This is the English translation from the part of the Vindicta Salvatoris that refers to the cave made by Tiberius in Septimania in the name of Christ, that Christian Doumergue interprets as a “Tomb of Christ” – and something he claims can be archaeologically discovered,

The final words of the manuscript refer to an immortal Christ: “lives and reigns for ever and ever”.

Of course, the Emperor Tiberius never converted to Christianity, the Vindicta Salvatoris is an apocryphal work, not a work of accurate history also representing the version of Christianity of the New Testament, not the “Jesus Bloodline” of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

The references in the manuscript about Tiberius travelling to Septimania and making a cave in the name of Christ are clearly later inventions, since these statements do not exist in earlier versions of the Vindicta Salvatoris.

This later invention to the Vindicta Salvatoris was probably derived from the name Tiberius. Saint Thibéry was one of the blessed three martyrs: Tiberius, Modeste and Florence, who were persecuted under Diocletian at Agde, France. Their remains rested in a sepulchre in the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Thibéry, by the banks of the River Hérault, founded around 770, until it was destroyed during the French Revolution. The claim about the “cave in the name of Christ” was simply modelled on the sepulchre of the martyr Saint Thibéry – because Saint Thibéry was on the route of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella (La Via Domitia). The feast day of Saint Thibéry is 10 November. Parisinus Lat. 5327 does not predate the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostella. The claim that this version of the Vindicta Salvatoris originally dates from 700 AD (Zbigniew S. Izydorczyk) is without proof, there is no extant manuscript dating from that period of time, there is no evidence.

LATIN (Revised Transcript)

Tunc tiberius dimisit regnum suum ascendit in navem cum velosiano fidelem suum. Perrexerunt venerunt in partes septimanias et descendent in civitatem quæ vocatur nigra sive quæ dicitur agathe. Perrexerunt per fluvium araure. Pervenit ad ramum qui dicitur tincta. Deditque velosiano septimaniam ut regnaret et gubernaret omnem regnum ei. Et fecit speluncam in nomine domini nostri christi in illo anno. Requievit in pace adjuvante domino nostro christo qui vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculorum. [END]


ENGLISH TRANSLATION (Revised)

Then Tiberius left his kingdom and went aboard a ship with his faithful Velosianus. They wandered, and they arrived in Septimania and then went down to the city which is called Nigra [the black city] but which is also known as Agde. They followed the course of the River Hérault. Tiberius came to the tributary of that river which is called the Thongue. And he gave Septimania to Velosianus that he might reign there and govern the whole kingdom for him. And he made a cave in the name of our Lord Christ in that year. It has remained undisturbed with the help of Our Lord Christ who lives and reigns for ever and ever. [END]


FRENCH TRANSLATION (Revised)

Alors Tibère abandonna son royaume, monta dans un navire avec Volusien, son fidèle serviteur; il se dirigea vers la Septimanie, et descendant dans une ville qui s'appelle Noire, ou que l'on nomme Agde, il suivit le cours de l'Hérault et parvint à la rivière appelée Tincta; il donna la Septimanie à Volusien pour qu'il y règne et gouverne tout ce royaume; cette année-là il fit une grotte au nom de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Il reposa en paix, avec l'aide de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ qui vit et règne dans les siècles des siècles. Amen. [END]

Entire Contents of Parisinus Lat. 5327
Bibliothèque Nationale

1.° Vita sancti Martini, Confessoris: authore Sulpitio Severo
2.° Vita sancti Gregorii, Papae
3.° Passio sanctorum Tiburtii et Valeriani
4.° Vita sanctae Waltburgae, Virginis
5.° Gesta Domini nostri Jesu Christi quae invenit Theodosius Magnus, Imperator, in Hierusalem, in Praetorio Pontii Pilati: sive evangelium Nicodemi (this contains the “Vindicta Salvatoris” part of Lat. 5327, pages 57-64)
6.° Anonymi sermo de vindicta Domini
7.° Sermo de sancto Joachim
8.° Sermo de assumptione beatae Mariae Virginis
9.° Fragmentum de inventione sanctae Crucis
10.° Vita Adae et Evae
11.° Vita sancti Basilii Magni : authore Amphilochio, Iconiensi Episcopo
12.° Vita sancti Eligii : authore Dadone, Rothomagensi Episcopo
13.° Vita sancti Joannis Evangelistae : authore Miletone, Laodicensi
14.° Vita sancti Arnulfi, Episcopi
15.° Anonymus de palatio, de quo narratur in passione sancti Thomae, Apostoli
16.° Passio sancti Andreae, Apostoli


* The final paragraphs of the “Vindicta Salvatoris” in Parisinus Lat. 5327 were translated into French as “Vengeance du Sauveur” in 2005. The book contained a combined translation into French of the following versions of the “Vindicta Salvatoris”:

-Manuscript of Saint-Omer (O, Bibliothèque Municipale, ninth century);
-Paris 5327 (P, Bibliothèque Nationale, ninth-eleventh century);
-Milan Manuscript (M, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, fourteenth century);
-Venice Manuscript (V, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, fifteenth century).

Pierre Geoltrain, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, General Editors, Écrits Apocryphes Chrétiens, Tome II, Collection Bibliothèque de la Pléiade Nr 516, Gallimard, 2005 (Vengeance du Sauveur, combined translation of four manuscripts, edited and translated by Gisèle Besson, Michèle Brossard-Dandré & Zbigniew Izydorczyk, pages 369-398). This was what Christian Doumergue used as his version of the Vindicta Salvatoris in La Tombe Perdue: Le Corps du Christ repose-t-il dans le Sud de la France? (Grez-sur-Loing: Pardès, 2007).