The Blancheforts or should I say originally the Hautpouls were a noble family established in the area broadly known as the ‘Razes’. Their story begins during the 15^th Century when the house of Hautpoul first seems to have appeared on the landscape. In those early days the Hautpouls were wealthy, wielded great power and influence and were known as the kings of the Black Mountains, an area from which they reputedly originated. They even owned their own gold mine located near Salsines. The Hautpouls took part in the Crusades and also in the Albigensian war. In 1422 they allied themselves with the Voisins, another noble family residing at Rennes-le-Château. On 5th  November 1732 Francois d’Hautpoul married Marie de Negri d’Ables. She had three daughters from the marriage, Marie, Elisabeth and Gabrielle. François d'Hautpoul, Marie's husband died on 15th of May 1753 and was buried at Limoux. Her daughter Gabrielle d'Hautpoul de Blanchefort (1739-1790) married Paul-François-Vincent de Fleury in 1767 and from this union she gave birth to Paul-Urbain de Fleury in 1778. Paul-Urbain de Fleury is himself the subject of a certain mystery as you will discover when you consult the pages relating Jean Vié.

 It was with Marie's death in 1781 and the subsequent inscription on her headstone that the full force of this mystery really begins.

 A most interesting aspect of the Hautpoul family history centers around François-Pierre d’Hautpoul who in 1644 made his will and had it duly registered and placed in the safe keeping of the Notary at Esperaza, a gentleman by the name of M. Captier. Inexplicably when François-Peirre d’Hautpoul passed away and it came to the moment when his documents were to be handed to his family, they had all mysteriously disappeared. Time passes and then in 1780 the lost will suddenly reappears in amongst the papers of another notary at Esperaza, a gentleman called Jean-Baptiste Siau. Pierre d’Hautpoul on hearing of the discovery naturally contacted the notary and insisted that the papers be handed to him immediately. To Hautpoul’s amazement and consternation, the notary replied, "It would not be wise for me to part with a document of such great importance" and with that the documents vanished again. After much research carried out in recent years it transpired that these now famous or should I say infamous documents had in fact been given to Marie de Negri d’Ables in 1780, the very year that they disappeared again. Obviously the notary was better disposed towards Marie than to her husband. It is also somewhat surprising if not amazing that Marie never let on to anyone that she was in possession of these precious documents, not even her husband who had made such strenuous efforts to get hold of them. It was not long after she had received the documents that she in turn prepared to make the journey into the next world. In some quiet moment just before her death, it is believed she entrusted the papers to Antoine Bigou, priest of Rennes-le-Château and her confessor. It is also believed by most people who have investigated the history of the Rennes-le-Château affair, that Bigou was the craftsman of the coded parchments found by Saunière stuffed inside the altar of his church.

 On the 17^th January 1781, Marie de Negri d’Ables died and the provision of a headstone in the cemetery of Rennes-le-Château was entrusted to her faithful chaplain, Antoine Bigou. By all accounts he took great pains in the creation of the headstone and spent almost two years composing the text. This was in direct contrast to his counterpart Bérenger Saunière who took equally great pains in an attempt to deface the stone. The labours of Bigou were strange to say the least. Here was a man who spent two years composing a suitable epitaph for the noble lady he had served all his life. Having prepared the text and then had it carved on the stone, it transpires that almost every line on the headstone contains an error.

 The time was fast approaching 1792, the arrival of the French Revolution. It was  a turbulent and bloody period with much political intrigue and upheaval taking place at all levels. Bigou was no fool and he could obviously see that major change was almost upon him. I dare say even in the most remote corners of France such as  Rennes-le-Château, all was not idyllically tranquil. For some reason he also knew that he did not want to be part of this new Republic. Or for one reason on another actually feared for his life.  Perhaps the Blanchefort headstone was his way of passing on a message to a friend, a relation or perhaps a group of kindred spirits, telling them some vital piece of information. Perhaps having been entrusted with the papers of François-Peirre d’Hautpoul and having read their contents, he felt that the secret they contained must somehow be passed on. If Bigou did write all the coded manuscripts that Saunière found in the church at Rennes-le-Château it is certain that the headstone in conjunction with the parchments was part of a greater and meticulously arranged plan.

 With the eventual arrival of the new Republic, Bigou left France and headed for Spain. Only two years later he died. Many other priests and members of the nobility emigrated in the same way. A very wise move when you recall what happened to the aristocracy in those bloody days not to mention to the ordinary man also.

 On the next page can be found the inscriptions on the Blanchefort headstones together with explanations as to their meanings.