During her studies of the Knights Templar, which have made her an international authority on the topic, Barbara Frale has explored the mysterious and controversial history of the Shroud and persuasively argued, in her previous book The Knights Templar and Christ's Shroud, that it was brought to Europe and secretly preserved by the powerful religious-military order. This new book widens the focus and deals with the entire history of the Shroud. Drawing on the most recent scientific studies of the famous relic, newly identified writings concerning it, and findings in the fields of archaeology, papyrology and Greco-Roman history, as well as Hebrew sources, the author sets out a convincing and sensational account that traces the origins of the Shroud back to 1st-century Jerusalem.

Barbara Frale is a historian on staff at the Vatican Secret Archives.