Nuremberg Chronicle; depictions of edged weapons from the late 15th Century

[shayde78]

Originally Posted by Philip

Two pages up from the first appearance of our Ottoman friend, you can see on the left side something that at a hurried glance might appear to be a dagger, but is actually a socketed spearhead. The actual relic has been preserved in the Hofkammer at Vienna for centuries, it was once the property of the Holy Roman Emperors.

This object, by tradition, is the head of the Roman spear that pierced the side of Christ during the Crucifixion. It has been broken ages ago, and repaired with wire using an iron spike at midpoint, which is held to be one of the nails pulled out of the True Cross. I'll leave it to the experts on ancient Roman military equipment to comment on the historicity of the spearhead's design.

I have read somewhere that in some of the literature, this spearhead has been referred to as the Spear of St. Maurice. Interesting, since in the Armeria Reale di Torino is a sword that is traditionally venerated as La Spada di San Maurizio. St. Mauritius/Moritz/Maurizio was a Roman soldier who lived early in the imperial period, converting to Christianity and being martyred as a result. The sword, unfortunately, does not fit his bio since it is a far cry from a gladius or even a spatha; it is a typical north European knightly sword of late Viking type, Oakeshott Type X. Still well worth a visit if you're in town -- in remarkable condition for one of these, with scabbard and a polychromed fitted wooden case for the whole.

Again, great information. I'm posting below the full page on which the spearhead is depicted, as well as a closer view of the text that I think pertains to the image. Also, I'm including an image of the actual artifact from the museum in Vienna. It is interesting to note the details of the illustration compared to the piece itself.

[Victrix]

There was a documentary on History Channel (or similar) about this spear head. If I remember correctly the item is very old but some parts are newer with some potential roman era parts included within. The spear head was needed for political reasons in early medieaval times. Many coveted it through time, including Adolf Hitler.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Victrix

There was a documentary on History Channel (or similar) about this spear head. If I remember correctly the item is very old but some parts are newer with some potential roman era parts included within. The spear head was needed for political reasons in early medieaval times. Many coveted it through time, including Adolf Hitler.

Yes, there was a book written on this which I read, it was over 40 years ago and I remember the title as Spear of Destiny. It presented some fascinating historical info and hypotheses, focusing of course on the role it played with the Nazis. Yes, it is very old since its existence has been recorded for a long time, and its provenance with the Habsburgs, and even prior, is well established. Do you recall which parts of it are alleged to be of Roman origin?

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by Philip

Yes, there was a book written on this which I read, it was over 40 years ago and I remember the title as Spear of Destiny. It presented some fascinating historical info and hypotheses, focusing of course on the role it played with the Nazis. Yes, it is very old since its existence has been recorded for a long time, and its provenance with the Habsburgs, and even prior, is well established. Do you recall which parts of it are alleged to be of Roman origin?

”The Museum dates the Lance to the eighth century.[10] Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested the lance for a documentary in January 2003.[11][14][15] He was given unprecedented permission not only to examine the lance in a laboratory environment, but to remove the delicate bands of gold and silver that hold it together. 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[11][15] 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 – is "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st-century A.D. Roman nail.[15] There was no residue of human blood on the lance.[11]
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 a connection with the time of the first century AD.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Lance