Prehistory of the Shroud (1001-1355). Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Turin Shroud Encyclopedia
Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

Prehistory of the Shroud #21

This is "Prehistory of the Shroud (1001-1355)," part #21 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. See also 1st century and index. For more information about this series, see part #1 and part #2. As explained in part #16, the primary purpose of these "Prehistory" and later "History" of the Shroud articles in my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia is to help me write Chapter 9, "Prehistory of the Shroud (AD 29 - 1355)" and Chapter 10, "History of the Shroud (1355-present)" of my book, "Shroud of Turin: Burial Sheet of Jesus!" I am using in-line referencing to save time in renumbering out-of-order footnotes. Emphases are mine unless otherwise indicated. However, as I wrote below, "I have abandoned this Prehistory series, because it is a duplication of my "Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Eleventh century" and other centuries."

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Eleventh century (1001-1100)
1009 The tomb of Jesus is destroyed by agents of Caliph Al Hakim (996-1021) [BW57, 97; WI79, 59; AHW]. This would lead ultimately to the Crusades[NE85, 8]. What was destroyed, and restored in 1048[NE85, 9], was the Edicule[Right (enlarge)[CS17].] (from the Latin aedicule, or "little house"), a small structure within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which encloses the remains of a cave that was the tomb of Jesus Christ[RK17].

1014 Pope Sergius IV (r. 1009-12) consecrates an altar in the chapel of Pope John VII (r. 705-707) in St. Peter's Basilica, to the Veil of Veronica, possibly to on its arrival in Rome[WI79, 109; OM10, 37]. [Left (original): Excerpt from a poor quality distance photograph of Rome's Veronica icon[SVS], which the Vatican now won't allow to be seen or photographed up close because it has so deteriorated[BW57, 41; WI91, 183-187; WI98, 63; OM10, 37].]

This is Rome's early copy of the Image of Edessa[WI98, 269-270; GV01, 6] (the Shroud four-doubled tetradiplon). This copy becams known as the Veronica (from vera icon-"true likeness")[WI79, 256]. The story of a woman of Jerusalem named Veronica handing her veil to Jesus on his way to his crucifixion and imprinting his face image on it, is a late medieval innovation[WI79, 109].

c. 1025 "Threnos" or Lamentation scenes appear in art about this time, showing for the first time Christ laid out in death in the attitude on the Shroud[WI79, 256]. In these scenes a large cloth is depicted, consistent with the full size of the Shroud-whereas up till now burials had been depicted with Christ wrapped `mummy' style[WI79, 256]. For example, the late eleventh/early twelfth century Byzantine ivory of the threnos, or lamentation scene of Jesus being mourned as he is laid out in death, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London[WI91, 151],

[Above (enlarge): "Scenes from the Passion of Christ ...The Lamentation"[SFP]: Part of a larger carved ivory panel in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Note that Jesus' arms cross awkwardly at the wrists, right over left, exactly as they are on the Shroud, in this 11th/12th century Byzantine icon. This alone (and it's not alone) is proof beyond reasonable doubt that the Shroud existed at least a century before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud.]

Jesus' hands are crossed awkwardly at the wrists, with the right arm over the left, exactly as on the Shroud[WI10, 183]. Moreover, Jesus is lying on a double-length cloth[WI91, 151] which has a repeating pattern of Xs similar to those that accompany reproduction of the image of Edessa[PM96, 195] and hinting at the Shroud's herringbone weave[SD99, 204-205]. This late eleventh century threnos or Lamentation artistic style of depicting Jesus laid out in death on a double-length shroud coincides with the first references to the burial sheet [sindon] in Constantinople's relic lists[SD89, 88].

1032 Byzantine general George Maniakes (c. 998-1043), taking advantage of quarrels between Arab chiefs on the empire's eastern borders, captures Edessa on behalf of the emperor, Romanos III Argyros (r. 1028-34). Maniakes brought back with him to Constantinople the purportedly `genuine' letter of Jesus to Abgar V, the previous one brought from Edessa to Constantinople by general John Kourkouas (c. 900-946) in 944 with the Image of Edessa/Shroud (see 944a) having been discovered to be a fake[WI10, 178].

1036 The Image of Edessa is carried in procession in Constantinople, during the reign of Emperor Michael Paphlagos (1034-41) , accompanied by the reputed `genuine' letter of Jesus to Abgar[WI79, 157; WI98, 270].

1058 Christian Arab writer Abu Nasr Yahya states that he saw the cloth of Edessa in Hagia Sophia Cathedral, Constantinople[WI79, 157; WI98, 270].

c. 1063 The Crown of Thorns is transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople[CJ84, 35; CTW].

[Right (enlarge)[FCW]: Crown of Thorns, received by French King Louis IX (r.1226-1270) from Emperor Baldwin II (1228-1273) in 1239, to repay Baldwin's debt to the Venetians[CJ84, 35]. It is now only a circlet of rushes, the thorns having been given away as relics[CJ84, 34]. The Crown was preserved at Notre-Dame de Paris 2019, when after fire it was moved to the Louvre, Paris[CTW].

1071 The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (r. 1068-71) in a battle at Manzikert, Armenia, resulting in the empire's loss of most of Asia Minor[TF06, 28; RDW].

1075 On 14 March the Arca Santa [Left (enlarge)[FRW].], the chest in which the Sudarium. of Oviedo is kept, is officially opened in the presence of King Alfonso VI (1065–1109), his sister Doña Urraca (c. 1033-1103), Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar aka el Cid (c. 1043-1099) and bishops[GM98, 17; OM10, 186]. The King identified the Sudarium as one of the relics in the Arca Santa[IJ98, 79]. This official act was recorded in a document which is now kept in the Capitular Archives of the Oviedo Cathedral[GM98, 17]. An inventory is carried out, which includes the Sudarium[BJ01, 196; GV01, 43; OM10, 186]. King Alfonso ordered that the chest be silver-plated to honor the precious relics[BJ01, 196; GV01, 43]. An inscription on the chest reads: "el Santo Sudario de NS.J.C." ("the Holy Sudarium of Our Lord Jesus Christ")[GV01, 43]. It is certain that the Sudarium was in Oviedo in 1075, and that it had been in Spain for several centuries prior to that date[BJ01, 79]. And all of the studies carried out on the Sudarium indicate that it covered the same crucifixion victim as the Shroud of Turin[BJ01, 79].

"We are faced with a choice. There are two irreconcilable conclusions, one of which must be wrong. All the studies on the sudarium point to its having covered the same face as the Shroud did, and we know that the sudarium was in Oviedo in 1075. On the other hand, the carbon dating specialists have said that the Shroud dates from 1260 to 1390. Either the sudarium has nothing to do with the Shroud, or the carbon dating was wrong - there is no middle way, no compromise. If the sudarium did not cover the same face as the Shroud, there are an enormous number of coincidences, too many for one small piece of cloth. If there was only one connection, maybe it could be just a coincidence, but there are too many. The only logical conclusion from all the evidence is that both the Oviedo sudarium and the Turin Shroud covered the same face"[GM98, 64].

1078 Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem, taking over the holy places and thereby sparking off the Crusades[WI98, 270].

1092 Letter purporting to be from the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081-1118) to various Western princes, including Robert I, Count of Flanders (c. 1035-93), to help Constantinople not fall into the hands of the pagans, since in that city were kept very precious relics of the Lord, including His burial clothes [linteamina "linen cloths"] found in the sepulchre after His resurrection[RG81, xxxv; DT12, 177].

1095 Emperor Alexios I appeals to the West for aid[TF06, 28; AKW]. On 27 November, at the conclusion of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II (r. 1088-99) gave a speech in which he summoned the attending nobility to wrest the Holy Land, and the eastern churches from the control of the Seljuk Turks[PUW]. This was the speech that triggered the Crusades[PUW], nine in number, spanning the years 1096 to 1271, that were authorized by the popes and undertaken by European Christians, ostensibly to make safe the routes of pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the environs of Jerusalem, but they attempted conquest of much of the Near East and included looting for profit[TF06, 28].

1097 First Crusade contingent of many thousands of their countrymen

[Right (enlarge)[DU18]: Map of the First Crusade routes.]

raised by Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine (c. 1060- 1100) and his two brothers Eustace III, Count of Boulogne (c. 1050-1125) and Baldwin of Boulogne (c. 1060-1118), reaches Constantinople[ML08]. The leaders of the Crusade enjoyed the hospitality of Alexios and he presumably showed them the Shroud that was then kept in the Pharos Chapel[ML08], because later Crusader art in and around Jerusalem showed they at knew what the Shroud looked like [see "c.1149"]. After some dissension and disputes the Crusade left Constantinople in the summer of 1097 and fought their way to Jerusalem through Nicea and Antioch[ML08]. On the way they passed through Cappadocia to Caesarea, the capital[ML08]. At Caesarea they took differing routes to Antioch[ML08]. Godfrey de Bouillon and his party took the easier route whilst Tancred (1075-1112) and Baldwin took the shorter and more difficult through the Cilician Gates to Tarsus where they freed the Christian population from Turkish domination[ML08]. However, before Antioch Baldwin turned East to Armenian Edessa that was then ruled by Thorus with whom he became co-ruler, and then to eliminate him to found the Dynasty of `The Counts of Edessa' so they remained before being forced out by Zengi of Aleppo (c. 1085-1146) in 1144[ML08].

1099 7 June – 15 July. The Siege of Jerusalem was waged by European forces of the First Crusade, resulting in the capture of Jerusalem from the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate, and laying the foundation for the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, which lasted almost two centuries[SJW]. The capture of Jerusalem was the final major battle of the first of the Crusades to occupy the Holy Land begun in 1095[SJW]. Godfrey of Bouillon, prominent among the leaders of the crusades, was elected ruler, eschewing the title "king"[SJW].

I have abandoned this Prehistory series, because it is a duplication of my "Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Eleventh century" and other centuries.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
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Posted 11 February 2023. Updated 2 March 2023.