One of the old tombs thus disturbed was that of Marie de Nègre d’Ables, Countess of Hautpoul (or Haupoul), who had been born in 1713 and died in 1781. There is actually no reason to single out this tomb as being in any way significant – except that both the original tombstone and a purported second stone related to this tomb have been used in the subsequent mythology of RLC – more of which elsewhere.

Evidence of Saunière’s wholesale redesign of the churchyard is seen in the present arrangement, in which there are no tombstones earlier than 1885, and in some later graves is mention of earlier burials in the same grave.¹⁴

Conspiracy theorists have made much of this, imagining that there was some reason other than a selfish desire to modernise behind Saunière’s actions. There was certainly village talk about Saunière and even Marie Dénarnaud moving stones and slabs in the churchyard, even after dark. But this was not carried out with any secrecy – on the contrary. The villagers not only knew about it but raised strong objections. The notion that Saunière was digging for a vast and secret treasure arose only after Corbu’s first release of the RLC myth and, as such, can be dismissed. One could with as much (or as little!) evidence claim that this writer’s next-door neighbour (currently busy planting tomato plants in his back garden) is actually engaged in trying to find a spectacular treasure hidden by King Midas when he travelled to Australia in a journey that has been covered up for centuries.

Mass destruction

The period between 1894 and 1895 saw a great deal of work on the church and in Saunière’s “library” being carried out. There is a bill made out to the cabinet-maker, Matthieu Mestre from Limous, for carpentry in the library – the amount is 917 francs.

There is, unfortunately, no doubt about where the money was coming from. Saunière was by this time regularly receiving substantial amounts of money for saying Masses. Something of pivotal concern occurred at the very beginning of January 1894. Up to this point, Saunière had been soliciting Masses“in good faith”. That is, even though he’d been increasing the number of Masses for which he was paid, up to that time he had every intention of actually saying those Masses. He kept careful records in his notebooks – but he must have been realising for some time that if his selling of Masses were to continue, if he were to get all the money he needed for the ambitious schemes for refurbishment and wealth, he simply was not going to be able to honour the commitments for which he was being paid. Saunière made a cold-blooded decision to let go of any remnant of integrity concerning those Masses. Below is a quotation from Jean-Jacques Bedu: