The Da Vinci Code

As the taxi passes through the Bois de Boulogne, a forested park home to a variety of nocturnal “freaks and fetishists” (170), Langdon recounts the Priory’s history. Founded by French king Godefroi de Bouillon in 1099, the Priory’s mission is to guard a long-held family secret, a secret that threatens the Church’s very existence. The Priory charged its military arm, the Knights Templar, with retrieving corroborating documents from the ruins of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem. After nine years, the Knights located the hidden documents, the significance of which granted them unlimited power throughout Europe. By the 1300s, Pope Clement decided the Knights had amassed too much power. He declared them heretics; they were rounded up and burned at the stake. The Priory, however, escaped the Vatican’s purge, and the documents were secretly smuggled away. The documents—known collectively as “The Sangreal”—are safely concealed to this day. Sophie asks what secrets they could possibly hold. Langdon reveals the Sangreal’s more commonly used name: The Holy Grail.

The power of the Sangreal documents, Langdon explains, lies in their revelation of “the true nature of the Grail” (175). According to the Priory, the Grail is not a literal chalice, but a