13. Relics Were an Essential Part of Medieval Roman Catholicism
Religious relics, such as the Shroud of Turin, were highly valued among the faithful in Medieval Europe. The Canterbury Tales, which tell us much about life in the Middle Ages, contain references to swindlers who would go to different towns claiming that they had in their possession things like the bones of Saint John the Baptist or the nails that were used to pierce Jesus. Unsurprisingly, all that they had was perhaps chicken bones or common nails, but pious Christians would pay copious amounts of money to view the so-called artifacts.
Given the importance of relics and how frequently they were forged, it comes as no surprise that the Shroud of Turin was also a forgery. What is surprising is that there is little evidence that swindlers peddled it in a cheap attempt to make a few extra shillings. Perhaps the people who had it in their possession believed that it indeed was the burial shroud of Jesus, and they wanted to treat it with the reverence that it deserved. In the mid-fifteenth century, it was gifted to the prominent House of Savoy, and from there, it made its way to Turin Cathedral, where it has been to this day. It doesn’t fit the pattern of forged Medieval relics.