Is the Shroud of Turin Medieval? History Tells a Different Story

In 1988 the Shroud of Turin entered into a period				lament over the severe lack of documents with
of its history as dark and gloomy as an				regard to almost any person or event dating back
approaching hurricane. This would be a storm of				more than a couple hundred years. Gaps are filled
bad press and negative opinion. The Shroud was a				by inference and context. With the Shroud, one
fake as determined by three carbon dating labs.				such gap exists between 1204 and 1356. We
The party was over. Seven years earlier, in 1981,				have a clear historical trail from its arrival in Lirey,
hopes were high as the Shroud of Turin Research				France when it was first exhibited until today.
Project announced their results after five days				What happened in 1204? This year marks the
with the cloth and three years analyzing the data.				lowest point of Christian history when crusaders
Their results electrified the world with possibility.				from Venice and France invaded Constantinople,
The Shroud was not the work of an artist and				the center of Eastern Christianity. It was
the blood was genuine. Could the Shroud be				considered the richest city on earth and was
authentic? Is that even possible?				proud of its collection of relics including the crown
Not according to the carbon dating labs. Science				of thorns and "most sacred of all, the linen in
had spoken and science is never wrong. I dedicate				which our Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped." This
this article to the memory of the late Paul				was how it was represented in a letter written to
Harvey, the great radio newscaster who became				Pope Innocent III in 1205 protesting the invasion.
famous with his phrase, "Now you know the rest				We know from other references that this linen
of the story."				contained an image-much like the Shroud. The city
In 1985, twenty-two scientists gathered together				was looted and burned. Almost every relic now
at a hotel in Norway to discuss the protocol of				claimed by some cathedral in France, Spain or
how carbon dating of the Shroud would be				Italy can trace its roots to Constantinople. Where
conducted. Perhaps a little ambitious, but it was				did the Shroud go? A document reveals that it
agreed that seven different labs would be				was taken to Athens and was seen there in 1207.
included, four would use the older technology of				Four documents now attest to this. Who had it?
proportional counter and three would use the				It had become the possession of a prominent
newer nuclear accelerator technology. The tests				crusader, Othon de la Roche of Burgundy. He was
would be blind whereby the labs involved would				man of wealth and position and was instrumental
not know which sample was a control or from				in the successful sacking of Constantinople. In
the Shroud. Lastly, and most importantly, they				return for his service, he was awarded Athens as
would cut at least three different locations on the				a fiefdom and became the Duke of Athens and
Shroud to balance any skew from potential				was awarded several relics as payment including
contamination. This is what was supposed to				the Shroud. However his political reign was short
happen.				lived due to a run-in with the Pope and in 1230 he
Now for the rest of the story. Luigi Gonella was				returned to his castle at Ray-sur-Saône in
the scientific advisor chosen by the Catholic				Burgundy. Kept in one of the towers to this day
Church to oversee the whole affair. It was his				is a collection of items taken from Constantinople.
decision to limit the number of labs to three from				One of the most important items is a wooden
the original seven. That alone was not earth				chest with the inscription, "13th century coffer in
shattering, seven was probably overkill anyway.				which was preserved in Ray Castle the Shroud of
But the real mistake was far more than a simple				Christ brought by Othon de Ray from
error; it was a colossal blunder and one that would				Constantinople-1206." There is some confusion as
forever leave the Shroud marred with				to whether the inscription refers to Othon or his
uncertainty. As the leaders of the three labs				son who is known as Othon de Ray. It hardly
representing Oxford, Zurich and Tucson gathered				matters. The point is we know the whereabouts
around the revered cloth to determine where to				of the Shroud in 1230; it was in Burgundy, France.
cut for their dating samples, Luigi's scientist hat fell				Now we must move forward 120 years to 1350.
to the floor revealing another hat full of Catholic				This is when Jean de Vergy, the great great
piety. Instead of cutting three different locations				granddaughter of Othon de la Roche was to
on the cloth, Luigi decided on only one location,				marry a prominent French knight, Geoffrey de
one that was adjacent to an area cut in 1973 for				Charney. Jean was living in Besancon,
textile analysis by Gilbert Raes. Why there? It				France-about a hundred miles from Burgundy. She
would look pretty. The most significant carbon				is recorded to have the Shroud and is kept in
dating event of the twentieth century was				Besancon Castle outside the city. Records indicate
determined by aesthetics instead of sound				it was exhibited occasionally at Saint Stevens
methodology.				Cathedral during Easter. The same year as their
In Luigi's defense, there are indications that he				marriage, the cathedral burned. In 1353, Jean de
was pressured to ignore the sampling protocol by				Vergy and Geoffrey de Charney move to Lirey
the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Rome and				where Geoffrey builds a church but passes away
the Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia in Turin.				in 1356. That same year, Jean de Vergy holds the
This may be so, but he will always bear the				first public exhibition of the Shroud in Geoffrey's
blame for this blunder.				honor. A pilgrim's medal is cast showing the
What happened? Instead of three samples, only				Shroud's unique double image with the crest of
one was cut. And where was it cut? From the				both families represented. Historians have pieced
most handled part of the cloth, the very corner				together through inference and context that Jean
that was grabbed and held hundreds of times				de Vergy was the rightful owner of the Shroud
over the centuries as the Shroud was brought				as a direct descendant of Othon de la Roche and
out and held horizontally by Church officials for				presented the relic as part of her dowry to
thousands to see. It was even brought out				Geoffrey when they married.
numerous times to bless royal weddings as it was				The years between 1230 when we know it was
owned by the royal Savoy family for over 400				in Burgundy and 1350 when Jean de Vergy is
years.				known to possess it, is when it may have been
So not only was the carbon test limited to just				held by the Knights Templar for safe keeping. A
one sample, it was also taken from the very				recent document unearthed in the Vatican
location any archaeologist would have avoided like				archives by historian Barbara Frale reveals the
the swine flu. Is there a problem with the sample?				testimony in 1287 of a young recruit to the order
X-ray radiography of the sample area shows a				who is brought into a secret sanctuary where he
higher density of threads for some reason.				is shown a long linen cloth bearing the bearded
Another clue came from chemist Dr. Alan Adler in				image of a man and is required to kiss the feet
1996. He noticed that the spectrographic data				three times. It is more than curious that another
from that corner did not match up with the rest				Geoffrey de Charney was burned at the stake in
of the cloth suggesting a different chemical				1314 along with Jacque de Molay. They were the
composition. In 2003 chemist Ray Rogers				two leaders of the Knights Templar who were
obtained thread samples from the same corner				charged with heresy, that they worshipped a
cut for carbon dating and compared them with				mysterious image. Is it a coincidence that another
threads taken from the main body of the cloth.				Geoffrey de Charney, a direct descendant of the
Rogers confirmed through chemistry the				executed Templar would marry the rightful heir of
suspicions raised by the other tests. His work was				the Shroud, Jean de Vergy thirty-six years later?
published in a peer reviewed scientific journal in				Wow! Writers pay attention. Looking for a story
2005. The corner was not homogenous. It was				fraught with intrigue, secrets, scandal and
different; in fact it was radically different.				betrayal? You just found it.
The presence of starch, cotton and madder root				What does all this mean? Look at the dates...1205,
dye all suggested some kind of repair. What? The				1207, 1230 all clearly predating the earliest carbon
corner was repaired? When? How? It doesn't				date of 1260. We have clear possession of the
make any sense. Wouldn't Luigi and others have				cloth by Othon and his descendants. The most
noticed the difference? Not if it was done by the				important aspect to this history is this-if we can
skilled French weavers who specialized in "invisible				link the Shroud of Turin to what disappeared
mending." In the late middle ages, weavers in				during the Fourth Crusade; we suddenly have a
France had formed a craft guild and were noted				documented trail dating back to the sixth century!
for restoring tapestries, curtains and fine clothing				The history of the cloth that was described as
to their original condition. Were they employed to				"most sacred of all" began in 525 and disappeared
repair the Shroud? There is no written account to				in 1204.
document this occurrence but the smoking gun is				Is there any other way to bridge the gap
plainly evident. Cotton was used to affect a repair				between 1204 and 1356? There is-and it is the
of the frayed corner because it easily absorbs				most significant one of all. About thirty years ago
dye. The dye was used to blend in the new				an important picture was discovered within the
cotton threads with the heavily yellowed threads				pages of the Hungarian Pray Manuscript. This was
of the Shroud, and lastly starch was used to				the first book ever written and bound in the
stiffen the cotton threads as they were				Hungarian language. Inside is a picture showing two
meticulously woven into the corner. What else				distinct scenes. Scene one shows Jesus laid out on
could account for these anomalous substances to				his burial cloth showing only four fingers and no
be found in that precise corner?				thumbs-same as the Shroud. Scene two shows
Luigi's colossal blunder leaves us nowhere. With				the cloth wrapped around Jesus with a face
the legitimacy of the carbon dating sample clearly				image crudely showing that the cloth contains an
in question, it has to be dismissed as being				image. Here is the clincher; the picture also shows
inconclusive. If the Shroud was any other				an "L" shaped pattern of burn holes exactly as
non-descript artifact from some obscure				we see them on the Shroud. Lastly, the picture
archaeological site, it would simply be dated again.				clearly portrays the distinctive herringbone pattern
Not so with the Shroud, twenty-one years have				weave of the Shroud. It couldn't be any clearer.
passed since the first carbon dating tests and still				This picture dating from 1192 is depicting the
no discussion of repeating the tests.				Shroud that was kept in Constantinople and is the
It looks like the historians must take center stage				same cloth that resides in Turin today. There can
now to answer one of the central questions				now be no mistake as to what disappeared in
around the Shroud. Is it medieval? If not, how old				1204 and later given to Othon de la Roche.
is it?				Is the Shroud medieval? Not a chance. As long as
This article cannot tackle the Shroud's entire				we keep pretending the carbon date is somehow
history. However, it would be instructive to see if				accurate despite the bad sample, we will continue
the history of the cloth pre-dates the alleged				to look for the alleged medieval artist who
carbon date range of 1260 to 1390. The labs				created it. If you are looking for the artist, start
determined with a "95% confidence" that the				looking in the sixth century. However, don't look
oldest date would be 1260 with the youngest at				too hard because there is evidence that takes it
1390. At least we know that it wasn't the work				to the third century too. Does it go all the way
of Leonardo da Vinci who was born a little				back to first century? Only if you believe in
late-1452-unless of course he invented time travel.				legends-but every legend has a kernel of truth.
One of the historical challenges has been to bridge				Now you know the rest of the story. I think Paul
all the gaps with clear documentation. Historians				Harvey is smiling.

Dr Razz

Is the Shroud of Turin Medieval? History Tells a Different Story