The year is 1517. Dismas is a relic hunter: one who procures "authentic" religious relics for wealthy and influential clients. His two most important patrons are Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony and soon-to-be Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz. While Frederick is drawn to the recent writing of Martin Luther, Albrecht pursues the financial and political benefits of religion and seeks to buy a cardinalship through the selling of indulgences. When Albrecht's ambitions increase his demands for grander and more marketable relics, Dismas and his artist friend Durer conspire to manufacture a shroud to sell to the unsuspecting noble. Unfortunately Durer's reckless pride exposes Albrecht's newly acquired shroud as a fake, so Albrecht puts Dismas and Durer in the custody of four loutish mercenaries and sends them all to steal Christ's burial cloth (the Shroud of Chambery), Europe's most celebrated relic.
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