TheHoly Lance, also known as theSpear of Longinus (named afterSaint Longinus), theSpear of Destiny, or theHoly Spear, is alleged to be thelance that pierced the side ofJesus as he hung on the cross during hiscrucifixion. As with otherinstruments of the Passion, the lance is only briefly mentioned in the Christian Bible, but later became the subject of extrabiblical traditions in themedieval church.Relics purported to be the lance began to appear as early as the 6th century, originally inJerusalem. By theLate Middle Ages, relics identified as the spearhead of the Holy Lance (or fragments thereof) had been described throughout Europe. Several of these artifacts are still preserved to this day.
Holy Lance relics have typically been used for religious ceremonies, but at times some of them have been considered to be guarantees of victory in battle. For example,Henry the Fowler's lance was credited for winning theBattle of Riade, and theCrusaders believed their discovery of a Holy Lance brought them a favorable end to theSiege of Antioch.
In themodern era, at least four major relics are claimed to be the Holy Lance or parts of it. They are located in Rome, Vienna,Vagharshapat andAntioch. The most prominent Holy Lance relic has been the one in Vienna, adorned with a distinctive gold cuff. This version of the lance is on public display with the rest of theImperial Regalia at theHofburg.
Miniature of theCrucifixion from theRabula Gospels. "Loginos" is depicted piercing the right side of Jesus with a spear.
The lance (Greek:λόγχη,lonkhē) is mentioned in theGospel of John,[1] but not in theSynoptic Gospels. The gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus' legs, a method of hastening death during acrucifixion known ascrurifragium. Jesus's followers wanted to ensure that he died before the start of the Sabbath at sundown on Friday, so that he could be promptly laid to rest; burials are not traditionally permitted on the Sabbath. 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").[2][a] To make sure that he was dead, a Roman soldier stabbed him in the side.
One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance(λόγχη), and immediately there came out blood and water.
The Gospel of John does not give the name of the soldier who pierced Christ's side with alonchē. The oldest known references to the legend, the apocryphalGospel of Nicodemus, appended to late manuscripts of the 4th centuryActs of Pilate, identify the soldier as acenturion and calledLonginus (making the spear's Latin nameLancea Longini).[3]: 6–8 [4]: 73
A form of the name Longinus occurs in theRabula Gospels in the late 6th century. In aminiature, the nameΛΟΓΙΝΟΣ (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.[5]
The earliest known references to Holy Lance relics date to the 6th century. TheBreviary of Jerusalem (circa 530) describes the lance on display at theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre.[8]: 14 [3]: 57 In hisExpositio Psalmorum (ca. 540-548),[9]: xv, 131–136 Cassiodorus asserts the continued presence of the lance in Jerusalem.[10] A report by thePiacenza pilgrim (ca. 570) places the lance in theChurch of Zion.[11]: 18 [12]Gregory of Tours described the lance and other relics of the Passion in hisLibri Miraculorum (ca. 574-594).[13][14]: 24 The holy lance is also supposed to have been stolen from Rome by Alaric and his Visigoths during their plundering in August 410. Therefore it could have been buried together with Alaric among tons of gold, silver and the golden menorah in Cosenza, southern Italy in the fall of 410. Nobody has found Alaric’s tomb and treasure that was probably emptied by the Byzantines, and therefore the holy lance could possibly appear some hundred years later in Jerusalem.
By the middle of the 10th century, a lance relic was venerated in Constantinople at theChurch of the Virgin of the Pharos.[19]: cols. 421–423 [16]: 58 [20]: 35 The relic was likely viewed by some of the soldiers and clergy participating in theFirst Crusade, adding to the confusion surrounding the emergence of another Holy Lance at Antioch in 1098.[21]: 200 During theSiege of Tripoli,Raymond of Toulose reportedly brought the Antioch lance to Constantinople, and presented it to EmperorAlexios I Komnenos.[22]: 185 [16]: 59–60 Scholars disagree on how this presumably awkward situation was resolved.Steven Runciman argued that the Byzantine court regarded the Antioch relic as a nail (ἧλος), relying on Raymond's ignorance of the Greek language to avoid offending him.[21]: 202 Alternatively, Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter believed that Alexios intended to denounce the crusaders' lance as a fraud,[23]: 526 and that this was accomplished when PrinceBohemond I of Antioch was compelled in 1108[16]: 58 to swear an oath to him on the other lance.[23]: 397 Whether Alexios kept the Antioch lance or returned it to Raymond is uncertain.[21]: 205–206 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.[24][25][26][27]: 381 [28]: 97–98
16th century Illustration of holy relics displayed in the Grande Châsse the Sainte-Chapelle. The cross on the far right is the reliquary for the Holy Lance relic.
Following thesack of Constantinople, Robert de Clari described the spoils won by the newly-establishedLatin Empire, including "the iron of the lance with which Our Lord had His side pierced," in the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos.[30]: 103 However by the 1230s, the Latin Empire's financial state had grown desperate.[39]: 307 [40]: 134 In 1239,Baldwin II arranged to sell Constantinople'sCrown of Thorns relic to KingLouis IX of France.[39]: 307–308 Over the next several years, Baldwin sold a total of twenty-two relics to Louis.[16]: 62 [40] The Holy Lance was included in the final lot, which probably arrived at Paris in 1242.[39]: 307 [41]: 108 All of these relics were later enshrined in theSainte Chapelle. During theFrench Revolution they were removed to theBibliothèque Nationale, but the lance subsequently disappeared.[5]
Despite the transfer of the Holy Lance to Paris, various travelers continued to report its presence in Constantinople throughout thelate Byzantine period.[42]: 88 [43]: 10–11 [44]: 132 [45]: 160 [46]: 43 [47]: 86 [48]: col. 701 [49]: 11 [50]: 140 [51]: 222 Of particular interest,John Mandeville described the lance relics in both Paris and Constantinople, stating that the latter was much larger than the former.[43]: 10–11 Although the authenticity of Mandeville's travelogue is questionable,[52] the widespread popularity of the work demonstrates that the existence of multiple Holy Lance relics was public knowledge.[53]: 75
Tomb of Pope Innocent VIII, transferred from theOld St. Peter's Basilica. The left hand holds the spearhead of the holy lance, presented to the Pope by Sultan Bayezid II[54].
The relics remaining in Constantinople, including the lance, were presumably seized by SultanMehmed II in 1453 when heconquered the city. In 1492, his sonBayezid II sent the lance toPope Innocent VIII, to encourage the pope to continue to keep his brother and rivalCem prisoner.[55]: 311–318 [5] At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, asJohann Burchard records,[56] because of the presence of other rival lances in Paris, Nuremberg (seeHoly Lance in Vienna below), and Armenia (seeHoly Lance in Echmiadzin below).[5] This relic has never since left Rome, and its resting place is at Saint Peter's.[5] Innocent's tomb, created byAntonio del Pollaiuolo, features a bronze effigy of the pope holding the spear blade he received from Bayezid.[55]: 321
In the mid-18th centuryPope Benedict XIV states that he obtained an exact drawing of the Saint Chapelle lance, to compare it with the spearhead in St. Peter's. He concluded that former relic was the broken point missing from the latter, and that the two fragments had originally formed one blade.[57]: 323
The Holy Lance (left) on display with other items from theImperial Regalia in Vienna
The Holy Lance in Vienna is displayed in theImperial Treasury orWeltliche Schatzkammer (lit. Worldly Treasure Room) at theHofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.[58] It is the head of a typical winged lance of theCarolingian dynasty.[58] The shaft was presumably lost or destroyed by the reign ofConrad II (1024–1039), who commissioned theReichskreuz ("Imperial Cross") to serve as a reliquary for the spearhead.[59]: 36
The spearhead is wrapped in a distinctive gold cuff, added byCharles 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 theHoly Nails has been incorporated into the spearhead.[53]: 76 [60]: 181 The gold cuff covers an older, silver cuff produced forHenry IV between 1084 and 1105, which also refers to the Holy Nail but identifies the spearhead as the lance ofSaint Maurice. Gilded stripes on both sides of the silver cuff bear another Latin inscription: "CLAVVS DOMINICVS HEINRICVS D[EI] GR[ATI]A TERCIVS / ROMANO[RVM] IMPERATOR AVG[VSTVS] HOC ARGEN / TVM IVSSIT / FABRICARl AD CONFIRMATIONE[M] / CLAVI D[OMI]NI ET LANCEE SANCTI MAVRI / CII // SANCTVS MAVRICIVS" ("Nail of the Lord Henry by the Grace of God the Third, Emperor of the Romans and Augustus, ordered this silver piece to be made to reinforce the Nail of the Lord and the Lance of St. Maurice / Saint Maurice").[59]: 23–24 [60]: 181 The inscription refers to Henry IV, the fourth of his name to reign asKing of Germany, as "the third" because he was the third of his name crownedHoly Roman Emperor.[59]: 24
According toLiutprand of Cremona, the first German monarch to obtain the lance was KingHenry the Fowler who purchased it in 926,[59]: 27 from KingRudolf II of Burgundy.[61]: 160 [60]: 178 Rudolf is supposed to have received the lance as a gift from a "Count Samson,",[61]: 160 about whom nothing else is known.[59]: 47 n.70 Liutprand associated the lance not with Longinus, but withConstantine the Great, citing a claim that the Roman emperor used theHoly Nails, discovered by his motherHelena, to make crosses in the middle of the spearhead.[61]: 160 [60]: 178 The description given by Liutprand closely corresponds to the relic kept in Vienna today.[59]: 29
An alternative account of how Henry received the lance is offered byWidukind of Corvey. According to Widukind, KingConrad 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 ofEast Francia.[62] This version of events has been rejected by historians.[60]: 181
On 15 March 933, Henry carried his lance as he led his forces against theMagyars in theBattle of Riade. From that point forward, theOttonian dynasty regarded the lance as a talisman guaranteeing victory.[59]: 27 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.[59]: 27, 46 n.81 Along the same lines, it may be telling that Henry's sonOtto the Great fought theBattle of Birten in the first half of March 939.[59]: 27–28 However, in 955 Otto sought support fromSaint Lawrence to secure victory in theBattle of Lechfeld, which was planned to occur on Lawrence's feast day.[59]: 28 This shift may have resulted from the increased diplomatic ties between Germany and the Byzantine Empire circa 949/950. As the Germans became aware of the Byzantine version of the Holy Lance, it became politically inconvenient to associate the Ottonian lance with Longinus.[59]: 28 By 1008 the lance was identified with that of Saint Maurice,[59]: 36–38 who had been venerated by Otto the Great.[59]: 41–42
Otto III commissioned two replicas of the lance. One of these was given to Prince Vajk of Hungary in 996, who was later crowned KingStephen I.[59]: 30 The other was presented to Duke of Poland,Bolesław I, at theCongress of Gniezno in 1000.[63]: 351 [64] The Polish lance is currently displayed in theJohn Paul II Cathedral Museum in Kraków.[65] 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 kingHenry III, who captured the lance in theBattle of Ménfő. Whether Henry returned the lance to Peter upon his restoration is uncertain.[59]: 34 Shortly beforeWorld War I, a gold-inlaid spearhead, identified as a Germanic work from around the year 1000, was dredged from the Danube River near Budapest.[66]: 7 [67]: 519 The gold inlay suggests that this artifact could be Stephen's lance replica, but this has not been confirmed.[59]: 34
In 1424,Sigismund had a collection of relics, including the lance, moved from his capital inPrague to his birthplace,Nuremberg, and decreed them to be kept there forever.[68]: 7–8 This collection was called theImperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien).[68]
When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796, the local authorities turned over the Imperial Regalia toJohann Alois von Hügel, Chief Commissary of theImperial Diet.[69]: 18–19 [70]: 732 Baron von Hügel took the regalia toRatisbon for safekeeping, but by 1800 that city was also under threat of invasion, so he relocated them again toPassau,Linz, and Vienna.[69] When the French entered Vienna in 1805, the collection was moved again to Hungary, before ultimately returning to Vienna.[70]: 732 [69]: 19 These movements were conducted in secret, as the status of the regalia had not been resolved amid plans for thedissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. When Nuremberg later appealed for the return of the regalia, the city's requests were easily dismissed by theAustrian Empire.[70]: 732
TheKunsthistorisches Museum has dated the lance to the 8th century.[58] Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested it for a documentary in January 2003.[71][72] Based onX-ray diffraction, fluorescence tests, and other noninvasive procedures, he dated the main body of the spear to the 7th century at the earliest.[72] Feather stated in the same documentary that an iron pin – long claimed to be a nail from the crucifixion, hammered into the blade and set off by tiny brass crosses – was "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st-century AD Roman nail.[72]
Not long afterward, researchers at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Archeology in Vienna used X-ray and other technology to examine a range of lances, and determined that the Vienna lance dates from around the 8th to the beginning of the 9th century, with the nail apparently being of the same metal, and ruled out the possibility of it dating back to the 1st century AD.[73]
The Hofburg spear has been re-imagined in popular culture as a magicaltalisman whose powers may be used for good or evil.[74]
A Holy Lance is conserved inVagharshapat (previously known as Echmiadzin), the religious capital ofArmenia. It was previously held in the monastery ofGeghard.The first source that mentions it is a textHoly 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 theApostle Thaddeus. The manuscript does not specify precisely where it was kept, but theHoly Relics gives a description that exactly matches the lance, the monastery gate (since the thirteenth century precisely), and the name ofGeghardavank (Monastery of the Holy Lance).[75]: 254–256
In 1655, the French travelerJean-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.[76]
It was later returned to Armenia, and is still on display at theManoogian museum in Vagharshapat, enshrined in a 17th-century reliquary. Every year during the commemoration of the apostles St. Thaddeus andSt. Bartholomew the relic is brought out for worship.[77]
During the June 1098Siege of Antioch, a monk namedPeter Bartholomew reported that he had a vision in whichSt. Andrew told him that the Holy Lance was buried in theChurch of St. Peter inAntioch.[78]: 241–243 After much digging in the cathedral, Bartholomew allegedly discovered a lance.[78]: 243–245 Despite the doubts of many, including the papal legateAdhemar of Le Puy, many of the crusaders credited the discovery of the lance for their subsequent victory in theBattle of Antioch, which broke the siege and secured the city.[78]: 247–249, 253–254 [20]: 34–35
Greek Orthodox sources such as the biography of patriarchChristopher indicate that a relic thought to be the Holy Lance was among the treasures of the church of St. Peter as early as the 10th century.[79] Historian Klaus-Peter Todt has suggested this relic could have been buried to hide it fromSeljuk forces in 1084, allowing the crusaders to find it in 1098.[80]: 99
The Holy Lance has been conflated with the bleeding lance depicted in the unfinished 12th century romancePerceval, the Story of the Grail byChrétien de Troyes.[81]: 1–2 The story also refers to ajavelot that has wounded theFisher King, which may or may not be intended to be one and the same with the bleeding lance.[81]: 3 [82] Chrétien ascribes supernaturally destructive powers to the bleeding spear, which are inconsistent with any Christian tradition.[81]: 2, 6–7, 11–13, 17 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.[81]: 14–15 [3]: 166 [83]: 79
Chrétien'sPerceval was adapted byWolfram von Eschenbach into the German epicParzival.[84][85] Like Chrétien, Wolfram depicts the bleeding lance in a manner that cannot easily be reconciled with the spear of Longinus.[81]: 5 Parzival became the primary source forRichard Wagner's 1882 operaParsifal, in which the Fisher King is wounded by the spear that pierced Jesus's side.[86]: 1, 16–20
In the animeNeon Genesis Evangelion, the Spear of Longinus is the name of a powerful artifact of alien origin.
It appears in the Keanu Reeves filmConstantine (film) (2005), where the artifact is found early in the movie having been hidden in Mexico (wrapped in a Nazi flag) after having been lost after WWII.
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Kirchweger, Franz, ed. (2005).Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" [The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny"] (in German). Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Kirchweger, Franz (2005). "Die Geschichte der Heiligen Lanze vom späteren Mittelalter bis zum Ende des Heiligen Römischen Reiches (1806)" [The History of the Holy Lance from the Later Middle Ages to the End of the Holy Roman Empire (1806)].Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" [The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny"] (in German). Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum. pp. 71–110.
"Piercing an Ancient Tale" – An article by Maryann Bird in the European Edition ofTime on British metallurgist Robert Feather's scientific examination of the Spear in Vienna.
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