The Official Website of Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince

‘One of the most fascinating books I have read since The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.’ Colin Wilson

‘…a cracking art-detection story, as well as a central inspiration for The Da Vinci Code… a highly entertaining book’ The Rough Guide to The Da Vinci Code

‘…one of the key books in The Da Vinci Code’s bibliography and the original source of a number of the novel’s theories about Leonardo, the Templars, and the Priory of Sion.’ Dan Burstein, Secrets of the Code

‘You’ll never look at the work of Leonardo da Vinci or, indeed, at Christianity in the same way ever again!’ Fortean Times

‘The great enigmas of The Da Vinci Code emerged from the pages of this book.’ Javier Sierra, author of The Secret Supper

‘…this book is more than an informative experience: it is an initiatory one, too. The chapter “Sex: The Ultimate Sacrament”, for example, is probably the most precise and down-to-earth account ever written on the subject, and its clarity would undoubtedly be an alleviator of confusion for anyone who might be puzzled by the mysteries of the higher degrees of the O.T.O. Picknett and Prince can congratulate themselves on producing a masterpiece of scholarly engineering, whilst achieving the unusual success of writing a book which the layman would find a readable pleasure and the seasoned occultist an inspiration.’ Starfire, the official organ of the Ordo Templi Orientis

‘…one of the most intriguing attempts yet at a Grand Unified Field Theory of the Western mystery tradition…’ Niklas Rasche, Fortean Times

The book that introduced Dan Brown to the idea of the Sacred Feminine, the suppressed significance of Mary Magdalene and the hidden heretical symbolism in Leonardo da Vinci's paintings - presenting for the first time the dual gender of 'St John' in The Last Supper and the giant 'M' shape in the composition - The Templar Revelation (1997) is quietly and soberly sensational.

The sequel to the first edition of Turin Shroud (1994), this book begins with a further delve into da Vinci's astounding heresy - revealing, step-by-step, his extraordinary devotion to John the Baptist, whom he clearly believed to be superior to Jesus. But was the great Florentine artist a lone voice crying in the wilderness? Were there any other 'Johannites'?

Leonardo’s Last Supper – a study in heresy

Thus began Lynn and Clive's extraordinary journey - literally and metaphorically - through the heretical heartland of Europe, concentrating especially on the blood-drenched history of the south-west of France, and discovering the two great strands of ancient heresy - extreme reverence for the Baptist, and a 'secret church' of Mary Magdalene. It was a journey that drew into its orbit the murky history of the Knights Templar - long condemned as worshippers of a bearded, severed head, like the Baptist’s - and the heretical sect, the Cathars, whose horrific extermination at the hands of the Church constituted the first European genocide.

But having traced what to many people today - especially Christians - may seem like shocking perversions of Christ's religion, Lynn and Clive attempted to discover any theological or historical justification for such beliefs. What they found was truly astonishing, evidence that Johannite Leonardo da Vinci and the secret followers of Mary Magdalene were following traditions that were apparently begun by John, Jesus and Mary themselves - with clear links to the ancient Egyptian religion - but which were cynically and deliberately suppressed by the early Vatican...