According to the pseudohistorical '' Dossiers Secrets d'Henri Lobineau'' and related documents, Sigebert IV was the son of the Merovingian king Dagobert II who, on the assassination of his father, was rescued by his sister and smuggled to the domain of his mother, the (otherwise unknown) Visigoth princess Giselle de Razès in Rennes-le-Château. He is said to have arrived in the Languedoc in 681 and, at some point, adopted or inherited his uncle's titles, duke of

Razès Razès (; oc, Rasés; ca, Rasès) is a historical area in southwestern France, in today's Aude '' département''. Several communes of the ''département'' include ''Razès'' in their name: * Bellegarde-du-Razès * Belvèze-du-Razès * Feno ...

and count of Rhedae. He is also said to have adopted the surname, or nickname, of “Plant-Ard” (subsequently Plantard) from the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

appellation ‘''rejeton ardent''’ ‘ardently flowering shoot’ of the Merovingian vine. Under this name, and under the titles acquired from his uncle, he is said to have perpetuated his lineage. Journalists and scholars who have debunked the Priory of Sion hoax argue that Pierre Plantard created the ''Dossiers Secrets d'Henri Lobineau'' and the fictitious biography of Sigebert IV to support his false claim that he was a descendant of the extinct Merovingian dynasty through this figure. In 1990, Plantard revised himself by claiming he was only descended from a cadet branch of the line of Dagobert II, while arguing that the direct descendant was really Otto von Habsburg, who, according to Plantard, was descended from Sigebert I (the son of Bera II and the grandson of Wamba), who married Magdala, the granddaughter of Dagobert II. In the 10th-century biography of

Saint Arbogast Saint Arbogast of Strassburg; german: Arbogast von Straßburg; french: Arbogast de Strasbourg; la, Arbogastus; 600s 700 AD) was a 7th-century missionary in the Frankish Empire and an early Bishop of Strasbourg. Biography Only little histori ...

, ''Vita Sancti Argobasti'', Sigebert is mentioned but not named as having died during a hunting accident and later miraculously raised from the dead by Arbogast, Bishop of Strasbourg and close friend of Dagobert II.Christian Settipani, in ''La Prehistoire des Capetiens'' (1993) argued that the ''Vita Sancti Arbogasti'' is too late a source to be accepted without care, and points to evidence that it places Arbogast and his successor Florentius up to a century too late (Arbogast died in around 600). He argues that the trio of Dagobert II, and his alleged wife Mathildis and son Sigebert, may actually have arisen from confusion with Dagobert I, his wife Nanthilde and son Sigebert (his mother was actually Ragnetrude).

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See also