The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

Record summary

Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln’s The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail appeared in 1982 and argued for a secret historical lineage involving Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Merovingians, and the Priory of Sion. Its North American readership made it influential in modern religious conspiracy and alternative-history culture. The book is a historical claim and popular synthesis, not an apocalyptic journey or eyewitness report. Researchers should compare its sources with medieval documents, modern fabrications, and scholarly critiques, especially regarding the Priory of Sion’s twentieth-century origins.