[Almost everything below derives from the book by Prof. Andrea Nicolotti, Il Processo Negato, which I would translate loosely as “Verdict suppressed.” Quotes from the primary sources adduced are taken from that book, which has not been translated into English. Almost all the documents are transcribed in full in the book’s 59 appendices, and most […]

Guy Powell’s podcast is usually one of the more sensible platforms for authenticists to present their points of view, and this year’s parade has so far been worth anybody’s attention, be they authenticist or medieval in inclination. However, the latest invitee, making his second appearance on the show, is in a different class. This is […]

The latest serious contribution to authenticist proselytisation on the internet comes in the form of a series from Bible Interact, ‘Biblical Archaeology from the Ground Down,’ hosted by Drs George Sparks and David Graves, both eminent in the field of biblical archaeology, and with practical experience of investigative techniques.1 They invited Justin Robinson, coin specialist […]

[The Markwardt Hypotheses is the new name for a series previously called The Antioch Hypothesis, as we have left Antioch far behind, and Jack Markwardt has more than one hypothesis to explain how the shroud of Christ became the Shroud of Turin.] In another remarkable four hour tour-de-force,1 Jack Markwardt has reviewed every possible flawed […]

In a recent podcast with Mike Creavey,1 Bob Rucker reiterated his hypothesis that the Shroud was irradiated with neutrons, which explains how the radiocarbon dating could be wrong. His explanation, as ever, was clear and apparently compelling, and, most importantly, easily capable of being falsified – as indeed, I have no doubt, it will be […]

Emanuele Filiberto Pingone (1525 – 1582) Filiberto Pingone, Baron de Cusy, was one of the most senior members of the Court of Savoy. Born and brought up in Chambéry, he trained as a lawyer and rose to become senior legal advisor and court historiographer to Duke Emmanuel-Philibert whose busy reign included regaining and consolidating Savoyard […]

THE MADNESS OF KING CHARLES VI By 1395, the King of France was increasingly subject to bouts of mental disturbance. Three years previously he had suffered some unknown disease which made his hair and fingernails fall out, a few months after which, surprised on a military raid, he suddenly attacked his own men, killing four […]

It has become a staple of sindonological faith that the Sudarium of Oviedo has so many mathematical coincidences with the head on the Shroud that its correlation is “beyond reasonable doubt.” Without, at least to start with, criticising the work which has resulted in this conclusion, let’s examine the Sudarium without any preconceptions ourselves, and […]

In April 2025, Andrea Nicolotti published an article in Skeptic magazine called ‘The Fabric of Faith: Unravelling the Myths Surrounding the Shroud of Turin,’ a fairly conventional account of the Shroud from a medieval point of view, with a contemporary comment on the recently popularised WAXS dating, and a commentary on pseudo-science in general. In […]

I learnt a new word today! “Ultracrepidarian.” It comes from the quotation above, which in turn comes from the Latin writer Pliny’s extraordinary encyclopaedia on every subject under the sun, called Naturalis Historia, On Natural History. Book 35 is about painters and painting, and Chapter 36 lists several of the most prominent of the age. […]