Dark secrets lie in the tunnels beneath... Paris, 1298. Disguised as an outlaw, a personage of the highest rank sneaks through the cellars of Notre Dame. The maze of secret tunnels hides a laboratory. Here, occult studies are conducted under the guidance of the renowned scientist, Arnaldo da Villanova. Studies which remain a secret. Rome, 1301. Denounced for impiety by mysterious informers in Paris, Villanova seeks refuge in Italy and becomes Pope Boniface VIII's personal physician. Yet Villanova knows a secret, one capable of discrediting and overthrowing the French monarchy. He's not safe. It's clear someone wants to silence him forever. Will he pay the price for the secret he keeps with his life? Praise for Barbara Frale: 'An academic who has dedicated years of work to books on this topic ... A pleasure to read' UMBERTO ECO. 'A long-awaited historical thriller' THE REPUBLIC. 'A brilliant writer'...

The Templars and the Shroud of Christ is the second book in this series by Vatican historian Barbara Frale. The Knights Templar—the most powerful religious-military order of the Middle Ages—almost certainly looked after the mysterious shroud that is now kept in Turin. Worshipped in a relentlessly secret manner and known in its intimate nature by only a handful of the order's officials, the swathe of 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 a powerful antidote against the spread of heresy for the Knights Templar. By tracing faint clues concerning the shroud's movements during medieval times, Barbara Frale reaches back into the centuries and explores complex hypotheses on the shroud's origins and offers a new viewpoint on this controversial relic.