What is the coded message left behind by Fr. Sauniere that inspired the Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown?

Question

I do not know, but I would like to know if anyone should care to share it with me. I have not seen the movie or read the book.

Answer 1

Although I refer to this as a parchment it is in fact nothing more than a few scribblings by Bérenger Saunière on a scrap of paper, reputedly found amongst his personal possessions following his death. I say reputedly because as with so much involved in this mystery, no one is actually certain that it is the work of Bérenger Saunière himself, although from the content it certainly leads one to believe that he was the author.

As a document however, closely connected with the mystery of Rennes-le-Château, it is a curious piece of writing. In its style it would not have been out of place had it been discovered with the other manuscripts under the altar of the church. The original was written by hand.



The following is the text transcribed from the parchment and laid out in a regular order:-

Y E N S Z N U M G L N Y Y R F V H E N M Z F
P S O T + P E C H E U R + A + L ' E M B Z
V O U C H U R E + D U + R H O N E , S O N Z
U P O I S S O N + S U R + L E + G R I L + F
L D E U X + F O I S + R E T O U R N A . U D
R N + M A L I N + S U R V I N T + E T + X H
R X V + F O I S + L E + G O U T A + . C U Z
T I T , I L + N E + L U I + R E S T A + Q V
K U E + L ' A R E T E . + U N + A N G E + T
N V E I L L A I T + E T + E N + F I T + U Q
Y N P E I G N E + D ' O R . B . S . C U R H
O V T S V K Y R M S T I J P Z C K P F X K A

Interpretation of the Contents

The intelligible message (in blue) reads:-

Sot Pecheur a l'embouchure du Rhone, son poisson sur le gril deux fois retourna. Un malin survint et XXV fois le gouta. Cuit, il ne lui resta que l'arete. Un ange veillait et en fit un peigne d'or. B.S. Cur.


Translated it means:-

Stupid fisherman at the mouth of the Rhone, he turned his fish on the grill twice. A devil popped up and tasted it 25 times. Cooked, all that remained was the bone. An angel watched and made a golden comb. B.S. Cur.

However, due to the choice of words there exists a multitude of alternate meanings.

Sot Pecheur a l'embouchure du Rhone could mean 'Stupid fisherman at the mouth of the Rhone' or 'Foolish sinner at the mouth of the Rhone'. The word Embouchure also has many meanings " the mouth piece of a wind instrument, Bridle-bit of a horse harness, mouth, opening of a bottle or jar, entrance to a harbour, mouth of a river or muzzle of a gun."

Son poisson sur le grill deux fois retourna could mean ' he turned his fish on the grill twice' but it could also mean 'his fish on the grid, on the grate, fire guard, gril also refers to convents, and to nuns. Twice turned could also mean, changed position, turned over, turned around, turned up, turned back, revolved, agitated, returned, sent back, sent back in reply, walked back, rode back... the list is almost endless and I will spare you the myriad of other meanings. Remember the large code found in parchment 2 in which it was necessary to reverse the Blanchefort headstone text.

Un Malin survint et XXV fois le gouta. This at least is comparatively simple and straight forward. Malin does have many meanings but for the most part all of them refer to someone wicked or evil or an evil spirit. "An evil spirit, or a devil popped up and tasted it 25 times". However Gouter, can also mean to smell, to approve of, to relish, to take delight in, to sample.

Cuit, il ne lui resta que l'arete. Literally it means, 'Cooked all that remained was the bone'. Cuit also means 'done for' in a figurative sense and Arête could also be read in a figurative sense as to stop 'Cooked all that remained was to stop him'. Arête has many meanings, "ear of barley, a line, an edge, a crest, an intersecting angle, a ridge (of a roof), sharp ridge on a mountain." This phrase could also be read as "Done for, all that was left to him was a fish bone, ear of barley, etc.

Un ange veillait et en fit un peigne d'or. B.S. Cur. This section is also fairly clear. "An angel watched over and made a golden comb out of it". It could also mean An angel watched and studied with a fine tooth comb.

Given the assortment of different interpretations one can place on the text it is no surprise that the true meaning of this document has remained elusive to this day and has provoked almost as much debate as the original manuscripts. The problem it represents is that no one can be certain why Saunière was playing around with such a text. Was he trying to decipher a code from one of the manuscripts lost to us today? Was this just an idle doodle? Was he perhaps trying to create some secret message himself? Or was this just a prank on his part to add even more confusion to those whom he must have known would be searching for his fortune when he was dead and gone?

An interesting observation is the arrangement of letters at the very start of the message:-

Y E N
P . S
V O U

This pattern is exactly the same as that appearing on Parchment 2 at the point where the question mark is located, the only difference being that a dot has been substituted for the question mark itself. Since the text surrounding the intelligible message is encrypted, this dot at the very beginning is probably an indication of where to begin the decipherment process.

A further interesting observation is that throughout the main body of the text, the author of this manuscript has separated each word by means of a cross or punctuation mark. However there are two places where this rule has not been observed:-

SONPOISSON
UNPEIGNE

This is interesting from several points of view:-

The author required an exact number of letters, crosses and punctuation marks to make up the cryptogram. 264 in all (22 x 12).

The author began with a specific number of letters which would surround the message, 64 in all and within which would then be inserted his main text.

This would then suggest that the 64 letters surrounding the main text form the object of his work and therefore contain the encrypted message. The text in between is simply there for decoration or may also provide some clues as to the method of decryption or some particular element of the decryption process. Although Sauniere had innumerable ways to lay out the clear message, he chose to utilize the arrangement we see today. In some ways it is quite ordered and methodical while in other ways it is not.

A Numerical Clue?

This document still has one more thing to reveal. If you read through the text you will be aware that numbers are mentioned. It is possible to extract quite a few numbers from the text and all together they form a simple mathematical sum.

DEUX FOIS retourna can be interpreted at 2 x (Deux Fois)

Un Malin survint can be interpreted as UN mal(UN) sur VINGT or 11/20

Et XXV FOIS le gouta can be interpreted as 25 x

Un ange... can be interpreted as 1

Un peigne d'or can be interpreted as 1

Combined the numbers form the following:-

2 x 11/20 x 25 + 1 + 1

As you can see there are numerous solutions to the problem all of which provide a number and a decimal. There is however one solution which provides a whole number only. By rearrangement you get:-

11/20 x (25 x (2+1+1))

= 11/20 x(25 x 4)

= (11/20) x100

= 55

What is the significance of this number? Unfortunately I cannot say with any certainty what its meaning is but there is one coincidence attached to the number. In the church of Rennes-le-Château the devil has inscribed upon his left wing 5 small parallel lines. In addition he appears to be indicating the number 5 with his left hand which is upon his right leg. Hence the two numbers 5 and 5. Anyone who has studied this mystery will know that numbers figure very prominently. It's possible that the number 55 is unrelated to anything and completely meaningless but then again it may be linked to some part of the mystery. So for the moment simply keep it in the back of your minds. Maybe something will reveal itself later where this number will then be very useful. Finally before leaving this subject it is interesting to note that the number of letters along the top and bottom lines of the message each contain 22 letters. When you examine the sections dealing with the church you will quickly come to realize that the number 22 is very significant and appears time and time again.

A Possible Solution to the Coded Text

The following "alleged" solution of this cryptogram is due to M. Alain Chatillion who employed the services of a computer to decipher the coded portion, ie the 64 letters surrounding the main text.

Although a brief description of the method used is provided in the reference I own, it is too lacking in detail for me to understand completely and for this reason I do not attempt to provide details here. Note 1.

The fully deciphered text reads:-

MLL SALUT LES RENNES D'ARQUES RAPT LE GOUFFRE EN NID PLAN TE SERT DANGER LXXV FTT

Unfortunately there appears to be 65 letters in this deciphered text instead of the 64 which encircles the cryptogram. I can only presume this is a typographical error by the publishers of the book and accordingly I have dropped the final T of the letter group FTT. This results in the new letter group FT which actually makes more sense, since the Roman numerals and the group can clearly be read as 75 Ft (75 feet).

The translated text reads:-

Mademoiselle (Mll) greetings to the queens of Arques.

(The letters MLL could also be Roman numerals in which case this section would read)

1100 greetings to the queens of Arques (or possibly some other number depending on how you might arrange the numerals).

(Also please note that the use of "Rennes" is translated figuratively as "Queens" the literal translation would be "greetings to the Rennes (villages) of Arques).

Abduction the cave in the nest. The Flat (even ground) helps you. Danger 75 FT.

The Word Plan has innumerable meanings which also leaves this particular section open to much speculation.

Without the detailed method by which this cryptogram was decoded the above should not be relied upon as being the definitive solution. However it is encouraging that at least one possible solution has been arrived at, even though the decoded message is almost as cryptic as the original.

What is interesting is that the message speaks of caves. This is quite likely to be the resting place of any treasure buried in the region and as I have mentioned in other places, the entire area is festooned with caves as well as mines.

Document Statistics

The message itself has the following statistics:-

264 Characters in all

64 Letters surrounding the message

32 Crosses

12 Punctuation marks

156 Letters forming the readable text

61 Letters appearing beside crosses

9 Letters appearing beside dots

4 Letters appearing beside commas

6 Letters appearing beside apostrophes


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La Dalle de Coume Sourde (The Coume Sourde flagstone)

Throughout the whole examination of the parchments, actual evidence from which one can extract meaning and provide some link with the real world has been thin on the ground. There is however, one further piece of evidence which is equally enigmatic and in my opinion at least, is most definitely connected with all the information presented so far. This is the Stone of Coume Sourde. When you view the writing on it you will immediately see what I mean.



The next page begins the examination the small church at Rennes-le-Château and in particular the wealth of imagery which Saunière used to adorn the interior. There are so many direct links with the parchments contained in the miscellaneous works, that it seems to be an inescapable fact that everything in the church hints at the treasure. Perhaps this was Saunière's legacy to the world. A glorious treasure map which only the most enlightened can decipher.

Answer 2

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