Michael Baigent

Michael Baigent, born March 1948 in Christchurch, New Zealand,^[1] is an author and speculative historian who co-wrote (with Richard Leigh) a number of books that question mainstream perceptions of history and many commonly-held versions of the life of Jesus. He is best known for co-writing the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

Biography

His father was a New Zealand teacher, and his great-grandfather had founded a forestry firm, "H. Baigent and Sons".

Baigent grew up in Motueka and Wakefield, small communities on the sparsely-populated South Island of New Zealand. His upbringing was Catholic, and he attended church three times a week, as well as being tutored in Catholic theology from the age of 5. His father left the family when he was 8 years old, and Baigent took the name of his maternal grandfather, Lewis Baigent.

His secondary schooling was at Nelson College, and then he moved on to Canterbury University, Christchurch, initially intending to study science and continue in the family career of forestry, but then switched to studying comparative religion and philosophy, studying Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. He traveled to Australia and Southeast Asia, occasionally living on the street. He then returned to Auckland, receiving a BA in psychology. In 1976, he moved to England, where he met Richard Leigh, the man who was to be his roommate and frequent co-author. Leigh introduced him to France's Rennes le Chateau mystery, and Baigent launched into research on the matter . He worked briefly at the BBC photographic department, and worked night shifts at a soft-drink factory.

Baigent is currently pursuing an MA in Mysticism and Religious Experience at the University of Kent. He lives in Somerset with his wife, Jane. They have two daughters, one of them named Tansy (born c. 1986). He has been editor of Freemasonry Today since April 2001, which he has used as a platform for a more liberal approach to Freemasonry.^[2] He is a trustee of the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre.

Writing

Baigent and Leigh's book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was published on January 18, 1982, the day after the authors had a public clash on television with the Bishop of Birmingham.^[3] The book rapidly climbed the bestseller charts, and has reportedly, as of 2006, sold two million copies, with the film rights having been bought by Paramount. In March 2006, concurrent with the plagiarism trial against author Dan Brown, Baigent released a new book, The Jesus Papers, amid criticism that it was just a reworking of themes from Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and timed to capitalize on the marketing hype around the release of the movie The Da Vinci Code, as well as the attention brought by the trial.

As a historian, Baigent sometimes comes under fire. For example, Bernard Hamilton, writing in the English Historical Review (Vol. 116, No. 466 (Apr., 2001), pp. 474-475) described Baigent's treatment of The Inquisition in his 1999 book of the same name (with Richard Leigh) as pursuing "a very outdated and misleading account of this institution [the Inquisition]". In a review in the Spectator magazine (8 January 2000), reviewer Piers Paul Read said the authors: "show no interest in understanding the subtleties and paradoxes in the history of the Inquisition" (see review). However, on the book cover Ian Thomson of the Financial Times describes the book as "good popular history in a fast-paced narrative".

Dan Brown suit

Some of the ideas which were incorporated in the bestselling American novel The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, were also presented in Baigent's earlier book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. ^[4] In March 2006, Baigent and Leigh filed a lawsuit in a British court against Brown's publisher, Random House, claiming copyright infringement.^[5] On 7 April 2006, High Court judge Peter Smith rejected the copyright-infringement claim by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, and Dan Brown won the court case. On 28 March 2007, Baigent and Leigh lost their appeal against this decision and were faced with legal bills of about 3 million pounds (see Guardian article).

Works

• Ancient Traces: Mysteries in Ancient and Early History (1998) ISBN 067087454X
• The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History (2006) ISBN 0-06-082713-0
• From the Omens of Babylon: Astrology and Ancient Mesopotamia (Arkana S.) ISBN 0140194800

Co-written with Richard Leigh

• The Temple and the Lodge ISBN 0-552-13596-8
• The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
• The Elixir and the Stone: The Tradition of Magic and Alchemy
• Secret Germany: Claus Von Stauffenberg and the Mystical Crusade Against Hitler
• The Inquisition

Co-written with Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln

• The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, 1982, UK ISBN 0-09-968241-9
  • U.S. paperback: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, 1983, Dell. ISBN 0-440-13648-2
• The Messianic Legacy
• Enigma Sagrado

Co-written with other authors

• Mundane Astrology: Introduction to the Astrology of Nations and Groups (co-written with Nicholas Campion and Charles Harvey)
• In Search of the Holy Grail and the Precious Blood: A Traveller's Guide to the Sites and Legends of the Holy Grail (co-written with Ean Begg, Deike Rich, and Deike Begg)

References

1. ^ Speaker biography
2. ^ Michael Baigent, editor of Freemasonry Today, said he had always felt odd "meeting with friends dressed as though I am attending a funeral". Referring to the origins of the black tie tradition, he added: "This period of mourning became enshrined in tradition, and we have mourned ever since." Masons end their black tie affair
3. ^ New Zealand Herald, March 12, 2006, "The Kiwi trying to break the Code"
4. ^ NZ author claims copyright breach in Da Vinci Code, February 28, 2006
5. ^ Kiwi author takes on Dan Brown, March 1, 2006

External links

• Baigent biography, and review of The Jesus Papers from priory-of-sion.com
• 'Da Vinci," other books fit conspiracy fixation, April 13, 2006, MSNBC (includes AP photo of Baigent)

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