Editing Merovech (section)

==References in popular culture==
The legend about Merovech's conception was adapted in 1982 by [[Michael Baigent]], [[Richard Leigh (author)|Richard Leigh]] and [[Henry Lincoln]] in their book ''[[The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail]]'', as the seed of a new idea. They hypothesized that this "descended from a fish" legend was actually referring to the concept that the Merovingian line had married into the bloodline of [[Jesus Christ]], since the symbol for early Christians had also been a [[Ichthys|fish]].  This theory, with no other basis than the authors' hypothesis, was further popularized in 2003 via [[Dan Brown]]'s bestselling novel, ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]''.<ref>''Behind the Da Vinci Code'', 2006, [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] documentary about Henry Lincoln</ref><ref>''Holy Blood Holy Grail'', Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln, 1982</ref> However, there was no evidence for this claim that Merovech is descended from Jesus.

The identity and historicity of Merovech is one of the driving mysteries in ''The Widow’s Son'', second book of [[Robert Anton Wilson]]’s ''[[The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles]],'' first introducing the fish legend to the reader by having the early [[Merovingian]]s appear in a vision as a hideous fish creature. Wilson then goes a step further by identifying Jesus and Mary Magdalene as the bridegroom and bride in ''[[Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz|The Alchemical Marriage of Christian Rosycross]]'' and Merovech as the titular [[Hiram Abiff|Widow's Son]] from [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] lore, positing that the entire bloodline is descended from [[alien-human hybrid]]s.<ref>''The Widow's Son'', Robert Anton Wilson, 1985</ref>