Theological Notebook: Umberto Eco on Writers and the Knights Templar
Heh. I've been doing some side reading on the Crusades, as I mentioned a few days ago, and I was just googling a reference or two when I found a blog citing the recent publication of archivist Barbara Frale's recent 2009 book on the Knights Templar, The Templars: The Secret History Revealed. Frale is an historian in the employ of the dramatically-named Vatican Secret Archives, and appears to be a very accomplished medievalist. What caught my eye was this comment in the blog entry:
The brief foreword by Umberto Eco has the following priceless remarks: "No other subject has ever inspired more hacks from more countries throughout time than the Templars. . . The only way to determine if a book on the Templars is serious is to check if it ends in 1314..."
