>I've been very keen to know from fellow medieval-religionists --
>particularly those in Germany, especially in Trier (hint hint hint, C.C.)
>-- about the Holy Robe of Jesus that is on display in Trier. Does anyone
>know of the history of this relic, and why it is on display at this time?
>
>George Ferzoco
>

Dear George,

I append the copy of a message which I recently posted in reply to a similar
question on MedText-L. But I cannot explain why today they display it at
this time of the year. Maybe the date was chosen in commemoration of the
date of the rediscovery of the relic, although there seems to be a
difference of several days.

Nice to have you back on line (although Carolyn was so good that it was not
easy to miss you ;-),

   Otfried

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Dear Laura,

the seamless robe of Trier is said to have been donated to the Church of
Trier by Constantine's mother Helena (while the MHG _Orendel_ tells that it
was brought by a king Orendel from the Holy Land to Trier). According to the
continuation of the _Gesta Trevirorum_, archbishop John I. in 1196 provided
that it was immured together with other relics in the High Altar of the
Dome. During the following centuries, its whereabouts where not totally
unknown to local ecclesiastics and popular rumours, but there was no special
devotion of this relic in Trier until the Reichstag of 1512, when Maximilian
I. had it brought back to the light and exhibited to the people.
   The altar was opened on the Wednesday (14 April) after Easter 1512 in the
presence of Maximilian. The first public exhibition took place on 3 Mai and
lasted 14 or 23 days. According to a contemporary source, more than a
hundred thousand pilgrims came to see it. From 1513 until 1516 it was
exhibited every year first in the night of Maundy Thursday and again for a
period of 14 days beginning with Monday of Pentecoast. In 1515, Pope Leo X
ordered that the exhibitions had to adopt the turnus of the exhibitions at
Aix, which took place every seven years. The next date for Aix was 10 July
1517, and the exhibitions at Trier were taken up in this year, but started
three days earlier (7 July) in order to make it possible for the pilgrims to
visit both places. I don't remember the development during the later
centuries, but I believe that the regular exhibitions were abbandoned in
later times and taken up again late in the 19th century. My sources are
incomplete photocopies and handwritten notes taken many years ago from the
two following publications:

BEISSEL, Stephan:
   Geschichte der Trierer Kirchen, ihrer Reliquien und Kunstscha"tze, 
   II. Theil: Geschichte des hl. Rockes. Zweite vielfach vermehrte und
   verbesserte Auflage,  Trier 1889

RIES, Hermann:
   Trierer Ereignisse aus den Jahren 1512 bis 1517. Biblio- und biogra-
   phische Studien zu einem Kapitel trierischer Kirchengeschichte. In:
   AA.VV., Festschrift fu"r Bischof Dr. Matthias Wehr, dargebracht von
   der Theologischen Fakulta"t Trier, Trier: Paulinus Verlag, 1962
   (Trierer Theologische Studien, 15), p.181-211

I myself was interested in this topic because I was working on Sebastian
Brant's _Tugent Spyl_, where there is to be found a prophecy -- ante festum,
as it seems -- of Maximilian's rediscovery of the relic, interpreted in this
play as a miracle which would precede the recovery of the Holy Land from the
Turcs.

Sincerely,

   Otfried Lieberknecht

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