The Bigou Vial and Vellum - Rennes-le-Chateau Research

The Vial and the Vellum

The Glass Vial

The glass vial shown on this page was found in a small wooden 18th - 19th century chest. More information on the chest can be found on the Chest Details page.

The vial was in two pieces, held together by the small piece of parchment inside. The vial seems to have been broken for some time as there were signs of ageing around the broken ends. If this vial is the actual one found by the bell-ringer in 1891, this may have happened when the vial fell from the secret compartment in the baluster from Saunière's church during Sauniere's renovations. Or it may have been done by Saunière himself when he snapped the vial in half to get at the parchment inside, as once the document had unrolled inside the small tube, it would never fit back through the small tapered neck.

Film frame grab of the Glass Vial in the Chest

The above image was grabbed from the Bloodline Movie footage, which was taken shortly after the discovery of the chest and shows the vial lying amongst some old coins. The crack in its center is clearly visible and the only thing holding it together is the small parchment inside.

Glass vial and some of the coins after a quick clean

In the above photograph you can see the vial fits snugly together. Signs of cracking can be seen in the glass. Presumably caused when it was originally opened.

To see video footage of the chest being opened just after it was discovered, CLICK HERE

Later in December 2007 Bruce and I met with leading Israeli archaeologist Dr Gabriel Barkay of Bar ilan University in Jerusalem, who is one of the world’s most respected authorities on 1st and 2nd Temple period relics. Gaby analyzed the chest contents and confirmed the Jar, cup and vial were 100% authentic ancient relics. About the glass vial Gaby said it was known as an alabastra which is early Roman glass imitating alabaster.
This is very interesting as a particular passage in the bible may explain why this vial is so old and why it may have been included in the chest along with the cup and the jar:

"...there came a woman with an alabaster jar of ointment, genuine nard of great value; and breaking the alabaster jar, she poured it on his head." (Mark 14: 3)

And:

And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, (Luke 7:37)

The bible calls the vessel that contained the perfume or perfumes, many names, flask, box, cruse, jar, vial. All mean the same thing, a type of container, and the bible passages hint at there being two, one for the head anointing perfume and another of Spikenard to anoint His feet.

Bigou, needing something to hide his message in before he fled to Spain, and knowing it had to be something small to fit in the tiny secret compartment of the Baluster, saw that the small glass vial was the perfect size. If the vial was already in two halves at this time, all he had to do was roll up the vellum tightly and slide it in one half and then slip on the remaining part of the vial. The images below, if taken in reverse order, would show how Bigou could have done this.

Three frames from the Bloodline Movie showing the Glass Vial being separated and the parchment inside being removed

Perhaps the vial, cup, jar, etc, had been given to Bigou by Maria Hautpoul before she died for safe keeping, along with some old documents, which may have been of Templar origin.

The Wooden Baluster from the Rennes-le-Chateau Church

The 'baluster' mentioned here is important to the mystery as it is the second candidate for the hiding place of the parchment/s said to be associated with the Rennes-le-Château mystery. The other is the Visigoth Altar Pillar. But it is now commonly excepted by many Rennes enthusiasts and researchers, who believe parchments were discovered by Saunière, that this was were they were once hidden.

The Baluster, once part of the stairs leading up to the pulpit, was discarded by the workman during Saunière's renovations to his run down Mary Magdalene church.

1889 - Saunière writes:

"the pulpit, no longer in use, has been removed.'

But it would not be until 1891 that Saunière would purchase a new one.

We are not sure how much of the pulpit was removed at this time. We know from later eye witness accounts, that the wooden baluster was still in the church, but what is unknown is if it still remained in place, which is unlikely given Sauniere's 1889 statement above, or was it being used as a decorative ornament, perhaps with a vase of flowers on top. But what is certain is that it was un discarded at this time.

It is not know for certain if the glass vial and parchment found by Antoine Captier and given to Saunière was 1889 or 1891, although 1891 seems more likely. (See 1891 date timeline for details)

1891 - This certainly seems to be an important year for our Mysterious priest as it is from this date a change comes about, and all be it slowly at first, from this year onwards Saunière would start his well documented spending spree, and the church we see today would slowly begin to take shape.

But before that can happen it is time for fate to play its hand.

The bell ringer at the time, Antoine Captier, (1833-1903) was walking back through the church after a session of bell-ringing when he noticed something glinting by the wooden baluster. Going over to investigate he discovered a small glass vial had fallen from, what up until then, had been a secret compartment in the baluster. The section of wood that acted as a cover had become dislodged when the baluster had been thrown to the ground. Inside the glass vial Antoine could see a small piece of rolled up parchment. As the glass vial, being an alabaster imitation, was opaque, the only way he could have seen the parchment was if the vial was broken, in two halves for example! He immediately went to find the Abbé Saunière to show him his find. Saunière took the vial and that was the last Antoine saw of it. It was after this event that Sauniere started his clandestine digging in the church graveyard and seems to be a pivotal point in the mystery. Whatever the information contained on the parchment it led Saunière to a treasure or a secret that would for a time, make him a wealthy man. Check out my Rennes-le-Chateau Timeline for a more detailed information on this and other timeline events.

Antoine, the bell-ringer, used to recount this story to his grandson, also named Antoine Captier, ending with,

“and it is thanks to me that the priest became rich!”

Even after the renovation of his church and domain, Sauniere did not discard the baluster but placed it in his Tour Magdala library come study.

Saunière even thought it important enough to include an image of it in his church decorations.

Right-hand Fleury painting showing the image of the baluster top

Fleury Image and Baluster top comparison

More details and images of Sauniere's Fleury Tableau

Perhaps fittingly, the present day Antoine Captier now has ownership of the wooden baluster and thanks to the Bloodline Movie producers, I was lucky enough to meet with Antoine and his wife Claire, who kindly let me view and photograph the Baluster, and for this I am grateful.

The Baluster comes apart in sections, but it the top we are interested in.

Baluster top - the two diagonal lines show the area of the blocked secret compartment

The vial has been laid on top for size comparison.

We wanted to see if the glass vial would fit into the secret compartment discovered by his Antoine's grandfather. After showing Antoine and Claire the glass vial and parchment, they were as keen as we were to see if it fit into the small, secret compartment. Unfortunately Antoine had glued it in place some years earlier, as it kept falling out when anyone passed by, and even some heavy hits with a hammer and chisel would not free it.

Antoine and Claire try to open the secret compartment in the baluster

However, when held alongside the baluster, the vial certainly appears to be the correct size, and Antoine and Claire, who know the size of the compartment better than anyone, were confident that it would fit the space. They even remarked that it could possibly be the very same glass vial his grandfather had found in the church, which he then handed over to Sauniere.

Conclusion

After seeing the baluster for myself and after talking to Antoine and Claire Captier, I believe this is the very same glass vial found by Sauniere's bell ringer in 1891, which he then handed over to Saunière. Sauniere then used the information contained on the message inside to point him in the direction of a greater discovery that he was then able to profit from, whether it was a treasure or a secret of some kind.

The Bigou Document

The small vellum document found in the small glass vial in the the chest

(Full details, images and a translation of this document will be in my book)

Both myself and the Bloodline team were keen to get the parchment examined by an expert so we took the document to the Regional Archives in Carcasonne. Claude Robion, Director of Research, examined the parchment and identified it as vellum. Analysing the age of the parchment, the fading of the ink, and the style of the writing, he said that it could well be from the 18th Century but carbon tests would need to be carried out to establish a firm and accurate date.

Acting on Claude Robion's advice I took the Bigou vellum to the Oxford Radio Carbon Laboratory, famous for its dating of the Turin Shroud. They cut off a small sample sufficient for the test from the vellum.

Part of Oxford's Radio Carbon Laboratory equipment used for the test

Below are scans of the the official Radiocarbon results on the Bigou Vellum.

According to their tests, carried out in January 2007, there is a 95.4% probability that the parchment dates from between 1430AD and 1520AD.

Although the resulting dates were a lot older than we had expected, it could have been the Abbé Bigou who penned this document. But if so, why did he use such an old piece of vellum to write his message on?

Bigou only needed a small piece to fit in the glass vial. Perhaps he just used a small piece from an existing older document, one he may even have been given by Maria Hautpoul.

Conclusion

The evidence shows that the glass vial could fit in the baluster and so could have been the one found by the bell ringer Antoine Captier and given to Sauniere. In fact, anything much bigger than the vial would not fit.

So along with the evidence of the glass vial fitting in the secret compartment of the Baluster and the vellum positively dated to a time when it could have been used by the Abbé Bigou to write his message, and the expert opinion of Claude Robion, that the ink, style of writing and the font used is correct for the time period, the Bigou parchment is almost certainly genuine.

This is without even considering the information on the vellum which points to a time prior to Sauniere when the Hautpoul family were still living in Rennes-le-Château and Antoine Bigou was the priest.