The location on the Cardou is also indicated, according to Andrews and Schellenberger, on the tomb of Marie de Negri. Although Saunière had removed its inscriptions, these had already been published in a booklet in 1906. Later the texts were also printed in the above mentioned booklet "Le Trésor Maudit".
The tomb of Marie de Negri, Lady of Blanchefort, consists of two stones. The text on the standing stone has various typographic abnormalities. The letters concerned form a word, with which the coded text of the large document can be deciphered.
However, for my own research the horizontal stone appeared to be of greater importance… This stone contains a number of Latin words, each having various meanings. Andrews and Schellenberger interpreted the text as being references to the castles of Blanchefort and Arques. According to them the vertical line represents the Prime meridian of Paris which runs through the area. They discovered that a line which connects the two Templar crosses intersects the above mentioned vertical line at an angle of 60° . When you draw a line on the map from the castles of Arques and Blanchefort, at 60° to the meridian, the lines intersect near their previously found location of the "treasure". If this interpretation is correct it is not so surprising that Saunière removed the text.
Finally there is also a vertical text on the stone: "Et in Arcadia Ego". In the Story we come across this text more than once, e.g. on the painting "Les Bergers d’Arcadie", by Nicolas Poussin.
The standing stone of the tomb of Marie de Negri with the inscription. |
The horizontal stone with the (removed) inscription and the 60°-line.