Holy Grail & Shugborough Code - Unconvincing "resolution"?

Whistlestop Background
For those of you who've never heard of the Shugborough Inscription before, it refers to a carved sequence of letters on an 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire.

The letters are: O U O S V A V V and are framed by the letters D M.

You can find out a little more here: Shugborough Inscription and Shugborough Historic Estate

Thought by some to make references to the final resting place of the Holy Grail, efforts have been made over the years to decode this inscription:

The Holy Grail theory originated from the conviction that the Anson family who lived at Shugborough were in the Priory of Sion, the secret society suspected as the successors to the Knights Templar and the guardians of the relics recovered from the Holy Grail, including the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper.

Source: Daily Mail

A search of ATS captures just a few of the previous decoding attempts and/or links to the Holy Grail:

Cryptic Clues to location of Holy Grail

NEWS: WWII Codebreakers close to finding Holy Grail

BTW: I'm by no means an expert on this subject, so I'd advise additional background reading rather than solely relying on my little summary here


Latest Update

History "buff" AJ Morton now claims to have decoded and clarified the inscription once and for all... and he claims it's nothing more than graffiti:

Morton's solution allocates each of the letters - O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V & D.M. - on the monument to people and places associated with the Shugborough estate. 'It is very likely that Mary Venables-Vernon of Sudbury Hall, the Baron Vernon of Derbyshire, the Honourable Edward Vernon-Harcourt and the 1st Viscount Anson of Orgreave and Shugborough were involved in the creation of the original "Shugborough Code",' he says.

He's also very convinced of his efforts:

'I've even tried convincing myself that I'm wrong, but I can't see any way out. While I'm pleased to have solved it, I do worry that I've destroyed something magical'

Source: Daily Mail

Personally, I think Morton's "solution" is weak at best and appears to rely on nothing more than what seems to be circumstantial coincidence. I think this is one mystery that - for me - remains far from resolved.

What's your opinion?

with all due respect.


Neither the word "grail"... nor the term "holy grail" is in the Bible.

It's a fanciful tale of man's design.

The book of Revelation or "Apocalypse" is interpreted by Jesus Christ. It is:


"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God [the Father] gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass..." (Rev.1:1).

Jesus' interpretation of the "symbolic" seven seals of the "parable" that is Revelation, is explained to His servants in Matthew 24, which speaks plainly of the same "end time" global events . [there can be only ONE end time]

The first seal, the "rider on the white horse" of Revelation 6, is the first thing of which Jesus warns us in Matthew 24:

"...Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." (Matt.24:4-5)

reply to post by Jophiel


Welcome

I agree the biblical basis for a "Holy Grail" is non-existent and the evidence for whether it exists at all could be considered speculative.

That said, those letters represent something (whatever/whoever that is) and, whether through sound basis or wishful thinking etc, they have ended up linked with what people consider to be a "Holy Grail".

Personally, whatever the letters relate to/represent, I think it would be interesting to find out one way or another

Et in Arcadia ego

reply to post by lizziejayne


Most people think its to do with Christianity but infact its completely heretical, and no, its nothing to do with jesus' 'cup' or 'bloodline' and no one will find it. It's hidden for a reason.

reply to post by Mez353


Ah, indeed - The Shepherds of Arcadia inscription. Good call

What are your thoughts - did Thomas Anson just have a wicked sense of humour when he commissioned the monument and relief?

reply to post by naeem11111


Sounds interesting - would you be willing to expand?

What are your thoughts on the inscription?

As a background to Mez353's post and my response, the relief on the Shepherd's Monument in the grounds of Shugborough Hall was based on the second version of The Shepherds of Arcadia painting by Nicolas Poussin.

Poussin has been linked to the Knights Templar:

Poussin was rumoured to be a Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and the original painting, now housed in the Louvre, has caused much speculation over its masonic symbolism.

Source: Shugborough Estate

The original painting is also associated with a suspected "code". The phrase "Et in Arcadia ego" is Latin and appears as the title of the painting. Suggestions have been made that the phrase is not grammatically correct and therefore have an alternative interpretation:

While the phrase "et in arcadia ego" is a nominal phrase with no finite verb, it is a well-formed construction because substantive and copular verb omission is perfectly acceptable in Latin. Pseudohistorians unaware of that aspect of Latin grammar have concluded that the sentence is incomplete, missing a verb, and have speculated that it represents some esoteric message concealed in a (possibly anagrammatic) code.

In The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, under the false impression that "et in arcadia ego" was not a proper Latin sentence, proposed that it is an anagram for I! Tego arcana dei, which translates to "Begone! I keep God's secrets", suggesting that the tomb contains the remains of Jesus or another important Biblical figure. They claimed that Poussin was privy to this secret and that he depicted an actual location.

Source: Et in Arcardia Ego

Et in Arcadia ego can translate to 'I lived in Arcadia' where arcadia is the pleasures of the earth. So essentially, it would mean 'I enjoyed the pleasures of the earth'.

Remember that the wealthy around this time had too much time and money on their hands and had the opportunity to devise such fun and leave intriguing lagacies, knowing that we in the future would be in awe of it all. I actually believe the graffiti theory. The relief on the statue base is a mirror image of the painting by Poussin, I think that this was chosen as at the time it was one of the most modern and famous paintings. A tracing may have been made and then the tracing rubbed onto the base stone for marking out purposes by the stone mason/sculptor. Or simply a copy from a book. I would assume that the Viscounts at Shugborough would have been connected enough to copy the original for real.

And as for the priory de sion theory, I do not believe it. I have done enough research to come to the conclusion that Rennes le Chateau is nothing but a fairytale, the priory is a falsehood made into a detective story and that there were no grandmasters, voluntarily or otherwise forced into position, in any such lodge or sect. I think the whole thing is a setup to write and sell a book to get on a best sellers list to be honest, and having seen many interviews with leigh and baigent I think that they are unintelligent fraudsters. On top of this, I know that Jesus Christ did not exist as there is not one mention of him in any records or writings by religious leaders, caesars, court historians or philosophers of theolgy and society at the time (Plato, Socrates, Pliny), or in the next 500 years after that supposed time of Christ. JC turned up in writings in around 745 ad. No JC = no bloodline to be had. The whole thing is made up bunk.

reply to post by Mez353


Cheers

TBH I'm totally open to the possibility this has nothing to do with the "Holy Grail" (whether that be a real or imagined artifact, information etc) and could nothing more than mischievousness or complete innocuousness.

However, the graffiti theory for me is too weak. As far as I'm aware, it relies on nothing more than a proposed correlation between the names of individuals associated with Shugborough at the time and the letters used for the coding. And even that delicate (and possibly coincidental) correlation relies on letter manipulation, which for me weakens the theory further:

Mr Morton said: "It is very likely that 'M'ary 'V'enables-'V'ernon of 'S'udbury Hall, the Baron 'V'ernon of 'D'erbyshire, the honourable Edward 'V'ernon-Harcourt and the 1st 'V'iscount 'A'nson of 'O'rgreave (a hamlet 'U'nited with 'O'verley) and 'S'hugborough were somehow involved in the creation of the original 'Shugborough Code'.

Source: Daily Telegraph

No doubt you're right and these letters mean very little (or at least signify something of little interest). However, it would be cool to find out with a degree of certainty what they do mean.

Originally posted by lizziejayne

Sounds interesting - would you be willing to expand?

Yes, I am willing to expand, go ahead.

What are your thoughts on the inscription?

What are yours?

reply to post by naeem11111


Cheers. Would you clarify your post further, providing additional information etc. If you're willing to share, I'm genuinely interested in what you have to say

Most people think its to do with Christianity but infact its completely heretical, and no, its nothing to do with jesus' 'cup' or 'bloodline' and no one will find it. It's hidden for a reason.

With regards to my own thoughts on the inscription, in all honesty I am completely undecided. I'm interested in this apparent link to the "Holy Grail" but am completely open to the possibility that it means something entirely bland and innocuous.

Originally posted by lizziejayne reply to post by naeem11111

 

Cheers. Would you clarify your post further, providing additional information etc. If you're willing to share, I'm genuinely interested in what you have to say

Alright here is what I know.

The Holy grail could be an artifact or ones personal spiritual journey, however what is it really?

The usual theory is that it was the cup used by Jesus of Nazareth at the last supper and at Joseph of Arimathea house, who is most likely to be his uncle and also used it to catch a few drops of blood at Jesus' crucifixion. Another one is that it was used by Abraham. The others say it is a dish or relic or even his bloodline from his wife Mary or even his skeleton! Its none of these.

It was said that Jospeh took the grail(lets say it was any of the above) and hid it at Glastonbury, England. Some say the original Templars found it at Solomon's temple underground and took it to Oak island as they were the first to 'discover' the new world not Colombus. I think that the Templars found it in the 12th century in Glastonbury hidden in a well.

If you read the legends of King Arthur, the holy grail and 3 more artifacts appear as well.The Holy Grail is said to be the ultimate goal for humanities spiritual quest.

The coded tale is linked with Catharism who were gnostics but they were being slaugthered by the catholic church so they had to keep their beliefs going by making up this tale. The writers of the tale deliberately called the grail different things, one called a dish, a cup, skeleton, bloodline etc to confuse people, but it also confused many Cathars as well as the elite nearly losing the key to the code.

The story of the grail is dressed up as its some Chirstian tale but to those in the know, it is completely heretical, the complete opposite. Do you own research and you will then understand, just leave out any theories linking jesus and you should make it.

It is to do with a spiritual quest, study Gnosticism to understand more, you will get a bigger picture. The Illuminati have an artifact called the holy grail which is said to 'speed up' a gnostics 'process' but only for those who have attained the mystery degrees.

I hope I have turned you away from the usual nonsense and brought you to another path.

With regards to my own thoughts on the inscription, in all honesty I am completely undecided. I'm interested in this apparent link to the "Holy Grail" but am completely open to the possibility that it means something entirely bland and innocuous.

To my knowledge, I have never heard of the inscription, most likely nonsense, and as the other member said, rich people back then had nothing better to do so...

-Naeem

reply to post by naeem11111


Cheers for sharing further

To be honest, I have some - but very limited - knowledge of both the "Holy Grail" and the Arthurian tales. I have previously attempted to read Chrétien de Troyes, but gave up due to a marked lack of success.

I shall definitely look further into what you have shared.

Originally posted by lizziejayne reply to post by naeem11111

 

Cheers for sharing further

Your welcome, however I would like to hear your view on the holy grail, if you don't mind.

To be honest, I have some - but very limited - knowledge of both the "Holy Grail" and the Arthurian tales. I have previously attempted to read Chrétien de Troyes, but gave up due to a marked lack of success.

Chrétien de Troyes who lived in the second half of the twelfth century, was the first person to mention the holy grail. Not much is known about him, just what you would expect from someone with secrets to hide, someone who didn’t want to be too conspicuous. It’s not even clear what his name really was. Chrétien is French for Christian, and Troyes is simply a French town, so Chrétien de Troyes is literally, ‘Christian from Troyes.’ In fact, maybe it’s just a Christian from Troyes. The second was Robert de Boron and third was Wolfram von Eschenbach. These three called the holy grail different objects to confuse everyone except those who have grasped Gnosticism will know whats really going on. All those movies and documentaries linking Jesus with the holy grail, its hilarious.

I shall definitely look further into what you have shared.

I wish you well on your personal quest for the holy grail.

-Naeem

reply to post by naeem11111

Your welcome, however I would like to hear your view on the holy grail, if you don't mind.

TBH I'm still undecided at the moment

That said, I've "dipped" in and out over the years, but am still very much non-committed in my views. If pushed, I suppose I'd say I don't believe it refers to a "true" relic and if there was such a thing, I don't believe it had any special "powers" etc.

My main interest is how and why such a story/myth has continued for so long. It's most definitely an interesting and intriguing area.

Originally posted by lizziejayne reply to post by naeem11111

 

TBH I'm still undecided at the moment

That said, I've "dipped" in and out over the years, but am still very much non-committed in my views. If pushed, I suppose I'd say I don't believe it refers to a "true" relic and if there was such a thing, I don't believe it had any special "powers" etc.

Yes your right in saying that the relic does not exist therefore it has no special abilities.

My main interest is how and why such a story/myth has continued for so long. It's most definitely an interesting and intriguing area.

The story or myth was created by Gnostics in this case by Cathers to preserve their beliefs when crusades were taking place against them. The writers mentioned in my previous post dressed it up as a Chirstian tale to fool those who do not have the 'keys.' Now you know why many people went astray so quickly and failed their quest in discovering the holy grail, but in reality true Gnostics will know what the story really means, its to do with ones own journey, to reach enlightenment.

Its gone on for so long because people love stories. People love reading about angels and heaven and if you do this and that and live a life where you and your family are screwed till death and just have blind faith you will enter paradise. The lazy mans way. Just read the 'holy' books of mainstream religions, filled with stories and a G-d we can not see nor hear except for 'prophets' and demands worship or you will go into hell and we are unfortunately brainwashing our children into all this and the cycle keeps going. No reasoning, no thinking, no maths, no formulas etc, just have 'blind faith.'

Like Martin Luthur, the so called 'protestor' once said "reason is the devil’s greatest whore."

Study Gnostism (as it was written by them) then read the tale once more, you will see where you went astray, just leave out Jesus of Nazareth and the rest of all the nonsense linking him. Take your time and one day, hopefully, we will all reach our 'holy grail.'

-Naeem

This code recently came up after some weird website was giving away hints and clues. They had black image files that revealed stuff after doing something with them in photoshop. I don't know if I can post a link to another conspiracy website so i'll give you a hint. Google search for:

"The True Sons Of The Fallen"

You'll find a thread on another website with lots of info on that specific website that is talking about this specific code.