Medieval Archives

Turin Shroud – face of a Knight Templar?

Tony McMahon16 years ago2 years ago27 mins

The theory that the Turin Shroud does not show the face of Jesus but that of Jacques de Molay – the last Templar grand master. Tony McMahon investigates.

Templar trials sparked the witch hunt craze

Tony McMahon16 years ago1 year ago67 mins

The arrest and imprisonment of the Knights Templar between 1307 and 1314 shocked Christian Europe – with allegations of heresy and sodomy. But it foreshadowed the witch hunt mania that would grip Europe for centuries.

How the Templars got so rich

Tony McMahon16 years ago1 year ago76 mins

In my latest book on the Templars – The Knights Templar: History & Mystery – I explain how this order of holy warriors got so rich, so quick. What was the key to their financial acumen then?

Madeira and the nail from the Crucifixion

Tony McMahon16 years ago2 years ago13 mins

A nail from the crucifixion of Jesus reputedly ended up in the hands of the Knights Templar who then took it to the Portuguese island of Madeira

Templar bankers – thwarting Robin Hood

Tony McMahon16 years ago2 years ago13 mins

How did the Knights Templar make it harder for men like Robin Hood to rob the rich by operating a sophisticated financial system?

Last French king imprisoned in Templar fortress

Tony McMahon16 years ago2 years ago07 mins

The Paris Temple ended up being the final prison for King Louis XVI before he was executed – an act often construed as the last vengeance of the Knights Templar

Antichrist and the Knights Templar

Tony McMahon16 years ago2 years ago16 mins

The Templar belief in anti-Christ was very strong – and may even have inspired the crusades with the belief that Jerusalem had to be retaken before the end of times

Interrogation of the Templars in England

Tony McMahon16 years ago1 year ago29 mins

In 1309, the papal nuncios – Dieudonné, abbot of Lagny, and Sicard de Lavaur, canon of Narbonne – arrived in England with a mission. They were going to root out the Templars, put them on trial, and turbo-charge the proceedings against the order.

Missing teenage years of Jesus Christ

Tony McMahon16 years ago1 year ago15 mins

The life of Jesus Christ in the four gospels of the New Testament is not exactly a comprehensive biography. In Luke and Matthew we get the birth story and earliest years of his life and then a yawning gap until we reach the last months of his life – the ministry of Jesus.