A History And Mythos Of The Knights Templar Presents Religious Relics Of The Crusades The True Cross One of the outcomes of the Crusades was the production of many religious relics. Among these alleged instruments of divinity were such pieces as bones of the saints, dirt from various places referred to in the Bible. The Crown of Thorns which was sold by Baldwin II of Jerusalem to King Louis IX of France who built a shrine to house it. Of all none caused more furor and deaths than that of the so called True Cross.

The True Cross is described as being part of the cross of Galgotha encased in gold and studded with priceless gems. The legend of the true cross begins in the year 326 when it was allegedly discovered by Constantine I's mother the Empress Helena.

"In CE. 326, Helena went on a journey to ancient Israel and selected with Macarius the sites of Christ's birth at Bethlehem and at Jerusalem, the adjoining places of his tomb burial and Crucifixion, where she happened to discover three ancient crosses in a cavern, one of which was called the true cross."

Jerusalem "The Endless Crusade"
by Andrew Sinclair

Now exactly how Helena determined which of the three discovered crosses was the one Jesus was supposedly crucified on is covered in Michael Grants book on Emperor Constantine:

"Here Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem came to Helena's help, by undertaking, with a prayer for G-d's help, to place a sick woman on each of the three crosses in turn, so that it could then be seen what happened to her on each of the three occasions. When she was placed on the first two crosses, nothing happened. Next, however, she was made to lie on the third cross., whereupon she was healed. That, it was concluded, must have been the True Cross on which Jesus met his death."

Constantine The Great
The Man And His Times
by Michael Grant

Upon Helena's return, the True Cross was kept in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem until the year 614 when Chrosroes II of Persia moved it to his own land when he captured Jerusalem. Thirteen years later the Roman Emperor Heraclius defeated Chrosroes and retook the relic, which he at first placed in Constantinopal and later back to its original Jerusalem. The True Cross is believed to have been hidden by Christians in 1009 C.E. and hidden for ninety years to be produced in 1099 during the first Crusade.

It remained in Christian hands until the Battle of Hattin in 1187, when the Moslem leader Saladin captured the relic. It is believed that Saladin after the Battle of Hattin and the capture of Jerusalem, would ride his horse through the streets with the Holy Relic dragging behind his mounts tail.

"After The Horns of Hattin, Saladin was master of the Moslem world, and rode through the streets of Damascus with the captured True Cross tied to his horse's tail and dragging in the dust."

The Crusades
Henry Treece
1962


Despite the valiant efforts of Richard I during the Third Crusade, the true cross remained in Moslem hands. The beam itself disappeared, but fragments of the cross that came off were collected and brought back to Europe after the Crusades. Of course, If all the fragments were put back together then several hundred crosses could have been made, as many if not all the pieces were fakes.

Although the so named True Cross was an inspiration and death sentence to many brave men of the time, no trace of the relic is believed to exist today. Was this focal point of the Crusaders, the True Cross as it was called. Perhaps we will never know. The important thing remains, that for those soldiers who took up the cause of the crusades, it was real enough to die for.

Other so called religious treasures of less popularity included the nails said to crucify Jesus, as well as bottled tears and hairs from "The Virgins Head"

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