The Knights Templar and Rennes-le-Château

 

In the 12th century, the Lord of Bézu and two brothers of the de Reddas family, became Knights Templar. Indeed, apart from the Lord of Bézu, Bernarus Sismondi de Albezuno, who, by testament, donated to the Temple, we find in the medieval manuscripts reference to two brothers who are also Templars. Could we, without the risk to extrapolate too much, consider that these two persons, named “de Redas”, and who possessed amongst other land in Espéraza, one of the sites closest to Reddas, were the resident lords, as their name of Reddas suggests, of the present Rennes-le-Château?
Let us note that generally, the name of the family Redas is written with a single “d”, and when it is about the names of places, as “dd” – Béate Marie de Reddas, or Reddensis for the Razes. Still, this is definitely not an absolute rule for the Middle Ages, with editors working in general in a most liberal fashion, according to their own desires.
As such, we discover in documents of the era, preserved in the archives of the Haute-Garonne, a multitude of parchments and other material containing these important precisions. These writings are accessible, upon consultation, in the series known as the “Maltese Fund”. Why? For the good reason that the majority of these goods have belonged to that Order: the “Holy Order of the Templars of Salomon” were made part, by pope Clement V upon the suppression of the Order of the Templars, of the Order of the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. As such, the documents and archives about almost all of the titles of the property of the Templars is located quite naturally with the new owners. In general, these manuscripts are notarised acts detailing possessions, sales, donations, exchanges, etc. There are sometimes also procedures and jurisdictional acts to be found. The total, of course, is of great interest to any researcher.
Diving into these writings of the Middle Ages, of the 11th and 12th century, we discover – amongst other editors of the era – a certain notary of Limoso (Limoux), who signed “Petrus Busanaps, public notary of Limoux and the residence of the Militia of the Temple in the Razes, who has written and signed this charter.” The acts created by this notary always end with his proper signature, which we reproduce here:

- Raimundus Fabri - Petrus de Solsona qui Sunt de campania - et Bernardus de Sancto Paulo rector... (...) Pétri Busanaps publici notarii in Villa Limosi et Domus milicie templi in Reddesio qui hanc cartam scripsi et Signarii
(Document: H. Malte, L 1 - XII.)

Largely, these texts have been written in Latin, sometimes – rarely – in Occitan. Sometimes, we only find bits, expressions or names, in the language of the land of the Oc. We also find other place names in these texts, such as: Vallis-Dei (La Val-Dieu), Carlati, for the Carla (which today is written as Carlât), and nearby, the rocks of Laouzeto. Then there is the Cadarona, which anciently was linked with the site of Campanha, where there was also a castle. Constantiano Coustaussa, Albesuno or Albezuno, with a z, Le Bézu, Béate Marie de Reddis or de Reddas, Rennes-le-Château, sancti Sebastiani de Campanha, Campagne-sur-Aude, Béate Marie de Kilhano, Quillan, Esperazano, Rouenago, Fano, and the stream of Fabiani, Antuniag, Sancta Maria de Reddis, Rennes-le-Château, Peirollan, Cassania, Sancti Félicis de Espineto, St. Félix de l'Espinet, etc.
For everything related to le Bézu, we note that, according to the “Dictionnaire Topographique du Département de l’Aude”, this site was also a parish, but it does not give us the name of the saint to which the site was dedicated. Nevertheless, in the same book, we find under the entry for Saint-Just-et-le-Bézu, this mention: parish church dedicated to St Eugenie. It is a saint that can also be found in the immediate vicinity, at another site dedicated to her, near St Julia de Bec. Apart from this sector, we don’t find any trace of her in the surrounding region. It is therefore possible that the appeal of St Eugenie is attached solely to the site of St Just.

Still related to the lords of Redas, we produced in the beginning of 2008, a genealogical map of the family in a book entitled “Rennes-le-Château et les Templiers”.
The elements that allowed us such a conclusion can be found in parchments of the 12th and 13th century, 1133-1243. In these highly interesting parchments, we go back to the first half of the 12th century, where we find several acts that make specific reference to the adherence to the Order of the Temple by Petrus and Boneti de Redas. It involves acts detailing donations concerning goods that belonged to them, specifically in Espéraza.
From the study of these texts it equally becomes clear that apparently Rennes and le Bézu (Albezuno) were historically very closely linked, both by geographical proximity as well as through parental bonds. We think (without extrapolating too much) that it is the same family.
As an anecdote and on a geographical point, we remember how in the 1950s-60s, Marius Fatin, owner of the castle of Rennes, whenever he had visitors to his domain, advanced the theory about the proximity of three locations: Rennes (le-Château), Blanchefort and le Bézu, all three places being equidistant when travelled on horseback.
Other than people named de Redas, we find – still in the same sources – in 1151 a lord of Bézu whose name is Bernardus Sismondi de Albesuno. The latter wrote a testament stipulating that he gave to the “brothers of the Temple”, and at the time of his death, that he would be buried in their buildings.
The Templar site closest to Bézu was the preceptory of Campagne-sur-Aude. To this end, we can add a link to the discovery of sarcophagi, made during works that were carried out in the second half of the 20th century, by the municipality at ground level at the principal road of the fort. We note that these tombs were orientated to the East. According to René Mazières, member of the Société d’Etudes Scientifique de l’Aude, the slabs of the cover stones were engraved. He laments in his overview – correctly – that no trace of it has been preserved, either in the form of photographs or drawings.
There was also, it is said, archaeological furniture which could have been of the utmost importance, amongst which were one or several swords, as well as jewellery. It were the inhabitants of the village, present as they were at the time of the discovery, that carried the objects to their homes.
As to the slabs, they were broken.
Let us also note in passing that other sarcophagi and medieval remains were found in this fort of Campagne and its immediate surroundings, but that, for most of the time, that they were occulted in such a manner that we don’t know anything more. This is of course regrettable from a historical point of view, this in a region that was so rich in medieval history.
Nevertheless, nothing hinders us to ponder whether one of these sarcophagi might have been that of the Templar Bernardus Sismundi de Albesuno, lord of Bézu.
As to the two brothers of Redas, we need to conclude that, for the moment, not a single element has allowed us to deduce what became of them: whether they left for the Middle East, or where they died. As to for Pierre de Redas, the one who became Pierre de St Jean when he entered the Order of Temple, we think that he was far more monk than warrior, and when one looks at the dates, it seems that he was too old in 1172 to leave to the Middle East and the wars that were fought there.
On the other hand, we also know that this Pétri de Redas – who could read and write – occupied a role of importance in the Order of the Temple in the Aude region. He even finished, a decade later, in becoming its master, in the year 1156.
As to the reason why Pierre de Redas took the name of Pierre de St Jean, this could be linked with the site of St Jean de Karreira, a site that fell under the responsibility of him, a type of administrative role, as in certain acts we find his name linked with this site which is located on the mountain of Alaric, in the Corbières, south of Barbaira (and where there are interesting remains).
Another point to note: in the Templar documents of the Aude, we discover in the same batch of manuscript, an act that was made before the creation of the Order of the Temple, an act related to St John the Baptist de Karreira. It is about a donation effected in March 1113, with as destinary the prior and his clerks, who resided on this site and who were not Templars, as at the time the Order didn’t exist yet.
Some fifty years later, when this site had become, in total, the property of the Templars, it is indeed Pierre de St Jean, the brother of Bonnet de Redas, who is present for various transactions. He is there in the role of “magistri honoris militie”.
The commander of the site was the Templar Petro de Paderno comendatori domis Sancti Johanni de Karreira.
(On occasion the documents gave the vocation as Sancto Johanni Baptisti de Karreira. One has the impression that over time, step by step, the term “Baptisti” was lost and only the name “St Jean de Karreira” remained – See “Cartulaires des Templiers de Douzens, by E. Magnou & P. Gérard, Bibliothèque Nationale, 1965.)

George Kiess