Jack Lammiman, Laura Zolo, and Niven Sinclair

 The new millennium arrives January 1, although some purists prefer a start date of  January 1, 2001. According to Ean Begg’s 1989 The Cult of the Black Virgin, Nostradamus (1503-1566) predicted a new King would rise from Avignon during 2000. Watched over by a black virgin, he would restore Christianity to a pristine state, destroying Rome and St. Peter’s Basilica in the process.  That did not happen.  Neither did many other good and gruesome predictions ranging from peace in the Middle East to destruction of everything via the Year 2000 computer scare.

 Yachtswoman Laura Zolo and her partner, Jack Lammiman, sail from Venice in her yacht Seven Roses to the Orkney Islands, tracing the medieval routes of Nicolo Zeno and Prince Henry Sinclair from Venice to Nova Scotia.  Her sponsors are the City of Venice, the Italian Navy and her island home of Elba.

Guy Patton and Robin Mackness write Web of Gold: The Secret Power of a Sacred Treasure linking Rennes-le-Château with all sorts of right-wing Masonic conspiracies. 

“We have to concede that the coded documents, The Priory documents and the Secret Dossiers, are probably clever forgeries. – from Rex Deus, p 35.

 Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair, self-proclaimed Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion, dies on February 3.   

Laurence Gardner publishes Genesis of the Grail Kings: The Pendragon Legacy of Adam and Eve, taking the Jesus bloodline even further back to Adam and Eve.  Gardner then claims the Jesus bloodline was initiated by extraterrestrials called the Anunnaki looking to improve an already-created version of humanity.  A version 2.0, if you will.

Mikhail Anikin publishes Leonardo da Vinci: Theology In Paint in which he argues Mona Lisa was an allegory for the Christian Church.

Marilyn Hopkins, Tim Wallace-Murphy, and Graham Simmans (dies 2005) publish Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-le-Château and the Dynasty of Jesus.   Taking a different tack on a bloodline theory, they claim it is not of Jesus but the 24 High Priests of the Temple at the time of Jesus.  Starting with a claimant of the Jesus bloodline known only as Michael (very likely the imposter Michel Lafosse, the book claims the body of Jesus was moved from Greece sometime in the 4^th century, later buried in Jerusalem under the Temple Mount, and later still found by the Templars.

Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos

September 2000

Bruce Ferrini

Ariel Sharon

 Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos sells the Gospel of Judas to Bruce Ferrini of Akron in return for two postdated checks.

 On September 8th, Laura Zolo arrives at Guysborough Harbour in Nova Scotia, completing her transatlantic journey. 

 On September 20^th, Likud party leader Ariel Sharon (born 1928) makes a controversial visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Sharon's visit came after archeologists claimed that the building and other antiquities were being damaged.  Sharon declares the Templa mount will remain under perpetual Israeli control, enraging the PLO and many Muslims.   A few months later, he will be elected Prime Minister.

Henry Lincoln and Erling Haagensen publish The Templar's Secret Island about the unusual location of churches at Rennes-le-Château and Bornholm.   

Stephen O'Shea publishes The Perfect Heresy: The Life and Death of the Cathars.

Piers Paul Read

Sample of the Kirkwall Scroll

Piers Paul Read (born 1941) publishes The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades.

Nicolas Haimovici Hastier publishes an extensive multi-lingual Templar bibliography, The Rule of the Order of the Templars.

Andrew Sinclair publishes The Secret Scroll book and DVD about how the Templars came to Scotland with treasure and secrets after persecution in 1312.  He explores the Templars, the Holy Grail, Rosslyn Chapel, the Sinclair family, and a 15^th century scroll now housed in the Kirkwall Masonic Lodge in the Orkney Islands.  This scroll, Sinclair contends, is a map of Rosslyn Chapel and indicates the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail in its crypt.

Laurence Gardner publishes Realm of the Ring Lords: The Myth and Magic of the Grail Quest.

Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) narrates Encounters with the Unexplained: The Mystery of Oak Island [a.k.a. Oak Island Treasure] featuring interviews with Stephen Sora, Bill Milstead (Investor, Oak Island Exploration Company), Rick Joltes (folklorist), and George Young.

Release of The Knights Templar DVD, a traditional history narrated by Malcolm Barber.

Ian Robertson

 Researchers from the Merril Foundation conduct ground scans around the Tour Magdala at Rennes-le-Château, finding evidence of a chest buried around 12 feet beneath the floor.

Karen Ralls and Ian Robertson publish The Quest for the Celtic Key, exploring many Scotland-related topics including the Knights Templar.

James Wasserman (born 1948) publishes The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven.

Pope John Paul II

Barbara Frale

 On May 4, Pope John Paul II makes the first Papel visit to Greece in 1291 years. He asks God to forgive Catholics for sins committed against Eastern Orthodox Christians.

 On May 6, Pope John Paul II visits Syria, where he says, “Today, in a world that is increasingly complex and interdependent, there is a need for a new spirit of dialogue and cooperation between Christians and Muslims. Together we acknowledge the one indivisible God, the Creator of all that exists. Together we must proclaim to the world that the name of the one God is a name of peace and a summons to peace."  Then he makes the first-ever papal visit to a mosque, the Umayyad Mosque in Syria.

 Vatican School of Paleontology professor Barbara Frale publishes The Last Battle of the Templars asserting that Templar rituals underpinning the accusations against them were hazing activities by this all-male order.

Charing Cross Productions produces The Prince and the Grail about Prince Henry Sinclair for Canada's Vision TV Network, featuring Stephen Dafoe and a script by Mark Finnan.

André Douzet publishes Saunière’s Model and the Secret of Rennes-le-Château, announcing his discovery of a three-dimensional model Saunière commissioned to be built shortly before his death.  Douzet speculates this is Saunière’s last encoded message regarding the “great secret.”

Earl Doherty publishes Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-Examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ".

 On September 13, Vatican School of Paleontology professor Barbara Frale discovers Chinon Parchment, a scroll in the Vatican archives showing that Jacques de Molay and other Templar leaders had been exonerated by Pope Clement V (1264-1314) at Chinon nearly six hundred years before.  This document proves the innocence of the Templars and clarfies that the King of France, not the Pope, was behind their undoing.  When the King of France realized the Pope was going to set the Templars free, he blackmailed the Pope by threatening e a schism within the Catholic Church.  The parchment’s discovery will not be announced publicly for several months.

Patriarch Bartholomew I

 On January 24, Pope John Paul II convenes 200 world religious leaders in Assisi, including Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, and Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians.  Says the Pope, “"There is no religious goal which can possibly justify the use of violence by man against man."

Barry Dunford

 Alarmed at her codex’s deteriorating condition, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos sends it to the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Basel, Switzerland for restoration and reassembly.  Swiss papyrus restorer Florence Darbre, Stephen Emmel (Coptic studies professor at the University of Münster in Germany), and expert Rodolphe Kasser work on the project.  This will take several years.

Engineers Graham Harris and Les MacPhie write Oak Island and Its Lost Treasure.

Mark Finnan publishes The Sinclair Saga: Exploring the Facts and the Legend of Prince Henry Sinclair.

Barry Dunford publishes The Holy Land of Scotland: Jesus in Scotland and the Gospel of the Grail.

Release of the video Henry Lincoln's Guide to Rennes-le-Château (in 2005 released as Exploring the Da Vinci Code) filmed in October 1999 at the village.

John Ritchie

Ann Graham Brock

Ann Graham Brock publishes Mary Magdalene, The First Apostle: The Struggle for Authority.

Bluebook Films produces In Search of the Holy Grail for Discovery Channel featuring Andrew Sinclair, Simon Kirk (University of Bristol), co-producer Juliette Wood (University of Cardiff), Gerald Morgan (author of Nanteos:  A House and Its History), Glastonbury’s Michael Orchard, Michael Baigent, and Valencia Cathedral Canon Jaime Sancho.  Five items are identified as possible Holy Grails:  a cup at Valencia Cathedral, a glass cup at Glastonbury, something buried in the crypt of Rosslyn Chapel, a cup in Nanteos House in Wales, and a chalice dug up in Antioch now at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Michael Orchard

Simon Kirk

Juliette Wood

Gerald Morgan

Chalice of Antioch

Dan Brown

Dan Brown publishes The Da Vinci Code, a fast-paced novel based on the idea of a bloodline descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene.  Publishers Weekly describes it as “an exhaustively researched page-turner about secret religious societies, ancient cover-ups and savage vengeance.” It is an immediate bestseller and will generate well over a billion dollars in books, films, backtitle sales, and related items.

Laurence Gardner publishes Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark: Amazing Revelations of the Incredible Power of Gold, theorizing the Ark had the power to change the properties of gold into an anti-gravitational state.

The Travel Channel airs Legend Hunters: The Holy Grail with Steve Mizrach, John Brunsdon, Rosemary Arscott, Stephen Moore, Henry Lincoln, Michael Stokes, Andrew Collins, and Graham Phillips.

Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas publish The Book of Hiram.

Francine Bernier publishes The Templars' Legacy in Montreal: The New Jerusalem.

June 2003

August 2003

 On August 20, Professors Eisenman and Baratollo excavate Rennes-le-Château’s Tour Magdala.

David Hatcher Childress (born 1957) publishes Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Knights Templar and the Vatican, claiming the Templar fleet divided into four divisions after 1307:  a Scottish/Norwegian fleet, the fleet of King Roger II of Sicily (a.k.a. Jolly Roger, 1095-1154), the Portuguese Navy run by the Knights of Christ, and pirates under a flag of skull and crossbones.  

October 2003

Ron Howard

 Ron Howard (born 1954), Brian Grazer (born 1951) and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (born 1962), the Oscar-winning trio from A Beautiful Mind, announce they will film The Da Vinci Code for Columbia Pictures.

Bart Ehrman publishes The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew.

Henry Lincoln at Newbattle Abbey

Frank Sanello

 On November 8th, author Henry Lincoln receives an Honorary Knighthood in the Militi Templi Scotia order at Newbattle Abbey in Scotland.

Karen King publishes The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle.

John Young publishes Sacred Sites of the Knights Templar: Ancient Astronomer and Freemasons at Stonehenge, Rennes-le-Château, and Santiago De Compostela about European monuments and possible meanings behind their placement and geography.

Gordon Napier publishes The Rise and Fall of the Knights Templar: The Order of the Temple, 1118-1314, True History of Faith, Glory, Betrayal and Tragedy.

Frank Sanello publishes The Knights Templars:  God's Warriors, The Devil's Bankers, a traditional history.

Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News hosts Jesus, Mary, and Da Vinci featuring Father Richard McBrien, Darrell Bock, Jeffrey Bingham (Dallas Theological Seminary Professor), Karen King, Jack Wasserman, Carlo Pedretti (head of the Leonardo Institute), Robin Griffith-Jones, Niven Sinclair, Andrew Sinclair, Elaine Pagels, Margaret Starbird, Henry Lincoln, Umberto Eco, and one of the few TV interviews with Dan Brown.

Elizabeth Vargas

Robin Griffith-Jones

Karen King

Carlo Pedretti

Father Richard  McBrien

Jeffrey Bingham