"Why are over 500 of the world's images of the Madonna 'black' or 'dark'? And why are they so little known? " "Ean Begg's fascinating book investigates the pagan origins of the phenomenon as well as the heretical Gnostic-Christian underground stream that flowed west with the cult of Mary Magdalene and resurfaced in Catharism at the time of the Crusades, especially with the Templars. "--Jacket.