Richard Harris Leigh (16 August 1943 – 21 November 2007) was a novelist and short story writer born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, United States to a British father and an American mother, who spent most of his life in the UK. Leigh earned a BA from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, a master's degree from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, and a PhD from the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...

''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''

Leigh met his frequent co-author

Michael Baigent Michael Baigent (born Michael Barry Meehan, 27 February 1948 – 17 June 2013) was a New Zealand writer who published a number of popular works questioning traditional perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is best known as a co-author ...

while living in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. They subsequently struck a friendship with the writer and British television scriptwriter Henry Lincoln in 1975 and between them developed a conspiracy theory involving the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

and the alleged mystery of

Rennes-le-Château Rennes-le-Château (; oc, Rènnas del Castèl) is a commune approximately 5 km (3 miles) south of Couiza, in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. In 2018, it had a population of 91. This hilltop village is k ...

, proposing the existence of a secret that Jesus had not died on the Cross, but had married

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

and fathered descendants who continued to exert an influence on European history. This hypothesis was later put forward in their 1982 book, ''

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' (published as ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' in the United States) is a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. The book was first published in 1982 by Jonathan Cape in London as an unoffic ...

''. ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' achieved enormous commercial success and has been described as "one of the most controversial books of the 1980s". It popularised the idea that the true object of the quest for the

Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...

was to find secret descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This bloodline is stated to have later married into a Frankish royal dynasty, the

Merovingians The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

, and to be championed and protected by a secret society known as the

Priory of Sion The ''Prieuré de Sion'' (), translated as Priory of Sion, was a fraternal organization founded in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard in his failed attempt to create a prestigious neo-chivalric order. In the 1960s, Plantard began claiming that ...

. These notions were later used as a basis for Dan Brown's international best-selling novel ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Lang ...

''. The day after publication, the authors had a public clash on BBC television with the

Bishop of Birmingham A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and

Marina Warner Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...

. The book rapidly climbed the best-seller charts, and the authors published a sequel, ''

The Messianic Legacy Michael Baigent (born Michael Barry Meehan, 27 February 1948 – 17 June 2013) was a New Zealand writer who published a number of popular works questioning traditional perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is best known as a co-author ...

'', in 1986. The book has been described as "a work thoroughly debunked by scholars and critics alike". Arthurian scholar

Richard Barber Richard William Barber FRSL FSA FRHistS (born 30 October 1941) is a British historian who has published several books about medieval history and literature. His book ''The Knight and Chivalry'', about the interplay between history and literat ...

has commented, "It would take a book as long as the original to refute and dissect ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' point by point: it is essentially a text which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate".

Other works

In 1991 Leigh published '' The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception'', co-authored with Baigent. The book follows the controversial theories of

Robert Eisenman Robert Eisenman (born 1937) is an American biblical scholar, historian, archaeologist, and poet. He is currently professor of Middle East religions, archaeology, and Islamic law and director of the Institute for the Study of Judaeo-Christian Orig ...

regarding the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

. Two books of Leigh's fictional works have been published: ''Erceldoune & Other Stories'' (2006), and ''Grey Magic'' (2007). Leigh's short story, "Madonna," was included in "The Random Review, 1982: The Year's Best Fiction, Poetry and Essays" (1982), the first in an anthology series edited by

Gary Fisketjon Gary Fisketjon (born 1954) was an Editor and vice-president of Knopf Publishing until his dismissal in May 2019. also accesherevia Wayback Machine Fisketjon created the Vintage Contemporaries line of paperbacks at Random House. He was the editorial ...

and

Jonathan Galassi Jonathan Galassi (born 1949 in Seattle, Washington) has served as the president and publisher of ''Farrar, Straus and Giroux'' and is currently the Chairman and Executive Editor. Early life Galassi was born in Seattle (his father worked as an ...

gathering "the best stories, poems, and essays published in American magazines in the preceding year."

Dan Brown suit

Some of the ideas presented in Baigent's earlier book ''

'', were incorporated in the best-selling American novel ''

'', by Dan Brown.NZ author claims copyright breach in Da Vinci Code
28 February 2006 In March 2006, Baigent and Leigh filed suit in a British court against Brown's publisher,

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, claiming

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

.Kiwi author takes on Dan Brown
1 March 2006 On 7 April 2006 High Court judge Peter Smith rejected the claim. On 28 March 2007, Baigent and Leigh lost their appeal, and were faced with legal bills of about £3m.

Death

Leigh died on 21 November 2007 in London from causes related to a heart condition.

Works

Co-written with Michael Baigent and Henry Lincoln

* ''

'', 1982, UK ** U.S. paperback: ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'', 1983, Dell. * ''

'', 1986

Co-written with Michael Baigent

*'' The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception'', 1991 *''

The Temple and the Lodge ''The Temple and the Lodge'' is a book written by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, in which the authors claim to trace a link between the suppressed Knights Templar and modern day Freemasonry. Synopsis The thesis of the book is that after the ...

'', 1991, *''Secret Germany:

Claus Von Stauffenberg Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. Despite ...

and the Mystical Crusade Against Hitler'', 1994 *''The Elixir and the Stone: The Tradition of Magic and Alchemy'', 1997 *''The Inquisition''. 1999

Self published

* ''Erceldoune & Other Stories'' (2006, ) * ''Grey Magic'' (2007, ).

Notes

References

Obituary in ''The Times'', 30 November 2007
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Richard 1943 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists British short story writers American conspiracy theorists Pseudohistorians Priory of Sion hoax American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers