Two medieval shirts are on show this spring
Medieval textiles are not very often shown to the public. Precious, fragile and prone to deteriorate when shown in glaring light, they tend to be kept away from modern prying eyes.
Last week, however, Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha announced a remarkable new find in their attics: the penitential shirt of the Emperor Maximilian (1459 – 1519). He apparently wore the shirt during a procession and mass at the Abbey of Echternach in Luxemburg. The linen shirt, which is in a very good condition, was probably made in Spain and has Moorish embroideries along the hems. It is told that the Emperor wore the shirt as a penitential gesture and afterwards gifted the shirt to the Abbey. It is currently undergoing conservation, but will be shown as part of an exhibition about the “Fairy-tale castle of Friedenstein” from the 13th of May.
The Abbey of Echternach is located no more than 27 km from the city of Trier, where the Emperor was heading. For some – unknown – reason he had decided that year to reconvene his diet there. On this occasion he demanded to be shown a very special relic, which until then had been kept locked away in the high altar of the cathedral: The holy shirt of Christ. Until then it had been claimed that anyone, who saw the relic, would go blind. The emperor, however, dared this and demanded to have the altar opened in order for him to view the relic. In connection with this a special mass was celebrated for his wife, who had recently died. Following this royal viewing, the people of Trier demanded to be shown the relic. Since then it has been paraded from time to time.
The shirt is believed by the Catholic Church to be the tunica, which Jesus carried to the cross, and which according to St. John was not divided between the soldiers, since it was woven without seams (John 19: 23 – 24). Later St. Helen, the mother of the emperor Constantine miraculously was said to have found the shirt and brought it to Trier. The first time the shirt is directly mentioned was in 1196, when the shirt was encapsulated in the high altar in the new choir of the Cathedral of Trier. It is believed that a treasure, which was kept in the Abbey of Prüm, inspired this event. Here the precious relic was a pair of sandals, which were said to have belonged to Christ.
After it was shown for the first time in 1512, the shirt continued to be exhibited every 7th year during the first half of the 16th century. Later it was taken for safekeeping to Koblenz until it returned to Trier in 1810. Today the shirt consists of layers of silk and other textiles guarding an inner core of woollen felted weave. In 1973/74 archaeologists examined it. Because of the fragile state, the shirt could not be properly dated.
From mid April to mid May 2012, Trier is celebrating the 500-year anniversary of the first time, the so-called Holy shirt, was shown to the public. The diocese, which has planned the celebrations in the form of a pilgrimage, expects 500.000 pilgrims from the 13th of April to the 13th of May, when the shirt will be shown. As usual the event will be heavily criticised in the media; in order to forestall this a scientific symposium was recently organised in order to investigate the history behind the events in 1512. The historians, however, seems not to have debated, whether the importance of the shirt from Echternach had to do with the fact that the emperor wore it while in Trier.
Schloss Friedenstein
99867 Gotha
The exhibition “Märchenschloss Friedenstein” will be on show from the 13 May – 28 October 2012
The diocese of Trier presents the Holy shirt
The Diocese of trier about the pilgrimage 2012
Wikipedia has a well organized introduction to texts, pertaining to the controversies about the Holy Shirt
A digital edition – Keyserliche M. gemahel begencknis tzu Trier und ein grüntliche gantze offenbarung und Proceß aller geschicht Leiptzick 1512 – of the commemorative book about the visit of Mixamilian to Trier