The Shadow of the Templars(1979)

For Henry Lincoln six years have passed since he completed The Priest, the Painter and the Devil. That strange story of an obscure French priest who was led to immense wealth by ancient parchments has drawn Henry Lincoln deep into a mysterious historical underworld. In France, England and Jerusalem, he has unearthed a strange story of secret societies and a medieval ecclesiastical mania which began at the time of the Crusades and which seems to have conceived and reared to maturity the enigmatic Order of Knights Templar. Henry Lincoln's story is not to be found in the history books. At its heart is the enduring French legend of Le Roi Perdu - The Lost King - and a secret linked with heresy, astrology, alchemy and an esoteric society which has survived in the shadows of history for 1,000 years.