In 1098, crusaders were trapped inside the walls of Antioch and their mission to capture Jerusalem was gravely jeopardized. When things were at their worst, one of the crusaders -- a Provencal peasant named Peter Bartholomew -- was visited by St. Andrew, who revealed to him that the lance with which the Roman soldier Longinus had pierced the side of Jesus was hidden in Antioch's Basilica of St. Peter. St. Andrew informed Peter that "he who carries this lance into battle shall never be overcome by the enemy."
Bartholemew's claim met with initial skepticism because it was an established fact that the Holy Lance lay safely in the relic collection of the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople. Nevertheless, the authorities agreed to investigate. Twelve men dug until overcome by exhaustion at the spot to which Bartholomew pointed, but they could find nothing. Finally, Peter himself dropped into the hole and brought forth a shard of metal. "All across the city there was boundless rejoicing." Suddenly invigorated by the possession of this powerful relic, their morale euphoric, the crusaders broke out of the city, overcame the armies that surrounded them, and proceeded to Jerusalem.
Some months afterward, Peter Bartholomew had another vision: that the entire crusade was compromised because some of its soldiers were polluted by pride or cowardice. He announced that he himself would choose and put to death soldiers of the cross who were steeped in sin. There was a backlash against Peter and the authenticity of the Holy Lance was challenged.
Peter decided to prove his truth in a trial by ordeal. After fasting for several days, he ran, carrying the Holy Lance, between two piles of burning olive branches four feet high and thirteen feet long. He was severely burned and died several days later. The Holy Lance lost its magic and morale plummeted. The crusaders were forced to seek an alternative. The ingenious Raymond of Toulouse dispatched his follower Hugh of Monteil to Latakia to retrieve a fragment of the cross on which Jesus had been crucified. In the end, the discrediting of the Holy Lance proved to be only a temporary setback.
The facts in this and the previous essaylet come from Thomas Asbridge, The First Crusade, a New History (Oxford University Press, 2004).
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