Holy Lance
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The Holy Lance, also known as the Spear of Longinus (named after Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is alleged to be the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion. As with other instruments of the Passion, the lance is only briefly mentioned in the Christian Bible, but later became the subject of extrabiblical traditions (Apocrypha) in the medieval church. Relics purported to be the lance began to appear as early as the 6th century, originally in Jerusalem. By the Late Middle Ages, relics identified as the spearhead of the Holy Lance (or fragments thereof) had been described throughout Europe. Several of these artifacts are still preserved to this day.
Holy Lance relics have typically been used for religious ceremonies, but at times some of them have been considered to be guarantees of victory in battle. For example, Henry the Fowler's lance was credited for winning the Battle of Riade, and the Crusaders believed their discovery of a Holy Lance brought them a favorable end to the Siege of Antioch.
In the modern era, at least four major relics are claimed to be the Holy Lance or parts of it. They are located in Rome, Vienna, Vagharshapat and Antioch. The most prominent Holy Lance relic has been the one in Vienna, adorned with a distinctive gold cuff. This version of the lance is on public display with the rest of the Imperial Regalia at the Hofburg.
Biblical referencesEdit
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The lance (Template:Langx, Template:Transliteration) is mentioned in the Gospel of John,<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> but not in the Synoptic Gospels. The gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus' legs, a practice known as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, which was a method of hastening death during a crucifixion. Because it was the eve of the Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown), the followers of Jesus needed to "entomb" him because of Sabbath laws. Just before they did so, they noticed that Jesus was already dead and that there was no reason to break his legs ("and no bone will be broken").<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref>Template:Efn To make sure that he was dead, a Roman soldier (named in extra-Biblical tradition as Longinus) stabbed him in the side.
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One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, and immediately there came out blood and water.{{#if:Template:Bibleverse|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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The name of the soldier who pierced Christ's side with a Template:Transliteration is not given in the Gospel of John, but in the oldest known references to the legend, the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus appended to late manuscripts of the 4th century Acts of Pilate, the soldier is identified as a centurion and called Longinus (making the spear's Latin name {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref name="Peebles 1911">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Hone 1926">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
A form of the name Longinus occurs in the Rabula Gospels in the late 6th-century. In a miniature, the name Template:Small is written above the head of the soldier who is thrusting his lance into Christ's side. This is one of the earliest records of the name, if the inscription is not a later addition.<ref name="Thurston 1910">Template:CathEncy</ref>
RelicsEdit
RomeEdit
A Holy Lance relic is preserved at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, in a loggia carved into the pillar above the statue of Saint Longinus.<ref name="Olivié 2017">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Kuhn 1916">Template:Cite book</ref>
The earliest known references to Holy Lance relics date to the 6th century. The Breviary of Jerusalem (circa 530) describes the lance on display at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.<ref name="Breviary 1897">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Peebles 1911"/>Template:Rp In his Expositio Psalmorum (ca. 540-548),<ref name="O'Donnell 1979">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Cassiodorus asserts the continued presence of the lance in Jerusalem.<ref name="Cassiodorus 1865">Template:Cite book</ref> A report by the Piacenza pilgrim (ca. 570) places the lance in the Church of Zion.<ref name="Piacenza pilgrim 1887">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Jacobs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Gregory of Tours described the lance and other relics of the Passion in his Libri Miraculorum (ca. 574-594).<ref name="Gregory of Tours 1865">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp The holy lance is also supposed to have been stolen from Rome by Alaric and his Visigoths during their plundering in August 410. Therefore it could have been buried together with Alaric among tons of gold, silver and the golden menorah in Cosenza, southern Italy in the fall of 410. Nobody has found Alaric’s tomb and treasure that was probably emptied by the Byzantines, and therefore the holy lance could possibly appear some hundred years later in Jerusalem.
In 614, Jerusalem was captured by the Sasanian general Shahrbaraz.<ref name="Chronicon Paschale 2007">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The Chronicon Paschale says that the Holy Lance was among the relics captured, but one of Shahrbaraz's associates gave it to Nicetas who brought it to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople later that year.<ref name="Chronicon Paschale 2007"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Gastger 2005">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp However, De locis sanctis, describing the pilgrimage of Arculf in 670, places the lance in Jerusalem, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Arculf is the last of the medieval pilgrims to report the lance in Jerusalem, as Willibald and Bernard made no mention of it.<ref name="de Mély 1904">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
By the middle of the 10th century, a lance relic was venerated in Constantinople at the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos.<ref name="Constantine 1897">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Morris 1984">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The relic was likely viewed by some of the soldiers and clergy participating in the First Crusade, adding to the confusion surrounding the emergence of another Holy Lance at Antioch in 1098.<ref name="Runciman 1950">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp During the Siege of Tripoli, Raymond of Toulose reportedly brought the Antioch lance to Constantinople, and presented it to Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.<ref name="Keightley 1852">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>Template:Rp Scholars disagree on how this presumably awkward situation was resolved. Steven Runciman argued that the Byzantine court regarded the Antioch relic as a nail (ἧλος), relying on Raymond's ignorance of the Greek language to avoid offending him.<ref name="Runciman 1950"/>Template:Rp Alternatively, Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter believed that Alexios intended to denounce the crusaders' lance as a fraud,<ref name="Anna Komnene 2009">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp and that this was accomplished when Prince Bohemond I of Antioch was compelled in 1108<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>Template:Rp to swear an oath to him on the other lance.<ref name="Anna Komnene 2009"/>Template:Rp Whether Alexios kept the Antioch lance or returned it to Raymond is uncertain.<ref name="Runciman 1950"/>Template:Rp Several 12th century documents state that a single Holy Lance was among the relics at Constantinople, without any details that could identify it as either the crusaders' discovery or the Byzantine spear.<ref name="Riant 1878">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Nicholas of Thingeyre 1878">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="William of Tyre 1878">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="William of Tyre 1943">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Anthony of Novgorod">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
According to Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, a fragment of the Holy Lance was set into the icon that Alexios V Doukas lost in battle with Henry of Flanders in 1204.<ref name="Alberic 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The capture of this icon by Henry's forces was considered important to many contemporary sources on the Fourth Crusade.<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp In addition to the crusaders' report to Pope Innocent III,<ref name="Baldwin I 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp the incident was documented by Geoffrey of Villehardouin,<ref name="Geoffrey 1985">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp the Devastatio Constantinopolitana,<ref name="Devastatio 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Niketas Choniates,<ref name="Niketas Choniates 1984">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Robert de Clari,<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005"/>Template:Rp Ralph of Coggeshall,<ref name="Ralph 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp and Robert of Auxerre.<ref name="Robert of Auxerre 1822">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp However, none of these sources mention the icon bearing any relics, whereas Alberic claimed it was adorned with the lance fragment, a portion of the Holy Shroud, one of Jesus's deciduous teeth, and other relics from thirty martyrs.<ref name="Alberic 2008"/>Template:Rp Modern historians have regarded Alberic's account with some skepticism, characterizing it as "fanciful"<ref name="Hendrickx 1979">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp and "pure invention."<ref name="Queller 1997">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp In any case, after the battle the crusaders sent the icon to Cîteaux Abbey,<ref name="Baldwin I 2008"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005"/>Template:Rp but there is no record of whether it reached that destination.<ref name="Baldwin I 2008"/>Template:Rp
Following the sack of Constantinople, Robert de Clari described the spoils won by the newly-established Latin Empire, including "the iron of the lance with which Our Lord had His side pierced," in the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos.<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005"/>Template:Rp However by the 1230s, the Latin Empire's financial state had grown desperate.<ref name="Klein 2004">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Baldwin II 1878">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp In 1239, Baldwin II arranged to sell Constantinople's Crown of Thorns relic to King Louis IX of France.<ref name="Klein 2004"/>Template:Rp Over the next several years, Baldwin sold a total of twenty-two relics to Louis.<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Baldwin II 1878"/> The Holy Lance was included in the final lot, which probably arrived at Paris in 1242.<ref name="Klein 2004"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Gerard 1904">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp All of these relics were later enshrined in the Sainte Chapelle. During the French Revolution they were removed to the Bibliothèque Nationale, but the lance subsequently disappeared.<ref name="Thurston 1910"/>
Despite the transfer of the Holy Lance to Paris, various travelers continued to report its presence in Constantinople throughout the late Byzantine period.<ref name="Brock 1967">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="John Mandeville 1900">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Anonymous Description 1984">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Alexander the Clerk 1984">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Clavijo 1859">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Zosima the Deacon 1984"> Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Buondelmonti 1864">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Lannoy 1878">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Tafur 1926">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Bertrandon 1807">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Of particular interest, John Mandeville described the lance relics in both Paris and Constantinople, stating that the latter was much larger than the former.<ref name="John Mandeville 1900"/>Template:Rp Although the authenticity of Mandeville's travelogue is questionable,<ref name="Kohanski 2007">Template:Cite book</ref> the widespread popularity of the work demonstrates that the existence of multiple Holy Lance relics was public knowledge.<ref name="Kirchweger 2005">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
The relics remaining in Constantinople, including the lance, were presumably seized by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 when he conquered the city. In 1492, his son Bayezid II sent the lance to Pope Innocent VIII, to encourage the pope to continue to keep his brother and rival Cem prisoner.<ref name="Pastor 1901">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Thurston 1910"/> At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as Johann Burchard records,<ref name="Burchard 1910">Template:Cite book</ref> because of the presence of other rival lances in Paris, Nuremberg (see Holy Lance in Vienna below), and Armenia (see Holy Lance in Echmiadzin below).<ref name="Thurston 1910"/> This relic has never since left Rome, and its resting place is at Saint Peter's.<ref name="Thurston 1910"/> Innocent's tomb, created by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, features a bronze effigy of the pope holding the spear blade he received from Bayezid.<ref name="Pastor 1901"/>Template:Rp
In the mid-18th century Pope Benedict XIV states that he obtained an exact drawing of the Saint Chapelle lance, to compare it with the spearhead in St. Peter's. He concluded that former relic was the broken point missing from the latter, and that the two fragments had originally formed one blade.<ref name="Benedict XIV 1840">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
- Adhémar de Monteil à Antioche.jpeg
A mitred Adhémar de Monteil carrying one of the instances of the Holy Lance in one of the battles of the First Crusade
- Sainte Lance de Rome.jpg
1898 drawing of the Holy Lance in Rome
ViennaEdit
The Holy Lance in Vienna is displayed in the Imperial Treasury or Weltliche Schatzkammer (lit. Worldly Treasure Room) at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.<ref name="KunsthistorischesHeiligeLanze">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is the head of a typical winged lance of the Carolingian dynasty.<ref name="KunsthistorischesHeiligeLanze"/> The shaft was presumably lost or destroyed by the reign of Conrad II (1024–1039), who commissioned the Reichskreuz ("Imperial Cross") to serve as a reliquary for the spearhead.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp
The spearhead is wrapped in a distinctive gold cuff, added by Charles IV around 1354. The cuff is inscribed with the Latin text "LANCEA ET CLAVVS DOMINI" ("The lance and nail of the Lord"), affirming that the lance was once used by Longinus and that one of the Holy Nails has been incorporated into the spearhead.<ref name="Kirchweger 2005"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>Template:Rp The gold cuff covers an older, silver cuff produced for Henry IV between 1084 and 1105, which also refers to the Holy Nail but identifies the spearhead as the lance of Saint Maurice. Gilded stripes on both sides of the silver cuff bear another Latin inscription: "CLAVVS DOMINICVS HEINRICVS D[EI] GR[ATI]A TERCIVS / ROMANO[RVM] IMPERATOR AVG[VSTVS] HOC ARGEN / TVM IVSSIT / FABRICARl AD CONFIRMATIONE[M] / CLAVI D[OMI]NI ET LANCEE SANCTI MAVRI / CII // SANCTVS MAVRICIVS" ("Nail of the Lord Henry by the Grace of God the Third, Emperor of the Romans and Augustus, ordered this silver piece to be made to reinforce the Nail of the Lord and the Lance of St. Maurice / Saint Maurice").<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>Template:Rp The inscription refers to Henry IV, the fourth of his name to reign as King of Germany, as "the third" because he was the third of his name crowned Holy Roman Emperor.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp
According to Liutprand of Cremona, the first German monarch to obtain the lance was King Henry the Fowler who purchased it in 926,<ref name="Wolf 2005">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp from King Rudolf II of Burgundy.<ref name="Liutprand 1930">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Adelson 1966">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Rudolf is supposed to have received the lance as a gift from a "Count Samson,",<ref name="Liutprand 1930"/>Template:Rp about whom nothing else is known.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp Liutprand associated the lance not with Longinus, but with Constantine the Great, citing a claim that the Roman emperor used the Holy Nails, discovered by his mother Helena, to make crosses in the middle of the spearhead.<ref name="Liutprand 1930"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>Template:Rp The description given by Liutprand closely corresponds to the relic kept in Vienna today.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp
An alternative account of how Henry received the lance is offered by Widukind of Corvey. According to Widukind, King Conrad I of Germany made arrangements on his deathbed in 918 to send his royal insignia, including the Holy Lance, to Henry, who would succeed him as king of East Francia.<ref name="Widukind 2014">Template:Cite book</ref> This version of events has been rejected by historians.<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>Template:Rp
On 15 March 933, Henry carried his lance as he led his forces against the Magyars in the Battle of Riade. From that point forward, the Ottonian dynasty regarded the lance as a talisman guaranteeing victory.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp The timing of the battle—on the feast day of Longinus—indicates that by this time Henry associated the relic with the lance used in the crucifixion.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp Along the same lines, it may be telling that Henry's son Otto the Great fought the Battle of Birten in the first half of March 939.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp However, in 955 Otto sought support from Saint Lawrence to secure victory in the Battle of Lechfeld, which was planned to occur on Lawrence's feast day.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp This shift may have resulted from the increased diplomatic ties between Germany and the Byzantine Empire circa 949/950. As the Germans became aware of the Byzantine version of the Holy Lance, it became politically inconvenient to associate the Ottonian lance with Longinus.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp By 1008 the lance was identified with that of Saint Maurice,<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp who had been venerated by Otto the Great.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp
Otto III commissioned two replicas of the lance. One of these was given to Prince Vajk of Hungary in 996, who was later crowned King Stephen I.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp The other was presented to Duke of Poland, Bolesław I, at the Congress of Gniezno in 1000.<ref name="Czajkowski 1949">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Gallus 1851">Template:Cite book</ref> The Polish lance is currently displayed in the John Paul II Cathedral Museum in Kraków.<ref name="Wawel Royal Cathedral">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The fate of the Hungarian lance is less clear. When Stephen's successor, Peter Orseolo was deposed in 1041, he sought the aid of German king Henry III, who captured the lance in the Battle of Ménfő. Whether Henry returned the lance to Peter upon his restoration is uncertain.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp Shortly before World War I, a gold-inlaid spearhead, identified as a Germanic work from around the year 1000, was dredged from the Danube River near Budapest.<ref name="Paulsen 1933">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Schramm 1955">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The gold inlay suggests that this artifact could be Stephen's lance replica, but this has not been confirmed.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>Template:Rp
In 1424, Sigismund had a collection of relics, including the lance, moved from his capital in Prague to his birthplace, Nuremberg, and decreed them to be kept there forever.<ref name="Schleif 2018">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp This collection was called the Imperial Regalia ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref name="Schleif 2018" />
When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796, the local authorities turned over the Imperial Regalia to Johann Alois von Hügel, Chief Commissary of the Imperial Diet.<ref name="Guide to the Treasury 1910">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Wilson 2006">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Baron von Hügel took the regalia to Ratisbon for safekeeping, but by 1800 that city was also under threat of invasion, so he relocated them again to Passau, Linz, and Vienna.<ref name="Guide to the Treasury 1910"/> When the French entered Vienna in 1805, the collection was moved again to Hungary, before ultimately returning to Vienna.<ref name="Wilson 2006"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Guide to the Treasury 1910"/>Template:Rp These movements were conducted in secret, as the status of the regalia had not been resolved amid plans for the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. When Nuremberg later appealed for the return of the regalia, the city's requests were easily dismissed by the Austrian Empire.<ref name="Wilson 2006"/>Template:Rp
The Kunsthistorisches Museum has dated the lance to the 8th century.<ref name="KunsthistorischesHeiligeLanze"/> Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested it for a documentary in January 2003.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Bird2003">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Based on X-ray diffraction, fluorescence tests, and other noninvasive procedures, he dated the main body of the spear to the 7th century at the earliest.<ref name="Bird2003"/> Feather stated in the same documentary that an iron pin – long claimed to be a nail from the crucifixion, hammered into the blade and set off by tiny brass crosses – was "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st-century AD Roman nail.<ref name="Bird2003"/>
Not long afterward, researchers at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Archeology in Vienna used X-ray and other technology to examine a range of lances, and determined that the Vienna lance dates from around the 8th to the beginning of the 9th century, with the nail apparently being of the same metal, and ruled out the possibility of it dating back to the 1st century AD.<ref name="Kreuznagel">Template:Cite news</ref>
The Hofburg spear has been re-imagined in popular culture as a magical talisman whose powers may be used for good or evil.<ref name="Schleif 2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Weltliche Schatzkammer Wien (180)-3-2.jpg
Holy Lance displayed in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria
- Maurycy.jpg
Polish replica of the Holy Lance, Wawel Hill, Kraków
- Holy Lance Detail.jpg
The inscription on the Holy Lance
VagharshapatEdit
A Holy Lance is conserved in Vagharshapat (previously known as Echmiadzin), the religious capital of Armenia. It was previously held in the monastery of Geghard.The first source that mentions it is a text Holy Relics of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in a thirteenth-century Armenian manuscript. According to this text, the spear which pierced Jesus was to have been brought to Armenia by the Apostle Thaddeus. The manuscript does not specify precisely where it was kept, but the Holy Relics gives a description that exactly matches the lance, the monastery gate (since the thirteenth century precisely), and the name of Geghardavank (Monastery of the Holy Lance).<ref name="Ballian 2018">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
In 1655, the French traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was the first Westerner to see this relic in Armenia. In 1805, the Russians captured the monastery and the relic was moved to Tchitchanov Geghard, Tbilisi, Georgia.<ref>Christopher H. Zakian and Fr. Krikor Maksoudian (2024). The Holy Lance in Armenian Tradition & Legend. The Armenian Church.</ref>
It was later returned to Armenia, and is still on display at the Manoogian museum in Vagharshapat, enshrined in a 17th-century reliquary. Every year during the commemoration of the apostles St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew the relic is brought out for worship.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AntiochEdit
During the June 1098 Siege of Antioch, a monk named Peter Bartholomew reported that he had a vision in which St. Andrew told him that the Holy Lance was buried in the Church of St. Peter in Antioch.<ref name="Runciman 1971">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp After much digging in the cathedral, Bartholomew allegedly discovered a lance.<ref name="Runciman 1971"/>Template:Rp Despite the doubts of many, including the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy, many of the crusaders credited the discovery of the lance for their subsequent victory in the Battle of Antioch, which broke the siege and secured the city.<ref name="Runciman 1971"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Morris 1984"/>Template:Rp
Greek Orthodox sources such as the biography of patriarch Christopher indicate that a relic thought to be the Holy Lance was among the treasures of the church of St. Peter as early as the 10th century.<ref name="GiorgiEger">Template:Cite book</ref> Historian Klaus-Peter Todt has suggested this relic could have been buried to hide it from Seljuk forces in 1084, allowing the crusaders to find it in 1098.<ref name="Weltecke 2006">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
LiteraryEdit
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The Holy Lance has been conflated with the bleeding lance depicted in the unfinished 12th century romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes.<ref name="Brown 1910">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp The story also refers to a javelot that has wounded the Fisher King, which may or may not be intended to be one and the same with the bleeding lance.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Nitze 1946">Template:Cite journal</ref> Chrétien ascribes supernaturally destructive powers to the bleeding spear, which are inconsistent with any Christian tradition.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>Template:Rp Nevertheless, the continuations of Chrétien's poem attempted to explain the mysteries of the bleeding spear by identifying it with the lance from John 19:34.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Peebles 1911"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Loomis 1991">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Chrétien's Perceval was adapted by Wolfram von Eschenbach into the German epic Parzival.<ref name="Hatto 1947">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Hatto 1949">Template:Cite journal</ref> Like Chrétien, Wolfram depicts the bleeding lance in a manner that cannot easily be reconciled with the spear of Longinus.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>Template:Rp Parzival became the primary source for Richard Wagner's 1882 opera Parsifal, in which the Fisher King is wounded by the spear that pierced Jesus's side.<ref name="Becket 1981">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
See alsoEdit
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Explanatory notesEdit
ReferencesEdit
General and cited referencesEdit
External linksEdit
- "Piercing an Ancient Tale"Template:SndAn article by Maryann Bird in the European Edition of Time on British metallurgist Robert Feather's scientific examination of the Spear in Vienna.