Notes on the possible Manichaean traditions in Europe........Were the Cathars the Bonpo of France?

They were later known by many names, including Paterini, Cathari, Bulgarians, Patarins, Gazarians, Turlupins, Runcarians, and Albigenses... The term 'Albigenses' probably derived from a Council which was held in the year 1176 at the town of Lombers near Albi.....

Albigensians were a sect of the Cathar movement

“The Albigenses followed Manichean dualism in its attempt to solve the problem of evil. They asserted the co-existence of two ultimate principles, a good deity (the God of the New Testament)

"The Visigoths were adherents of the Aryan heresy which denied the divinity of Jesus. Their descendants founded the Merovingian dynasty which ruled Gaul until the death of Dagobert II."      - Steve Mizrach, "The Mysteries of Rennes-le-Château and the Prieure du Sion"

"The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris contains a facsimile (produced by the monk Lucerius) of the highly reputed Fredegar's Chronicle - an exhaustive 7th-century historical work of which the original took 35 years to compile. A special edition of Fredegar's manuscript was presented to the illustrious Nebelungen court and was recognized by the state authorities as a comprehensive, official history. Fredegar (who died in 660) was a Burgundian scribe, and his Chronicle covered the period from the earliest days of the Hebrew patriarchs to the era of the Merovingian kings. It cited numerous sources of information of cross-reference, including the writings of St Jerome (translator of the Old Testament into Latin), Archbishop Isidore of Seville (author of the Encyclopedia of Knowledge), and Bishop Gregory of Tours (author of The History of the Franks)."      - Laurence Gardner, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, pp. 17 

"...The Merovingians were considered in their day to be quasi-mystical warrior-kings vested with supernatural powers."      - Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen, "Descendants of Jesus? Or Scam Artistes Extraordinaire?"

"Up until recently, little was known about these long-haired kings, as they inhabited that historical epoch derided as the 'Dark Ages'. The founder of the royal line, Merovech, was said to be of two fathers - his mother, already pregnant by King Chlodio, was seduced while swimming in the ocean by a 'Quinotaur,' whatever that was, and Merovech was formed somehow by the commingling of Frankish blood and that of the mysterious aquatic creature. Like the Nazoreans of old, the Merovingian monarchs never cut their hair, and bore a distinctive birthmark - said to be a red cross over the shoulder blades. Their robes were fringed with tassels which were said to carry magical curative powers. They were known as occult adepts, and in one Merovingian tomb was found such items as a golden bull's head, a crystal ball, and several golden miniature bees. And strangely, many skulls of these monarchs appear to have been ritually incised - i.e. trephanned." "The Merovingians were 'sacred kings' who reigned but did not rule, leaving the secular governing function to chancellors known as the Mayors of the Palace. It was the one of the Mayors, Pepin the Fat, who founded the dynasty that came to supplant them - the Carolingians."      - Steve Mizrach, "The Mysteries of Rennes-le-Château and the Prieure du Sion"

The Merovingians traced their ancestry back to the Benjamites who, according to legend, has fled from Israel to Arcadia in Greece.

"The avowed and declared objective of the Prieure de Sion is the restoration of the Merovingian dynasty and bloodline - to the throne not only of France, but to the thrones of other European nations as well." "By dint of dynastic alliances and intermarriages, this line came to include Godfroi de Bouillion, who captured Jerusalem in 1099, and various other noble and royal families, past and present."      - Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail 

"Near the end of the thirteenth Century a separate detachment of Templars was sent from the Aragonese province of Rossillon to the Rennes-le-Château area in southern France [the old Cathar stronghold]." This fresh detachment established itself on the summit of the mountain of Bezu, erecting a lookout post and a chapel.

Leonardo de Vinci (1510-19) - "Having little formal education, Leonardo enthusiastically accepted Nicholas's [of Cusa] new worldview [of an universe with no limits in space, no beginning or ending in time] as a justification for rejecing the outmoded authority of the 'pharisees - the 'holy friars' and of his 'adversaries' Plato and Aristotole." "For the first time since the Ionians, he put forward a conception of science that was wholly secular, in no way based on religious doctrines or philosophy....In Leonardo the craftsman, scientist, and inventor are merged into one."      - Eric Lerner, The Big Bang Never Happened

"Leonardo was left-handed; he was a strict vegetarian; he dissected dead bodies, he sought the company of alchemists and necromancers; he worked on a Sunday and only attended Mass when at court." "The only surviving sculpture that involved Leonardo in its making is the statue of John the Baptist in the Baptistry in Florence, on which he collaborated with the utmost secrecy with Giovan Francesco Rustici, a known necromancer and alchemist. And Leonardo's last painting was 'John the Baptist', showing him with the same half-smile as 'The Mona Lisa', and pointing straight upwards with the index finger of his right hand. This in Leonardo's work is a sign always associated with John: in the 'Adoration of the Magi' a person stands by the elevated roots of a carob tree - John's tree, symbol of sacrifical blood - while making this gesture. In his famous cartoon of St. Anne the subject also does this, warning an oblivious Virgin...The disciple whose face is perhaps accusingly close to Jesus' in 'The Last Supper' is also making this gesture. All these gestures are saying 'remember John'."      - Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince, Turin Shroud - In Whose Image? The Shocking Truth Unveiled

Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a New York Times bestseller written by authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln and published in 1982 by Dell (ISBN 055212138).

It details their own quest for the Holy Grail by investigating the concocted mysteries of the village of Rennes-le-Château dating from the 1950s in southern France and constructing a conspiratorial view of the history of the Western world.

After a decade of research, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln came to the following controversial conclusions:

Poussin's Et in Arcadia ego features prominently in the authors' quest

* There is a secret society known as Priory of Sion that has a long and illustrious history dating back to the First Crusade starting with the creation of the Knights Templar as its military and financial front.

* It had a large role in partaking in and promoting the "underground river of esotericism", the Alph, in Medieval Europe.

* It is devoted to returning the Merovingian dynasty, that ruled the Frankish kingdom from 447 to 751 C.E., to the thrones of Europe and Jerusalem.

* It protects these royal claimants because they are the literal descendants of Jesus and his alleged wife Mary Magdalene.

* The Roman Catholic Church tried to kill off all remnants of this dynasty and their guardians, the Cathars and the Templars, during the Inquisition, in order to gain power through the apostolic succession of Peter instead of the hereditary succession of Mary Magdalene.

"The avowed and declared objective of the Prieure de Sion is the restoration of the Merovingian dynasty and bloodline - to the throne not only of France, but to the thrones of other European nations as well."

Author Dan Brown, in his bestseller The Da Vinci Code, makes reference to this book, and uses several of the above claims as key plot elements.