was never a literal chalice used at the Last Supper. Instead, the authors argue: The "Sang Real" Pun

La Santa Sangre y el Santo Grial (originally titled The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

orchestrated by a Frenchman named Pierre Plantard in the 1960s to create a fake pedigree for himself. Genre Defying

: This book served as the primary blueprint for Dan Brown's mega-bestseller. Brown used the exact same theories regarding Mary Magdalene and the Merovingians, which even led to a high-profile unsuccessful plagiarism lawsuit brought by the authors against him. The "Fraud" Element

: The authors claim a secret society called the Priory of Sion has protected this bloodline for centuries, a secret supposedly shared by the Knights Templar. Why It Is a Cultural "Piece" Inspiration for The Da Vinci Code

: The term "San Greal" (Holy Grail) is actually a mistranslation or wordplay on "Sang Real" "Royal Blood" The Jesus Bloodline

: An interesting twist is that much of the "evidence" the authors relied on (the Dossiers Secrets ) was later revealed to be a