Otto Rahn was born on February 18, 1904, in the tiny town of Michelstadt, in southern Germany. After graduating from a classical gymnasium at the age of eighteen, he studied law, philosophy, history within the walls of one of the German universities …
… 1926, behind the Faculty of History and Philology, Otto was left at the university to prepare for a professorship, he intended to write a dissertation on the famous Provencal troubadour Guyot, the author of the poem about the Holy Grail. (It was on the basis of the now-lost poem that Guillot created his "Parzifal" by the Templar adept Wolfram von Eschenbach 1170-1220; Rahn knew it by heart.)
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When Otto Rahn first picked up Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and read it cover to cover for the first time, he noticed a striking similarity to the names and places in southern France, suggesting that Munsalvaesche, the Grail castle Parzifale (Richard Wagner called it Monsalvat - Montsalvat), - nothing more than the Qatari fortress of Montsegur (Munsalveshe is the Portuguese name, translated into French - Montsalvat.). In Eschenbach's work, he felt the influence of Cathar poetry on the author. But Rahn did not stop only at the pages of Wolfram von Eschenbach, he went further.
The dubious assumption that the persecuted Cathars hid underground and performed their mysterious rites in underground temples was taken by Otto Rahn from the passionate explorer of Cathars Antonin Gabal, who lived there, in the Montsegur area, devoting his whole life to studying the history of the Albigensian movement. Gabal allowed Ran to use his library and private museum, where unique materials were kept. In letters, Ran called him his "Trevricent" (Parzifal's uncle in the work of Wolfram von Eschenbach) and developed the ideas set forth in Gabal's book "The Way of the Holy Grail", which remained virtually unknown to the overwhelming majority of the reading public.
Otto Rahn never wrote his thesis, and after graduating from university, he traveled for five years in Italy, Switzerland, Spain and France, doing research in the field of the Middle Ages, in particular, Protestant heresies, collecting evidence of the existence of the legendary Grail. Otto Rahn was also infected by the Qatari infection. He "got sick" and "got sick" - forever.
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Modern researchers believe that "Otto Rahn conducted his research according to the" living history "method. Cabinet historians still reject this method, subjecting them to ridicule. Although the author, by his own statement, “did not set the task of providing an exhaustively complete summary of the enormous material” concerning the “Qatari heresy”, he actually succeeded. He was the first to analyze from a unified point of view many aspects of the most interesting and original religious and philosophical system of medieval Europe. Ran chose a very original form of presentation - "travel notes", which allows the reader to feel his own involvement in the "great secret of the Cathars" - the secret of the Grail "(Tokmakov V. Graal: the great secret of the Cattars // Altai Pravda. October 24, 2003.).
In the early summer of 1929, Otto Rahn arrived in Languedoc (South of France). He settled in the village of Lavlane and, over the next three months, step by step, meter by meter, he explored the destroyed Cathar fortress on Mount Montsegur, as well as the grottoes of the surrounding mountains. ("For a long time I lived in the mountains of Tabor," wrote Otto Rahn himself. "I was fascinated by the crystal halls and marble crypts of the heretic caves. My hands were putting aside the remains of the" pure "and no foot did not destroy them. When my steps along the cave corridors echoed with a roar, I often stopped and listened to the sound of the troubadour's song about the highest love that makes a person equal to God in the thickness of the mountain … "(Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 299; See also: Beguin A. La Quete du Saint Graal. Paris, 1958. P. 118-120.).)
Here, in Languedoc, all places - the town of Carcayon, and the holy mountain of the Cathars, Montsegur, and the Church of Rennes-le-Château were covered in medieval history, and it seemed that it was here that all the legends about the Grail were connected.
“Studying the epic about King Arthur, only a literary historian is able to find Perseval (Parzifal), Galahad and Titurel. Exploring the caves - and they were the most important, albeit tacit and dangerous “documents” to me - requires the skills of a speleologist and an ancient historian. And only for the artist it is enough to say “Sesame, open up” to penetrate the mysterious and fairy-tale circle of the Grail,”wrote the impressionable but sober-minded Otto Rahn (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 8; See. also: Holtorf I. Die verschwiegene Bruderschaft Munchen 1984 S. 17.). Perseverance was what set Rahn apart from dozens of his fellow archaeologists.
Ran was repeatedly asked the same question: why, why did he study written sources with such pedantry, make exhausting underground passages, measure out centimeter by centimeter of caves and grottoes …
He replied:
"… I just want to introduce my contemporaries into a new land …" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. P.9.).
And for this, in his opinion, the Grail was needed!
“The word“Grail”was covered with darkness even earlier. The ambiguity not only in questions of form, but also in relation to the origin of the name clearly indicates that the shrine had its own prehistory, in which there was another well-known tangible value, also called the "Grail" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 9; See, also: Kampers F. Das Lichtland der Seelen und der heilige Gral. Koeln, 1916, p. 43).
Rahn's reasoning is subordinated to one single attitude:
Join the mystery of the Grail and you will get the whole world.
And Ran "joined":
“The numerous failures of the crusader movement resulted in a conscious cooling of religious fervor. What stands above reason was not forced out of the consciousness of the chivalrous society, but it ceased to be the only guiding star. The surrounding world of the East, full of miracles and fabulous splendor, made itself felt to the soldiers of Western countries more and more persistently. The exotic nature and other people aroused curiosity and wonder. In the travel stories and in deviations from the main topic, the excitement of eyewitnesses is felt. The old prejudices weighed more and more heavily on the followers of the Prophet. In the East, they discovered a civilization that was in many ways superior to them, they did not worship many gods, but professed faith in one and only god, the local residents had the correct ideas about universal human values,and warriors often crossed their blades in a fair fight for their knightly convictions. The place of blind prejudice was often taken by shortsighted fanaticism, especially in the days of the hardest battles. This strange mood opened the gates of the Western countries to the spiritual wave from the East, which until then were guarded in fear. The romance of the Crusades spread to the West. But she, like any romance, was based on dissatisfaction, striving for the great Unknown - for the Grail …striving for the great Unknown - for the Grail …striving for the great Unknown - for the Grail …
A good part of this romance of the Crusades entered the poetry of the time. The fabulous splendor of the East, with its views and moods different from those in the West, provides the creative principle with the richest material, takes possession of it and inspires it; however, it has not yet been possible to fuse this exoticism with mundane memories into a harmonious unity, and all this - with Christian legends.
Wolfram / Eschenbach's Parzival is a testament to this romance of the Crusades. Her schematic, half sensual, half spiritual, double world appears before us in his poetry, and thanks to this world the leitmotif of deep vision sounds. Against the backdrop of all the adventures and fairy-tale wonders, the symbol of this aspiration rises: the sanctity of a non-Christian nature and yet having religious roots. Wolfram himself is filled with the same tolerance. We only read once about how Parzifal's father Hamuret goes to serve the “main enemy” of Christianity …”(Kampers F. Das Lichtland der Seelen und der heilige Gral. Koeln, 1916. S. 21.).
Rahn studied the geometry of the sacred fortress of Montsegur, its orientation - walls and embrasures - relative to sunrise and its relationship with other sacred places of the Cathar-Albigensians, found passages to mysterious caves, where, as he thought, a mysterious treasure was supposed to be hidden.
He, alone, went to all the nearby villages, having visited all local churches, local cemeteries, leafing through all the literature available to him in local libraries and museums. He was helped a lot, he was shown the most mysterious nooks, passages, rubble, inscriptions, overgrown graves, paths and so on, and so on, and so on.
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Ran says:
“When the walls of Montsegur were still standing, the Cathars, clean, guarded the Holy Grail in them. And Montsegur was in great danger. The army of Lucifer approached its walls. They wanted to seize the Grail in order to strengthen it again in the crown of the prince of darkness, from where it fell when the rebel angels were thrown from heaven. And when the battle was almost lost, a white dove flew from the sky, and Tabor swung open. Esclarmonde, protector of the Grail, threw the shrine into the bowels of the mountain, and she shut herself up. So the Grail was saved. And when the devils took possession of the fortress, they realized that they were late, In a rage they seized the Cathars and burned them under the city walls … (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 66; Lot-Borodine M. Trois essais sur Ie Lancelot du Lac et la Quete du Saint-Graal. Paris, 1921. P. 23.)
“The Cathars left the mountains only to give the dying one 'last consolation' or to fulfill ancient legends for knights and noble ladies at a festival in some castle. In long black robes, with a Persian tiara on their heads, they looked like the brahmanas or disciples of Zarathustra. When one of them died, they took out the scroll with the Gospel of Jonas, which they wore on their chests, and read:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God is Spirit, and whoever turns to him, let him turn in the Spirit. It is good for you that I am dying. After all, if I don't die, comfort from God will not come to you. When will the Comforter come, whom I will send to you …"
Diaus vos benesiga. God bless you!
And the Cathars returned to their caves … (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 67.)
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A talented fiction writer has disappeared in Rana:
“The peasants of the small village of Montsegur, which, like a bee's nest, hung over the Lasse gorge at the foot of the cliffs crowned with an unruly fortress, say that on Palm Sunday, just at the time the priest is celebrating Mass, Tabor opens in a secluded place hidden in dense forest. This is where the treasures of the heretics are hidden. Woe to him who does not leave the bowels of the mountain before the priest chants the final words “ite missa est”. At this time, the mountain slams shut, and the treasure seeker comes to an end: he is bitten by snakes guarding the treasure … (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 204; Marx J. La legende arthurienne et le Graal, Paris, 1952. P. 75.).
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The indefatigable Otto Rahn explored the Sabart grotto south of Montsegur Mountain and very carefully the Lombrive grotto, which the local population called "Cathedral".
Deep in the grotto, Ran discovered halls whose walls were covered with symbols typical of the era of the Knights of the Temple (Templars), next to the emblems of the Cathars. This discovery confirmed the claims of mystical historians that the Knights Templar and the Cathars were closely related at one time.
One of the drawings carved into the smooth stone wall of the grotto was a spear. The legend of King Arthur is what immediately comes to mind.
Or maybe here is a hint of the Spear of Destiny, which will be discussed later?
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“A whole tribe of troglodytes could have settled in the innumerable caves of Sabart. In addition to large caves stretching into the depths of the mountains for miles, there are many grottoes and depressions between the cliffs. - This is what Otto Rahn wrote in his diary under the dim light of a stearin candle. - And now even in these grottoes and niches you can see the places where the beams used to be. There were dwellings, from which fire and time left only blackened limestone walls, several half-rotted or charred logs, and even in places where fire and the power of destruction were powerless - a drawing or an inscription:
- a tree, "world tree" or "tree of life", growing in the center of paradise, which the Greeks already knew about. The Hesperides guard the golden apples;
- a boat whose sail is the sun;
- fish, a symbol of a good deity;
- a dove, the embodiment of the Holy Spirit;
- the name of Christ in Latin or Greek letters;
- the word "Gethsemane";
- a beautifully drawn inscription GTS, in all likelihood, an abbreviated "Garden of Gethsemane", where Jesus was betrayed as a guard;
- a fragment of a sentence in which it is possible to read only the words "Santa Gleyiza".
Two grottoes have preserved the names: "Jesus' grotto" and "Dead man's grotto" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 68; Beguin A. La Quete du Saint Graal. Paris, 1958. P. 80; Holtorf I. Die verschwiegene Bruderschaft Munchen 1984 S. 18.).
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Ran used the brief respite to his advantage in describing his experiences in the caves he explored. The pages of the diary were filled with short, but very capacious entries.
“Lombrive is the greatest cave of Sabarte. From time immemorial, into the darkness of which our science hardly penetrates, there was a temple of the Iberian sun god Ilhomber. The shepherds and peasants of the nearby village of Ornoljak still call it the "Church".
Ornolyak is located in a valley through which the "path of the pure" ascended to the top of Tabor. The village is dominated by a wonderful Romanesque church, and the statue of Our Lady, carved out of wood by an inept hand, guards the fields and vineyards. In her arms is the baby Jesus, holding an ear of corn.
A steep path leads to the gigantic vestibule of the Lombrive "church". Here is the entrance to the enchanted underworld, in which history and legends hide from the world, which has become so reasonable. The path through the heart of the mountain passes by white limestone stalactites, layers of chocolate marble and sparkling crystals.
The huge hall, eighty meters high, was the church of the heretics. The earth, the creation of Lucifer, had to give them the most beautiful place so that they could feel the beauty that the true Creator created in the superstar world. The hand of the heretic has drawn the Sun, the Moon and the stars on the marble wall, so as not to forget God, who is light and love. And from the ceiling of the cave, lost in eternal darkness, water continuously and rhythmically drips. Until now, there are church seats made of stalagmites for everyone who wishes to enter this magical world.
When a thunderstorm rages outside, in the Ariez valley, the whole mountain is buzzing with streams of water that crash their way through the porous limestone. When the god of storm and death, Lucifer, throws fiery lightning at the trembling world, the mountain shakes to its very foundation.
From the Church of the Heretics, a stone staircase leads to another part of the Lombrive Cave, and after about an hour's walk, the road ends in a deep abyss. At its edge lies a huge stone on which a club-shaped stalagmite has grown. Inhabitants of Ornoljak call it "The Tombstone of Hercules" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 70-71.).
A short rest, and Ran goes back to the cave.
“One of the caves opposite the Lombrive Cathedral was called the Hermits' Cave, and the other, not far from it, was called the Fontana Cave. In its farthest hall there was a snow-white stalactite called the "Altar" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. p. 114; See, also: Lot-Borodine M. Trois essais sur Ie Lancelot du Lac et la Quete du Saint-Graal, Paris, 1921.).
And further:
“Three majestic stalagmites, towering over a mysterious lake in the center of the Lombrive cave, are named“Throne of the King of Bebriks”,“Tomb of Bebrik”and“Tomb of Pyrene”(O. Ran. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 72.).
And further:
“The caves of Sabarte were powerful underground fortifications. The walls erected everywhere, along which for centuries water and lime seeped from the rocks, keep a secret dormant in their shadow.
… Buan cave fortress. It has everything that is inherent in a medieval fortress: a donjon, stairs, casemates, a place for a sentinel. It differs from an ordinary castle only in that it consists exclusively of underground passages.
The second cave fortress, Ornoljak, is located on the opposite bank of the Ariega, between the Hermits' cave and the Fontana cave, not far from the dilapidated Uss baths, in the baths of which many water snakes frolic. After a tedious climb on the talus, you find yourself in an almost impenetrable thicket, consisting of fig trees and thorny bushes. Finally, having overcome this thorny hedge, you come out to the ruins of the fortress. Along the soot-darkened rock walls, you approach the entrance to the ruined cave fortress, protruding above the rock like a border guard patrolled with snow. Where there was once an entrance leading to the bowels of the mountain, nothing survived. This entrance was filled up when the fortress of the heretics was set on fire. How big this fortress was can be judged by the holes cut in both opposite walls for load-bearing beams:there should have been four - or even more - floors (O. Ran, Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 119; See: J. Marx La legende arthurienne et le Graal, Paris, 1952, p. 54 -56.).
And again Otto Rahn:
“The Gleiza Caves are located near Spulga de Ornollac and are connected to it through the Hermit Cave and the Fish Cave. The name "Cave of Fishes" was chosen by me and Mr. Gadal because there are Cathar images of fish in it. All these caves are located in the mountain of Que de Ussa (the word "Kers" is of Celtic origin and means "mountain") and are protected from the valley side by a strong wall. The villages of Ornolyak and Buan in Sabart are also called "Gleiza". The name of the other cave "Church" is even more surprising, since the Pyrenean peasants are in a panic fear of the caves.
The Lombrive Cave was explored by me and Mr. Gadal during the first twelve kilometers.
The most dangerous and mysterious of all the Ariezha caves is the "Spring Cave". At every step, wide cracks gape in the floor, from the depths of which water rushes out with a noise. During a thunderstorm, it also happened that the water passing through the porous stones blocked our way back. Apparently, there are warm springs in the mountain, since in this and many other caves the temperature is the same as in a real greenhouse. After the end of our joint research, I intend to publish a special work on the Phocian, Phoenician and, probably, Aegean burials found in the "Cave of the Source". Near all the crypts, "turtles" carved from stone were found, on which an arrow wound was depicted. Whether this turtle was a totem animal of the named cultures or it symbolized the dragon ("tarask") of the Tarasconians (Tarascon is the capital of the region) - we have not yet precisely established.
All objects found in the caves of Sabart are kept, with rare exceptions, in the private museum of Mr. Gadal. This also applies to the finds of the time of the Albigensians, of which the most beautiful exhibit is a sword found in the village of Buan (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 245-246.).
What did Otto Rahn find during his first travels through the mysterious labyrinths of Montsegur? And was he looking?
It seems that his goal then was different - to merge with this wonderful and mysterious corner of the earth, to proceed along and across the underground paths, to understand where, how and what the Cathars could hide, how the initiates could leave the besieged fortress. Ran compared sources with realities, drew diagrams, mapped roads and landmarks already forgotten.
Here is a list of authors whose work Rahn studied, from whom he sought answers to questions "revolving" around the Sacred Chalice:
In our contemporary, we find references to a number of other authors whose books Ran, as a serious researcher, knew:
“In medieval knightly literature, the Grail motif first appears in two French poetic novels of the late 12th century“A Novel on the History of the Grail”by Robert de Boron (part 1 -“Joseph of Arimathea”; from part 2 -“Merlin”only fragments have survived, here the saviors of the shrine are Merlin and his pupil King Arthur). In "Perceval, or the Tale of the Grail" by Chrétien de Troyes, the hero-seeker of the Grail is Perceval, one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table (and then Gauvin, Arthur's nephew). New heroes emerge: in French literature - Lancelot and his son Galahad (the prose cycle The Tale of Lancelot of the Lake or Lancelot-Grail; The Poem of the Holy Grail - 1st half of the 13th century), and in German literature, the son of Perseval Lohengrin (poem by Konrad of Würzburg "The Knight with the Swan"; anonymous poem "Lohengrin" - 2nd half of the 13th century). The Grail theme is associated with the novel by the English writer T. Mallory "The Death of Arthur" (15th century). In modern times, German romantics are developing the plot of the Grail in poetry (L. Uland) and drama (unfinished play by F. Fouquet, "Merlin" by K. L. Immerman); the English poet A. Tennyson refers to him in "Royal Idylls". In the art of music and drama, the legend of the Grail found a monumental embodiment in R. Wagner's opera Lohengrin (libretto by the composer based on an anonymous novel of the late 13th century) and Parzival (libretto by the composer based on the work of Wolfram von Eschenbach). In book miniatures (illustrations in manuscripts of the 13th-15th centuries), the Grail was depicted mainly in the form of a chalice "(Averintsev S. S. Grail // Myths of the peoples of the world. Vol. 1. M., 1991. S. 317-318.). In modern times, German romantics are developing the plot of the Grail in poetry (L. Uland) and drama (unfinished play by F. Fouquet, "Merlin" by K. L. Immerman); the English poet A. Tennyson refers to him in "Royal Idylls". In the art of music and drama, the legend of the Grail found a monumental embodiment in R. Wagner's opera Lohengrin (libretto by the composer based on an anonymous novel of the late 13th century) and Parzival (libretto by the composer based on the work of Wolfram von Eschenbach). In book miniatures (illustrations in manuscripts of the 13th-15th centuries), the Grail was depicted mainly in the form of a chalice "(Averintsev S. S. Grail // Myths of the peoples of the world. Vol. 1. M., 1991. S. 317-318.). In modern times, German romantics are developing the plot of the Grail in poetry (L. Uland) and drama (unfinished play by F. Fouquet, "Merlin" by K. L. Immerman); the English poet A. Tennyson refers to him in "Royal Idylls". In the art of music and drama, the legend of the Grail found a monumental embodiment in R. Wagner's opera Lohengrin (libretto by the composer based on an anonymous novel of the late 13th century) and Parzival (libretto by the composer based on the work of Wolfram von Eschenbach). In book miniatures (illustrations in manuscripts of the 13th-15th centuries), the Grail was depicted mainly in the form of a chalice "(Averintsev S. S. Grail // Myths of the peoples of the world. Vol. 1. M., 1991. S. 317-318.). In the art of music and drama, the legend of the Grail found a monumental embodiment in R. Wagner's opera Lohengrin (libretto by the composer based on an anonymous novel of the late 13th century) and Parzival (libretto by the composer based on the work of Wolfram von Eschenbach). In book miniatures (illustrations in manuscripts of the 13th-15th centuries), the Grail was depicted mainly in the form of a chalice "(Averintsev S. S. Grail // Myths of the peoples of the world. Vol. 1. M., 1991. S. 317-318.). In the art of music and drama, the legend of the Grail found a monumental embodiment in R. Wagner's operas Lohengrin (libretto by the composer based on an anonymous novel of the late 13th century) and Parzival (libretto by the composer based on Wolfram von Eschenbach). In book miniatures (illustrations in manuscripts of the 13th-15th centuries), the Grail was depicted mainly in the form of a chalice "(Averintsev S. S. Grail // Myths of the peoples of the world. Vol. 1. M., 1991. S. 317-318.).).).
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N. Goodrick-Clark wrote that “Rahn's concentration and scientific mind set him apart from eccentric occultists, there was a certain similarity of interests and motives between them. Their common concern was the search for the lost German tradition, presumably destroyed by the Catholic Church and other hostile forces (Goodrick-Clarke N. The Occult Roots of Nazism. Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. Bm., Bg. P. 210 -211; See also: Power of magic cults in Nazi Germany. M., 1992.).
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"The Holy Grail and the Third Reich", Vadim Telitsyn