View source for Holy Lance

{{short description|Lance that pierced Jesus' side as he hung on the cross}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Redirect|Spear of Destiny}}
[[File:Fra Angelico 027.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Fresco by [[Fra Angelico]], Dominican monastery at [[San Marco, Florence]], showing the lance piercing the side of Jesus on the cross ({{circa|1440}})]]

The '''Holy Lance''', also known as the '''Spear of Longinus''' (named after [[Longinus|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 of Jesus|crucifixion]]. As with other [[Arma Christi|instruments of the Passion]], the lance is only briefly mentioned in the Christian Bible, but later became the subject of extrabiblical traditions ([[Apocrypha]]) in the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|medieval church]]. [[Relic]]s 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 the Fowler]]'s lance was credited for winning the [[Battle of Riade]], and the [[Crusades|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 a distinctive gold cuff. This version of the lance is on public display with the rest of the [[Imperial Regalia]] at the [[Hofburg]].

[[File:Vangeli di Rabbula, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Cod. Plut. I, 56, fol. 13r.jpg|thumb|Miniature of the [[Crucifixion]] from the [[Rabula Gospels]]. "Loginos" is depicted piercing the right side of Jesus with a spear.]]

== Biblical references ==
{{main|Longinus}}

The lance ({{langx|el|λόγχη}}, {{transliteration|el|lonkhē}}) is mentioned in the [[Gospel of John]],<ref>{{Bibleverse|John|19:31–37}}</ref> but not in the [[Synoptic Gospels]]. The gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus' legs, a practice known as {{lang|la|crurifragium}}, which was a method of hastening death during a [[crucifixion]]. Because it 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").<ref>{{Bibleverse|John|19:36}}</ref>{{efn|This verse is reference to {{Bibleverse|Psalms|34:20}} regarding the righteous person, and commandments concerning the [[Passover sacrifice|paschal lamb]] in {{Bibleverse|Exodus|12:46}} and {{Bibleverse|Numbers|9:12}}.}} To make sure that he was dead, a Roman soldier (named in extra-Biblical tradition as [[Saint Longinus|Longinus]]) stabbed him in the side.

{{Blockquote|One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance {{lang|el|(λόγχη)}}, and immediately there came out blood and water.|{{Bibleverse|John|19:34|KJV}}}}

The name of the soldier who pierced Christ's side with a {{transliteration|el|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 the spear's Latin name ''{{lang|la|Lancea Longini}}'').<ref name="Peebles 1911">{{cite book |author-last=Peebles |author-first=Rose Jeffries |date=1911 |title=The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesiastical Tradition and in English Literature, and its connection with the Grail |location=Baltimore |publisher=J. H. Furst. |url=https://archive.org/details/TheLegendOfLonginus/page/n7/mode/1up |access-date=2023-07-29 |via=[[The Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|6–8}}<ref name="Hone 1926">{{cite book |author-last=Hone |author-first=William |author-link=William Hone |title=The Lost Books of the Bible: being all the gospels, epistles, and other pieces now extant attributed in the first four centuries to Jesus Christ, His apostles and their companions, not included, by its compilers, in the authorized New Testament; and, the recently discovered Syriac mss. of Pilate's letters to Tiberius, etc. |publisher=Alpha House |location=New York |date=1926 |url=https://archive.org/details/lostbooksofbible00unse_0 |access-date=2023-07-27 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|73}}

A form of the name Longinus occurs in the [[Rabula Gospels]] in the late 6th-century. In a [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]], the name ''{{small|{{lang|el|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.<ref name="Thurston 1910">{{CathEncy|wstitle= The Holy Lance |volume= 8 |last= Thurston |first= Herbert |author-link= Herbert Thurston |short=1}}</ref>

== Relics ==

=== Rome ===
[[File:S. LONGINO, Bernini.jpg|thumb|Statue of Saint Longinus by [[Gianlorenzo Bernini]] (1638)]]
A Holy Lance relic is preserved at [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] in Vatican City, in a [[loggia]] carved into the pillar above the [[Saint Longinus (Bernini)|statue of Saint Longinus]].<ref name="Olivié 2017">{{cite magazine |author-last=Olivié |author-first=Antonio |year=2017 |title=In the Footsteps of Christ in Rome. |magazine=Jerusalem Cross: Annales Ordinis Equestris Sancti Sepulchri Hierosolymitani |location=Vatican City |publisher=[[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Grand Magisterium of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]] |pages=64–65 |url=http://www.oessh.va/content/ordineequestresantosepolcro/en/media/le-nostre-pubblicazioni/la-croce-di-gerusalemme-2017.html |access-date=2023-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504131044/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/oessh/ad/croce2017/croce2017_en.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-04 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kuhn 1916">{{cite book |author-last=Kuhn |author-first=Albert |date=1916 |title=Roma: Ancient, Subterranean, and Modern Rome |location=New York |publisher=Benziger Brothers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3NFAQAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2023-08-08}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="Breviary 1897">{{cite book |chapter=The 'Breviary'; or, Short Description of Jerusalem |title=The Epitome of S. Eucherius about Certain Holy Places (circ. A.D.440), and the Breviary or Short Description of Jerusalem (circ. A.D. 530) |series=The Library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society |volume=II |year=1897 |location=London |publisher=Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society |translator-last=Stewart |translator-first=Aubrey |pages=13–16 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028534208/ |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2024-02-03}}</ref>{{rp|14}}<ref name="Peebles 1911"/>{{rp|57}} In his ''Expositio Psalmorum'' (ca. 540-548),<ref name="O'Donnell 1979">{{cite book |title=Cassiodorus |author-last=O'Donnell |author-first=James J. |date=14 April 1979 |author-link=James J. O'Donnell |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California |isbn=0-520-03646-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/cassiodorus0000odon/ |access-date=2024-02-03 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|xv, 131–136}} [[Cassiodorus]] asserts the continued presence of the lance in Jerusalem.<ref name="Cassiodorus 1865">{{cite book |author-last=Cassiodorus |author-first=Magnus Aurelius |author-link=Cassiodorus |contribution=Expositio Psalmum LXXXVI |trans-contribution=Explanation of Psalm 86 |title=Patrologia Latina |editor-last=Migne |editor-first=Jacques Paul |editor-link=Jacques Paul Migne |location=Paris |publisher=Jacques Paul Migne |language=la |volume=LXX |page=col. 621 |no-pp=yes |date=1865 |quote=Ibi manet lancea, quae latus Domini transforavit, ut nobis illius medicina succurreret. |trans-quote=There [Jerusalem] remains the lance which pierced the Lord's side, that his medicine might help us. |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/patrologiaecurs27goog/page/n325/mode/1up |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> A report by the [[Anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza|Piacenza pilgrim]] (ca. 570) places the lance in the [[Church of Zion, Jerusalem|Church of Zion]].<ref name="Piacenza pilgrim 1887">{{cite book |author=Piacenza pilgrim |author-link=Anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza |translator-last=Stewart |translator-first=Aubrey |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=C. W. |title=Of the Holy Places Visited by Antoninus Martyr (Circ. 560–570 A.D.) |date=1887 |series=Library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028534232/ |access-date=2024-02-03 |location=London |publisher=Palestine Pilgrim's Text Society}}</ref>{{rp|18}}<ref name="Jacobs">{{cite web |title=The Piacenza Pilgrim |translator-last=Jacobs |translator-first=Andrew S. |website=Andrew S. Jacobs, Ph.D. |url=https://andrewjacobs.org/translations/piacenzapilgrim.html
|access-date=2024-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106115359/https://andrewjacobs.org/translations/piacenzapilgrim.html |url-status=live |archive-date=2024-01-06}}</ref> [[Gregory of Tours]] described the lance and other relics of the Passion in his ''Libri Miraculorum'' (ca. 574-594).<ref name="Gregory of Tours 1865">{{cite book |author=Gregory of Tours |author-link=Gregory of Tours |contribution=Libri Miraculorum |trans-contribution=Book of Miracles |title=Patrologia Latina |editor-last=Migne |editor-first=Jacques Paul |editor-link=Jacques Paul Migne |location=Paris |publisher=Jacques Paul Migne |language=la |volume=LXXI |page=col. 712 |no-pp=yes |date=1879 |quote=De lancea vero, arundine, spongia, corona spinea et columna, ad quam verberatus est Dominus et Redemptor Hierosolymis, dicendum.  |trans-quote=Let us speak about the lance, the reed, the sponge, the crown of thorns, and the pillar where our Lord and Redeemer was lashed, in Jerusalem. |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/patrologiaecurs21unkngoog/page/n328/mode/1up |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=So Many Saints--So Little Time...the "Libri Miraculorum" of Gregory of Tours |author-first=Danuta |author-last=Shanzer |journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin |year=2003 |volume=13 |pages=19–60 |publisher=Brepols |doi=10.1484/J.JML.2.304193 |jstor=45019571}}</ref>{{rp|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.

In 614, [[Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem|Jerusalem was captured]] by the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] general [[Shahrbaraz]].<ref name="Chronicon Paschale 2007">{{cite book |title=Chronicon Paschale 284-628 AD |year=2007 |translator1-last=Whitby |translator1-first=Michael |translator1-link=Michael Whitby |translator2-last=Whitby |translator2-first=Mary |url=https://archive.org/details/chronicon-p/ |access-date=2023-08-04 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|156}}  The ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'' says that the Holy Lance was among the relics captured, but one of Shahrbaraz's associates gave it to [[Nicetas (cousin of Heraclius)|Nicetas]] who brought it to the [[Hagia Sophia]] in [[Constantinople]] later that year.<ref name="Chronicon Paschale 2007"/>{{rp|157}}<ref name="Gastger 2005">{{cite book |author-last=Gastgeber |author-first=Christian |contribution=Die Heilige Lanze im byzantinischen Osten |trans-contribution=The Holy Lance in the Byzantine East |editor-last=Kirchweger |editor-first=Franz |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |language=de |location=Vienna |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |date=2005 |pages=52–69}}</ref>{{rp|56}}  However, ''[[De locis sanctis]]'', describing the pilgrimage of [[Arculf]] in 670,  places the lance in Jerusalem, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.<ref>{{cite book |author=Adomnán of Iona |author-link=Adomnán |title=The Pilgrimage of Arculfus in the Holy Land (About the Year A.D. 670) |translator-last=MacPherson |translator-first=James Rose |publisher=[[Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society]] |location=London |date=1889 |url=https://archive.org/details/ThePilgrimageOfArculfus |access-date=2024-02-17 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|12}}  Arculf is the last of the medieval pilgrims to report the lance in Jerusalem, as [[Willibald]] and [[Bernard the Pilgrim|Bernard]] made no mention of it.<ref name="de Mély 1904">{{cite book |author-first=Fernand |author-last=De Mély |title=Exuviae sacrae constantinopolitanae: la croix des premiers croisés, la Sainte Lance, la Sainte Couronne |trans-title=The Holy Relics of Constantinople: The Cross of the First Crusaders, The Holy Lance, The Holy Crown |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Ernest LeRoux |date=1904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LU-AQAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2024-02-17}}</ref>{{rp|39}}

By the middle of the 10th century, a lance relic was venerated in Constantinople at the [[Church of the Virgin of the Pharos]].<ref name="Constantine 1897">{{cite book |author=Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus |author-link=Constantine VII |contribution=De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, Lib. I, cap. XXXIV |title=Patrologiae Graeca, Vol. CXII |editor-last=Migne |editor-first=Jacques Paul |editor-link=Jacques Paul Migne |location=Paris |publisher=Garnier |at=cols. 419-424 |language=la,el |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/patrologiaecurs82migngoog/page/n217/mode/1up |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2024-02-17 |date=1897}}</ref>{{rp|cols. 421–423}}<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>{{rp|58}}<ref name="Morris 1984">{{cite book |author-last=Morris |author-first=Colin |author-link= |contribution=Policy and vision: The case of the Holy Lance found at Antioch |editor1-last=Gillingham |editor1-first=John |editor2-first=J. C. |editor2-last=Holt |title=War and Government in the Middle Ages: Essays in honour of J. O. Prestwich |publisher=Boydell |location=Totowa, NJ |date=1984 |pages=33–45 |isbn=978-0-85115-404-6 |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/wargovernmentinm0000unse/page/33/mode/1up |access-date=2023-07-27 |url=https://archive.org/details/wargovernmentinm0000unse |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]] }}</ref>{{rp|35}} 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.<ref name="Runciman 1950">{{cite journal |author-last=Runicman |author-first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |title=The Holy Lance Found at Antioch |journal=Analecta Bollandiana |volume=68 |date=1950 |pages=197–209 |issn=0003-2468 |doi=10.1484/J.ABOL.4.01033}}</ref>{{rp|200}}  During the [[Siege of Tripoli]], [[Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse|Raymond of Toulose]] reportedly brought the Antioch lance to Constantinople, and presented it to Emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]].<ref name="Keightley 1852">{{cite book |author-last=Keightley |author-first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Keightley |date=1852 |title=The Crusaders; or, Scenes, Events, and Characters from the Times of the Crusades |edition=4th |location=London |publisher=John W. Parker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfFP2JCfEz0C |access-date=2024-02-17 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|185}}<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="Runciman 1950"/>{{rp|202}}  Alternatively, Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter believed that Alexios intended to denounce the crusaders' lance as a fraud,<ref name="Anna Komnene 2009">{{cite book |author=Anna Comnena |author-link=Anna Komnene |title=The Alexiad |translator-last=Sewter |translator-first=E. R. A. |location=London |publisher=Penguin |date=2009 |url=https://archive.org/details/sewter-alexiad-2009-ed/ |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2024-02-17}}</ref>{{rp|526}} and that this was accomplished when Prince [[Bohemond I of Antioch]] was compelled in 1108<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>{{rp|58}} to swear an oath to him on the other lance.<ref name="Anna Komnene 2009"/>{{rp|397}} Whether Alexios kept the Antioch lance or returned it to Raymond is uncertain.<ref name="Runciman 1950"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="Riant 1878">{{cite book |contribution=Relliquae Constantinopolitanae |trans-contribution=Relics of Constantinople |language=la |editor-last=Riant |editor-first=Paul |editor-link=Paul Riant |date=1878 |orig-date=c. 1150 |title=Exuvia sacrae constantinopolitanae: fasciculus documentorum ecclesiasticorum, ad byzantina lipsana in Occidentem saeculo XIII translata, spectantium, & historiam quarti belli sacri |trans-title=The Holy Relics of Constantinople: A Collection of Ecclesiastical Documents, Relating to the Byzantine Relics Transferred to the West in the 13th Century, and the History of the Fourth Crusade |volume=II |location=Geneva |pages=211–212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tS8PAQAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2024-02-18}}</ref><ref name="Nicholas of Thingeyre 1878">{{cite book |author=Nicholas of Thingeyre |contribution=Catalogus reliquiarium C.P. |language=la |editor-last=Riant |editor-first=Paul |editor-link=Paul Riant |date=1878 |orig-date=1157 |title=Exuvia sacrae constantinopolitanae: fasciculus documentorum ecclesiasticorum, ad byzantina lipsana in Occidentem saeculo XIII translata, spectantium, & historiam quarti belli sacri |trans-title=The Holy Relics of Constantinople: A Collection of Ecclesiastical Documents, Relating to the Byzantine Relics Transferred to the West in the 13th Century, and the History of the Fourth Crusade |volume=II |location=Geneva |pages=213–216 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tS8PAQAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2024-02-18}}</ref><ref name="William of Tyre 1878">{{cite book |author=William of Tyre |author-link=William of Tyre |contribution=Historia belli sacri, XX, cap. 23. |trans-contribution=History of the Crusade, book 20, chapter 23 |language=la |editor-last=Riant |editor-first=Paul |editor-link=Paul Riant |date=1878 |orig-date=1171 |title=Exuvia sacrae constantinopolitanae: fasciculus documentorum ecclesiasticorum, ad byzantina lipsana in Occidentem saeculo XIII translata, spectantium, & historiam quarti belli sacri |trans-title=The Holy Relics of Constantinople: A Collection of Ecclesiastical Documents, Relating to the Byzantine Relics Transferred to the West in the 13th Century, and the History of the Fourth Crusade |volume=II |location=Geneva |pages=216 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tS8PAQAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2024-02-18}}</ref><ref name="William of Tyre 1943">{{cite book |author=William of Tyre |author-link=William of Tyre |title=A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea |volume=II |translator1-last=Babcock |translator1-first=Emily Atwater |translator2-last=Krey |translator2-first=A. C. |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University |date=1943 |url=https://archive.org/details/william-of-tyre-deeds-done-beyond-the-sea-volume-ii/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|381}}<ref name="Anthony of Novgorod">{{cite book |author=Anthony of Novgorod |author-link=Anthony of Novgorod |contribution=Le Livre du Pèlerin |trans-contribution=The Pilgrim's Book |editor-last=de Khitrowo |editor-first=B.   |date=1889 |title=Itinéraires Russes en Orient |trans-title=Russian itineraries in the East |language=fr |pages=88–111 |location=Geneva |publisher=Fick |url=https://archive.org/details/itinerairesrusse00khit |access-date=2024-02-21 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|pp=97–98}}

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.<ref name="Alberic 2008">{{cite book |author=Alberic of Trois-Fontaines |author-link=Alberic of Trois-Fontaines |contribution=Chronicle |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |translator-last=Andrea |translator-first=Alfred J. |date=2008 |pages=291–309 |title=Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade |edition=Revised |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|pp=302–303}} The capture of this icon by Henry's forces was considered important to many contemporary sources on the [[Fourth Crusade]].<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005">{{cite book |author=Robert de Clari |author-link=Robert de Clari |date=2005 |title= The Conquest of Constantinople |translator-last=McNeal |translator-first=Edgar Holmes |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University |url=https://archive.org/details/mc-neal-clari-the-conquest-of-constantinople |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2024-02-21}}</ref>{{rp|p=90|at=n.89}}  In addition to the crusaders' report to Pope [[Innocent III]],<ref name="Baldwin I 2008">{{cite book |author=Baldwin I |author-link=Baldwin I, Latin Emperor |contribution=The Registers of Innocent III: Reg 7:152 |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |translator-last=Andrea |translator-first=Alfred J. |date=2008 |pages=98–112 |title=Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade |edition=Revised |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|p=103}} the incident was documented by [[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]],<ref name="Geoffrey 1985">{{cite book |author=Geoffrey of Villehardouin |author-link=Geoffrey of Villehardouin |date=1985 |contribution=The Conquest of Constantinople |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=M.R.B. |title=Chronicles of the Crusades |location=New York |publisher=Dorset |isbn=978-0-88029-035-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofcrus0000shaw |access-date=2021-02-21 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|pp=85–86}} the ''[[Devastatio Constantinopolitana]]'',<ref name="Devastatio 2008">{{cite book |contribution=Devastatio of Constantinopolitana |pages=212–221 |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |translator-last=Andrea |translator-first=Alfred J. |date=2008 |title=Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade |edition=Revised |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|p=220}} [[Niketas Choniates]],<ref name="Niketas Choniates 1984">{{cite book |author=Niketas Choniates |author-link=Niketas Choniates |date=1984 |title=O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates |translator-last=Magoulias |translator-first=Harry J. |location=Detroit |publisher=Wayne State University |url=https://archive.org/details/o-city-of-byzantium-annals-of-niketas-choniates-ttranslated-by-harry-j-magoulias-1984 |access-date=2024-02-21 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|pp=312}} [[Robert de Clari]],<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005"/>{{rp|pp=88–91}} [[Ralph of Coggeshall]],<ref name="Ralph 2008">{{cite book |author=Ralph of Coggeshall |author-link=Ralph of Coggeshall |contribution=Chronicle |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |translator-last=Andrea |translator-first=Alfred J. |date=2008 |pages=277–290 |title=Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade |edition=Revised |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|pp=285}} and [[Robert of Auxerre]].<ref name="Robert of Auxerre 1822">{{cite book |author=Robert of Auxerre |author-link=Robert of Auxerre |date=1822 |contribution=Ex Chronologia Roberti Altissiodorensis, praemonstratensis ad S. Marianum canonici |editor-last=Bouquet |editor-first=Martin |title=Rerum Gallicarum et Francicarum Scriptores |volume=XVIII |pages=247–290 |language=la |location=Paris |publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k501368/f311.item.zoom |access-date=2024-02-21 |via=[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=270}} However, none of these sources mention the icon bearing any relics, whereas Alberic claimed it was adorned with the lance fragment, a portion of the [[Shroud of Turin|Holy Shroud]], one of Jesus's [[deciduous teeth]], and other relics from thirty martyrs.<ref name="Alberic 2008"/>{{rp|p=302}}  Modern historians have regarded  Alberic's account with some skepticism, characterizing it as "fanciful"<ref name="Hendrickx 1979">{{cite journal |author1-last=Hendrickx |author1-first=Benjamin |author2-last=Matzukis |author2-first=Corinna |date=1979 |title=Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos: His Life, Reign, and Death (?-1204) |journal=Ελληνικά |trans-journal=Hellenika |volume=31 |pages=108–132 |url=http://media.ems.gr/ekdoseis/ellinika/Ellinika_31_1/ekd_peel_31_1_Hendrickx-C.Matzukis.pdf |via=[[Society for Macedonian Studies]] |access-date=2024-02-21}}</ref>{{rp|p=122|at=n.3}} and "pure invention."<ref name="Queller 1997">{{cite book |author1-last=Queller |author1-first=Donald E. |author2-last=Madden |author2-first=Thomas F. |date=1997 |title=The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople |edition=2 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-8122-3387-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/fourthcrusadecon0000quel_m5r1/ |access-date=2024-02-21 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|pp=278–279|at=n.128}}  In any case, after the battle the crusaders sent the icon to [[Cîteaux Abbey]],<ref name="Baldwin I 2008"/>{{rp|p=103}}<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005"/>{{rp|p=90}} but there is no record of whether it reached that destination.<ref name="Baldwin I 2008"/>{{rp|p=103|at=n.375}}

[[File:Le Grande Châsse.png|thumb|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 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.<ref name="Robert de Clari 2005"/>{{rp|p=103}} However by the 1230s, the Latin Empire's financial state had grown desperate.<ref name="Klein 2004">{{cite journal |author-last=Klein |author-first=Holger A. |title=Eastern Objects and Western Desires: Relics and Reliquaries between Byzantium and the West |journal=Dumberton Oaks Papers |date=2004 |volume=58 |pages=283–314 |publisher=Dumberton Oakes |doi=10.2307/3591389 |jstor=3591389|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|p=307}}<ref name="Baldwin II 1878">{{cite book |author=Baldwin II |author-link=Baldwin II, Latin Emperor |date=1878 |orig-date=June 1247 |contribution=Balduinus II Ludovico IX reliquas omnes S. Capella in perpetuum concedit |trans-contribution=Baldwin II grants to Louis IX all the relics of the Saint-Chapelle in perpetuity |language=la |editor-last=Riant |editor-first=Paul |editor-link=Paul Riant |title=Exuvia sacrae constantinopolitanae |trans-title=Holy relics of Constantinople |volume=II |location=Geneva |pages=133–135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tS8PAQAAMAAJ |access-date=2024-02-25 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|134}}  In 1239, [[Baldwin II, Latin Emperor|Baldwin II]] arranged to sell Constantinople's [[crown of thorns|Crown of Thorns]] relic to  King [[Louis IX of France]].<ref name="Klein 2004"/>{{rp|p=307–308}}  Over the next several years, Baldwin sold a total of twenty-two relics to Louis.<ref name="Gastger 2005"/>{{rp|p=62}}<ref name="Baldwin II 1878"/>  The Holy Lance was included in the final lot, which probably arrived at Paris in 1242.<ref name="Klein 2004"/>{{rp|p=307}}<ref name="Gerard 1904">{{cite book |contributor1=Gerard de St. Quentin |contribution=Translatio sancte corone Domini nostri Ihesu Christi a Constantinopolitana urbe ad civitatem Parisiensem, facta anno Domini Mº CCº XLlº |trans-contribution=The transfer of the holy crown of our Lord Jesus Christ from the city of Constantinople to the city of Paris, made in the year of the Lord 1241 |language=la |author-first=Fernand |author-last=De Mély |title=Exuviae sacrae constantinopolitanae: la croix des premiers croisés, la Sainte Lance, la Sainte Couronne |trans-title=The Holy Relics of Constantinople: The Cross of the First Crusaders, The Holy Lance, The Holy Crown |location=Paris |publisher=Ernest LeRoux |date=1904 |orig-date=1241 |pages=102–112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LU-AQAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2024-02-17}}</ref>{{rp|108}} All of these relics were later enshrined in the [[Sainte Chapelle]]. During the [[French Revolution]] they were removed to the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Bibliothèque Nationale]], but the lance subsequently disappeared.<ref name="Thurston 1910"/>

Despite the transfer of the Holy Lance to Paris, various travelers continued to report its presence in Constantinople throughout the [[Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty|late Byzantine period]].<ref name="Brock 1967">{{cite journal |author-last=Brock |author-first=Sebastian P. |author-link=Sebastian Brock |date=1967 |title=A Medieval Armenian Pilgrim's Description of Constantinople |journal=Revue des Études Arméniennes |series=Nouvelle Série [New Series] |trans-journal=Review of Armenian Studies |volume=4 |pages=81–102 |url=https://tert.nla.am/archive/NLA%20AMSAGIR/REA/1967(4).pdf |access-date=2024-02-25 |via=Union Catalog of Armenian Continuing Resources}}</ref>{{rp|p=88}}<ref name="John Mandeville 1900">{{cite book
|author=John Mandeville |date=1900 |orig-date=ca. 1357-1371 |title=The Travels of John Mandeville: The version of the Cotton Manuscript in modern spelling. |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsofsirjohn00manduoft/ |access-date=2024-02-26 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|pp=10–11}}<ref name="Anonymous Description 1984">{{cite book |contribution=Anonymous Description of Constantinople |date=1984 |editor-last=Majeska |editor-first=George P. |title=Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |pages=114–154 |url=https://archive.org/details/or-ch-1s-06-1906/George%20P.%20Majeska%20-%20Russian%20Travelers%20to%20Constantinople%20in%20the%20Fourteenth%20and%20Fifteenth%20Centuries/ |access-date=2024-02-25 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=132}}<ref name="Alexander the Clerk 1984">{{cite book |author=Alexander the Clerk |date=1984 |orig-date=1394–1395 |contribution= Alexander the Clerk: On Constantinople |pages=156–165 |editor-last=Majeska |editor-first=George P. |title=Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |url=https://archive.org/details/or-ch-1s-06-1906/George%20P.%20Majeska%20-%20Russian%20Travelers%20to%20Constantinople%20in%20the%20Fourteenth%20and%20Fifteenth%20Centuries/ |access-date=2024-02-25 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=160}}<ref name="Clavijo 1859">{{cite book |author-last=Clavijo |author-first=Ruy González de |author-link=Ruy González de Clavijo |date=1859 |orig-date=1403–1406 |title=Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the Court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6 |translator-last=Markham |translator-first=Clements R. |translator-link=Clements Markham |location=London |publisher=Hakluyt Society |isbn=978-0-8337-2234-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVkMAAAAIAAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=43}}<ref name="Zosima the Deacon 1984">
{{cite book |author=Zosima the Deacon |author-link=:ru:Зосима (иеромонах) |contribution=The Xenos of Zosima the Deacon |pages=166–195 |editor-last=Majeska |editor-first=George P. |title=Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |url=https://archive.org/details/or-ch-1s-06-1906/George%20P.%20Majeska%20-%20Russian%20Travelers%20to%20Constantinople%20in%20the%20Fourteenth%20and%20Fifteenth%20Centuries/ |access-date=2024-02-25 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=86}}<ref name="Buondelmonti 1864">{{cite book |author-last=Buondelmonti |author-first=Cristoforo |author-link=Cristoforo Buondelmonti |date=1864 |orig-date=ca. 1420s |contribution=Descriptio Urbis Constantinopoleos |editor-last=Migne |editor-first=Jacques Paul |title=Patrologiae Graeci, Vol. CXXXIII |publisher=J.-P. Migne |at=cols. 695-708 |language=la |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLrUAAAAMAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2024-02-26}}</ref>{{rp|at=col. 701}}<ref name="Lannoy 1878">{{cite book |author-last=Lannoy |author-first=Ghillebert de |author-link=Ghillebert de Lannoy |date=1878 |title=Oeuvres de Ghillebert de Lannoy |editor-last=Potvin |editor-first=Charles |location=Louvain |publisher=Lefever |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k102047r/f3.item |language=fr |via=[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] |access-date=2024-02-26}}</ref>{{rp|p=11}}<ref name="Tafur 1926">{{cite book |author-link=Pedro Tafur |author-last=Tafur |author-first=Pedro |date=1926 |title=Travels and Adventures 1435-1439 |editor-last=Letts |editor-first=Malcom |location=London |publisher=George Routledge |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.505483/ |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2024-02-26}}</ref>{{rp|p=140}}<ref name="Bertrandon 1807">{{cite book |author=Bertrandon de la Broquière |author-link=Bertrandon de la Broquière |date=1807 |orig-date=1453 |title=The Travels of Bertrandon de la Broquiere, counsellor & first esquire-carver to Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, to Palestine, and his return from Jerusalem overland to France, during the years 1432 & 1433 |translator-last=Johnes |translator-first=Thomas |translator-link=Thomas Johnes |publisher=Hafod Press |url=https://archive.org/details/TravelsToPalestineAndHisReturnJohnes/ |access-date=2024-02-26 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=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.<ref name="John Mandeville 1900"/>{{rp|pp=10–11}}  Although the authenticity of Mandeville's travelogue is questionable,<ref name="Kohanski 2007">{{cite book |contribution=Introduction |editor1-last=Kohanski |editor1-first=Tamarah |editor2-last=Benson |editor2-first=C. David |author=John Mandeville |title=The Book of John Mandeville |location=Kalamazoo |publisher=Medieval Institute Publications |contribution-url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/kohanski-and-benson-the-book-of-john-mandeville-introduction |url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/kohanski-and-benson-the-book-of-john-mandeville |via=University of Rochester |access-date=2024-02-27}}</ref> the widespread popularity of the work demonstrates that the existence of multiple Holy Lance relics was public knowledge.<ref name="Kirchweger 2005">{{cite book |author-last=Kirchweger|author-first=Franz |contribution=Die Geschichte der Heiligen Lanze vom späteren Mittelalter bis zum Ende des Heiligen Römischen Reiches (1806) |trans-contribution=The History of the Holy Lance from the Late Middle Ages to the End of the Holy Roman Empire (1806) |editor-last=Kirchweger |editor-first=Franz |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |language=de |location=Vienna |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |date=2005 |pages=71–109}}</ref>{{rp|p=75}}

[[File:Basilica Sancti Petri 46.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Pope Innocent VIII, transferred from the [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]]. The left hand holds the tip of the holy lance, presented to the Pope by Sultan Bayezid II<ref>[https://stpetersbasilica.info/Monuments/InnocentVIII/InnocentVIII.htm  St. Peter's basilica.info]</ref>.]]
The relics remaining in Constantinople, including the lance, were presumably seized by Sultan [[Mehmed II]] in 1453 when he [[Fall of Constantinople|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 Sultan|Cem]] prisoner.<ref name="Pastor 1901">{{cite book |author-last=von Pastor |author-first=Ludwig |author-link=Ludwig von Pastor |date=1901 |title=The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages. |editor-last=Antrobus |editor-first=Frederick Ignatius |volume=V |edition=2 |location=London |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpopesfr05past |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2023-08-04}}</ref>{{rp|311–318}}<ref name="Thurston 1910"/> At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as [[Johann Burchard]] records,<ref name="Burchard 1910">{{cite book |author-last=Burchard |author-first=Johann |author-link=Johann Burchard |title=The Diary of John Burchard of Strasburg Vol. I: A.D. 1483-1492 |translator-last=Matthew |translator-first=Arnold Harris |translator-link=Arnold Mathew |location=London |publisher=Francis Griffiths |date=1910 |pages=337–339 |url=https://archive.org/details/diaryofjohnburch01burc/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> because of the presence of other rival lances in Paris, Nuremberg (see [[#Vienna|Holy Lance in Vienna]] below), and Armenia (see [[#Holy Lance in Echmiadzin|Holy Lance in Echmiadzin]] below).<ref name="Thurston 1910"/> This relic has never since left Rome, and its resting place is at Saint Peter's.<ref name="Thurston 1910"/>  Innocent's tomb, created by [[Antonio del Pollaiuolo]], features a bronze effigy of the pope holding the spear blade he received from Bayezid.<ref name="Pastor 1901"/>{{rp|321}}

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 the two fragments had originally formed one blade.<ref name="Benedict XIV 1840">{{cite book |author=Benedict XIV |author-link=Pope Benedict XIV |title=Doctrina de Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canonizatione |chapter=Book IV, Part II, Chapter XXXI |pages=322–325 |year=1840 |location=Brussels |language=la |publisher=Societatis Belgicae |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MoYPAAAAQAAJ/page/n333/mode/1up |access-date=2023-08-03 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|page=323|quote=Subacta a Mahumete Constantinopoli, Bajazettes ejus filius reliquam lanceae partem, quae Constantinopoli remanserat, Innocentio VIII dono dedit, ut collata figura cuspidis, quae in sacello regio Parisiensi colitur, inventa est omnino conveniens.|translation=Having been captured by Mehmed at Constantinople, his son Bayezid gave the remaining part of the lance, which had remained at Constantinople, as a gift to Innocent VIII, as compared with the shape of the point, which is revered in the chapel of Paris, it was found to be entirely consistent.}}
<gallery widths="165px" heights="200px">
File:Adhémar de Monteil à Antioche.jpeg|A mitred [[Adhémar de Monteil]] carrying one of the instances of the Holy Lance in one of the battles of the [[First Crusade]]
File:Sainte Lance de Rome.jpg|upright=0.6|1898 drawing of the Holy Lance in Rome
</gallery>

=== Vienna ===
[[File:I09 524 Reichskreuz und Heilige Lanze.jpg|thumb|The Holy Lance (left) on display with other items from the [[Imperial Regalia]] in Vienna]]
The Holy Lance in Vienna is displayed in the [[Imperial Treasury (Vienna)|Imperial Treasury]] or ''Weltliche Schatzkammer'' (lit. Worldly Treasure Room) at the [[Hofburg Palace]] in Vienna, Austria.<ref name="KunsthistorischesHeiligeLanze">{{cite web |title=Die Heilige Lanze |url=https://www.khm.at/en/objectdb/detail/100443/ |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |access-date=2023-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806021613/https://www.khm.at/en/objectdb/detail/100443/ |trans-title=The Holy Lance|url-status=live |archive-date=2023-08-06}}</ref> It is the head of a typical winged lance of the [[Carolingian dynasty]].<ref name="KunsthistorischesHeiligeLanze"/> The shaft was presumably lost or destroyed by the reign of [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]] (1024–1039), who commissioned the ''Reichskreuz'' ("Imperial Cross") to serve as a reliquary for the spearhead.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|p=36}}

The spearhead is wrapped in a distinctive gold cuff, added by [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|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.<ref name="Kirchweger 2005"/>{{rp|p=76}}<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>{{rp|181}}  The gold cuff covers an older, silver cuff produced for [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] between 1084 and 1105, which also refers to 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 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").<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|pp=23–24}}<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>{{rp|181}}  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]].<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|pp=24}}

According to [[Liutprand of Cremona]], the first German monarch to obtain the lance was King [[Henry the Fowler]] who purchased it in  926,<ref name="Wolf 2005">{{cite book | author-last=Wolf |author-first=Gunther G. |contribution=Nochmals zur Geschicthe der Heiligen Lanze bis zum Ende des Mittelalters |trans-contribution=Once more the History of the Holy Lance through the End of the Middle Ages |editor-last=Kirchweger |editor-first=Franz |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |date=2005 |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |language=de |location=Vienna |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |pages=23–51}}</ref>{{rp|p=27}} from King [[Rudolf II of Burgundy]].<ref name="Liutprand 1930">{{cite book |author=Liutprand of Cremona |author-link=Liutprand of Cremona |date=1930 |contribution=Antapodosis, Book IV |title=The Works of Liudprand of Cremona |translator-last=Wright |translator-first=F. A. |pages=139–172 |location=London |publisher=Routledge & Sons |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.168391 |access-date=2024-03-08 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=160}}<ref name="Adelson 1966">{{cite journal |author-last=Adelson |author-first=Howard L. |title=The Holy Lance and the Hereditary German Monarchy |journal=The Art Bulletin |date=June 1966 |volume=48 |number=2 |pages=177–192 |jstor=3048362 |doi=10.2307/3048362 |publisher=College Art Association}}</ref>{{rp|178}}  Rudolf is supposed to have received the lance as a gift from a "Count Samson,",<ref name="Liutprand 1930"/>{{rp|p=160}} about whom nothing else is known.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|p=47 n.70}}  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, mother of Constantine I|Helena]], to make crosses in the middle of the spearhead.<ref name="Liutprand 1930"/>{{rp|p=160}}<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>{{rp|p=178}}  The description given by Liutprand closely corresponds to the relic kept in Vienna today.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|p=29}}

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]].<ref name="Widukind 2014">{{cite book |author=Widukind of Corvey |author-link=Widukind of Corvey |date=2014 |title=Deeds of the Saxons |translator1-last=Bachrach |translator1-first=Bernard S. |translator2-last=Bachrach |translator2-first=Davis S. |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Catholic University of America |url=https://archive.org/details/deeds-of-the-saxons-book |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2024-03-04}}</ref>  This version of events has been rejected by historians.<ref name="Adelson 1966"/>{{rp|p=181}}

On 15 March 933, Henry carried his lance as he led his forces against the [[Principality of Hungary|Magyars]] in the [[Battle of Riade]].  From that point forward, the [[Ottonian dynasty]] regarded the lance as a talisman guaranteeing victory.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|27,46 n.81}}  Along the same lines, it may be telling that Henry's son [[Otto the Great]] fought the [[Battle of Birten]] in the first half of March 939.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|27–28}}  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.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|28}}  By 1008 the lance was identified with that of Saint Maurice,<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|36–38}} who had been venerated by Otto the Great.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|41–42}}

[[Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor|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 of Hungary|Stephen I]].<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|p=30}}  The other was presented to Duke of Poland, [[Bolesław I of Poland|Bolesław I]], at the [[Congress of Gniezno]] in 1000.<ref name="Czajkowski 1949">{{cite journal |author-last=Czajkowski |author-first=Anthony F. |date=July 1949 |title=The Congress of Gniezno in the Year 1000 |journal=Speculum |volume=24 |number=3 |pages=339–356 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |doi=10.2307/2848012 |jstor=2848012|s2cid=162927768}}</ref>{{rp|351}}<ref name="Gallus 1851">{{cite book |author=Gallus Anonymus |author-link=Gallus Anonymus |contribution=[[Gesta principum Polonorum|Chronicae Polonorum]] |language=la |editor-last=Pertz |editor-first=Georg Heinrich |editor-link=Georg Heinrich Pertz |title=Scriptores (in Folio) 9: Chronica et annales aevi Salici |series=[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] |location=Hanover |date=1851 |page=[https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_ss_9/index.htm#page/429 429] |via=dMGH}}</ref> The Polish lance is currently displayed in the [[John Paul II Cathedral Museum]] in Kraków.<ref name="Wawel Royal Cathedral">{{cite web |url=https://www.katedra-wawelska.pl/en/muzeum-wawelskie/historia/ |title=Wawel's Cathedral Museum: History |website=The Wawel Royal Cathedral of St Stanislaus B. M. and St Wenceslaus M. |access-date=2024-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117215416/https://www.katedra-wawelska.pl/en/muzeum-wawelskie/historia/ |url-status=live |archive-date=2024-01-17}}</ref>  The fate of the Hungarian lance is less clear.  When Stephen's successor, [[Peter, King of Hungary|Peter Orseolo]] was deposed in 1041, he sought the aid of German king [[Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry III]], who captured the lance in the [[Battle of Ménfő]].  Whether Henry returned the lance to Peter upon his restoration is uncertain.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|p=34}}  Shortly before [[World War I]], a gold-inlaid spearhead, identified as a Germanic work from around the year 1000, was dredged from the Danube River near Budapest.<ref name="Paulsen 1933">{{cite journal |author-last=Paulsen |author-first=Peter |title=Magyarországi viking leletek az észak- és nyugat-európai kultúrtörténet megvilágításában / Wikingerfunde aus Ungarn im Lichte der nord- und westeuropäischen Frühgeschichte |trans-title=Viking finds from Hungary in Light of Early Northern and Western European History |language=hu,de |journal=Archaeologia Hungarica |volume=12 |url=https://en.mandadb.hu/tetel/123556/Magyarorszagi_viking_leletek_az_eszak_es_nyugateuropai_kulturtortenet_megvilagitasaban |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|p=7}}<ref name="Schramm 1955">{{cite book |author-last=Schramm |author-first=Percy Ernst |author-link=Percy Ernst Schramm |contribution=Die „Heilige Lanze“, Reliquie und Herrschaftszeichen des Reiches und ihre Replik in Krakau. Ein Überblick über die Geschichte der Königslanze. |trans-contribution=The "Holy Lance", Relic and Symbol of Power of the Empire and its Replica in Krakow. An Overview of the History of the King's Lance. |title=Herrschaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik. Beiträge zu ihrer Geschichte vom dritten bis zum sechzehnten Jahrhundert. |volume=II |trans-title=Signs of power and state symbolism. Contributions to its history from the third to the sixteenth century. |pages=492–537 |language=de |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/DieHeiligeLanze/ |via=[[Internet Archive]] |date=1955 |access-date=2024-03-09}}</ref>{{rp|p=519}}  The gold inlay suggests that this artifact could be Stephen's lance replica, but this has not been confirmed.<ref name="Wolf 2005"/>{{rp|p=34}}

In 1424, [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|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.<ref name="Schleif 2018">{{cite web |author2-last=Schier |author2-first=Volker |author1-last=Schleif |author1-first=Corine |author1-link=Corine Schleif |title=How was the Geese Book made? |website=Opening the Geese Book |publisher=Arizona State University |url=https://geesebook.asu.edu/docs/How_text_2020.pdf |date=20 November 2018}}</ref>{{rp|7–8}} This collection was called the [[Imperial Regalia]] (''{{lang|de|Reichskleinodien}}'').<ref name="Schleif 2018" />

When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796, the local authorities turned over the Imperial Regalia to [[von Hügel|Johann Alois von Hügel]], Chief Commissary of the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]].<ref name="Guide to the Treasury 1910">{{cite book |title=Guide to the Treasury of the Imperial House of Austria in the Imperial and Royal Palace in Vienna |date=1910 |location=Vienna |author-first=Adolf |author=Holzhausen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPE4AQAAMAAJ |access-date=2023-08-07 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|18–19}}<ref name="Wilson 2006">{{cite journal |title=Bolstering the Prestige of the Habsburgs: The End of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 |author-first=Peter H. |author-last=Wilson |journal=The International History Review |date=December 2006 |volume=28 |number=4 |pages=709–736 |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd. |doi=10.1080/07075332.2006.9641109 |jstor=40109811|s2cid=154316830}}</ref>{{rp|732}}  Baron von Hügel took the regalia to [[Regensburg|Ratisbon]] for safekeeping, but by 1800 that city was also under threat of invasion, so he relocated them again to [[Passau]], [[Linz]], and Vienna.<ref name="Guide to the Treasury 1910"/>  When the French entered Vienna in 1805, the collection was moved again to Hungary, before ultimately returning to Vienna.<ref name="Wilson 2006"/>{{rp|732}}<ref name="Guide to the Treasury 1910"/>{{rp|19}}  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]].<ref name="Wilson 2006"/>{{rp|732}}

The [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]] has dated the lance to the 8th century.<ref name="KunsthistorischesHeiligeLanze"/> Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested it for a documentary in January 2003.<ref>{{citation |author=Lunghi, Cheri (narrator) |url=http://www.atlanticproductions.tv/recentbroadcast.html |title=Spear of Christ |publisher=[[BBC]]/[[Discovery Channel]], Atlantic Productions, 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041212031403/http://www.atlanticproductions.tv/recentbroadcast.html |archive-date=12 December 2004 |access-date=1 January 2007}}</ref><ref name="Bird2003">{{cite magazine |last1=Bird |first1=Maryann |title=Piercing An Ancient Tale: Solving the mystery of a Christian relic |url=http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/030616/science.html |access-date=25 June 2018 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=8 June 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030803151706/http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/030616/science.html |archive-date=3 August 2003}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Bird2003"/> 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.<ref name="Bird2003"/>

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.<ref name="Kreuznagel">{{cite news |title=Der geheimnisvolle Kreuznagel |url=https://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/26/0,1872,2117690,00.html |access-date=25 June 2018 |work=[[ZDF]] |date=4 September 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041112034143/http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/26/0,1872,2117690,00.html |archive-date=12 November 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Hofburg spear has been re-imagined in popular culture as a magical [[talisman]] whose powers may be used for good or evil.<ref name="Schleif 2005">{{cite book |author1-last=Schier |author1-first=Volker |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |author2-last=Schleif |author2-first=Corine |author2-link=Corine Schleif |date=2005 |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |location=Vienna |pages=110–143 |language=de |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |contribution=Die heilige und die unheilige Lanze. Von Richard Wagner bis zum World Wide Web |access-date=2023-07-27 |contribution-url=https://www.academia.edu/8295541/Volker_Schier_und_Corine_Schleif_Die_Heilige_und_die_unheilige_Lanze_Von_Richard_Wagner_bis_zum_World_Wide_Web |via=[[Academia.edu]] |trans-contribution=The Holy and the Unholy Lance. From Richard Wagner to the World Wide Web |contribution-url-access=registration}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Weltliche Schatzkammer Wien (180)-3-2.jpg|Holy Lance displayed in the [[Imperial Treasury (Vienna)|Imperial Treasury]] at the [[Hofburg Palace]] in Vienna, Austria
File:Maurycy.jpg|Polish replica of the Holy Lance, [[Wawel Hill]], [[Kraków]]
File:Holy Lance Detail.jpg|The inscription on the Holy Lance
</gallery>

=== Vagharshapat ===
[[File:Holy-lance-Echmiadzin.jpg|thumb|The Holy Lance in [[Vagharshapat]]]]

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 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 the name of [[Geghard]]avank (Monastery of the Holy Lance).<ref name="Ballian 2018">{{cite book |author-last=Ballian |author-first=Anna |contribution=Liturgical Objects from Holy Etchmiadzin |title=Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages |pages=250–259 |editor-last=Evans |editor-first=Helen C. |date=2018 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |location=New York |isbn=9781588396600 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezNtDwAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=2023-08-04}}</ref>{{rp|254–256}}

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.<ref>Christopher H. Zakian and Fr. Krikor Maksoudian (2024). [https://armenianchurch.us/the-holy-lance-in-armenian-tradition-legend/ The Holy Lance in Armenian Tradition & Legend]. The Armenian Church.</ref>

It was later returned to Armenia, and is still on display at the [[Alex Manoogian#Legacy and honors|Manoogian museum]] in Vagharshapat, enshrined in a 17th-century reliquary. Every year during the commemoration of the apostles St. Thaddeus and [[Bartholomew the Apostle|St. Bartholomew]] the relic is brought out for worship.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Holy Lance "Geghard" Will be Brought out on December 04 |url=https://beta.armenianchurch.org/en/news/holy-lance-%E2%80%9Cgeghard%E2%80%9D/10090 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=beta.armenianchurch.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Antioch ===
[[File:Holy Lance.jpg|thumb|The Discovery of the Holy Lance in Antioch]]
<!-- Antioch and the authenticity of its relic are already discussed at length in the section on Rome -->

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 Cassian|Church of St. Peter]] in [[Antioch]].<ref name="Runciman 1971">{{Cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |title=A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem | publisher = Cambridge University Press |year=1971 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcrusade0001unse_t9p5/ |url-access=registration |access-date=2023-08-04 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|241–243}} After much digging in the cathedral, Bartholomew allegedly discovered a lance.<ref name="Runciman 1971"/>{{rp|243–245}} 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 (1098)|Battle of Antioch]], which broke the siege and secured the city.<ref name="Runciman 1971"/>{{rp|247–249, 253–254}}<ref name="Morris 1984"/>{{rp|34–35}}

Greek Orthodox sources such as the biography of patriarch [[Christopher of Antioch|Christopher]] 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.<ref name="GiorgiEger">{{cite book |last1=Giorgi |first1=Andrea U. De |last2=Eger |first2=A. Asa |title=Antioch: A History |date=30 May 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-54041-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRgoEAAAQBAJ|pages=361–362 |access-date=8 February 2024 |language=en}}</ref> Historian Klaus-Peter Todt has suggested this relic could have been buried to hide it from [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]] forces in 1084, allowing the crusaders to find it in 1098.<ref name="Weltecke 2006">{{cite book |author-last=Weltecke |author-first=Dorothea |contribution=The Syriac Orthodox in the Principality of Antioch During the Crusader Period |editor1-last=Ciggaar |editor1-first=Krijna Nelly |editor2-last=Metcalf |editor2-first=David Michael |title=Antioch from the Byzantine Reconquest Until the End of the Crusader Principality: Acta of the congress held at Hernen Castle in May 2003 |date=2006 |pages=95–124 |series=East and West in the Medieval Mediterranean |volume=I |contribution-url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-194119 |location=Leuven |publisher=Uitgeverij Peeters & Department of Oriental Studies |via=University of Konstanz |access-date=2023-07-29}}</ref>{{rp|99}}

== Literary ==
[[File:Richard Wagner, Parsifal, Nur eine Waffe taugt (Arnaldo Dell'Ira 1903-1943).jpg|thumb|left|The Holy Lance in ''[[Parsifal]]'', Act 3 (by [[Arnaldo dell'Ira]], {{circa|1930}})]]

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]].<ref name="Brown 1910">{{cite journal |author-last=Brown |author-first=Arthur Charles Lewis |author-link=Arthur Charles Lewis Brown |title=The Bleeding Lance |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |date=1910 |volume=XXV |number=1 |pages=1–59 |jstor=456810 |doi=10.2307/456810 |s2cid=163517936 |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-456810/ |access-date=2023-07-27 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{rp|1–2}}  The story also refers to 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.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>{{rp|3}}<ref name="Nitze 1946">{{cite journal |title=The Bleeding Lance and Philip of Flanders |author-first=William A. |author-last=Nitze |journal=Speculum |date=July 1946 |volume=21 |number=3 |pages=303–311 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |doi=10.2307/2851373 |jstor=2851373|s2cid=162229439 }}</ref> Chrétien ascribes supernaturally destructive powers to the bleeding spear, which are inconsistent with any Christian tradition.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>{{rp|14–15}}<ref name="Peebles 1911"/>{{rp|166}}<ref name="Loomis 1991">{{cite book |title=The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol |author-last=Loomis |author-first=Roger Sherman |author-link=Roger Sherman Loomis |date=1991 |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University |isbn=9780691020754 |url=https://archive.org/details/grailfromcelticm0000loom_j3u8/ |via=[[Internet Archive]] |url-access=registration |access-date=2023-08-07}}</ref>{{rp|79}}

Chrétien's ''Perceval'' was adapted by [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]] into the German epic ''[[Parzival]]''.<ref name="Hatto 1947">{{cite journal |title=Two Notes on Chrétien and Wolfram |author-link=Arthur Thomas Hatto |author-last=Hatto |author-first=A. T. |journal=The Modern Language Review |date=April 1947 |volume=42 |number=2 |pages=243–246 |publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association |doi=10.2307/3717233 |jstor=3717233}}</ref><ref name="Hatto 1949">{{cite journal |title=On Chretien and Wolfram |author-link=Arthur Thomas Hatto |author-last=Hatto |author-first=A. T. |journal=The Modern Language Review |date=July 1949 |volume=44 |number=3 |pages=380–385 |publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association |doi=10.2307/3717658 |jstor=3717658}}</ref>  Like Chrétien, Wolfram depicts the bleeding lance in a manner that cannot easily be reconciled with the spear of Longinus.<ref name="Brown 1910"/>{{rp|5}}  ''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.<ref name="Becket 1981">{{Cite book |last = Beckett |first = Lucy |title = Richard Wagner: Parsifal |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1981 |isbn=0-521-29662-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/richardwagner0000unse |via=[[Internet Archive]] |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|1, 16–20}}

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Holy Chalice}}
* {{annotated link|Holy Sponge}}
* {{annotated link|Image of Edessa}}
* {{annotated link|Seamless robe of Jesus}}
* {{annotated link|True Cross}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Kirchweger |editor-first=Franz |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |language=de |location=Vienna |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |date=2005}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Kirchweger |author-first=Franz |contribution=Die Geschichte der Heiligen Lanze vom späteren Mittelalter bis zum Ende des Heiligen Römischen Reiches (1806) |trans-contribution=The History of the Holy Lance from the Later Middle Ages to the End of the Holy Roman Empire (1806)  |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |language=de |location=Vienna |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |date=2005 |pages=71–110}}
* {{cite book |author1-last=Schier |author1-first=Volker |author2-last=Schleif |author2-first=Corine |author2-link=Corine Schleif |contribution=Die heilige und die unheilige Lanze. Von Richard Wagner bis zum World Wide Web |trans-contribution=The Holy and the Unholy Lance. From Richard Wagner to the World Wide Web  |title=Die Heilige Lanze in Wien: Insignie, Reliquie, "Schicksalsspeer" |trans-title=The Holy Lance in Vienna: Insignia, Relic, "Spear of Destiny" |language=de |location=Vienna |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum |date=2005 |pages=110–143 |contribution-url=https://www.academia.edu/8295541/Volker_Schier_und_Corine_Schleif_Die_Heilige_und_die_unheilige_Lanze_Von_Richard_Wagner_bis_zum_World_Wide_Web |access-date=2023-07-27 |contribution-url-access=registration |via=[[Academia.edu]]}}
* {{cite book |author1-last=Schier |author1-first=Volker |author2-last=Schleif |author2-first=Corine |author2-link=Corine Schleif |contribution=Seeing and Singing, Touching and Tasting the Holy Lance. The Power and Politics of Embodied Religious Experiences in Nuremberg, 1424–1524. |title=Signs of Change. Transformations of Christian Traditions and their Representation in the Arts, 1000–2000 |editor1-last=Petersen |editor1-first=Nils Holger |editor2-last=Cluver |editor2-first=Claus |editor3-last=Bell |editor3-first=Nicolas |location=Amsterdam; New York |publisher=Rodopi |date=2004 |pages=401–426 |contribution-url=https://www.academia.edu/8295168/Volker_Schier_and_Corine_Schleif_Seeing_and_Singing_Touching_and_Tasting_the_Holy_Lance._The_Power_and_Politics_of_Embodied_Religious_Experiences_in_Nuremberg_1424-1524 |contribution-url-access=registration |access-date=2023-07-27 |via=[[Academia.edu]]}}
* {{cite thesis |author-last=Sheffy |author-first=Lester Fields |title=Use of the Holy Lance in the First Crusade |date=1915 |publisher=University of Texas}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Holy Lance}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030803151706/http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/030616/science.html "Piercing an Ancient Tale"]{{snd}}An article by Maryann Bird in the European Edition of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] on British metallurgist Robert Feather's scientific examination of the Spear in Vienna.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Holy Lance| ]]
[[Category:Christian folklore]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Gospel of John]]
[[Category:Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Individual weapons]]
[[Category:Relics associated with Jesus]]
[[Category:Roman spears]]
[[Category:Otto the Great]]
[[Category:Lance]]
[[Category:Henry the Fowler]]