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

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, 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 in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, a master's degree from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, 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 university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''

Leigh met his frequent co-author Michael Baigent while living in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. They subsequently struck a friendship with the writer and British television scriptwriter

Henry Lincoln Henry Soskin (12 February 1930 – 23 February 2022), better known as Henry Lincoln, was a British author, television presenter, scriptwriter, and actor. He co-wrote three ''Doctor Who'' multi-part serials in the 1960s, and — starting in th ...

in 1975 and between them developed a conspiracy theory involving the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

and the alleged mystery of

Rennes-le-Château Rennes-le-Château (; ) is a commune approximately 5 km (3 miles) south of Couiza, in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. This hilltop village is known internationally; it receives tens of thousands of vis ...

, 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 crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

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 unoffici ...

''. ''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 (, , , ) 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 miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...

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 around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

, 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 organisation founded in France and dissolved in 1956 by hoaxer Pierre Plantard in his failed attempt to create a prestigious neo-chivalric order. In the 1960s, Plantar ...

. These notions were later used as a basis for

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon (book series), Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), '' ...

's international best-selling novel ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is “the best-selling American novel of all time.” Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon—the first was his 2000 novel '' Angels & Demons''� ...

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

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television with the

Bishop of Birmingham The Bishop of Birmingham heads the Church of England Diocese of Birmingham, in the Province of Canterbury, in England. The diocese covers the North West of the historical county of Warwickshire and has its see in the City of Birmingham, Wes ...

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 publication ...

. The book rapidly climbed the best-seller charts, and the authors published a sequel, '' The Messianic Legacy'', in 1986. The book has been described as "a work thoroughly debunked by scholars and critics alike". Arthurian scholar

Richard Barber Richard William Barber (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 literature, won the Somer ...

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 called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

. 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 and Jonathan Galassi 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

.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 imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, claiming

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

.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. * '' The Messianic Legacy'', 1986

Co-written with Michael Baigent

*'' The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception'', 1991 *'' The Temple and the Lodge'', 1991, *''Secret Germany:

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

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