Pierre Plantard
Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard 18 March 1920 Paris, France |
| Died | 3 February 2000 (aged 79) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names | Thuradane Vrix (Hand of Sion) |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Known for | Founder of the Priory of Sion, esotericist, medium, con artist |
Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair (born Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard, 18 March 1920 – 3 February 2000) was a French technical artist, best known for being the principal fabricator of the Priory of Sion hoax, by which he claimed from the 1960s onwards that he was a male-line Merovingian descendant of Dagobert II and the "Great Monarch" prophesied by Nostradamus. Today in France, he is commonly regarded as having been a con artist.