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The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail
''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'', published as ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail'' in the United States, is a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. The book was first published in 1982 by Jonathan Cape in London as an unofficial follow-up to three BBC Two TV documentaries that were part of the ''Chronicle'' series. The paperback version was first published in 1983 by Corgi books. A sequel to the book, called '' The Messianic Legacy'', was originally published in 1986. The original work was reissued in an illustrated hardcover version with new material in 2005. In ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'', the authors put forward a hypothesis that the historical Jesus married Mary Magdalene, had one or more children, and that those children or their descendants emigrated to what is now southern France. Once there, they intermarried with the noble families that would eventually become the Merovingian dynasty, whose special claim to the throne of France is champion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Baigent
Michael Baigent (born Michael Barry Meehan, 27 February 1948 – 17 June 2013) was a New Zealand writer who published a number of popular works questioning traditional perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is known best as a co-author of the book ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''. Biography Baigent was born on 27 February 1948 in Nelson, New Zealand and spent his childhood in the nearby communities of Motueka and Wakefield. His father was a devout Roman Catholic, and he was tutored in Catholic theology from the age of five. After his father left the family when Baigent was eight years old, he went to live with his maternal grandfather, Lewis Baigent, and adopted his surname. His great-grandfather, Henry Baigent served as a Nelson city mayor and had founded a forestry business, H. Baigent and Sons. His secondary schooling was at Nelson College, and then he attended the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, initially intending to study science and continue in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Descent
A royal descent is a genealogical line of descent from a past or present monarch. Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic perspective, the number of unprovable descendants must be virtually unlimited if going back enough generations, according to coalescent theory, as the possibility increases exponentially following every century back in time. In other words, the number of descendants from a monarch increases as a function of the length of time between the monarch's death and the birth of the particular descendant. As for descendants of genealogically documented royal descent, various estimated figures have been proposed. For instance, Mark Humphrys, a professor of computer science at Dublin City University in Ireland, and genealogy enthusiast, estimated that there are millions of people of provable genealogical ancestry from medieval monarchs. In genealogy, royal descent is sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Starbird
Margaret Leonard Starbird (born June 18, 1942) is the author of seven books arguing for the existence of a secret Christian tradition that held Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, calling it the "Grail heresy", after having set out to discredit the bloodline hypothesis contained in ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail''. Career Starbird holds Bachelor of Arts (1963) and Master of Arts (1966) degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she majored in medieval studies, comparative literature and German language. During her graduate studies, Starbird taught German courses at the University of Maryland. Then from 1969 to 1970, Starbird taught foreign language courses at North Carolina State University. From 1988 to 1989, Starbird took classes at Vanderbilt Divinity School, later teaching religious education and Scripture in Catholic parishes. Starbird was a basic skills instructor at Central Texas College's extension program at the Fort Lewis military base in Tacom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian satire ''A Clockwork Orange (novel), A Clockwork Orange'' remains his best-known novel. In 1971, it was A Clockwork Orange (film), adapted into a controversial film by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book. Burgess produced a number of other novels, including the Inside Mr Enderby, Enderby quartet, and ''Earthly Powers''. He wrote librettos and screenplays, including the 1977 television mini-series ''Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries), Jesus of Nazareth''. He worked as a literary critic for several publications, including ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian'', and wrote studies of classic writers, notably James Joyce. A versatile linguist, Burgess lectured in phonetics, and translated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly''. In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired the paper from the Scott Trust Limited, with the transition taking place on 22 April 2025. History Origins The first issue was published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, making ''The Observer'' the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Barber
Richard William Barber (born 30 October 1941) is a British historian who has published several books about medieval history and literature. His book ''The Knight and Chivalry'', about the interplay between history and literature, won the Somerset Maugham Award, a well-known British literary prize, in 1971. A similarly-themed 2004 book, ''The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief'', was widely praised in the UK press, and received major reviews in ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Republic''. Life Barber was educated at Marlborough College, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In 1969 he founded The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, a publisher in medieval studies, and acted as group managing director until 2009. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. In 2016, the directors of Boydell & Brewer Ltd transferred the company into a trust for the benefit of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterknowledge
''Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History'' is a polemic by British writer and journalist Damian Thompson which examines the dissemination and reception of fringe theories. It was published on 1 January 2008 by Atlantic Books and is Thompson's third book. Overview Thompson argues that we are experiencing a "pandemic of credulous thinking". People are increasingly surrendering the values of the Enlightenment to accept a barrage of "counterknowledge", which he defines as "misinformation packaged to look like fact". This concept embodies both theories for which there is no supporting evidence, and theories against which there is already evidence that directly contradicts them. Thompson does not consider religious teachings to be counterknowledge because their claims are metaphysical, and are thus inherently unverifiable. Among the forms of counterknowledge Thompson examines are alternative medicine, such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudohistorical
Pseudohistory is a form of pseudoscholarship that attempts to distort or misrepresent the historical record, often by employing methods resembling those used in scholarly historical research. The related term cryptohistory is applied to pseudohistory derived from the superstitions intrinsic to occultism. Pseudohistory is related to pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology, and usage of the terms may occasionally overlap. Although pseudohistory comes in many forms, scholars have identified common features in pseudohistorical works. Pseudohistory is almost always motivated by a contemporary political, religious, or personal agenda. It frequently presents sensational claims or a big lie about historical facts which would require unwarranted revision of the historical record. Another hallmark is an underlying premise that scholars have a furtive agenda to suppress the promoter's thesis—a premise commonly corroborated by elaborate conspiracy theories. Works of pseudohistory often po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conspiracy Theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term generally has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal of a conspiracy theory is based in prejudice, emotional conviction, or insufficient evidence. A conspiracy theory is distinct from a conspiracy; it refers to a hypothesized conspiracy with specific characteristics, including but not limited to opposition to the mainstream consensus among those who are qualified to evaluate its accuracy, such as scientists or historians. Conspiracy theories tend to be internally consistent and correlate with each other; they are generally designed to resist Falsifiability, falsification either by evidence against them or a lack of evidence for them. They are reinforced by circular reasoning: both evidence against the conspiracy '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookbook, etc.). An author may also be referred to as a bestseller if their work often appears in a list. Well-known bestseller lists in the U.S. are published by Publishers Weekly lists of bestselling novels in the United States, ''Publishers Weekly'', ''USA Today'', ''The New York Times'', and IndieBound. The New York Times tracks book sales from national and independent bookstores, as well as sales from major internet retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. In everyday use, the term ''bestseller'' is not usually associated with a specified level of sales, and may be used very loosely in publishers' publicity. Books of superior academia, academic value tend not to be bestsellers, although there are exceptions. Lists simply give the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel, also known as the Collegiate Chapel of Saint Matthew, is a 15th-century Scottish Episcopal Church, Episcopal chapel located in the village of Roslin, Midlothian, Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland. The chapel was founded by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness with a ground-breaking ceremony in 1456. After the Scottish Reformation in 1560, it was largely abandoned but, following a visit by Queen Victoria, it was rededicated in 1862. It was the target of a bombing in 1914 during the suffragette bombing and arson campaign. The interior contains some fine carvings which many historians have sought to interpret. Since the late 1980s, the chapel has been the subject of speculative theories concerning a connection with the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail, and Freemasonry. It was prominently featured in this role in Dan Brown's bestselling novel ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003) and its The Da Vinci Code (film), 2006 film adaptation. Medieval historians say these accounts h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
