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96-649: 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 (Apocrypha) traditions in

192-657: A loggia carved into the pillar above the statue of Saint Longinus . 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 . In his Expositio Psalmorum (ca. 540-548), Cassiodorus asserts the continued presence of the lance in Jerusalem. A report by the Piacenza pilgrim (ca. 570) places

288-513: A Germanic work from around the year 1000, was dredged from the Danube River near Budapest. The gold inlay suggests that this artifact could be Stephen's lance replica, but this has not been confirmed. 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. This collection

384-545: A continuous habitation in Jerusalem neighborhoods and essentially little impact of population during the period of Persian governorship. As stated by archaeologist Gideon Avni: Demographic continuity might have resulted from population exchange by the victorious Jewish rebels, but apparently also the Christian habitation remained relatively constant, despite the disturbance by the Persian conquest, and no significant impact on

480-713: A distinctive gold cuff. This version of the lance is on public display with the rest of the Imperial Regalia at the Hofburg . The lance ( Greek : λόγχη , lonkhē ) is mentioned in the Gospel of John , but not in the Synoptic Gospels . The gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus' legs, a practice known as crurifragium , which was a method of hastening death during a crucifixion . Because it

576-427: A few months, a Christian revolt occurred. Nehemiah ben Hushiel and his council of sixteen righteous were killed along with many other Jews, some throwing themselves off the city walls. Following the outburst of violence in Jerusalem the surviving Jews fled to Shahrbaraz 's encampment at Caesarea . Christians were able to briefly retake the city before the walls were breached by Shahrbaraz's forces who lay siege to

672-621: A general pardon for himself and the Jews. He was baptized in Nablus in the house of Eustathios, an influential Christian. However once Heraclius reached Jerusalem he was persuaded to go back on his promise to Benjamin of Tiberias. According to Eutychius (887–940), the Christians population and monks of Jerusalem convinced the Emperor to break his word. Some modern scholars ascribe the story of

768-483: A gold medallion, ten centimeters in diameter, adorned with images of a menorah , a shofar and a Torah scroll. The item is thought to have been a decoration to hang around a Torah scroll as a breast plate. The find was discovered in a ruined Byzantine public structure a mere 50 meters from the Temple Mount's southern wall. The way the items were found suggests one bundle was carefully hidden underground, whereas

864-704: A holy relic, a fragment of bone, of Saint Longinus. Longinus is venerated, generally as a martyr, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Apostolic Church . His feast day is kept on 16 October in the Roman Martyrology , which mentions him, without any indication of martyrdom, in the following terms: "At Jerusalem, commemoration of Saint Longinus, who is venerated as

960-623: A reliquary for the spearhead. 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. The gold cuff covers an older, silver cuff produced for Henry IV between 1084 and 1105, which also refers to

1056-653: A second piyyut, which is undatable, Messiah ben Joseph is named as Nehemiah ben Hushiel. A third piyyut titled "Oto ha-yom" is dated later, as the Persians have been defeated by the Byzantines. However, a king from Arabia then invades. This poem is thought to data from the early years of the Arab invasion. Nehemiah ben Hushiel is not mentioned. The Messiah ben David of the Sefer Zerubbabel, Menahem ben Ammiel ,

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1152-468: A three-mile radius. A general massacre of the Jewish population ensued. The Armenian bishop and historian Sebeos wrote an account of the fall of Jerusalem. Sebeos' account does not use the polemical language of Antiochus. Sebeos writes that at first the inhabitants of Jerusalem voluntarily submitted to the Jews and Persians, however after a few months the governor appointed by Khosrau II to rule Jerusalem

1248-537: 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

1344-526: Is at Saint Peter's. Innocent's tomb, created by Antonio del Pollaiuolo , features a bronze effigy of the pope holding the spear blade he received from Bayezid. 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

1440-672: Is currently displayed in the John Paul II Cathedral Museum in Kraków. 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. Shortly before World War I , a gold-inlaid spearhead, identified as

1536-440: Is loosely dated to June 614. Another important document is Modestos' Letter. While the claims of large scale destruction of churches and other religious sites have not been confirmed with archaeological evidence, there does exist archaeological evidence of widespread killings during the time of the Persian invasion. A significant number of burial sites were allocated according to Strategos. A mass burial grave at Mamilla cave

1632-555: Is now called Messiah ben Joseph. The fall of Palaestina Prima to the Persians was mentioned as a contemporary event in the 30th sūrah of the Qur'an , Sūrat ar-Rūm . It went on to predict the imminent defeat of the Persians by the Byzantines: "The Romans have been defeated in the lowest part of the earth, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious. In a few years -- God's is the command before and after that -- and on that day

1728-475: Is thought to have had only a small Jewish population prior to the events of 614. Following the unopposed capture of Jerusalem, control of the city was handed to Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias . Nehemiah was then appointed the ruler of Jerusalem. He began making arrangements for the building of the Third Temple , and sorting out genealogies to establish a new High Priesthood . After only

1824-727: The Church of the Virgin of the Pharos . 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. During the Siege of Tripoli , Raymond of Toulose reportedly brought the Antioch lance to Constantinople, and presented it to Emperor Alexios I Komnenos . Scholars disagree on how this presumably awkward situation

1920-469: The Fisher King , which may or may not be intended to be one and the same with the bleeding lance. Chrétien ascribes supernaturally destructive powers to the bleeding spear, which are inconsistent with any Christian tradition. 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. Chrétien's Perceval

2016-575: The Gospels , is further identified in some versions of the legend as the centurion present at the Crucifixion , who said that Jesus was the son of God, so he is considered as one of the first Christians and Roman converts. Longinus' legend grew over the years to the point that he was said to have converted to Christianity after the Crucifixion, and he is traditionally venerated as a saint in

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2112-659: The Hagia Sophia in Constantinople later that year. However, De locis sanctis , describing the pilgrimage of Arculf in 670, places the lance in Jerusalem, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Arculf is the last of the medieval pilgrims to report the lance in Jerusalem, as Willibald and Bernard made no mention of it. By the middle of the 10th century, a lance relic was venerated in Constantinople at

2208-562: The Magyars in the Battle of Riade . From that point forward, the Ottonian dynasty regarded the lance as a talisman guaranteeing victory. 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. Along the same lines, it may be telling that Henry's son Otto the Great fought the Battle of Birten in

2304-600: The Roman Catholic Church , Eastern Orthodox Church , and several other Christian communions. No name for this soldier is given in the canonical Gospels; the name Longinus is instead found in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus . Longinus was not originally a saint in Christian tradition . An early tradition, found in a sixth or seventh century pseudepigraphal " Letter of Herod to Pilate ", claims that Longinus suffered for having pierced Jesus, and that he

2400-600: The Sasanian Empire strategic access to the Mediterranean Sea . The Sasanians' advance was accompanied by the outbreak of a Jewish revolt against Heraclius ; the Sasanian army was joined by Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias , who enlisted and armed Jews from across Galilee , including the cities of Tiberias and Nazareth . In total, between 20,000 and 26,000 Jewish rebels took part in

2496-468: The Sefer Zerubbabel . The first is believed to be dated between 629 and 634. In the text the Jews set up an altar and offer sacrifices, however they are not allowed to erect a sanctuary. The Jewish leader who is called Messiah ben Joseph arises among them and within three months reaches the top. However he is killed by the Persian chief commander in a small sanctuary shortly after. In

2592-434: The late Byzantine period . Of particular interest, John Mandeville described the lance relics in both Paris and Constantinople, stating that the latter was much larger than the former. Although the authenticity of Mandeville's travelogue is questionable, the widespread popularity of the work demonstrates that the existence of multiple Holy Lance relics was public knowledge. The relics remaining in Constantinople, including

2688-688: 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

2784-588: 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. However by the 1230s, the Latin Empire's financial state had grown desperate. In 1239, Baldwin II arranged to sell Constantinople's Crown of Thorns relic to King Louis IX of France . Over

2880-534: The "Oath of Heraclius" to the realm of legend doubting that Heraclius ever made such a promise, instead ascribing this as a product of later apologists. In atonement for the violation of the emperor's oath to the Jews, the monks are said to have pledged themselves to a yearly fast, which is still observed by the Copts, called the Fast of Heraclius. Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and were not allowed to settle within

2976-505: The 10th century. 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. 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 . The story also refers to a javelot that has wounded

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3072-767: The Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is no reliable authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint." The name is probably Latinized into a common cognomen of the Cassia gens , from the Greek lónchē ( λόγχη ), the word used for the spear mentioned in John 19:34 . It first appears lettered on an illumination of the Crucifixion beside the figure of the soldier holding a spear, written, perhaps contemporaneously, in horizontal Greek letters, LOGINOS (ΛΟΓΙΝΟϹ) , in

3168-694: The Ascension . Modestos' letter gives the impression that the reconstruction of these sites was already completed. However this is unlikely to be the case. By 617 CE the Persians had reversed their policy and sided with the Christians over the Jews, probably because of pressure from Mesopotamian Christians in Persia itself. However it does not appear that Jews were violently expelled from Jerusalem, as Sebeos thought. Instead Modestos' letter and other sources seem to imply that further Jewish settlers were banned from settling in or around Jerusalem. A small synagogue on

3264-637: 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

3360-627: The French entered Vienna in 1805, the collection was moved again to Hungary, before ultimately returning to Vienna. 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 . The Kunsthistorisches Museum has dated

3456-897: The Great Catholic parish church in Veli Lošinj . The Longinus cross (German: Longinuskreuz) is a special form of the Arma Christi cross, which occurs mainly in the Black Forest , but also occasionally in other regions of South Germany. In Brazil, Saint Longinus – in Portuguese , São Longuinho – is attributed the power of finding missing objects. The saint's aid is summoned by the chant: São Longuinho, São Longuinho, se eu achar [missing object], dou três pulinhos! (O Saint Longinus, Saint Longinus, if I find [missing object], I'll hop three times!) Folk tradition explains

3552-745: The Holy Lance is also conserved in the Basilica. Longinus and his legend are the subject of the Moriones Festival held during Holy Week on the island of Marinduque , the Philippines . Hagiographical fragments on St. Longinus from 11th–13th century found in Dubrovnik indicate his veneration in this area in Middle Ages. There is altarpiece St. Longinus and St. Gaudentius by an anonymous author from 17th century in St. Anthony

3648-410: 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

3744-428: The House of the Artsrunik' . 35,000 people including the patriarch Zacharias were deported to Mesopotamia. For three days the Persian forces slaughtered and plundered the inhabitants of the city. The city was burnt down. The Jews were then driven from the city and an archpriest named Modestos was appointed over the city. Antiochus Strategos was a 7th-century Byzantine Greek monk living in Palestine. Again dates for

3840-401: The Ottonian lance with Longinus. By 1008 the lance was identified with that of Saint Maurice, who had been venerated by Otto the Great. 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 . The other was presented to Duke of Poland, Bolesław I , at the Congress of Gniezno in 1000. The Polish lance

3936-431: The Sasanian advance. A pogrom in Antioch in 608 would lead to a Jewish revolt in 610 which was crushed. Jews also revolted in both Tyre and Acre in 610. The Jews of Tyre were massacred in reprisal. Unlike in earlier times when Jews had supported Christians in the fight against Shapur I , the Byzantines had now become viewed as oppressors. Following the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE Jews were prohibited from entering

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4032-417: The Sasanian army had secured victories at Antioch as well as at Caesarea Maritima , the administrative capital of Palaestina Prima . By this time, the grand inner harbour had silted up and was useless, but the city continued to be an important maritime hub after Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus ordered the reconstruction of the outer harbour. Successfully capturing the city and the harbour had given

4128-443: The Sasanian assault on Jerusalem . By mid-614, the Jews and the Sasanians had captured the city, but sources vary on whether this occurred without resistance or after a siege and breaching of the wall with artillery. Jews and Samaritans were persecuted frequently by the Byzantines resulting in numerous revolts . Byzantine religious propaganda developed strong anti-Jewish elements. In several cases Jews tried to help support

4224-416: The Syriac gospel manuscript illuminated by a certain Rabulas in the year 586, in the Laurentian Library , Florence. The spear used is known as the Holy Lance , and more recently, especially in occult circles, as the "Spear of Destiny", which was revered at Jerusalem by the sixth century, although neither the centurion nor the name "Longinus" were invoked in any surviving report. As the "Lance of Longinus",

4320-580: The Temple Mount was also demolished. Following the change in policy the condition of the Mesopotamian deportees also improved. Sebeos records that they were each resettled according to their prior trade. In 628, following the deposition of Khosrau II , Kavadh II made peace with Heraclius giving Palaestina Prima and the True Cross back to the Byzantines. The conquered city and the Holy Cross would remain in Sasanian hands until they were returned by Shahrbaraz. Shahrbaraz and his son Niketas , who converted to Christianity, would control Jerusalem until at least

4416-412: 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"). 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 . According to Liutprand of Cremona , the first German monarch to obtain

4512-423: The True Cross was carried off to Ctesiphon . Modestos was appointed over the city. Damage was done to many Christian churches and other buildings. By the first half of 616 order had been restored in Jerusalem and Modestos had authorized the reoccupation of St Sabas . Reconstruction on the following churches was under way: Church of the Holy Sepulchre , Golgotha , the 'mother of churches' at Sion and Chapel of

4608-400: The association with missing objects with a tale from the saint's days in Rome. It is said he was of short stature and, as such, had unimpeded view of the underside of tables in crowded parties. Due to this, he would find and return objects dropped on the ground by the other attendants. Accounts vary regarding the promised offering of three hops, citing either deference to an alleged limping of

4704-400: The believers will rejoice, with the Help of God. He helps whom He pleases; and He is the Mighty, the Merciful." Qur'an 30:1-6 Historians have been able to piece together the events following the fall of Jerusalem based on other sources as well. A brief abridged list of the many relevant documents is given below. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari and the Khuzistan Chronicle both report that

4800-415: The blade and set off by tiny brass crosses – was "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st-century AD Roman nail. 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

4896-410: The city of Tiberias . After Nehemiah ben Hushiel takes' possession of Jerusalem he proceeds to sorts out Israel's genealogical lists according to their families. He is killed in the fifth year which would be 619 during the month of Av (July – August). The Sefer Zerubbabel states that Shiroi King of Persia will stab Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Israel. His thoroughly crushed corpse will be thrown down before

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4992-442: The city. According to Antiochus Strategos , the abbot Modestos set out to Jericho where he mustered a force from the Byzantine troops which were garrisoned there. However, once the Byzantine troops caught sight of the overwhelming Persian army encamped outside the city walls, they fled, fearing a suicidal battle. Sources vary on how long the siege lasted. Depending on the source it lasted 19, 20 or 21 days. According to Sebeos

5088-440: The city. Constantine allowed Jews to enter for one day each year, during the holiday of Tisha B'Av . In 438 CE the Empress Eudocia removed the ban on Jews entering the city. However, following violent Christian opposition the ban was reinstated. The ban on settlement was maintained until the Arab conquest, except during the reign of the emperor Julian and from 614–617 under the Persians. Due to these circumstances Jerusalem

5184-456: The city. Other copies of Strategos's manuscripts report fewer corpses were found at Mamilla, 4,518 or 4,618 corpses. Antiochus' work was originally written in Greek. Only Arabic and Georgian translations survive. Dionysius of Tel Mahre 's account was written much later in the 9th century. It gives a body count of 90,000. This number is thought to be dubious. Theophanes the Confessor another 9th-century author records that "some say it

5280-404: The commemoration of the apostles St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew the relic is brought out for worship. 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 . After much digging in the cathedral, Bartholomew allegedly discovered a lance. Despite

5376-414: 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. 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

5472-428: 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 . 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

5568-428: The first half of March 939. 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. 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

5664-464: The gates of Jerusalem. And sixteen of the righteous shall be killed with him. Armilus enters Jerusalem on the 14th day of the new year during the month of Nisan. Assuming the year is 628. This would coincide to March 28 628. Kavadh II made peace with Heraclius in 628 after the reign of Khosrau II . Armilus is thought to be a cryptogram for Heraclius. Three piyyut attributed to Eleazar ben Killir are thought to be based on an early version of

5760-400: The killing. In addition, around 35,000 to 37,000 people, including the patriarch Zacharias, are said to have been deported to be sold into slavery. The city is said to have been burnt down, however, neither wide spread burning nor destruction of churches have been found in the archaeological record. The search for the True Cross is said to have involved the torture of clergymen. Once found,

5856-413: The lance in the Church of Zion . Gregory of Tours described the lance and other relics of the Passion in his Libri Miraculorum (ca. 574-594). 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

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5952-424: The lance to the 8th century. Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested it for a documentary in January 2003. 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. Feather stated in the same documentary that an iron pin – long claimed to be a nail from the crucifixion, hammered into

6048-413: The lance was King Henry the Fowler who purchased it in 926, from King Rudolf II of Burgundy . Rudolf is supposed to have received the lance as a gift from a "Count Samson,", about whom nothing else is known. 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

6144-555: 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. At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as Johann Burchard records, 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). This relic has never since left Rome, and its resting place

6240-435: The late summer/early autumn of 629. On March 21 630 Heraclius marched in triumph into Jerusalem with the True Cross. Heraclius came as victor into the Land of Israel and the Jews of Tiberias and Nazareth, under the leadership of Benjamin of Tiberias, surrendered and asked for his protection. It is said that Benjamin even accompanied Heraclius on his voyage to Jerusalem and Benjamin was persuaded to convert, Benjamin obtained

6336-546: The middle of the spearhead. The description given by Liutprand closely corresponds to the relic kept in Vienna today. 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 . This version of events has been rejected by historians. On 15 March 933, Henry carried his lance as he led his forces against

6432-441: The name of Geghardavank (Monastery of the Holy Lance). 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. 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

6528-483: The next several years, Baldwin sold a total of twenty-two relics to Louis. The Holy Lance was included in the final lot, which probably arrived at Paris in 1242. 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. Despite the transfer of the Holy Lance to Paris, various travelers continued to report its presence in Constantinople throughout

6624-513: The other lance. Whether Alexios kept the Antioch lance or returned it to Raymond is uncertain. 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. 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. The capture of this icon by Henry's forces

6720-476: The population of Jerusalem was made during the following period of Sassanid-Jewish dominance . In 2013, a treasure was found in the Old City of Jerusalem by archaeologists, containing a large hoard of Persian coins from the 5th to early 7th centuries and a golden medallion. According to Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, the contents of the discovery in early September 2013 were two bundles containing thirty-six gold coins, gold and silver jewelry, and

6816-408: The saint or a plea to the Holy Trinity . Brazilian medium Chico Xavier wrote Brasil, Coração do Mundo, Pátria do Evangelho , a psychographic book of authorship attributed to the spirit of Humberto de Campos . In the book, Saint Longinus is claimed to have been reincarnated as Pedro II , the last Brazilian emperor. Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem The Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem

6912-476: The same metal, and ruled out the possibility of it dating back to the 1st century AD. The Hofburg spear has been re-imagined in popular culture as a magical talisman whose powers may be used for good or evil. 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

7008-426: The search for fragments of the true cross involved torturing clergymen. The Opusculum de Persica captivitate is a document attributed to Modestos. It gives a death toll of 65,000. This number may give an idea of the total Christian population in and around Jerusalem . The Chronicon Paschale is notable because it does not accuse the Jews of Anti-Christian violence or sedition during the fall of Jerusalem in 614. It

7104-461: The siege resulted in a total Christian death toll of 17,000. However, other sources put the number much higher, claiming over 60,000 dead. Similarly, estimates on the number massacred near the Mamilla reservoir varies, with separate sources providing numbers of 4,518 and 24,518. Israeli archaeologist Ronny Reich estimates a death toll of 60,000 people before the Persian authorities put an end to

7200-596: The soldier opening the side of the crucified Lord with a lance". The pre-1969 feast day in the Roman Rite is 15 March. The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him on 16 October. In the Armenian Apostolic Church, his feast is commemorated on 22 October. The statue of Saint Longinus , sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is one of four in the niches beneath the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica , Vatican City . A spearpoint fragment said to be from

7296-487: The soldiers pierced his side with a lance (λόγχη) , and immediately there came out blood and water. The name of the soldier who pierced Christ's side with a lonchē 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

7392-586: The spear figures in the legends of the Holy Grail . Blindness or other eye problems are not mentioned until after the tenth century. Petrus Comestor was one of the first to add an eyesight problem to the legend and his text can be translated as "blind", "dim-sighted" or "weak-sighted". The Golden Legend says that he saw celestial signs before conversion and that his eye problems might have been caused by illness or age. The touch of Jesus's blood cures his eye problem: Christian legend has it that Longinus

7488-570: The spear's Latin name Lancea Longini ). A form of the name Longinus occurs in the Rabula Gospels in the late 6th-century. In a miniature , the name ΛΟΓΙΝΟΣ (LOGINOS) 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. A Holy Lance relic is preserved at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, in

7584-503: The spot. Antiochus wrote: Then the Jews... as of old they bought the Lord from the Jews with silver, so they purchased Christians out of the reservoir; for they gave the Persians silver, and they bought a Christian and slew him like a sheep. Some versions of Antiochus' manuscript record a total Christian death tolls as high as 66,509. Other copies report approximately half this number. The greatest number were found at Mamilla 24,518 corpses; many more than were found anywhere else in

7680-466: The start of the siege vary. Dates given are April 13 614, April 15 614, May 3 614 or May 5 614. On the twentieth day or according to the Georgian text the twenty-first day the walls were breached. Ballistae were used to bring down the walls. According to Antiochus, shortly after the Persian army entered Jerusalem, an "unprecedented looting and sacrilege" took place. In his words "church after church

7776-687: The two fragments had originally formed one blade. 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. It is the head of a typical winged lance of the Carolingian dynasty . The shaft was presumably lost or destroyed by the reign of Conrad II (1024–1039), who commissioned the Reichskreuz ("Imperial Cross") to serve as

7872-485: Was 90,000" in reference to the number of Christians killed. The Sefer Zerubbabel is a medieval Hebrew apocalypse written in the style of biblical visions (e.g. Daniel, Ezekiel) placed into the mouth of Zerubbabel. It is thought to have been written at least partially during the beginning of the 7th century. In the Sefer Zerubbabel Aaron's rod , Elijah and Nehemiah ben Hushiel will be hidden in

7968-557: Was a blind Roman centurion who thrust the spear into Christ's side at the crucifixion. Some of Jesus's blood fell upon his eyes and he was healed. Upon this miracle Longinus believed in Jesus. The body of Longinus is said to have been lost twice, but discovered at Mantua , together with the Holy Sponge stained with Christ's blood, wherewith it was told—extending Longinus' role—that Longinus had assisted in cleansing Christ's body when it

8064-669: Was a significant event in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 , having taken place in early 614. After the conquest of Jerusalem and the defeat of the Byzantines, Khosrow II ordered to transfer the true cross to Tisophon. Amidst the conflict, Sasanian king Khosrow II had appointed Shahrbaraz , his spahbod (army chief), to lead an offensive into the Diocese of the East of the Byzantine Empire . Under Shahrbaraz,

8160-520: Was adapted by Wolfram von Eschenbach into the German epic Parzival . Like Chrétien, Wolfram depicts the bleeding lance in a manner that cannot easily be reconciled with the spear of Longinus. 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. Longinus This person, unnamed in

8256-481: Was adorned with the lance fragment, a portion of the Holy Shroud , one of Jesus's deciduous teeth , and other relics from thirty martyrs. Modern historians have regarded Alberic's account with some skepticism, characterizing it as "fanciful" and "pure invention." In any case, after the battle the crusaders sent the icon to Cîteaux Abbey , but there is no record of whether it reached that destination. Following

8352-421: Was burned down alongside the innumerable Christian artifacts, which were stolen or damaged by the ensuing arson". Antiochus Strategos further claimed that captive Christians were gathered near Mamilla reservoir and the Jews offered to help them escape death if they "become Jews and deny Christ". The Christian captives refused, and the Jews in anger purchased the Christians from the Persians and massacred them on

8448-655: Was called the Imperial Regalia ( Reichskleinodien ). 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 . 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. When

8544-519: Was condemned to a cave where every night a lion came and mauled him until dawn, after which his body healed back to normal, in a pattern that would repeat until the end of time. Later traditions turned him into a Christian convert, but as Sabine Baring-Gould observed: "The name of Longinus was not known to the Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus , in 715. It was introduced among the Westerns from

8640-569: Was considered important to many contemporary sources on the Fourth Crusade . In addition to the crusaders' report to Pope Innocent III , the incident was documented by Geoffrey of Villehardouin , the Devastatio Constantinopolitana , Niketas Choniates , Robert de Clari , Ralph of Coggeshall , and Robert of Auxerre . However, none of these sources mention the icon bearing any relics, whereas Alberic claimed it

8736-451: Was discovered in 1989 by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich near the site where Strategos recorded the massacre took place. The large number of bones "suggests that thousands of people were buried there," though the poor preservation permitted the identification of only 526 individuals. Other mass burial sites have also been found although they cannot be accurately dated to the Persian conquest of Jerusalem. Yet, excavations of Jerusalem show

8832-427: Was killed in a Christian revolt. Various dates for the revolt have been given: 9 April or 19 May 614, and 25 June 615. Sebeos writes that during the revolt many Jews were killed. Some throwing themselves off the city walls to escape. The remaining Jews fled to the Sasanian general. Different names are given for this general: Khoream, Erazmiozan and Xorheam However they are all thought to refer to Shahrbaraz, who

8928-407: Was known to Armenian sources as Khoream. Shahrbaraz's campaigns are well documented by other sources helping to put time constraints on the siege. Shahrbaraz assembled his troops and went and encamped around Jerusalem and besieged it for 19 days. The walls were breached by undermining the foundations. The Christian death toll of 17,000 was later corrupted to 57,000 in T'ovma Artsruni work History of

9024-477: 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. Alternatively, Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter believed that Alexios intended to denounce the crusaders' lance as a fraud, and that this was accomplished when Prince Bohemond I of Antioch was compelled in 1108 to swear an oath to him on

9120-584: Was taken down from the cross. The relic enjoyed a revived cult in the late 13th century under the patronage of the Bonacolsi . The relics are said to have been divided and then distributed to Prague (St. Peter and Paul Basilica, Vyšehrad) and elsewhere. Greek sources assert that he suffered martyrdom in Cappadocia . The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St.John the Baptist , Washington DC. purports to have

9216-466: 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"). To make sure that he was dead, a Roman soldier (named in extra-Biblical tradition as Longinus ) stabbed him in the side. One of

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