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((Short description|1982 speculative history book))
((Use dmy dates|date=April 2022))
((Infobox book
| name          = The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.jpg
| caption       = Cover of the 1982 hardcover edition
| authors        = [[Michael Baigent]], [[Richard Leigh (author)|Richard Leigh]], and [[Henry Lincoln]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      = English
| series        =
| subject       =
| genre         =
| publisher     = [[Jonathan Cape]]
| pub_date      = 1982, 1996, 2005, 2006
| english_pub_date =
| media_type    =
| pages         =  xvi, 461
| isbn          =  978-0-224-01735-0
| oclc          =  79037955
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   = [[The Messianic Legacy]]
))
'''''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''''' (published as '''''Holy Blood, Holy Grail''''' in the United States) is a book by [[Michael Baigent]], [[Richard Leigh (author)|Richard Leigh]], and [[Henry Lincoln]].<ref name="Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln 1982">((cite book |first1=Michael |last1=Baigent |author-link1=Michael Baigent |first2=Richard |last2=Leigh |author-link2=Richard Leigh (author) |first3=Henry |last3=Lincoln |author-link3=Henry Lincoln |title=The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail |location=London |publisher=Jonathan Cape |year=1982 |isbn=0-224-01735-7))</ref>

The book was first published in 1982 by [[Jonathan Cape]] in London as an unofficial follow-up to three [[BBC Two]] TV documentaries that were part of the ''[[Chronicle (UK TV series)|Chronicle]]'' series. The [[paperback]] version was first published in 1983 by Corgi books. A sequel to the book, called '' [[Priory of Sion#The Messianic Legacy|The Messianic Legacy]]'',<ref name="Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln 1986">((cite book |first1=Michael |last1=Baigent |first2=Richard |last2=Leigh |first3=Henry |last3=Lincoln |title=The Messianic Legacy |location=London |publisher=Jonathan Cape |year=1986 |isbn=0-224-02185-0))</ref> was originally published in 1986. The original work was reissued in an illustrated hardcover version with new material in 2005.<ref>Published by Century, part of The Random House Group Limited. ((ISBN|1-84413-840-2))</ref>

In ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'', the authors put forward a hypothesis that the [[historical Jesus]] married [[Mary Magdalene]], had one or more children, and that [[Jesus bloodline|those children or their descendants]] emigrated to what is now [[southern France]]. Once there, they intermarried with the [[nobility|noble families]] that would eventually become the [[Merovingian dynasty]], whose special claim to the throne of France is championed today by a [[secret society]] called the [[Priory of Sion]]. They concluded that the legendary [[Holy Grail]] is simultaneously the womb of Mary Magdalene and the sacred [[royal descent|royal bloodline]] she gave birth to.<ref name="CBS">((cite AV media |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/27/60minutes/main1552009.shtml |title=The Secret of the Priory of Sion |work=[[60 Minutes]] |date=30 April 2006 |people=[[Ed Bradley]] (presenter); Jeanne Langley (producer) |publisher=[[CBS News]]|language=en-US|url-status=dead|archivedate=May 7, 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507193111/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/27/60minutes/main1552009.shtml))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=https://www.rosslynchapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/256_Rosslyn_Article_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail.pdf|author=Rogan, Fiona|title=The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|publisher=[[Rosslyn Chapel]]|page=2|language=en|url-status=live|date=2009–2019|access-date=October 5, 2022|archivedate=October 5, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005171536/https://www.rosslynchapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/256_Rosslyn_Article_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail.pdf))</ref>

An international [[bestseller]] upon its release, ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' spurred interest in a number of ideas related to its central thesis. Response from professional historians and scholars from related fields was negative. They argued that the bulk of the claims, ancient mysteries, and [[conspiracy theories]] presented as facts are [[pseudohistorical]].<ref>((cite book |first=Damian |last=Thompson |title=[[Counterknowledge|Counterknowledge. How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History]] |publisher=Atlantic Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84354-675-7))</ref><ref name="Miller2004">((cite news |last=Miller |first=Laura |title=The Last Word; The Da Vinci Con |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E0DD103AF931A15751C0A9629C8B63 |access-date=16 July 2008 |date=22 February 2004 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]))</ref><ref>((Cite journal |last1=Kelley |first1=David H. |last2=Anderson |first2=Robert Charles |date=1982 |title=Holy Blood, Holy Grail: Two Reviews |journal=The Genealogist |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=249–263 |via=New England Historic Genealogical Society))</ref> Historian [[Richard Barber]] called the book "the most notorious of all the Grail pseudo-histories… which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate."<ref name=Barber/>

In a 1982 review of the book for ''[[The Observer]]'', novelist and literary critic [[Anthony Burgess]] wrote:  "It is typical of my unregenerable soul that I can only see this as a marvellous theme for a novel."<ref>((cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Anthony |title=Homage to QWERT YUIOP |date=1986 |publisher=Hutchinson |isbn=0091617103 |page=35))</ref> The theme was later used by [[Margaret Starbird]] in her 1993 book ''[[The Woman with the Alabaster Jar]]'', and by [[Dan Brown]] in his 2003 novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]''.<ref name="Brown 2003">((cite book |first=Dan |last=Brown |author-link=Dan Brown |title=[[The Da Vinci Code]] |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-385-50420-9))</ref><ref>Quoting Dan Brown from [[NBC Today]], 3 June 2003: "Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact" (found in ((cite book |first1=Carl E. |last1=Olson |author-link1=Carl E. Olson |first2=Sandra |last2=Miesel |author-link2=Sandra Miesel |title=The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing The Errors In The Da Vinci Code |page=242 |publisher=Ignatius Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-58617-034-1)))</ref>

== Background ==
One of the books that influenced the project was ((lang|fr|L'Or de Rennes)) (later re-published as ((lang|fr|Le Trésor Maudit))), a 1967 book by [[Gérard de Sède]], with the collaboration of [[Pierre Plantard]].<ref>Plantard de Saint-Clair, Pierre, ''L'Or de Rennes, mise au point'' (La Garenne-Colombes, 35 bis, Bd de la République, 92250; Bibliothèque Nationale, Depot Legal 02-03-1979, 4° Z Piece 1182).</ref><ref>((cite book |first=Jean-Luc |last=Chaumeil |title=Rennes-le-Château – Gisors – Le Testament du Prieuré de Sion (Le Crépuscule d'une Ténébreuse Affaire) |publisher=Editions Pégase |year=2006))</ref> After reading it, Henry Lincoln persuaded [[BBC Two]] to produce a series of documentaries for their ''[[Chronicle (UK TV series)|Chronicle]]'' series, which became quite popular and generated thousands of responses. Lincoln then joined forces with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh for further research. This led them to the pseudohistorical ''[[Dossiers Secrets]]'' at the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] which, though alleging to portray hundreds of years of medieval history, were actually all written by [[Pierre Plantard]] and [[Philippe de Chérisey]] under the pseudonym of "Philippe Toscan du Plantier". Unaware that the documents had been forged, Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln used them as a major source for their book.

Comparing themselves to the reporters who uncovered the [[Watergate scandal]], the authors maintain that only through speculative "synthesis can one discern the underlying continuity, the unified and coherent fabric, which lies at the core of any historical problem." To do so, one must realize that "it is not sufficient to confine oneself exclusively to facts."<ref name="Miller2004"/>

==Content==
In ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'', Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln posit the existence of a [[secret society]] known as the [[Priory of Sion]], which is supposed to have a long history starting in 1099 and had illustrious [[Priory of Sion#Alleged Grand Masters|Grand Masters]] including [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Isaac Newton]]. According to the authors' claims, the Priory of Sion is devoted to restoring the [[Merovingian dynasty]], which ruled the [[Franks]] from 457 to 751, on the thrones of France and the rest of Europe. The Priory is also said to have created the [[Knights Templar]] as its military arm and financial branch.<ref name=telegraph>((cite news |last=Thompson |first=Damian |title=How Da Vinci Code tapped pseudo-fact hunger |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575347/How-Da-Vinci-Code-tapped-pseudo-fact-hunger.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=31 July 2015 |location=London |date=12 January 2008))</ref>

The authors re-interpreted the ''Dossiers Secrets'' "in the light of their own Biblical obsessions."<ref name="Trial 2005">((cite AV media |title=Conspiracies On Trial: The Da Vinci Code |publisher=The Discovery Channel |date=10 April 2005))</ref> Contrary to Plantard's initial [[French Israelism|Franco-Israelist]] claim that the Merovingians were only descended from the [[Tribe of Benjamin]],<ref name="Pierre Jarnac 1994">((cite book |first=Pierre |last=Jarnac |title=Les Mystères de Rennes-le-Château: Mèlange Sulfureux |publisher=CERT |year=1994))</ref> they asserted that the Priory of Sion protects Merovingian [[dynast]]s because they are the lineal [[Jesus bloodline|descendants of the historical Jesus]] and his alleged wife, [[Mary Magdalene]], traced further back to King [[David]]. According to them, the legendary [[Holy Grail]] is simultaneously the womb of [[saint]] Mary Magdalene and the sacred [[royal descent|royal bloodline]] she gave birth to, and the Church tried to kill off all remnants of this bloodline and their supposed guardians, the [[Cathars]] and the [[Knights Templar|Templars]], in order for [[popes]] to hold the [[episcopal throne]] through the [[apostolic succession]] without fear of it ever being [[usurper|usurped]] by an [[antipope]] from the hereditary succession of Mary Magdalene.

The authors therefore concluded that the modern goals of the Priory of Sion are:
* the public revelation of the tomb and shrine of [[Sigebert IV]] as well as the [[Arch of Titus#Architecture|lost treasure]] of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]], which supposedly contains genealogical records that prove the Merovingian dynasty was of the [[Davidic line]], to facilitate Merovingian restoration in France
* the re-institutionalization of [[chivalry|chivalric]] [[knighthood]] and the promotion of [[pan-European nationalism]]
* the establishment of a [[theocracy|theocratic]] "[[United States of Europe]]": a Holy European Empire politically and religiously unified through the [[imperial cult]] of a Merovingian [[Great Catholic Monarch|Great Monarch]] who occupies both the throne of Europe and the [[Holy See]]
* the actual governance of Europe residing with the Priory of Sion through a [[one-party state|one-party]] [[European Parliament]].

The authors also incorporated the [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] and [[anti-Masonry|anti-Masonic]] tract known as ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'' into their story, concluding that it was actually based on the master plan of the Priory of Sion. They presented it as the most persuasive piece of evidence for the existence and activities of the Priory of Sion by arguing that the original text on which the published version of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' was based had nothing to do with [[Judaism]] or an "[[international Jewish conspiracy]]", as it issued from a [[Masonic body]] practicing the [[Scottish Rite]] which incorporated the word "[[Zion]]" in its name. Per Baigent ''et al'', the text was not intended to be released publicly, but was a program for gaining control of [[Freemasonry]] as part of a strategy to infiltrate and reorganise church and state according to [[esoteric Christian]] principles. After a failed attempt to gain influence in the court of Tsar [[Nicholas II of Russia]], [[Sergei Nilus]] was supposed to have changed the original text to forge an inflammatory tract in 1903 in order to discredit the esoteric clique around [[Papus]] by implying they were [[Judaeo-Masonic conspiracy theory|Judaeo-Masonic conspirators]], but he ignored some esoteric Christian elements, which hence remained unchanged in the published [[antisemitic canard]].

==Criticism==
The claims made in ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' have been the source of much investigation and criticism over the years, with many independent investigators such as ''[[60 Minutes]]'', ''[[Channel 4]]'', ''[[Discovery Channel]]'', ''[[Time Magazine]]'', and the [[BBC]] concluding that many of the book's claims are not credible or verifiable.

Pierre Plantard stated on the Jacques Pradel radio interview on 'France-Inter', 18 February 1982:((cquote|I admit that ''The Sacred Enigma'' (French title for ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'') is a good book, but one must say that there is a part that owes more to fiction than to fact, especially in the part that deals with the lineage of Jesus. How can you prove a lineage of four centuries from Jesus to the Merovingians? I have never put myself forward as a descendant of Jesus Christ.<ref>Cited by ((cite journal |first=Philippe |last=de Cherisey |title=Jesus Christ, his wife and the Merovingians |journal=Nostra – Bizarre News |number=584 |year=1983))</ref>))

There are no references to the [[Jesus bloodline]] in the "[[Priory of Sion]] documents" and the link exists only within the context of a hypothesis made by the authors of ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''. From the ''Conspiracies On Trial: The Da Vinci Code'' documentary:((cquote|The authors of the 1980s bestseller ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' re-interpreted the Dossiers in the light of their own Biblical obsessions – the secret buried in the documents ceased to be the Merovingian bloodline and became the bloodline of Christ – the genealogies led to Christ's descendants.<ref name="Trial 2005"/>))

While Pierre Plantard claimed that the Merovingians were descended from the [[Tribe of Benjamin]],<ref name="Pierre Jarnac 1994"/> the Jesus bloodline hypothesis found in ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' instead hypothesized that the Merovingians were descended from both the Benjamin line and the [[Davidic line]] of the [[Tribe of Judah]], as embodied in the child of Mary Magdalen by virtue of a dynastic marriage.

Historian [[Marina Warner]] commented on ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' when it was first published:
((cquote|Of course there's not much harm in thinking that Jesus was married (nor are these authors the first to suggest it), or that his descendants were [[Pepin the short|King Pippin]] and [[Charles Martel]]. But there is harm in strings of lurid falsehoods and distorted reasoning. The method bends the mind the wrong way, an insidious and real corruption.<ref>''[[The Times]]'', 18 January 1982.</ref>))

Historian Ken Mondschein ridiculed the idea of a Jesus bloodline, writing:
((cquote|The idea of keeping the family tree pruned to bonsai-like proportions is also completely fallacious. Infant mortality in pre-modern times was ridiculously high, and you'd only need one childhood accident or disease in 2000 years to wipe out the bloodline; if, however, even one extra sibling per generation survived to reproduce, the numbers of descendants would increase at an exponential rate; keep the children of Christ marrying each other, on the other hand, and eventually they'd be so inbred that the sons of God would have flippers for feet.<ref name="Mondschein 2014">((cite web |url=http://www.nypress.com/news/holy-blood-holy-grail-MXNP1020040720307209982 |title=Holy Blood, Holy Grail |last=Mondschein |first=Ken |date=11 November 2014 |website=Straus Media |publisher=Straus News |access-date=7 October 2020 ))</ref>))

Historian [[Richard Barber]] wrote:
((cquote|The Templar-Grail myth((nbsp))[...] is at the heart of the most notorious of all the Grail pseudo-histories, ''The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'', which is a classic example of the conspiracy theory of history((nbsp))[...] It is essentially a text which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate((nbsp))[...] Essentially, the whole argument is an ingeniously constructed series of suppositions combined with forced readings of such tangible facts as are offered.<ref name=Barber>((cite book |first=Richard |last=Barber |title=The Holy Grail, The History of a Legend |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd |year=2005 |isbn=9780140267655))</ref>))

In 2005, [[Tony Robinson]] narrated ''The Real Da Vinci Code'', shown on [[Channel 4]], a critical evaluation of the main arguments of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln (and subsequently Dan Brown). The programme included lengthy interviews with many of the protagonists. Arnaud de Sède, son of [[Gérard de Sède]], stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of a 1,000-year-old [[Priory of Sion]], and described the story as "piffle."<ref>((cite AV media |title=The Real Da Vinci Code |publisher=Channel Four Television |people=[[Tony Robinson]] (presenter) |date=3 February 2005))</ref> The programme concluded that, in the opinion of the presenter and researchers, the claims of ''Holy Blood'' were based on little more than a series of guesses.

Despite the "Priory of Sion mysteries" having been exhaustively [[debunker|debunked]] by journalists and scholars as France's greatest 20th-century [[literary hoax]],<ref name="Putnam & Wood 2003">((Cite book|author=Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood | title=The Treasure of Rennes-le-Château. A Mystery Solved | publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=2003|isbn=0750930810))</ref><ref name="Bradley 2006">((Cite journal| last = Bradley | first = Ed | author-link = Ed Bradley | title = The Priory Of Sion: Is The "Secret Organization" Fact Or Fiction? | year = 2006 | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-priory-of-sion/ | access-date=16 July 2008))</ref><ref name="Katsoulis 2009">((Cite book|author=Melissa Kasoutlis | title=Literary Hoaxes: An Eye-Opening History of Famous Frauds | publisher=Skyhorse |year=2009|isbn=978-1602397941))</ref> some commentators express concern that the proliferation and popularity of [[pseudohistory|pseudohistorical]] books, websites and films inspired by the Priory of Sion hoax contribute to the problem of unfounded [[List of conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories]] becoming mainstream;<ref name="Thompson 2008">[[Damian Thompson]], "[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575347/How-Da-Vinci-Code-tapped-pseudo-fact-hunger.html How Da Vinci Code tapped pseudo-fact hunger]", ''Daily Telegraph''. 13 January 2008. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.</ref> while others are troubled by how these works romanticize the [[reactionary]] ideologies of the [[far-right politics|far right]].<ref name="Klinghoffer 2006">David Klinghoffer, "The Da Vinci Protocols: Jews should worry about Dan Brown's success" ((Cite web |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDY0YmNhMjc5YThmZWIxY2VjNmM3MWE0YjU1MDFhYTg= |title=The da Vinci Protocols by David Klinghoffer on National Review Online |access-date=28 March 2008 |archive-date=7 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907001650/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDY0YmNhMjc5YThmZWIxY2VjNmM3MWE0YjU1MDFhYTg= |url-status=dead )), ''National Review Online'', 2006. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.</ref>

Quoting [[Robert McCrum]], literary editor of ''The Observer'' newspaper, about ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'':
((cquote|There is something called historical evidence – there is something called the [[historical method]] – and if you look around the shelves of bookshops there is a lot of history being published, and people mistake this type of history for the real thing. These kinds of books do appeal to an enormous audience who believe them to be 'history', but actually they aren't history, they are a kind of parody of history. Alas, though, I think that one has to say that this is the direction that history is going today...<ref>((cite AV media |title=The History of a Mystery |series=[[Timewatch]] |publisher=[[BBC Two]] |date=17 September 1996))</ref>))

==Influence and similarities==
===''The Da Vinci Code''===
((more citations needed section |date=September 2021))
The 2003 [[conspiracy fiction]] novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' by [[Dan Brown]] makes reference to this book, also liberally using most of the above claims as key plot elements;<ref name="Brown 2003"/> indeed, in 2005 Baigent and Leigh unsuccessfully sued Brown's publisher, [[Random House]], for [[plagiarism]], on the grounds that Brown's book makes extensive use of their research and that one of the characters is named Leigh, has a surname (Teabing) which is an [[anagram]] of Baigent, and has a physical description strongly resembling Henry Lincoln. In his novel, Brown also mentions ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' as an acclaimed international bestseller<ref>((cite book |last=Brown |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Brown |title=[[The Da Vinci Code]] |date=2003)) Chapter 60</ref> and claims it as the major contributor to his hypothesis. Perhaps as a result of this mention, Baigent and Leigh sued Dan Brown for [[copyright infringement]]. They claimed that the central framework of their plot had been stolen for the writing of ''The Da Vinci Code''. The claim was rejected by [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] Judge [[Peter Smith (judge)|Peter Smith]] on April 6, 2006, who ruled that "their argument was vague and shifted course during the trial and was always based on a weak foundation." It was found that the publicity of the trial had significantly boosted sales of ''Holy Blood'' (according to figures provided by [[Nielsen BookScan]] and [[The Bookseller|Bookseller magazine]]<ref>((cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQVP7b.oSjXQ&refer=culture |title=Da Vinci Code' Lawsuit Lifts Sales Before Judgment |website=Bloomberg News |date=6 April 2006))</ref>). The court ruled that, in effect, because it was published as a work of (alleged) history, its premises legally could be freely interpreted in any subsequent fictional work without any copyright infringement.

===Opera===
[[Stewart Copeland]], former drummer for the rock band [[The Police]], composed the opera ''Holy Blood, Crescent Moon'', heavily inspired by this book.<ref>((cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-12-ca-65-story.html | title=OPERA REVIEW : 'Holy Blood and Crescent Moon' Has No Sting : Music: Ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland puts the music world's spotlight on Cleveland with premiere of his opera | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=12 October 1989 ))</ref>

===Other influences===
The 2008 documentary film ''[[Bloodline (2008 film)|Bloodline]]'' by [[Bruce Burgess]], a filmmaker with an interest in [[paranormal]] claims, expands on the "Jesus bloodline" hypothesis and other elements of ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''. Accepting as valid the testimony of an amateur archaeologist going under the pseudonym of "Ben Hammott", relating to his discoveries made in the vicinity of [[Rennes-le-Château]] since 1999, Burgess claims to have found the treasure of [[Bérenger Saunière]]: several mummified corpses (one of which is allegedly [[Mary Magdalene]]) in three underground tombs created by the Knights Templar under the orders of the Priory of Sion.<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tomb-discovered-in-france-considered-knights-templar---when-excavated-findings-may-challenge-the-tenets-of-christianity-57449477.html |title=Tomb Discovered in France Considered Knights Templar – When Excavated, Findings May Challenge the Tenets of Christianity |work=[[PR Newswire]] |date=17 April 2008 |access-date=16 March 2016))</ref> During an interview on 21 March 2012, "Hammott", going by his real name of Bill Wilkinson, made an apologetic confession stating that everything to do with the tomb and related artifacts was a hoax, and revealed that the tomb was now destroyed, having been part of a set located in a warehouse in England.<ref>((cite web |url=http://grailseekers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/picture-of-ben-hammotts-tomb-last-night.html |title=Ben Hammott Discusses the Bloodline Tomb Hoax |first=Brian |last=Kannard  |work=Grail Seekers |date=22 March 2012 |access-date=16 March 2016))</ref><ref>((cite web |url=http://www.benhammott.com/hammott-statement.html |title=Statement by Ben Hammott |work=benhammott.com |year=2012 |access-date=16 March 2016 |archive-date=30 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030024644/http://www.benhammott.com/hammott-statement.html |url-status=dead ))</ref>

==See also==
* [[Smithy code]]

==References==
((reflist|30em))

==External links==
;Notable reviews
* Burns, Alex. (2000) ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20040418223201/http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id96/pg1/ Holy Blood, Holy Grail]''. [[Disinfo]]
* Mondschein, Ken. (2004) ''[http://www.nypress.com/article-9815-holy-blood-holy-grail.html]''. [[New York Press]]
* Miller, Laura. (2004) ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080617022149/http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2004/12/29/da_vinci_code/index.html The Da Vinci crock]''. [[Salon.com]]
* ((cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1473258/Da-Vinci-Code-bestseller-is-plagiarism-authors-claim.html |title=Da Vinci Code bestseller is plagiarism, authors claim |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=3 October 2004 |location=London))
* Simon Raikes. (2005) ''[http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/W/weirdworlds/da_vinci_code/index.html The Real Da Vinci Code]''. [[Channel 4]]

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