From Dagobert II to Pierre Plantard
According to the internal tradition of the Prieuré de Sion, the Order maintains a direct symbolic and initiatic continuity with the Merovingian dynasty, extending from King Dagobert II to Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair.
This continuity is understood not merely in dynastic terms, but as the transmission of a sacred kingship tradition in which royal authority, spiritual legitimacy, and initiatic responsibility are inseparably united.
Dagobert II and the Crisis of Succession
Dagobert II, heir to the throne of Austrasia, was born in 651, the son of King Sigebert III. His early life unfolded under dramatic and unstable circumstances. Before Dagobert’s birth, Sigebert—believing himself unable to produce an heir—had adopted Childebert, the son of his powerful mayor of the palace, Grimoald, and promised him succession.
When Dagobert was unexpectedly born, Sigebert sought to reverse this arrangement, obliging Grimoald by oath to protect the child and ensure his accession. Upon Sigebert’s death in 656, Grimoald instead orchestrated a coup: the young Dagobert was abducted and entrusted to Didon of Poitiers, who, unwilling to commit murder, had the child tonsured and removed from political life. Dagobert was subsequently confined to monastic exile, possibly in Ireland or Scotland.
His mother, Chimnechild, was led to believe her son had perished. Yet opposition from Austrasian and Neustrian nobility prevented the consolidation of Grimoald’s plan, and Dagobert’s claim to the throne remained alive.
Exile, the Celtic Church, and Wilfrid of York
During his exile, Dagobert came under the protection of Wilfrid of York, a powerful ecclesiastical figure with significant influence in Rome following the Synod of Whitby.
This period is of particular importance, as it situates Dagobert within the spiritual environment of Celtic Christianity, a monastic tradition rooted in a form of early Christianity considered by many scholars to be closer to apostolic origins.
The Celtic Church, which traced its spiritual lineage to Mark the Evangelist, was perceived by Rome as a rival and was gradually suppressed or absorbed. Wilfrid’s support for Dagobert was therefore not merely political, but strategic, aimed at consolidating Roman influence while neutralizing heterodox Christian traditions.
Marriage, Restoration, and the Birth of Sigebert IV
After completing his education at the monastery of Slane, Dagobert married a Celtic princess, Matilda, with whom he had three daughters. Following her death, Wilfrid arranged a second marriage with Giselle of Razès, daughter of Bera II, Count of Razès and son of Wamba.
According to tradition, this marriage took place at Rennes-le-Château, then known as Rhedae, the last Visigothic stronghold in Gaul.
In 674, Dagobert succeeded in reclaiming the throne of Austrasia. Two years later, Giselle gave birth to a male heir, Sigebert IV, securing dynastic continuity. Dagobert governed decisively, restoring order among rebellious nobles and reasserting authority over Aquitaine. However, his tolerance toward Arian Christianity—linked to his Visigothic alliances—placed him at odds with Roman ecclesiastical interests.
Assassination and Damnatio Memoriae
On 23 December 679, Dagobert II was assassinated during a hunting expedition in the forest of Woëvres near Stenay. The murder is traditionally attributed to agents of Pepin of Herstal, with the tacit approval of Roman ecclesiastical authorities, who preferred political stability over doctrinal dissent.
Following his death, Dagobert was subjected to what later scholars have described as a damnatio memoriae: his reign was minimized, obscured, or erased from official narratives, and his heir’s fate deliberately left ambiguous.
The Survival of Sigebert IV
Here the historical record diverges into two principal traditions.
The first, preserved within the Prieuré de Sion, holds that Sigebert IV, Dagobert’s son, survived the purge and was secretly taken to Rennes-le-Château, where he lived under the protection of his maternal relatives, assuming the title of Count of Razès and perpetuating the Merovingian bloodline.
A second version suggests a more indirect lineage through Dagobert’s descendants, though this interpretation is complicated by Salic Law, which excluded female succession. For the Prieuré de Sion, only the first scenario preserves legitimate dynastic continuity.
Rediscovery by Early Modern Scholarship
Despite centuries of obscurity, Dagobert II and his lineage were rediscovered in the seventeenth century by scholars such as Adrien de Valois and, notably, by the Jesuit Godefroid Henschen, a member of the Bollandists.
Through the critical methodology employed in the Acta Sanctorum, Dagobert II was restored to Merovingian genealogies. His canonization as a martyr—formally recognized in the ninth century—was reaffirmed, and his relics were transferred for public veneration to the church of Saint Dagobert in Stenay.
Ironically, the same rigorous historical method that rehabilitated Dagobert later provoked suspicion within Rome; several volumes of the Acta Sanctorum were placed on the Index, illustrating the enduring tension between historical inquiry and institutional authority.
From Merovingian Kingship to Initiatic Transmission
Within the Prieuré de Sion, the Merovingian lineage is not regarded solely as a political dynasty, but as a sacred line of transmission. The survival of this lineage—culminating, according to internal tradition, in Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair—is understood as the preservation of a royal and spiritual principle rather than a claim to temporal power.
This continuity links sacred kingship, early Christianity, and initiatic responsibility into a single tradition that the Prieuré de Sion continues to uphold in symbolic, doctrinal, and initiatic form.
The connection between the Prieuré de Sion, the Merovingian dynasty, Dagobert II, and Pierre Plantard belongs to a domain where documented history, scholarly reconstruction, and initiatic tradition intersect. While certain aspects remain contested or obscured by centuries of political and religious conflict, the coherence of this tradition rests on a consistent transmission of symbols, genealogies, and spiritual principles.
In preserving this lineage, the Prieuré de Sion affirms continuity not merely of blood, but of meaning—linking the origins of early Christian kingship to a living initiatic order in the present age.