Baillessats” and the links the Lords Bels and Périllos must have had, advocate for these Lineages interactions.

What is of course extremely interesting for this Essay is the fact that the Lords of Périllos, as well as the Bels, were influent advisors and counsellors to the royal family of Aragon, originally the Counts of Barcelona.

Ramon Ist of Périllos is reported as a vassal of the Count of Barcelona. The fief of Périllos became a Viscounty and Ramon Ist became Governor of Roussillon, Cerdagne, Conflent, Vallespir and Marschall of Aragon and of Sicilia.

When Juan Ist, King of Aragon (*1350 Perpignan +1396), a Friend of Ramon Ist, died in a mysterious way, the suspicions were on Ramon Ist. To prove his good faith and his innocence, he accomplished a pilgrimage to the St. Patrick Purgatory in Ireland. Source: Périllos, Le village déserté.

The Count Ramon Berenguer IVth (*1114+1162) brought about the union of his County of Barcelona with the Kingdom of Aragon to form the Crown of Aragon by his marriage to Petronilla of Aragon, fa. of Ramon IId (Ramiro the monk) of Aragon x Agnes of Aquitaine. She was fa. of the Duke Guillaume IX d´Aquitaine.

In another version: “…Ramon IId and Agnes had a daughter called Petronilla which was betrothed to Ramon Berenguer IVth, Count of Barcelona at the age of one! The marriage contract, signed at Barbastro (Province Huesca) on 11 August 1137, made Petronilla the heiress to the crown of Aragon..”. More on the Bels later.

Ramon IId (*1086 +1157), was fs. of Sancho Ramirez, King of Aragon, and Navarre x Felicia de Roucy. King Ramon IId x Agnes, on 13 November 1135 in the cathedral of Jaca, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Aragon.

Ramon II was a monk who had resigned the bishopric of Barbastro-Roda in order to succeed his childless brother Alfonso the Battler (1073-1134), king of Aragon and Pamplona but also to ensure the continuity of his lineage. Ramon IId could have been also the bishop of Burgos and of Pamplona if his brother Alfonso the Battler wasn’t blocking his elections to limit his power within the Kingdom of Navarre-Aragon!

Ramon IId declared "I took a wife not out of carnal lust, but for the restoration of the blood and the lineage" (uxorem quoque non carnis libidine, set sanguinis ac proienici restauratione duxi).

Somewhat hypocritical on his part. His he not pretexting his sexual adventures commanded by “Les besoins de la cause” or “the purpose in hand”, that is to say: the durability of his lineage and not by the indescribable pleasure that comes from the “Frouchelage” between two opposites sexes?

His phraseology is tendentious. It plays the card of the commiseration, even of pity. What a poor man is Lord Ramon II. Is he not forced to make love so that his lineage perdure? What a sacrifice!

That is enough to bring the old bigots of the village to their religious orgasm by relaunching a few more rounds on their rosary while our valiant couple sends their four horseshoes in the air! “beati simplices, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum”.

Note that another circle seems now to be circled! Since Alfonso, the Battler, “le Batailleur” was the brother of Ramon IId x Agnès, and the founder of the Order of the Knight Order of Montreal, and because the Bels lineage was at the time, the legal advisor and medieval jurisconsult (Men of Law), the so called “baronobis”, to the Counts of Barcelona (at the time of Alfonso's brother, Ramon IId), at their court, we must have had contact with "the Battler".

Therefore, were the Bels and/or the Périllos most probably witnesses, advisors, counsellors if not instrumental in the creation of the Order of Montreal. This is not proven but has all the credits of a logical understanding!

When I presented my findings and conclusions (paragraph above) to Fra. Dr Enrico Paust Freiherr von Lipstadt, of the German Friedrich-Schiller-Universität of Jena (Germany), Merovingian Dynasty specialist and Knight “profes” of the Order of the “Saint Sauveur du Mont-Réal”, who is searching for the origins of this Order, he answered me:

"Yes, very good. I had hoped that. I think your theory is fantastic, it's a good starting point for further discussion ".

As we have seen, the “Bels” were legal advisers, medieval jurisconsults or counsellors of Ramon Borrell (972-1017) x Ermessence de Carcassonne (*975 +1058), the Count of Barcelona, at least since 1014. The presence of one Knight Bels is attested at the Trial of and in Vacarisses (Catalonia), in 1014, opposing Guillem de Montcada, Count of Barcelona to the vicar of Olesa de Monserrat. On that occasion, Bels undersigned the official court document.

I have an information scribbled on a piece of paper and gathered from a source today misplaced, that a certain Judge Pons Bofill, was present as a witness, in 1021, at the marriage of Beranguer-Raymond I (*1005 +1035) with his first wife (X1) Señorita Sancie de Castilla (Sancha). The Count married a second time with Guilsa de Liuca.

This source of information, although not bringing much water to the mill, is nevertheless interesting. It tells us that Judge Pons Bofill, the Knight Bels, and the Knight ancestor of the Perillos, were councelors and attached to the court of the Counts of Barcelona.

The information makes it possible to retrace the particular links that must have existed between the members of certain very ancient lineages. At least two of these families, the Bels and the Perillos, were neighbours because they lived in the same region of the South of France.

I have no more information about this Judge Pons Bofill apart from his appearance on the stage of the Counts of Barcelona in 1021. The Pons Bofill was from a very important lineage as early as the High Middle Ages and their descendants are still present in France and Spain today.

It is not known from what time the “Périllos” family members were at the services of the Counts of Barcelona? The document of Ramon Ist of Périllos situates him at the beginning of the XIVth century. That is three centuries later than the Bels. However, it is reported that Juan Ist, King of Aragon was a Friend of Ramon Ist. Such a friendship does not settle in a few years. It takes several decades, centuries, in other words, several generations.

I assume that the Bels and the Périllos were together at the court of the Kings of Aragon. At what time, I do not know! Moreover, I also advance the assumption that the Bels and the Périllos, families of the Corbières (South of France), were related, due to the “close” proximity of their homes and estates as were the “The Boulogne´s” (van Boonen) family linked with the Bels-Belle and Balliols in Flanders. I will develop this “assumption”, three paragraphs further. There is nothing new under the sun!

There is a Ramon de Périllos, quoted, in 1114, as a witness during the consecration of the church of Salses. The document reporting this event informs us also that the hamlet Perillos was the cradle of a family “that gave influential counsellors and advisors to the Kings of Aragon”. Source: Association Culture et Loisirs d´Opoul-Perillos.

The first councellor may have been Ramon I, or one of his ancestors lost in the midst of time. What is sure, is that a Ramon de Perillos (Perellos), Governor of Roussillon, the family was still present at the court of Catalonia and Aragon, in anno 1358, at the service of the King Joan I. This is proved by the famous pilgrimage to the “St Patrick's Purgatory”, in Ireland.

The Lords of Perillos were all important historical personage. Only to quote one of them: a Ramon de Perillos was a Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The Perillos family possessed an immense fortune. How they get to this fortune, is an as big mystery as the one related to the very strange priest Beranger Saunière, in Rennes-le-Chateau. So were these two villages the source, not only for the "coming from nowhere" immense financial fortunes of their Lords, but also of the wildest speculations about the very important hidden secrets.

What is no longer speculation, but a fact, are the connections the Perillos seigniorial Family had with the Marquis de Hautpoul, the Blanchefort, and the Bels and/or Belle, through the marriage of a Perillos with a lady from Belcastel & Buc.

Thanks to this document, we are now certain that the Bels, in 1014 and the Périllos, in 1114, were advisors of the Counts of Barcelona (Kings of Aragon). How long the Bels remained at the court is unknown, the Perillos, on the other hand, were still in the king’s court in 1390, when there is the mention of a Ramon Ist de Perillos pilgrimage to Ireland. Why was he called Ramon Ist when about three centuries earlier there was already a Ramon de Perillos, the one hanging around as a witness in Salses (seen in the previous paragraph)?

As we just saw, the Bels and/or Belle and the Perillos were linked together. In the archives, there is the mention of a Ramon de Perillos (+ bef. 1352) who was married to N*** de Belcastel. With this Lady of Belcastel, who must have been of the Bels or Belle lineage, Ramon had a son named Bernard de Perillos. This Bernard married N*** and had a son Raymond de Perillos (+1324). This Raymond married (in 1352) to an unknown Lady. His two sons, however, became famous:

François de Perillos was ennobled by patent letters from the King of Aragon. Francois x to Blanche N*** had three sons:

• Francois de Perillos, Seignior of Besora (+1384).
• Ramon de Perillos, Viscount de Rodde in Aragon (1325-1419).
• Pons de Perillos (+1426).
• Raymond III de Perillos x Constance de Manserain abt 1345. They had a daughter:

Constance de Perillos. The date 1380 is floating! Maybe it is the year she is born? This Raymond is mentioned as captain of the seas.

Raymond III de Perillos is reported to have married a second time, in 1419, with Claire de Sararriga.

Source: gw.geneanet.org Ramon de Perillos: Family Tree by base collaborative Pierfit.

Another Ramon de Périllos became Grand Master of the Knights of Malta from 1697 to 1720. The pavement of the La Valette church (Malta) is decorated, on the ground, with all the tombs of its Grand Masters, but one, that of Ramon de Perillos! He received a beautiful small side chapel instead. The place of Ramon’s his burial is unknown to this day! But I have been told by serious sources, that most of the lords of Perillos would be buried, not in the small cemetery of the St. Barbara’s church of Perillos, which I have carefully inspected, but in a kind of vault, or crypt, under the small church, as in Rennes-le-Château.

I have suspected that the Bels lineage and the Perillos had very strong links together because:

• They were for centuries advisors and counsellors at the court of the Counts of Barcelona 

(the later Kings of Aragon).

• The proximity of their estates. Baillessats, Belcastel-et-Buc, etc.

The Genealogical study site, Geneanet.org, gives another very interesting piece of information. It mentions that a Ramon de Périllos (+bef. 1352) was married to a lady "de Belcastel". The lords of Belcastel and Villardebelle being the Belle family, so must Ramon's wife have been a woman N. Belle from Belcastel et Buc.

The woman could not have been „any” woman living in Belcastel since only nobles could marry other nobles! Times have changed since, and today we observe that even royals marry non-noble women, as happened with the latest generations of the Kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and The United Kingdom. The Principality of Monaco (which started the trend with Grace Kelly) and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also follow the new age!

The study mentions a Bernard de Perillos as son of this Ramon x N. Belcastel. Bernard had a son called Raymond (+ between 1324 and 1352). Raymond’s eldest son François has been ennobled by letter patents from King of Aragon, in 1366. He became Viscount de Rodden en Aragon, Seigneur de Tautavel, Seigneur d´Argeles-sur-Mer, Seigneur de Nefiach, Seigneur de Tour de Tautavel, Amiral de France (21 jul. 1368). Was it this lord François who married a certain Catherine N. ?

And again, if something was going on in Périllos, the Bels must have been aware of it!

Access to the small church of Périllos is, unlike the one of RLC, strictly forbidden. Even the hamlet’s few houses in ruins, as well as the whole area (sinkholes, caves, and unusual geological formations), are under very discreet surveillance.

Why the following warning in this lost place?

“Méfiez-vous, les murs ont des yeux et les fenêtres ont des oreilles -

A votre bon sens!”.

“Beware, the walls have eyes and the windows have ears -

to your common sense!”

I do not see or create mysteries where there are none, just for keeping myself busy. On the other hand, every medievalist knows perfectly well that virtually every old church, castle, fortress, etc., had secret galleries. These were used for security reasons. If a castle was attacked and eventually besieged, the inhabitants needed a safe escape route, which could lead to a church, to the middle of nowhere or any other natural cavity such as caves. Over time, the “raison d´être” of these galleries changed and became secret places to keep whatever needed to be kept secret for the future.

There is, less than 1 km from Périllos, the Chapel St. Barbe (already mentioned in the XVth century). The chapel has been built upon the ruins of a far much older chapel dating from the Capetians of Carolingians times. Sainte Barbe is said to have been the patron saint protector of miners and Co.

Miners usually work in long underground galleries which were later used to hide or protect some objects that needed to be hidden, taken away from the surface and subtracted, for any reason whatever, from the sight of the ordinary mortals. Some mine galleries in the area already existed at the time of the arrival of the Romans in the South of France.

What I wanted to point out right here is that some of our Lineages were very close to the lineage of the Périllos. This enigmatic place called “Périllos” is some 70 km away from “Belcastel & Buc” and 46 km from “Les Baillessats”! More about Périllos around page 303 and subsequent.

However, if, as we have seen, there is nothing special to note in the history of Europe in 1465, there may have been something extremely important in the year 1645! The Baillessats´ hidden date of 1465, may be seen as an “anagram” of the date 1645! One more coded inscription among the hundred found in this mysterious region!

During the year, 1646, Nicolas Pavillon, the bishop of the diocese of Alet-les-Bains (10 km north of Rennes-le-Château), became the repository of “a” secret of Rennes-le-Château (RLC), one year after he learned of it! We may say that the “modern history” of RLC started as soon as 1645, actually in 1640 and even before, because as we shall see subsequently, Nicolas Pavillon asked Nicolas Poussin to paint a mysterious shepherd scenery, as soon as 1640!

Jacques Thuillier (1928-2011), was a French art historian at the College de France, specializing in the 17th-century French paintings. He gave 1638-1639 for the year of painting of Poussin´s “Les Bergers d´Arcadie”, today kept in the Musée du Louvre. He also reported the information that the painting was acquired by King Louis XIVth, in 1685, and hung in his apartments! A rather strange wish for a King?

A small necessary digression: Over 10.2 million people visited the Musée du Louvre, in 2018. Rising trend! In 2004, the “Musée du Louvre Edition” printed a “Guide to the Louvre”. Knowing that two international bestsellers challenged the world: “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” and the “Da Vinci Code” and that the controversial painting linked to these books, “Les Bergers d´Arcadie”, is hanging in “their” Museum, would it not have been quite normal, for this official Guide, to mention it and to insert the picture of this world-famous Poussin´s iconic painting in their Guide?

Are the millions of visitors to the Louvre, who read these two books, not willing to admire this unique piece of art with their own eyes? Would it not be a lifetime experience, for some visitors coming from the other side of the planet and interested in these hidden aspects of History? I personally know some tourists who flew to Paris only to admire this Poussin´s painting at the Louvre Museum.

Against all odds, this painting is not reproduced in the “Guide to the Louvre”! Is this a coincidence, a simple forgetfulness, or another conspiracy of silence? How to explain this incredible gap ?

Back to the main line.

To make it short: In 1645, a shepherd called Ignace Paris, discovered, in the area, a treasure. Back to his village he told his story, showed some golden coins, refused to tell where he found them. Suspected of theft, he was questioned by Baron Blaise de Hautpoul and is said to have died during the interrogation!

According to Franck Daffos research, Ignace Paris reported his discovery to the priest François Paris, a member of his family who was, at that time, the private secretary of the bishop Nicolas Pavillon! Did François tell the bishop of the location of “a” treasure? As Nicolas Pavillon became rich, we must conclude that he knew, at least, one hiding place!

That the bishop was linked to RLC is evident. During the year 1646, he became the repository of “a” RCL´s secret and this date has been carved in a “cartouche” on the right pillar of the entry porch of the Mary Madeleine´ church. The Baron de Hautpoul, whose family became also immensely rich will, as appeared in a trial opposing himself and Nicolas Pavillon, only had access to the information, some 15 years later!

How these two men, Nicolas Pavillon and Nicolas Poussin came in contact is another creasy coincidence. Nicolas Pavillon´s nephew, Jean Pavillon, happened to be a painter. He was a student of Renault le Vieux, himself an ancient student of Nicolas Poussin!

Did the Bailles know something about it? About what? Not about the place of a treasure but about what was going on, as a whole, in the Corbières? Is the year 1465 may be an anagram for 1645? Another voluntary coded message on an already full list?

If yes, they may have wanted to tell us something about the Rennes-le-Château’s and its surrounding areas mysteries. Maybe they simply wanted to inform us that they were, in one way or another, involved in it? In any case, 1645 seems to have been a pivotal date in the mysterious history of RLC.

Furthermore, as we have seen on the map a few pages earlier, there is the “Forêt de l´Orme” right at the foot of the Baillessats village. Our lineage has the genitive baronial title of “de Lormier” or “de L´Ormier”. Is this another coincidence?

As detailed some 15 pages earlier, the next village to Les Baillessats is Cubières-sur-Cinoble, with only 50 inhabitants, is the last village before entering the impressive Gorges de Galamus. An imposing mountain pass, overlooking the river Argyl that runs at the bottom of a calcareous fault some 300 meters deeper.

The Gorges are known to have been impassable until the year 1892 after a road was built. The same small road leads today to the village of St. Paul de Fenouillet, on the other side of the mountain range. For a thousand years, only two other small passes permitted to cross it.

1. The first one went right from Cubières-sur-Cinoble to Cucugnan to reach, after some 25 km, the village of Maury. This road was controlled by two castles: Peyrepertuse and Queribus!
2. The second one went left from Cubièreres-sur-Cinoble, by Bugarach, to reach after 26 km, the village of Caudès-de-Fénouillèdes. This to tell you how isolated the locality of “Les Baillessats” must have been in the Middle Ages. Are these locations and their names, just pure coincidences?

Many of the developments we've just seen are based on an alledgely "knowledge" held by Bailles, which would have been signified by the verb "Sats", making the village named "Les Baillessats."

However, the word "Sats" could have had other meanings. According to a dictionary of ancient Catalan, it is an adverbial variant of “Assats”, a word meaning “enough” or “sufficient”. The word has the same meaning in Occitan: “Aquò es sats” meaning “That’s enough”. It is derived from the Latin word “satis” which has the same meaning.

If the word “Sats” is Occitan/Catalan, then the patronymic “Baillessats” makes no sense. Further research is underway.