The Holy Sponge

In 600 CE, the Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a 4th-century church in Jerusalem supposedly built on the site where Jesus was crucified. In an upper room Sophronius observed a few objects that inspired verses:

And let me go rejoicing
to the splendid sanctuary, the place
where the noble Empress Helena
found the divine Wood; 

and go up,
my heart overcome with awe,
and see the Upper Room,
the Reed, the Sponge, and the Lance.

The "divine Wood" found by the Empress Helena we know, because we've talked about the True Cross and Empress Helena's finding of it.

There were other relics there: "the Reed, the Sponge, and the Lance."

The Lance refers to the Spear of Longinus, the spear a Roman soldier jabbed into the side of the crucified Jesus mentioned only in the Gospel of John. There are, in fact, four known relics that claim to be the Spear/Lance of Longinus, in Rome, Vienna, Vagharshapat (in Armenia), and Antioch. Supposedly, one was even in the possession of the devout King Æthelstan of England.

The Reed was placed in the tortured Jesus' hands as a scepter, mocking him as King of the Jews.

The Holy Sponge and Holy Lance were brought by Nicetas, a cousin of Eastern Emperor Heraclius (610-641), to Constantinople from Palestine in 612. Latin Emperor Baldwin II sold the Sponge to King Louis IX of France. 

Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologos made a gift of a sponge to Pope Boniface IX, along with a piece of Jesus' tunic (not sure where he got that). The Basilica of Santa Croce in Jerusalem is a church in Rome, built to house relics of the Passion of Christ, such as the True Cross. In it you will find a brown sponge.

Pieces of sponge also reside at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, St. Mary in Campitelli in Rome, and the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome. The church of St. Jacques de Compiègne in France and in the cathedral in Aachen where a piece owned by Charlemagne is displayed.

The items mentioned here are part of the Arma Christi, the "Arms of Christ," the Instruments of the Passion of Christ. There are many more...many more. I'll let you know about some tomorrow.

Paleologos in Europe

Seeking aid against the fear of a complete Ottoman takeover of the Byzantine Empire (currently a vassal state under Turkish Emperor Bayezid I), Manuel II Paleologos went to Europe personally to meet with Western kings. He set sail on 10 December 1399, stopping in the Peloponnese to leave his wife and children in the care of his brother.

He was in Venice in April 1400, then overland to Milan where he met with Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti, son of the man whose daughter married Lionel of Antwerp (Chaucer was in the embassy that arranged it).

There was another man in Milan whom Manuel knew: his close friend and ambassador to Italy, Manuel Chrysolaros. Chrysolaros had been there for a few years and well-respected as a scholar and a source of knowledge about Greek culture.

Manuel II then went to Charenton in northern France where he met with King Charles VI on 3 June. Michel Pintoin (c.1350 - c.1421), the "Chronicler of St.-Denis," recorded their meeting:

Then, the king raised his hat, and the emperor raised his imperial cap – he had no hat – and both greeted one another in the most honourable way. When he had welcomed [the emperor], the king accompanied him into Paris, riding side by side. They were followed by the Princes of the Blood who, once the banquet in the royal palace finished, escorted [the emperor] to the lodgings which had been prepared for him in the Louvre castle.

Manuel spent summer and fall in France, leaving in December for England. His earlier entreaties for aid had been rebuffed by Richard II of England due to internal struggles, but those struggles ended when Henry IV became king. (The illustration shows the two meeting.) The meeting between Henry and Manuel—the first and only presence of a Byzantine Emperor in England—was recorded by contemporary writer Thomas Walsingham:

At the same time the Emperor of Constantinople visited England to ask for help against the Turks. The king with an imposing retinue, met him at Blackheath on the feast of St Thomas [21 December], gave so great a hero an appropriate welcome and escorted him to London. He entertained him there royally for many days, paying the expenses of the emperor's stay, and by grand presents showing respect for a person of such eminence.

Manuel received £2000 (the receipt exists) from Henry. A joust was held in his honor in February 1401. The emperor wrote to his friend in Milan, Manuel Chrysolaros, about Henry's hospitality:

A large number of letters have come to us from all over bearing excellent and wonderful promises, but most important is the ruler with whom we are now staying, the king of Britain the Great, of a second civilized world, you might say, who abounds in so many good qualities and is adorned with all sorts of virtues.

...

And now, in accord with his nature, he has made himself a virtual haven for us in the midst of a twofold tempest, that of the season and that of fortune, and we have found refuge in the man himself and his character.

Manuel II also gifted Western Europe with treasures from Constantinople. A piece of the tunic of Christ was sent to Pope Boniface IX, along with the Holy Sponge.

Ultimately, Manuel's efforts did not bear fruit. Bayezid was defeated by Tamerlane, the Turco-Mongol warrior who was expanding his own base. Constantinople would eventually fall to the Turks in 1453, a couple decades after Manuel's death.

But let's talk about that Holy Sponge, and maybe some of the other relics of Christ's life that were important objects throughout the Middle Ages.