Barbara Frale
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Barbara Frale (born 24 February 1970) is an Italian
paleographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
at the
Vatican Secret Archives , seal = Seal of the Vatican Secret Archives.svg , seal_width = 200 , seal_caption = Former seal of the Vatican Apostolic Archive , logo = , formed = , jurisdiction = , headquarters = Cortile del Belvedere, Vatican City , coordinates ...
. Frale has written books about the
Templars , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...
and she has a special interest in the history of the
Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...
. In September 2001, she found an authentic copy of the
Chinon Parchment The Chinon Parchment is a historical document discovered in September 2001 by Barbara Frale, an Italian paleographer at the Vatican Apostolic Archive. On the basis of this document she has claimed that, in 1308, Pope Clement V absolved the last ...
.


Biography

She was born in
Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history. ...
on 24 February 1970. She attended the University of Studies of Tuscia-Viterbo and she was the first graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Italy. Her thesis in Medieval History, which is based on the examination of more than 7000 notary documents of the 14th century, was published by the scientific publisher Vecchiarelli of Manziana (Orte 1303–1363. La città sul fiume, Manziana 1995), winning the first prize "Costantino Pavan", town of San Donà di Piave, both for the section "unpublished works" and "degree thesis". After her graduation, she co-operated with the Civic Museum of Viterbo and with the Government Office for the Archivist Heritage of Lazio. In 1996 she obtained a post-degree specialization in Paleography, Diplomatics and Archival Science at the School of the Vatican Secret Archives, and in 1998 she obtained also a specialization in Greek Paleography. In the year 2000 she obtained the Doctorate in "History of the European Society" at
Ca' Foscari University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from w ...
. Also in 2000, she got a scholarship from the Historic Germanic Institute in Rome (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom). Since October 2001 she has been working as Paleographist at the
Vatican Secret Archives , seal = Seal of the Vatican Secret Archives.svg , seal_width = 200 , seal_caption = Former seal of the Vatican Apostolic Archive , logo = , formed = , jurisdiction = , headquarters = Cortile del Belvedere, Vatican City , coordinates ...
.


Works and publications

In 2001 she published for the scientific publisher Viella of Rome part of the results of her doctoral thesis, developed from the documents of the process against the Templars (''Lʼultima battaglia dei Templari. Dal codice ombra dʼobbedienza militare alla costruzione del processo per eresia''): her theory is that in the bill of indictment brought by the King of France
Philip IV the Fair Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (french: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre as Philip I from 12 ...
, which was quoted in the trial, and consequently was preserved, there was a series of real facts suitably distorted by the current affairs direction in order to build up an indictment of
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
, the only kind of crime for which the order did not enjoy total immunity. The Templars' fault, according to the author, was not the heresy but a secret ritual of admission as a military obedience test, containing vilification acts against religion. In 2002 she published for Viella of Rome the essay ''Il Papato e il processo ai Templari. L’inedita assoluzione di Chinon alla luce della diplomatica pontificia'', where she analysed and debated the content of a parchment kept in the Secret Vatican Archives and neglected for a long time by historians, which keeps the acts of an inquiry held by three plenipotentiary cardinals of
Pope Clement V Pope Clement V ( la, Clemens Quintus; c. 1264 – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled ''de Guoth'' and ''de Goth''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his de ...
into the last Great Master of the Templars
Jacques de Molay Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...
and other members of the Staff of the order, who were shut in the Castle of Chinon by King Philip the Fair. Consequently, the chiefs of the Templars having begged the Church's forgiveness, the Pope granted them absolution. The study of the parchment of Chinon attracted some international historians' attention. The results of this research were then shown in the essay edited by Il Mulino, ''I Templari'', Bologna 2004, which received positive remarks on the cultural pages of different Italian and foreign newspapers and was translated in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Czech. The book got a positive review by
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of the ...
, who called the author to draw up a chapter on the Templars for the Encyclopaedia about the Middle Age, of which he was the editor. Some theories supported by Frale are welcomed by experts of history of the Templars, among them
Malcolm Barber Malcolm Charles Barber (born 4 March 1943) is a British scholar of medieval history, described as the world's leading living expert on the Knights Templar. He is considered to have written the two most comprehensive books on the subject, ''The Tr ...
,
Alain Demurger Alain Demurger is a modern French historian, and a leading specialist of the history of the Knights Templar and the Crusades."Jacques de Molay", Back cover Alain Demurger is honorary ''maître de conférences'' at the Université de Paris I Pan ...
, Franco Cardini and Simonetta Gerrini, pupil of Alain Demurger. On 25 October 2007, the Vatican decided to publish a valuable reproduction of some of the most important documents of the process against the Templars, among those the famous parchment of Chinon, in the collection of Exemplaria Praetiosa; Frale wrote the historical introduction to the edition of the documents. In June 2009, Frale published, always for Il Mulino, another essay dedicated to the Templars,'' I Templari e la sindone di Cristo'', where she debates some documents concerning the mysterious idol, which was cited during the process as a charge against the order to accuse the order itself of idolatry, being actually a particular image of the dead Christ, which has similar characteristics to the
Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...
. In November of the same year another essay,'' La sindone di Gesù Nazareno'', Il Mulino (historical Library) followed the above-mentioned volume, where Frale examines some presumed sketches of writing discovered on the shroud in 1998 by a team of French scientists, experts in the analysis of marks of the Institut Superieur d’Optique d’Orsay – Paris; comparing them with other ancient documents and inscriptions. This essay received the national prize "Torre di Castruccio" for the year 2010, the section of Letter, and the National Cultural Prize "Brava Barbara!” promoted by the Cultural Association "Santa Barbara nel mondo" of Rieti. It has been translated in French (Bayard, Paris 2010) and in English (Maveryck house publishers). In April 2010, Frale published for the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the historical essay ''La Sindone e il ritratto di Cristo'', and on 2 May she carried out the historical commentary broadcast live from
Turin Cathedral la, Ecclesia Sancti Johannis Baptista , native_name = Duomo di Torino , native_name_lang = Italian , image = DuomoTorino.jpg , caption = The Cathedral in 2019 , imagelink = , pushpin map = Italy Turin , pushpin mapsize = , map caption = ...
, linked up to the Mass celebrated by Pope
Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
on the occasion of his pilgrimage to the shroud.


Death certificate of Jesus

In November 2009 Barbara Frale claimed that she had discovered the burial certificate of "Jesus of Nazareth" on the
Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...
, and that the date was in accord with the
Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
records."Death certificate is imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican scholar", Times of London, Richard Owen, 21 November 200

/ref> Frale stated that her reconstruction of the text reads: :"In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year". Since
Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
became emperor after the death of
Octavian Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
in AD 14, the 16th year of his reign would be within the span of the years AD 30 to 31. Frale's methodology has been criticized, partly based on the objection that the writings are too faint to see.


Recognition

Her book on the Templars and the Turin Shroud received the National Cultural Prize "Foemina d’oro" of the Cultural Association "La vecchia Lizza" of Marina di Carrara for the year 2009; in July 2010 it was translated in Portuguese (Edições, Lisboa) and in English (Maverick house publishers).


Bibliography

* ''Le pergamene dell'Archivio comunale di Bolsena. Mostra documentaria'', Bolsena: Dromos, 1994 * ''Orte 1303–1367. La città sul fiume'', Manziana: Vecchiarelli, 1995 – * ''L'ultima battaglia dei Templari. Dal codice ombra d'obbedienza militare alla costruzione del processo per eresia'', Roma: Viella, 2001 – * ''Strategia di un delitto. Filippo il Bello e il cerimoniale segreto dei Templari'', Firenze: Giunti, 2001 – * ''Il papato e il processo ai Templari. L'inedita assoluzione di Chinon alla luce della Diplomatica pontificia'', Roma: Viella, 2003 – * ''I Templari'', Bologna: Il Mulino, 2004 – , (''The Templars, The Secret History Revealed'', Arcade Publisher, 2009) * ''I Templari e la sindone di Cristo'', Bologna: Il Mulino, 2009 – (''The Templars and the Shroud of Christ'', Maverick House, 2011. ) * ''La sindone di Gesù Nazareno'', Bologna: Il Mulino, 2009


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frale, Barbara 1970 births Living people Italian medievalists Women medievalists Researchers of the Shroud of Turin