western-type crucifixes, shroud of turin, crown of thorns

Western-type crucifixes, Shroud of Turin, Crown of Thorns, and the revolution of 12th-14th century

Statistical survey using Wikimedia Commons archives http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Crucifi

xes_by_century (revised and updated)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Crucifixes_by_century



Century 10th

Feet nailed by no. of nails

2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 10th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 10th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 10th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns No Century 10th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 11th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns ?

Century 11th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 11th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 11th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 11th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 11th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 11th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns ?

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


1

Which foot atop Right

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 12th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 13th


1


Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


1


Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


1

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 13th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 13th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 14th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 14th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 14th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 14th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 14th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 14th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns ?

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 15th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Note: Orthodox crucifix –not included in statistics

Century 16th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Century 16th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 16th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 17th


1

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 17th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 17th


1


Crown of thorns ?

Century 17th


2x1

Which foot atop 2xRight

Crown of thorns 2xYes

Century 19th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


1

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns ?

Century 19th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns ?

Century 19th


1

Which foot atop Left

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


?

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns ?

Century 19th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns Yes

Century 19th


2

Which foot atop -

Crown of thorns No

Note: Orthodox crucifix –not included in statistics

Century 20th


1


Crown of thorns Yes

Century 20th


1

Which foot atop ?

Crown of thorns Yes

Century # of crucifixes with 2 nails in feet

# with 1 nail

Uncertain # of nails

Right foot atop

Left foot atop

Uncertain as to which foot atop

10th 4/5 0/5 1/5 0/0 0/0 0/0

11th 5/7 0/7 2/7 0/0 0/0 0/0

12th 16/17 1/17 0/17 1/1 0/1 0/1

13th 8/13 4/13 1/13 4/4 0/4 0/4

14th 0/6 6/6 0/6 6/6 0/6 0/6

15th 0/8 8/8 0/8 7/8 0/8 1/8

16th 1/9 6/9 2/9 6/6 0/6 0/6

17th 0/5 5/5 0/5 4/5 0/5 1/5

19th 4/10 4/10 2/10 2/4 1/4 1/4

20th 0/2 1/2 1/2 1/1 0/1 0/1

Total # of right atop 20/24 Total # of left atop 1/24

Table 1

Century With crown of thorns

Without crown of thorns

Uncertain as to crown of thorns

10th 0/5 5/5 0/5

11th 0/7 6/7 1/7

12th 2/17 14/17 1/17

13th 5/13 8/13 0/13

14th 6/6 0/6 0/6

15th 7/8 0/8 1/8

16th 8/9 1/9 0/9

17th 4/5 0/5 1/5

19th 7/10 0/10 3/10

20th 2/2 0/2 0/2

Table 2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Century

% 2 nails

% 1 nail

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Century

% Right

% Left

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Century

% With Crown of thorns

% Without Crown of thorns

The purpose of the whole thing

Typical post 14th century portrayal of Jesus’ crucifixion, containing several common elements: •Nails in the palms •One nail that pierced both feet, in overwhelming majority right above the left. •Side wound on the right side •Head leaning to the right. •Presence of the crown of thorns in the form of thorny wreath.

However, one should take into account the following things: •The Gospels don’t precise whether Jesus on the cross had still the Crown of thorns on His head. They describe it just as the Roman soldiers' mockery. •The Gospels don’t mention the number of nails used during crucifixion. Later tradition claimed that Holy Nails were recovered by Saint Helena, however their exact number is uncertain.* •The Gospel of John does not precise which side was pierced with a spear. And one should remember that 99% people have heart on the left side.

*The possible exception may be Gregory of Tours in his book Glory of the Martyrs, who gives the number of four nails, but this seems to be rather a rationale guess, than source-based information. H. Thurston in 1911 article in Catholic Encyclopedia informs us that 3 nail tradition accords with the language of Nonnus and Socrates and with the poem "Christus patiens" attributed to St. Gregory Nazianzus, which speaks of three nails. I dispute this claim for both Socrates and Nonnus, as to the poem of Gregory Nazianus, I cannot voice the opinion. On the other hand, surprisingly, The Cave of the Treasures, Syriac apocryphal text from the 6th century, speaks explicitely about three nails.

http://books.google.pl/books?id=YDMPv5F_ILoC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl






http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10672a.htm



http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26011.htm

http://www.textexcavation.com/documents/nonnosgosjn.pdf

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct09.htm
































Influence of relics on crucifixion iconography

Crown of Thorns •The 13th century dramatical increase in number of portrayals of Jesus on the cross having still crown of thorns, coincides with the 1239 purchase of the Crown of Thorns by the French King Louis IX from the hands of the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Baldwin II •The relic consisted of twisted circlet of rushes (with no thorns) that served for a basis of helmet-like construction built from thorny twigs –which by the time of Baldwin II had dropped off, and were stored separately. •This circlet of rushes became standard model for crown of thorns in the Western iconography. Of course artistic imagination added thorns to it.

•Above Left: the relic of Crown of Thorns from Notre Dame, Paris •Bottom Left: typical artistic portrayal of the crown of thorns •Above: original reconstruction of the Crown of Thorns by de Fleury

Shroud of Turin •As we can see, between 12th and 14th century there is also a dramatic change in portrayal the number of nails that pierced the feet –from 2 to 1. •Ian Wilson in the chronology of the Shroud at the end of his 1998 book „The Blood and the Shroud” mentions under the date 1149 first known instance 3 nails portrayal, on the bronze baptismal font in Tirlemont (Belgium). •Also the overwhelming majority of portrayals show right foot above the left. Why not 50-50?

Where the ideas of a single nail and right foot over left have originated:

Possible contradiction?

• However, as we noted, the overwhelming majority of artists portrayed side wound on the right side, while the positive image on the Shroud suggest it is on the left.

• To solve this paradox, we must ask what is the source of the wound on the right tradition.

• In the Book of Ezekiel (47:1) we read: Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. (NASB) Et convertit me ad portam domus, et ecce aquæ egrediebantur subter limen domus ad orientem : facies enim domus respiciebat ad orientem, aquæ autem descendebant in latus templi dextrum, ad meridiem altaris. (Vulgata Clementina)

• Of course in Christian Tradition The House (Temple)=Christ. Flow of water =flow of blood and „water” from the side wound.

Tradition of the wound on the right side reaches at least 6th century, if not much earlier (above: miniature from Syriac Rabbula Gospels from 586).

• One should always take into the account that authority of the Scripture and Tradition > authority of the Shroud.

• That’s why, paradoxically, the side wound was presented on the right side, (contrary to what positive image on the Shroud suggest) while at the same time right foot was portrayed over the left (in accordance with the positive image on the Shroud). In fact, the side wound of the Man from the Shroud is on the right side (as we can see on negative), so it is Scriptural-correct.

• Similar authority of the Vulgate, the official Latin Bible of the Catholic Church till the 20th century is responisble for traditional portrayal of nailed palms. In the famous scene with doubting Thomas, Vulgate has (John 20:26-27): Et post dies octo, iterum erant discipuli ejus intus, et Thomas cum eis. Venit Jesus januis clausis, et stetit in medio, et dixit : Pax vobis. Deinde dicit Thomæ : Infer digitum tuum huc, et vide manus meas, et affer manum tuam, et mitte in latus meum : et noli esse incredulus, sed fidelis. „Manus” means both „palm” and „hand” in latin.

How artists perceived the Shroud

Above we have two 17th century representations of the Shroud of Turin, by Giovanni Battista della Rovere (left) and Gaspard Baldouino (right). Both artist present Christ’side wound on the right. However, della Rovere incorrectly position the arms like on the Shroud positive, thus falling into contradiction. On the other hand, Baldouino correctly guessed that the positive image is a mirror one, and positioned the arms like on the negative.

Answers to some further potential objections:

Q: Why don’t we include Orthodox crucifixes?

A: As we can see orthodox crucifixes are diametrally different then Western crucifixes: they always show feet peirced with 2 nails, and no crown of thorns. Western crucifixes evolved dramatically between 12th and 14th century, from the form similar to Orthodox, to the present one, diametrically different. There cannot be a doubt that the reason for this is the influence of the great relics, the Crown of Thorns and the Shroud of Turin, transferred from Constantinople to the West during the 13th century. On the contrary, the form of Orthodox crucifix has not changed since at least 1000 AD, when the famous slanted bar was added.

Q: But as those relics were in Constantinople, why similar revolution didn’t happen in the Orthodox Church? Why, despite the knowledge of the Shroud Orthodox crucifixes have both feet nailed separetaly and crucified Christ has no Crown of Thorns?

A: Several answers to that questions can be brought forward. First is that in Constantinople those relics were part of the Imperial Treasury, which was unaccessible by the ordinary people, public shows of the relics were extraordinary rare, even compared to rare, but regular exhibitions on the West (the Crown of Thorns was regularly shown in France every Great Friday). The control of the Empire over sacral arts was also much stricter than in te West. Furthermore, as to the Shroud of Turin and the question of choice between three and four nails, I suspect that in Constantinople they knew (contrary to us) that Helena in fact recovered four nails. Thus, single nail through both feet tradition was clearly unacceptable.

Q: But does the Shroud prove that Christ was crucified with three nails?

A: No. Most popular publications claim three nails, but as Frederick Zugibe writes, it is impossible to make a definite statement about how the feet were nailed to the cross. The archeological excavations (the Jehohanan ossuary, discovered 1968) and Roman graffitis of the era suggest four nails. The real irony may be, that the three nail theory, proposed by Barbet to reconstruct the way the Man of the Shroud was crucified, who didn’t have any reliable data about Roman crucifixions in 1st century Palestine (he died in 1961) might have been inspired… by the way popular crucifixes presented nailing of the feet. Which were in turn, inspired on the positive image from the Shroud of Turin…

Roman graffittis showing crucifixion, on the left graffitit on the wall of tavern in Puozzola near Naples, on the right the infamous Alexamenos grafitti from Palatine Hill, Rome.

http://www.tinyurl.pl/?eBJApezB
































Further recommended readings:

• Jack Markwardt, The Cathar Crucifix: New Evidence Of The Shroud’s Missing History

http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/markwar3.pdf










western-type crucifixes, shroud of turin, crown of thorns

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