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Dąbrowska E. Coronation reliquary of Polish kings

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Section: Commentarii / Commentary

Posted in Commentarii / Commentary

Title of the article Coronation reliquary of Polish kings
Authors Dabrowska, Elzbieta — Professor emeritus, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-02-582 Warszawa, ul. Wiktorska, 69 m.13, Warszawa, Poland, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In the section Commentarii / Commentary
Year 2014 Issue 2 Pages 5-15
Type of article RAR Index UDK 94(438).03 Index BBK 63.3 (0)4
Abstract The paper describes the history of a Holy Cross reliquary: which in the years 1340–1668 was kept in the treasury of the Polish kings at Wawel in Cracow and used during the coronation ceremonies. The relic has the form of a double cross built of many different wood pieces and set in a sheet of gold with an inscription in Greek “Jesus Christ nailed to the cross, he who elevated the humankind, inscription made by Manuel Komnenos Laurel Bearer”.

King John II Casimir Vasa, after abdicating in 1669, unlawfully took it out of the royal treasury and carried away to France. After the king’s death, by the way of following legacies, the reliquary found its way into the possessions of the Benedictine Abbey Saint-Germain des Prés in Paris. There it was placed inside of a special silver altar containing „Instruments of the Passion”. During French Revolution, in 1793, this reliquary was confiscated and melt down. The relic itself was saved though and kept safe. Presently it is found in the treasury of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

In all probability the reliquary was captured in Lviv, in 1340, together with the treasury of the Dukes of Halych, by the Polish king Casimir. Still under discussion is the identification of Manuel Komnenos ― who is either brought in connection with the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180) or with the emperor of Trebizond Manuel I Komnenos (1238–1263), while the epigraphic analysis of the inscription as well as the entirety of the historical context speak for the ruler of Constantinople. To the Halych Ruthenia the reliquary of the Holy Cross came probably as a customary gift related to dynastic marriages.
Keywords reliquary, Holy Cross, Manuel I Komnenos, coronation, Halych
Full text version of the article. Article language Russian
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Tags: Halych, coronation, Manuel I Komnenos, Holy Cross, reliquary

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