The text consists of four principal groups of words separated by crosses. It is possible that the crosses could be interpreted as mathematical ‘plus’ signs. If you take the number of letters in each word then the groups reduce to the following numerical pattern:-

4.6.8	4.3.12
3.10.8	7.6.6

As they stand, these numbers have little apparent meaning. However, one can extract something by making a small rearrangement. By adding the groups containing single numbers and then the groups that contain one double number you end up with:-

	4	6	8	4	3	12
	7	6	6	3	10	8
Total	11	12	14	7	13	20

If you now take the letters of the alphabet corresponding to each of these numbers you obtain KLNGMT. Next, move forward 7 letters in the alphabet and you get RSUNTA which rearranged spells out ‘RUSANT’, the present participle of the verb Ruser, "to use cunning or deceit, to be wily, to resort to cunning or a ruse". It is interesting to note that the phrase "AD GENESARETH" which appears as a coded message in the text has each of its letters spaced exactly seven letters apart. The resulting word just obtained which also has letters placed 7 on in the alphabet may or may not be coincidental. Although this does not provide an immediate answer to the whole riddle, the author may have passed on two important clues; one, that this problem needs great cunning (which is pretty evident anyway) and two that by using the word RUSANT you now have a possible key to one of the other, as yet unsolved, encryptions.

Although something has been revealed from within the tangle of words this section has not finished yielding information.

The words Jésu Mèdela Vulnérum have been written quite a bit larger the rest of the group.  In addition the words contain accented letters, something unheard of in Latin. The two crosses do not actually divide the text in half so they must have another meaning, the most obvious one being that the word groups should not be interpreted as continuous text. As you will note from the manuscript itself, the same accented letters also appear in the body of the text on line 10 although in a slightly different order. These letters are highly significant. The author would not have gone to such trouble unless he wanted to draw special attention to them and alert the reader to some important fact.

There are several explanations as to the meaning of this section. A hotelier by the name of M. Buthion in Rennes-le-Château observed that if the words were read aloud with a normal French pronunciation you could form a readable sentence with a meaning quite different from the Latin:-

Jesus m’aidé la, vu le nez, romper ma dalle, n’est la crime, aspect qu’a temps otera, dit, lu aspect eu n’a penitent sion.

Very Loosely translated it means "Jesus helped me there, Saw the nose, to break my tombstone in two is not the crime when the time is right. The holy one of SION has not respected this idea".

There is some credibility to this interpretation and it is possible that Saunière arrived at the same conclusion because he did in fact smash a  grave in the cemetery of Rennes-le-Château to reveal a subterranean crypt.  The suspicion is that it was the cover stone of Marie de Blanchefort's grave but unfortunately there is no hard evidence to substantiate this. Whether he discovered something of importance we will never know.

Another interpretation of this message is to use the French pronunciation of the accented words Jé, Dè, Né which can be read as Jais, Dé, Nez. There is in fact a disused Jade mine (Mine de Jais) near to a place called Sougraignes. There is a rock in the form of a D near to Serbairou and finally there is another rock in the form of a nose (Un Nez) near to Peyrolles. One of the most commonly proposed theories by the many people who have studied this manuscript is that the majority of codes are in fact geographical references and directional indicators.

The accented groups could also be read in any of the following ways:-

J’ai des nez (I have noses)

J’aidé né (I helped born or loosely ‘birth’, even more loosely ‘to give birth’)

J’ai d’ainés (I have (some) eldest children)

The fact is, that this message at the bottom of the manuscript must have represented something fairly important to Bérenger Saunière because when he was rebuilding and redecorating the church he commissioned an ornate and highly decorated set of panels just below the altar, at the base of which was engraved the same words appearing in the manuscript. Actually there are errors in what he had inscribed. His inscription read:-

JESU VULNERUM MEDELA, PAENITENTIUM UNA SPES MAGDALENAE LACRYMAS PECCATA NOSTRA DILUAS.

Although slightly different the words are nevertheless essentially the same as those on the manuscript.  In any event these words held some special meaning for him. Please also refer to the section on the  Bas-Relief of the Church where I provide an analysis of this text which reveals still more information.

Finally it is worth noting that the accented letters on line 10 and those at the base of the document provide an almost irresistible temptation to join them up and form a variety of lines and angles which could be used as bearings on a map of the region.  In the next sections I use some of these to produce what I believe are the rudiments of an overlay to be used on a map.