Joyeuse ( pronounced [ʒwajøz] ; Old French : Joiuse ; meaning "joyous, joyful") was, in medieval legend, the sword wielded by Charlemagne as his personal weapon. A sword identified as Joyeuse was used in French royal coronation ceremonies since the 13th century, and is now kept at the Louvre .
126-485: The overall height of the sword is 105 cm ( 41 + 1 ⁄ 3 in) with the blade portion making up 82.8 cm ( 32 + 3 ⁄ 5 in) of that. It is 4.5 cm (1.77 in) wide at the base, and 2.2 cm (0.87 in) thick. Its total weight is 1.630 kg (3.59 pounds). Some legends claim Joyeuse was forged to contain the Lance of Longinus within its pommel . The blade may have been smithed from
252-503: 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. 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
378-645: 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
504-583: A 17th-century reliquary. Every year during 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
630-511: 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
756-466: A brief resurgence between 815 and 842. The Carolingian Renaissance was a period of intellectual and cultural revival during the late 8th century and 9th century, mostly during the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious . There was an increase of literature , the arts , architecture , jurisprudence , liturgical and scriptural studies. The period also saw the development of Carolingian minuscule ,
882-701: A century to convert only the aristocracy of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity with many still converting back to Paganism. After this, the common folk took a few hundred more years to convert to Christianity and their reasoning for converting was in large part due to the nobility. Originally, Anglo-Saxon leaders claimed divine descent while taking part in many rituals and practices for Paganism but after their conversion they in turn became spiritual leaders for Christianity in Britain. Soon Anglo-Saxons started to incorporate their old Pagan stories and figures into Christianity, such as
1008-685: 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
1134-549: A ducal revolt; eventually Henry received absolution after dramatic public penance barefoot in Alpine snow and cloaked in a hairshirt (see Walk to Canossa ), though the revolt and conflict of investiture continued. Likewise, a similar controversy occurred in England between King Henry I and St. Anselm , Archbishop of Canterbury, over investiture and ecclesiastical revenues collected by the king during an episcopal vacancy. The English dispute
1260-521: A formal apology for the sacking of Constantinople in 1204; the apology was formally accepted by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople . Many things that were stolen during this time: holy relics , riches, and many other items, are still held in various Western European cities, particularly Venice . From the 6th century onward most of the monasteries in the West were of the Benedictine Order . Owing to
1386-460: A king could keep careful control of lands under the domain of his bishops. Kings would bestow bishoprics to members of noble families whose friendship he wished to secure. Furthermore, if a king left a bishopric vacant, then he collected the estates' revenues until a bishop was appointed, when in theory he was to repay the earnings. The infrequence of this repayment was an obvious source of dispute. The Church wanted to end this lay investiture because of
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#17328593793461512-449: A lance. 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. 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
1638-615: 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
1764-642: A request from Rastislav , the king of Moravia who wanted missionaries that could minister to the Moravians in their own language. The two brothers spoke the Slavonic vernacular local for the region of Thessaloniki , still very close to the original Proto-Slavic, and translated the Bible and many of the prayer books. As in the later centuries the translations prepared by them were copied by speakers of other early Slavic dialects, different local variants evolved as recesions of
1890-402: A symbol of the compromise, lay authorities invested bishops with their secular authority symbolised by the lance, and ecclesiastical authorities invested bishops with their spiritual authority symbolised by the ring and the staff . The Crusades were a series of military conflicts conducted by Christian knights for the defense of Christians and for the expansion of Christian domains. Generally,
2016-499: A traitor named Firuz led the Franks into the city of Antioch in 1098. However, after less than a week, the might of an army numbering hundreds of thousands led by Kerbogah arrived and besieged the city. The crusaders reportedly had only 30,000 men and the Turks outnumbered them three to one; facing desertion and starvation, Bohemond was officially chosen to lead the crusader army in June 1098. On
2142-523: 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
2268-519: Is also important to acknowledge that at this time, creating a manuscript would have been comparable to the modern expense of purchasing a laptop. Therefore only wealthy, influential individuals such as Charlemagne would have been capable of propelling this expansion of clerical education. The cracks and fissures in Christian unity which led to the East-West Schism started to become evident as early as
2394-519: 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
2520-442: Is but a pilgrim's way, and our joy but a pilgrim's rest, and our hope a palm.'" The 11th century Song of Roland describes the sword thus: Si ad vestut sun blanc osberc sasfret, Laciet sun elme, ki est a or gemmet, Ceinte Joiuse, unches ne fut sa per, Ki cascun jur muet.XXX. clartez. "[Charlemagne] was wearing his fine white coat of mail and his helmet with gold-studded stones; by his side hung Joyeuse, and never
2646-602: 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
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#17328593793462772-576: The Battle of Manzikert . Emperor Alexius I asked for aid from Pope Urban II (1088–1099) for help against Islamic aggression. Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom in a speech made at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, combining the idea of pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against the invading forces. In the First Crusade , after nine months of war of attrition,
2898-725: The Battle of the Ice and the Albigensian Crusade ). The Holy Land had been part of the Roman Empire, and thus Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries. Thereafter, Christians had generally been permitted to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land until 1071, when the Seljuk Turks closed Christian pilgrimages and assailed the Byzantines, defeating them at
3024-556: The Byzantines , the crusaders sacked Constantinople and other parts of Asia Minor, rather than proceeding to the Holy Land, effectively establishing the Latin Empire of Constantinople in Greece and Asia Minor. This was effectively the last crusade sponsored by the papacy; later crusades were sponsored by individuals. Thus, though Jerusalem was held for nearly a century and other strongholds in
3150-653: The Church of Holy Wisdom and the Church of the Holy Apostles , and establishment of the Latin Empire as a seeming attempt to supplant the Orthodox Byzantine Empire in 1204 is viewed with some rancour to the present day. Many in the East saw the actions of the West as a prime determining factor in the weakening of Byzantium. This led to the Empire's eventual conquest and fall to Islam. In 2004, Pope John Paul II extended
3276-660: 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
3402-570: The Cyrillic script ; they then translated the Scripture and the liturgy into Slavonic. This Slavic dialect became the basis of Old Church Slavonic which later evolved into Church Slavonic which is the common liturgical language still used by the Russian Orthodox Church and other Slavic Orthodox Christians. The missionaries to the East and South Slavs had great success in part because they used
3528-549: The Dominican Order was begun by St. Dominic . The Investiture Controversy , or Lay investiture controversy, was the most significant conflict between secular and religious powers in medieval Europe . It began as a dispute in the 11th century between the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV , and Pope Gregory VII concerning who would appoint bishops ( investiture ). The end of lay investiture threatened to undercut
3654-557: The Greek East and Latin West by the 600s had become dangerous and practically ceased. Two basic problems – the nature of the primacy of the bishop of Rome and the theological implications of adding a clause to the Nicene Creed , known as the filioque clause – were involved. These doctrinal issues were first openly discussed in Photius's patriarchate. By the fifth century, Christendom
3780-643: 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
3906-560: The Levant was conquered by the Sunni Caliphate . The Early Middle Ages commenced when the last western Roman emperor was deposed in 476, to be followed by the barbarian king, Odoacer , to the coronation of Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas Day, 800. The year 476, however, is a rather artificial division. In the East, Roman imperial rule continued through
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4032-552: 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
4158-676: The Second Council of Lyon ) and in 1439 (by the Council of Basel ), but in each case the eastern hierarchs who consented to the unions were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole, though reconciliation was achieved between the West and what are now called the " Eastern Rite Catholic Churches ." More recently, in 1965 the mutual excommunications were rescinded by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople, though schism remains. Both groups are descended from
4284-659: The Slavic peoples , translating the Bible and liturgy into Slavonic . In the ninth and tenth centuries Christianity made great inroads into central and eastern Europe. The evangelisation, or Christianisation, of the Slavs was strongly supported by one of Byzantium's most learned churchmen of the Eastern Roman Empire (also called Byzantine Empire) Patriarch Photius . The Byzantine emperor Michael III chose Cyril and Methodius in response to
4410-584: The Third Crusade , famous for the battles between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin . The Fourth Crusade , begun by Innocent III in 1202, intended to retake the Holy Land but was soon subverted by Venetians who used the forces to sack the Christian city of Zara . Innocent excommunicated the Venetians and crusaders. Eventually the crusaders arrived in Constantinople, but due to strife which arose between them and
4536-571: The crossguard to the 12th and the scabbard to the 13th century. Holy Lance 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
4662-481: The fourth century . Cultural, political, and linguistic differences were often mixed with the theological, leading to schism. The transfer of the Roman capital to Constantinople inevitably brought mistrust, rivalry, and even jealousy to the relations of the two great sees, Rome and Constantinople. It was easy for Rome to be jealous of Constantinople at a time when it was rapidly losing its political prominence. Estrangement
4788-459: 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
4914-534: 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
5040-463: The sees of Rome , Constantinople , Jerusalem , Antioch , and Alexandria . The prestige of most of these sees depended in part on their apostolic founders , or in the case of Byzantium/Constantinople, that it was the new seat of the continuing Eastern Roman , or Byzantine Empire. These bishops considered themselves the successors of those apostles. In addition, all five cities were early centres of Christianity , they lost their importance after
5166-767: The Christian Bible, but later became the subject of extrabiblical (Apocrypha) traditions 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
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5292-480: The Church, in effect, was gradually abandoned in favour of supremacy of unlimited papal power over the entire Church. These ideas were finally given systematic expression in the West during the Gregorian Reform movement of the eleventh century. The Eastern churches viewed Rome's understanding of the nature of episcopal power as being in direct opposition to the Church's essentially conciliar structure and thus saw
5418-416: The Crusader leaders to command coherently that doomed the military campaign. In addition, the failure of the missionaries to convert the Mongols to Christianity thwarted the hope for a Tartar- Frank alliance. The Mongols later on converted to Islam. Islamic expansion into Europe would renew and remain a threat for centuries, culminating in the campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century. On
5544-466: The Crusades refer to the campaigns in the Holy Land sponsored by the papacy against invading Muslim forces. There were other crusades against Islamic forces in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily, as well as the campaigns of Teutonic knights against pagan strongholds in Eastern Europe (see Northern Crusades ). A few crusades such as the Fourth Crusade were waged within Christendom against groups that were considered heretical and schismatic (also see
5670-422: The Early Church, both acknowledge the apostolic succession of each other's bishops, and the validity of each other's sacraments . Though both acknowledge the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy understands this as a primacy of honour with limited or no ecclesiastical authority in other dioceses. The Orthodox East perceived the Papacy as taking on monarchical characteristics that were not in line with
5796-468: The East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between Latin and Greek Christendom over the nature of papal primacy and certain doctrinal matters like the filioque , but intensified by cultural and linguistic differences. The "official" schism in 1054 was the excommunication of Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople, followed by his excommunication of papal legates. Attempts at reconciliation were made in 1274 (by
5922-406: The Eastern Roman Emperor, the bishop of Rome, while maintaining nominal allegiance to the Eastern Emperor, was forced to negotiate delicate balances with the "barbarian rulers" of the former Western provinces. Although the greater number of Christians remained in the East, the developments in the West would set the stage for major developments in the Christian world during the later centuries. After
6048-424: 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
6174-448: 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
6300-412: The Frisians in what is now the Netherlands . Willibrord established a church in Utrecht . Much of Willibrord's work was wiped out when the pagan Radbod, king of the Frisians destroyed many Christian centres between 716 and 719. In 717, the English missionary Boniface was sent to aid Willibrord, re-establishing churches in Frisia and continuing to preach throughout the pagan lands of Germany. Boniface
6426-410: 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
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#17328593793466552-410: The Iconoclast Council at Hieria, 754 ruled that the culture of holy portraits (see icon ) was not of a Christian origin and therefore heretical. The movement destroyed much of the Christian church's early artistic history, to the great loss of subsequent art and religious historians. The iconoclastic movement itself was later defined as heretical in 787 under the Seventh Ecumenical council , but enjoyed
6678-438: The Isaurian ordered the removal of an image of Jesus prominently placed over the Chalke gate, the ceremonial entrance to the Great Palace of Constantinople , and its replacement with a cross. This was followed by orders banning the pictorial representation of the family of Christ, subsequent Christian saints, and biblical scenes. In the West, Pope Gregory III held two synods at Rome and condemned Leo's actions. In Leo's realms,
6804-409: The Italian peninsula fell into warfare and turmoil due to the barbarian tribes, the Emperor Justinian I attempted to reassert imperial dominion in Italy from the East, against the Gothic aristocracy. The subsequent campaigns were more or less successful, and an Imperial Exarchate was established for Italy, but imperial influence was limited. The Lombards then invaded the weakened peninsula, and Rome
6930-404: The Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father." The Eastern Church argued that the phrase had been added unilaterally and, therefore, illegitimately, since the East had never been consulted. In the final analysis, only another ecumenical council could introduce such an alteration. Indeed, the councils, which drew up the original Creed, had expressly forbidden any subtraction or addition to
7056-479: The Middle Ages covers the history of Christianity from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ( c. 476 ). The end of the period is variously defined - depending on the context, events such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, Christopher Columbus 's first voyage to the Americas in 1492, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517 are sometimes used. In Christianity's ancient Pentarchy , five patriarchies held special eminence:
7182-412: The Muslim invasions of the seventh century, the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) areas of Christianity began to take on distinctive shapes. Whereas in the East the Church maintained its strength, in the West the bishops of Rome (i.e., the Popes) were forced to adapt more quickly and flexibly to drastically changing circumstances. In particular whereas the bishops of the East maintained clear allegiance to
7308-405: The Near East would remain in Christian possession much longer, the crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms. The Europeans' defeat can in no small part be attributed to the excellent martial prowess of the Mameluke and Turks, who both utilized agile mounted archers in open battle and Greek fire in siege defense. However, ultimately it was the inability of
7434-412: 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
7560-459: The Pagan god Woden becoming sixteenth in descent from 'Sceaf, Noah's son in the Bible. Later, under Archbishop Theodore , the Anglo-Saxons enjoyed a golden age of culture and scholarship. Soon, important English missionaries such as SS. Wilfrid , Willibrord , Lullus and Boniface would begin evangelising their Saxon relatives in Germany. The largely Christian Gallo-Roman inhabitants of Gaul (modern France) were overrun by Germanic Franks in
7686-438: The Roman priests did, or Greek . When king Rastislav of Moravia asked Byzantium for teachers who could minister to the Moravians in their own language, Byzantine emperor Michael III chose two brothers, Cyril and Methodius . As their mother was a Slav from the hinterlands of Thessaloniki, the two brothers had been raised speaking the local Slavonic vernacular. Once commissioned, they immediately set about creating an alphabet,
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#17328593793467812-418: 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
7938-688: The West, Christianity spread beyond the old borders of the Empire and into lands that had never been under Rome. Beginning in the fifth century, a unique culture developed around the Irish Sea consisting of what today would be called Wales and Ireland. In this environment, Christianity spread from Roman Britain to Ireland, especially aided by the missionary activity of St. Patrick with his first-order of 'patrician clergy', active missionary priests accompanying or following him, typically Britons or Irish ordained by him and his successors. Patrick had been captured into slavery in Ireland and, following his escape and later consecration as bishop, he returned to
8064-416: The ancestor of modern lower-case script, and the standardisation of Latin which had hitherto become varied and irregular (see Medieval Latin ). Reform was the creed of Charlemagne's Christianity. There was an emphasis on the differences of Christianity for the laity and Christianity for the nobility. At this time, religion and politics were deeply intertwined with one another. Charlemagne's belief in correcting
8190-416: 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
8316-417: The blade might date from the early 9th century, suggesting that it was indeed the sword of Charlemagne, while Guy Laking dated it to the early 13th century. Some authors have even argued that the medieval blade may have indeed been replaced by a modern replica in 1804 when the sword was prepared for the coronation of Napoleon . The Louvre's official website dates the pommel from the 10th to 11th centuries,
8442-407: The cathedrals and formed their own institutions, the earliest being the University of Paris ( c . 1150), the University of Bologna (1088), and the University of Oxford (1096). Though by 800 western Europe was ruled entirely by Christian kings, central and eastern Europe remained areas of missionary activity. In the ninth century SS. Cyril and Methodius had extensive missionary activities among
8568-413: The church of St. Peter as early as 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
8694-416: The church's traditional relationship with the emperor. The final breach is often considered to have arisen after the capture and sacking of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic crusaders was not exclusive to the Mediterranean though (see also the Northern Crusades and the Battle of the Ice ). The sacking of Constantinople , especially
8820-405: The council of his consecration pressed him to accept the clause in order to secure their support. The controversy also involved Eastern and Western ecclesiastical jurisdictional rights in the Bulgarian church, as well as a doctrinal dispute over the Filioque ("and from the Son") clause. That had been added to the Nicene Creed by the Latin church, which was later the theological breaking point in
8946-418: The early 5th century. The native inhabitants were persecuted until the Frankish King, Clovis I converted from paganism to Roman Catholicism in 496. Clovis insisted that his fellow nobles follow suit, strengthening his newly established kingdom by uniting the faith of the rulers with that of the ruled. In 698, the Northumbrian Benedictine monk, Willibrord was commissioned by Pope Sergius I as bishop of
9072-448: The education system of the nobility was an example of this relationship between church and state. Illiteracy was a common problem among nobility as well. To address the problems of illiteracy among clergy and court scribes, Charlemagne founded schools and attracted the most learned men from all of Europe to his court, such as Theodulf , Paul the Deacon , Angilbert , Paulinus of Aquileia . It
9198-480: 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
9324-593: 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
9450-504: The first inquisitors to serve as papal agents to remove heresy . Heretics were seen as a menace to the Church and the first group dealt with by the inquisitors were the Cathars of southern France . Heresy had been seen as a recurring problem for the medieval Church since the burning of heretics at Orlèans in 1022. The main tool used by the inquisitors was interrogation that often featured the use of torture followed by having heretics burned at
9576-615: The future Slavic clergy into the Glagolitic alphabet and the biblical texts, where also the Early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the late 9th century. Bulgaria was officially christianised in 864 and was recognised as a patriarchate by Constantinople in 927, the first one after the five original Patriarchates forming the Pentarchy from the late Roman Empire . The Serbs were accounted Christian as of about 870. Serbian patriarchate
9702-487: The imperial legions left the isle, and the Roman elite followed. Some time later that century, various barbarian tribes went from raiding and pillaging the island to settling and invading. These tribes are referred to as the "Anglo-Saxons", predecessors of the English. They were entirely pagan, having never been part of the Empire, and although they experienced Christian influence from the surrounding peoples, they were converted by
9828-508: The isle that had enslaved him so that he could bring them the Gospel. Soon, Irish missionaries such as Columba and Columbanus spread this Christianity, with its distinctively Irish features, to Scotland and the Continent. One such feature was the system of private penitence, which replaced the former practice of penance as a public rite. Although southern Britain had been a Roman province, in 407
9954-563: The knights of Charlemagne; to thank him, Charlemagne granted him an appanage named Joyeuse. Baligant , a general of the Saracens in The Song of Roland , named his sword Précieuse , in order not to seem inferior to Charlemagne. A sword identified with Charlemagne's Joyeuse was carried in front of the Coronation processions for French kings , for the first time in 1270 ( Philip III ), and for
10080-518: 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
10206-478: 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
10332-472: 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
10458-710: 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
10584-581: The last time in 1825 (at the Coronation of Charles X ). The sword was kept in the Treasury of Saint-Denis since at least 1505, before it was moved to the Louvre in 1793. This Joyeuse as preserved today is a composite of various parts added over the centuries of use as coronation sword. But at the core, it consists of a medieval blade of Oakeshott type XII, mostly dated from about the 10th century. Martin Conway argued
10710-529: The later Church Slavonic literary and liturgical language. Some of the disciples, namely Naum of Preslav , Clement of Ohrid , Saint Angelar , and Sava , returned to Bulgaria where they were welcomed by the Bulgarian Tsar Boris I who viewed the Slavonic liturgy as a way to counteract Greek influence in the country. In a short time the disciples of Cyril and Methodius managed to prepare and instruct
10836-555: 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
10962-518: The mission of St. Augustine sent by Pope Gregory the Great . The majority of the remaining British population converted from Christianity back to their Pagan roots. Contrary to popular belief, the conversion of Anglo-Saxons to Christianity was incredibly slow. The Anglo-Saxons had little interest in changing their religion and even initially looked down upon Christianity due to conquering the Christian British people decades earlier. It took almost
11088-424: The morning of 28 June, the crusader army, consisting of mostly dismounted knights and foot soldiers because most horses had died at that point, sallied out to attack the Turks, and broke the line of Kerbogah's army, allowing the crusaders to gain complete control of the Antioch and its surroundings. The Second Crusade occurred in 1145 when Edessa was retaken by Islamic forces. Jerusalem would be held until 1187 and
11214-709: 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
11340-671: 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
11466-597: The other hand, the crusades in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily eventually led to the demise of Islamic power in the regions; the Teutonic knights expanded Christian domains in Eastern Europe, and the much less frequent crusades within Christendom, such as the Albigensian Crusade , achieved their goal of maintaining doctrinal unity. The Medieval Inquisition officially started in 1231, when Pope Gregory IX appointed
11592-526: 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
11718-420: The papacy was unable to enforce any of its claims. The East-West Schism , or Great Schism, separated the Church into Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) branches, i.e., Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. It was the first major division since certain groups in the East rejected the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon (see Oriental Orthodoxy ), and was far more significant. Though normally dated to 1054,
11844-483: The people's native language rather than Latin or Greek . In Great Moravia, Constantine and Methodius encountered Frankish missionaries from Germany, representing the western or Latin branch of the Church, and more particularly representing the Holy Roman Empire as founded by Charlemagne, and committed to linguistic, and cultural uniformity. They insisted on the use of the Latin liturgy, and they regarded Moravia and
11970-585: The period historians now call the Byzantine Empire . Even in the West, where imperial political control gradually declined, distinctly Roman culture continued long afterwards; thus historians today prefer to speak of a "transformation of the Roman world" rather than a "fall of the Roman Empire." The advent of the Early Middle Ages was a gradual and often localised process whereby, in the West, rural areas became power centres whilst urban areas declined. With
12096-558: The potential corruption, not only from vacant sees but also from other practices such as simony . Thus, the Investiture Contest was part of the Church's attempt to reform the episcopate and provide better pastoral care . Pope Gregory VII issued the Dictatus Papae , which declared that the pope alone could appoint or depose bishops, or translate them to other sees. Henry IV's rejection of the decree lead to his excommunication and
12222-501: The power of the Empire and the ambitions of noblemen for the benefit of Church reform. Bishops collected revenues from estates attached to their bishopric. Noblemen who held lands (fiefdoms) hereditarily passed those lands on within their family. However, because bishops had no legitimate children, when a bishop died it was the king's right to appoint a successor. So, while a king had little recourse in preventing noblemen from acquiring powerful domains via inheritance and dynastic marriages,
12348-550: The primary builder of the Cistercians, they became the main force of technological diffusion in medieval Europe. By the end of the 12th century the Cistercian houses numbered 500, and at its height in the 15th century the order claimed to have close to 750 houses. Most of these were built in wilderness areas, and played a major part in bringing such isolated parts of Europe into economic cultivation. A third level of monastic reform
12474-508: The same materials as Roland 's Durendal and Ogier 's Curtana . A children's book from the early 20th century tells that "One priceless thing Charlemagne ever carried in his belt and that was Joyeuse, the Sword Jewellous, which contained in a hilt of gold and gems the head of the lance that pierced our Saviour's side. And thereto he wore a pilgrim's pouch — 'against my faring to Jerusalem, or, if that may not be, to remind me that our life
12600-472: 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
12726-659: The second half of the 10th centuries through the early 12th . The next wave of monastic reform came with the Cistercian Movement . The first Cistercian abbey was founded in 1098, at Cîteaux Abbey . The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to a literal observance of the Benedictine rule , rejecting the developments of the Benedictines . The most striking feature in the reform was the return to manual labour, and especially to field-work. Inspired by Bernard of Clairvaux ,
12852-434: 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
12978-562: 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
13104-636: The stake . After about a century this first medieval inquisition came to a conclusion. A new inquisition called the Spanish Inquisition was created by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in order to consolidate their rule. This new inquisition was separated from the Roman Church and the inquisition that came before it. At first it was primarily directed at Jews who converted to Christianity because many were suspicious that they did not actually convert to Christianity. Later it spread to targeting Muslims and
13230-448: The stricter adherence to a reformed Benedictine rule , the abbey of Cluny became the acknowledged leader of western monasticism from the later 10th century. Cluny created a large, federated order in which the administrators of subsidiary houses served as deputies of the abbot of Cluny and answered to him. The Cluniac spirit was a revitalising influence on the Norman church, at its height from
13356-681: The text. In addition to this ecclesiological issue, the Eastern Church also considered the filioque clause unacceptable on dogmatic grounds. Theologically, the Latin interpolation was unacceptable since it implied that the Spirit now had two sources of origin and procession, the Father and the Son, rather than the Father alone. In the 9th century AD, a controversy arose between Eastern (Byzantine, later Orthodox) and Western (Latin, later Roman Catholic) Christianity that
13482-575: The two ecclesiologies as mutually antithetical. For them, specifically, Simon Peter's primacy could never be the exclusive prerogative of any one bishop. All bishops must, like St. Peter, confess Jesus as the Christ and, as such, all are Peter's successors. The churches of the East gave the Roman See, primacy but not supremacy. The Pope being the first among equals, but not infallible and not with absolute authority. The other major irritant to Eastern Christendom
13608-664: 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
13734-414: The ultimate Great East-West Schism in the eleventh century. Photius did provide concession on the issue of jurisdictional rights concerning Bulgaria and the papal legates made do with his return of Bulgaria to Rome. This concession, however, was purely nominal, as Bulgaria's return to the Byzantine rite in 870 had already secured for it an autocephalous church. Without the consent of Boris I of Bulgaria ,
13860-631: The various peoples of the Americas and Asia. The inquisitions in combination with the Albigensian Crusade were fairly successful in suppressing heresy. Modern western universities have their origins directly in the Medieval Church. They began as cathedral schools , and all students were considered clerics. This was a benefit as it placed the students under ecclesiastical jurisdiction and thus imparted certain legal immunities and protections. The cathedral schools eventually became partially detached from
13986-603: 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. Christianity in the Middle Ages Christianity in
14112-487: 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
14238-541: Was also helped along by the German invasions in the West, which effectively weakened contacts. The rise of Islam with its conquest of most of the Mediterranean coastline (not to mention the arrival of the pagan Slavs in the Balkans at the same time) further intensified this separation by driving a physical wedge between the two worlds. The once homogenous unified world of the Mediterranean was fast vanishing. Communication between
14364-637: 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
14490-566: 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
14616-422: Was divided into a pentarchy of five sees with Rome accorded a primacy. The four Eastern sees of the pentarchy, considered this determined by canonical decision and did not entail hegemony of any one local church or patriarchate over the others. However, Rome began to interpret her primacy in terms of sovereignty, as a God-given right involving universal jurisdiction in the Church. The collegial and conciliar nature of
14742-493: Was essentially left to fend for itself. The failure of the East to send aid resulted in the popes themselves feeding the city with grain from papal estates, negotiating treaties, paying protection money to Lombard warlords, and, failing that, hiring soldiers to defend the city. Eventually the popes turned to others for support, especially the Franks. As the political boundaries of the Roman Empire diminished and then collapsed in
14868-602: Was killed by pagans in 754. Iconoclasm as a movement began within the Eastern Christian Byzantine church in the early 8th century, following a series of heavy military reverses against the Muslims . There was a Christian movement in the eighth and ninth centuries against the worship of imagery, caused by worry that the art might be idolatrous . Sometime between 726 and 730 the Byzantine Emperor Leo III
14994-525: Was precipitated by the opposition of the Roman Pope John VIII to the appointment by the Byzantine emperor Michael III of Photius I to the position of patriarch of Constantinople. Photios was refused an apology by the pope for previous points of dispute between the East and West. Photius refused to accept the supremacy of the pope in Eastern matters or accept the filioque clause. The Latin delegation at
15120-505: Was provided by the establishment of the Mendicant orders . Commonly known as friars, mendicants live under a monastic rule with traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience , but they emphasise preaching, missionary activity, and education, in a secluded monastery. Beginning in the 12th century , the Franciscan order was instituted by the followers of Francis of Assisi , and thereafter
15246-422: Was recognised by Constantinople in 1346. The Baptism of Kiev in the 988 spread Christianity throughout Kievan Rus' , establishing Christianity in the predecessor state of Belarus , Russia and Ukraine . The much later Russian patriarchate was recognised by Constantinople in 1589. The missionaries to the Slavs had subsequent success in part because they used the people's native language rather than Latin as
15372-600: Was resolved by the Concordat of London, 1107, where the king renounced his claim to invest bishops but continued to require an oath of fealty from them upon their election. This was a partial model for the Concordat of Worms ( Pactum Calixtinum ), which resolved the Imperial investiture controversy with a compromise that allowed secular authorities some measure of control but granted the selection of bishops to their cathedral canons . As
15498-474: 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
15624-702: Was the Western use of the filioque clause—meaning "and the Son"—in the Nicene Creed . This too developed gradually and entered the Creed over time. The issue was the addition by the West of the Latin clause filioque to the Creed, as in "the Holy Spirit... who proceeds from the Father and the Son ," where the original Creed, sanctioned by the councils and still used today, by the Eastern Orthodox simply states "the Holy Spirit,
15750-463: 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
15876-548: Was there a sword to match it; its colour changed thirty times a day." Some seven hundred years later, Bulfinch's Mythology described Charlemagne using Joyeuse to behead the Saracen commander Corsuble as well as to knight his comrade Ogier the Dane . The town of Joyeuse , in Ardèche , is supposedly named after the sword: Joyeuse was allegedly lost in a battle and retrieved by one of
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