I have been attempting to find some validation of Laurence Gardner's work and his book "Bloodline of the Holy Grail", referenced on a link that Seven provided on this thread.
I have not found any serious review of his work yet (nothing that is not attempting to sell his books).
Unfortunately, the context of the sites that sell his books make it seem dubious at best. Check out this link:
url http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/2301/starfire.html
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I just found the first link that casts some doubt on the reliability of this book. It contains a foreword by a supposed HRH Prince Michael of Albany, Head of the Royal House of Stewart. This man's claim to royalty is discredited at the link below. The link also mentions Laurence Gardner's book as the source of the fraudulent claim:
This wholly fictional claim may is taken from The Bloodline of the Holy Grail - The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed by Laurence Gardner, The Chevalier Labhran de St Germain, ISBN 1-85230-870-2, and published by Element Books.[1] It is a complete invention, and cannot be supported by any documents or historical sources. The alleged genealogy is filled with falsehoods, the most obvious being that Prince Charles Edward, Charles III, never married "Marguerite O’Dea d’Audibert de Lussan, Comtesse de Massillan" (1749-1820), had he done so he would have been guilty of bigamy since he was already married to Princess Louise of Stolberg, who survived him. Perhaps this name is called into the equation because the Drummond Dukes of Melfort married into this same family and inherited the Lussan title.
url http://www.chivalricorders.org/royalty/fantasy/stuart.htm
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Here is a critical review of the book from this link:
url http://www.tektonics.org/LG.BHG_1852308702.html#Summary
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A review of Laurence Gardner's Bloodline of the Holy Grail --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by
J. P. Holding
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A correspondent asked me to look into this book, and I have to admit that I didn't have to read very far to get what I needed, for it is obvious what this book is up to on its face. That makes it easier to dismiss, though.
All that Gardner (a professed "internationally known sovereign and chivalric genealogist" and royal historiographer) does, quite simply, is rely on the works of previous writers who are quite nearly as uncritically insane as he is. Ahmed Osman, who asserts that Moses was actually Akhenaten. Baigent and Leigh, the Dead Sea Scroll conspiracy cretins. Barbara Thiering. Lots and lots of Barbara Thiering. Bloodline of the Holy Grail is nothing but conspiracy-theory, second hand, mixed in with an overwhelming host of extremely bad arguments that we've already had our day with on these pages and others.
With this consideration, it is no surprise that this book -- the premise of which is that the "Holy Grail" is actually a royal bloodline, descended from David through Jesus to certain people of the present day -- is endorsed by only one person, a certain "Prince Michael of Albany". I'll give you three guesses as to who the bloodline ends up with in modern times, and you won't need two of them....and you don't need to guess that this Michael guy might be in La La Land himself. Don't let the thick bibliography fool you into thinking that this guy has done any homework: Bloodline of the Holy Grail is sensationalist trash for the National Enquirer crowd. And second-hand trash, at that!
Edited by - AhHah on 28 October 2000 3:37:43
Edited by - AhHah on 28 October 2000 3:59:52