The Templars and the Shroud of Christ: A Priceless Relic in the Dawn of the Christian Era and the Men Who Swore to Protect It

By Barbara Frale

The author of TheTemplars: The Secret HistoryRevealed continues her stunning investigation into the legendary knightly sect and the Shroud of Turin…

In recent years the Knights Templar—the most powerful religious-military order of the Middle Ages—has become the focus of countless books and movies focusing on their legendary lost treasures. But what is less known is that the Templars almost certainly looked after the mysterious shroud that Christ was said to be buried in—the Shroud of Turin.

Worshipped in absolute secrecy and known in its intimate nature by only a handful of the order’s officials, the fabric was kept in the central treasury of the Knights Templar, who were known for their expertise in the field of relics. In an age of doctrinal confusion, the shroud might have represented for the Knights Templar a powerful antidote against the spread of heresy.

By tracing faint clues concerning the shroud’s movements during medieval times, Vatican Secret Archives historian Barbara Frale reaches back through the centuries and explores numerous complex hypotheses on the shroud’s origins and legends, offering an enlightening new viewpoint on this controversial relic.
 
Winner of the National Cultural Prize of the Cultural Association of Marina di Carrara.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781510702097

Barbara Frale

Barbara Frale is a medieval historian of the Vatican's Secret Archive. An expert in ancient scripture and documents, she has published several non-fiction books on the Templars, the Shroud of Turin and Celestine V's controversial resignation as pope.