11. Mary Magdalene Did Not Go To France
The key to the story told in The Da Vinci Code is that Mary Magdalene and her daughter, Sarah, who was also the daughter of Jesus, traveled to France in a boat as refugees. One bit of evidence that is cited is a festival that is celebrated every year in the French coastal town of Saintes Marie de la Mer. A ritual commemorates the arrival of a boat of refugees from Palestine, and on the ship was a woman named Mary and a child named Sarah. From this ritual, the deduction was made that the woman spoken of was Mary Magdalene and the child was the bearer of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ.
However, the ritual celebrated at Saintes Marie de la Mer does not commemorate Mary Magdalene but rather a different Mary. Additionally, the Sarah that is spoken of was Mary’s servant, not her child. The legend that was passed down about them was always understood to be a legend, even in the Middle Ages, and not considered to be a factual account. Other stories from the same region of France – including those surrounding places such as Rennes le Chateau and Montsegur, home of the Cathar castle besieged by Crusaders – have been taken as circumstantial evidence that the child was the Holy Grail, the bloodline of Jesus. However, each of the stories from the region disintegrates when held up to historical investigation.