Nöel Corbu

Nöel Corbu (1912-1968) was a restaurateur in the Central French village of Rennes-le-Château.

In 1946 Nöel Corbu purchased the former estate of the Abbé Bérenger Saunière, comprising of the Villa Bethanie and the Tour Magdala, constructed by the former priest of Rennes-le-Château between 1900-1902. [Pierre Jarnac, "Histoire du Trésor de Rennes-le-Château" (Editions Belisane, 1985).] During Easter 1955 Corbu opened a restaurant in the Villa Bethania, that later during the 1990s was also turned into a Hotel.

Between 12th and 14 January 1956, the local newspaper, La Dépêche du Midi serialised an interview with Corbu and his brother Charles in which it was claimed that Father Saunière had discovered the treasure of Blanche of Castile the wife of Louis VIII and the regent of the future Saint Louis. Nöel Corbu claimed that Abbé Bérenger Saunière had in 1892 discovered whilst renovating his church parchments "inscribed in a mixture of French and Latin, in which at first glance could be discerned passages from the Gospels". [Robert Charroux, "Treasures of the World", p.220 (Frederick Muller Limited, 1966; English translation by Gloria Cantù).] It has been noted by critics that Saunière began renovating his church in 1886, not 1892, [Jean-Jacques Bedu, "Rennes-Le-Château: Autopsie d'un mythe" (Ed. Loubatières, 1990).] and that "there was no evidence that these parchments had ever existed". [Bill Putnam, John Edwin Wood, "The Treasure of Rennes-le-Château, A Mystery Solved", p.112 (Sutton Publishing Limited, revised paperback edition, 2005, ISBN 0 7509 4216 9).]

French Television later made a documentary in 1961 casting Corbu as Father Saunière. [René Descadeillas, "Mythologie du Trésor de Rennes: Histoire Veritable de L'Abbé Saunière, Curé de Rennes-Le-Château" (Mémoires de la Société des Arts et des Sciences de Carcassonne, Annees 1971-1972, 4me série, Tome VII, 2me partie; 1974).]

Nöel Corbu's account of the discovery of the parchments by Father Saunière was later quoted in the document "Un Trésor Mérovingien à Rennes-le-Château" (1966) attributed to "Antoine L'Ermite", [Pierre Jarnac, "Les Mystères de Rennes-le-Château, Mélanges Sulfureux", p. 20-21 (CERT, 1994).] that for "stylistic reasons suggest that this was written by Pierre Plantard and/or Philippe de Chérisey". [John Saul, Janice Glaholm, "Rennes-le-Château, A Bibliography", p. 28 (Mercurius Press, 1985).] Philippe de Chérisey confessed to having forged the famous parchments that appeared in Gérard de Sède’s 1967 book, "L'Or de Rennes" in his manuscript "Stone and Paper". [Jean-Luc Chaumeil, "Rennes-le-Château – Gisors – Le Testament du Prieuré de Sion, Le Crépuscule d’une Ténébreuse Affaire", p.184-228 (Editions Pégase, 2006, ISBN 2-9518752-8-2).]

Nöel Corbu sold the estate in 1964 to Henri Buthion (1924-2002), before being killed in a car accident in 1968.

Nöel Corbu's daughter Claire Corbu with her husband Antoine Captier in 1985 published "L'Héritage de l’Abbé Saunière" that reproduced some of the important archive documents relating to Bérenger Saunière, and in May 1989 opened the "Saunière Museum" in the village of Rennes-le-Château.

Notes

References

* Claire Corbu and Antoine Captier, " L'Héritage de l’Abbé Saunière" (Editions Belisane, 1985; 2000).

See also

* Villa Bethania
* Rennes-le-Chateau
* Berenger Sauniere
* Priory of Sion
* Dossiers Secrets
* Pierre Plantard
* Philippe de Cherisey