10. The Shroud’s First Known Appearance Was in the Fourteenth Century
Geoffroi de Charny was a wealthy French nobleman and knight in the town of Lirey; he was born around the year 1300. He and his wife, Lady Jeanne de Vergy, are the first known owners of the Shroud of Turin. The timeline of his life corresponds to the carbon-14 dating done in 1988 and seems to suggest that it was a fake made during his lifetime, possibly even by him or by someone commissioned by him. The first known public appearance of the shroud was made in 1360 under either Geoffroi or his son, Geoffroi Junior.
The Shroud of Turin stayed within the de Charny family until it was passed on to the House of Savoy a hundred years later. During the time of its possession by the de Charney, Bishop Pierre d’Arcis wrote to the pope a letter claiming that the person who had created the shroud had confessed to its forgery. However, there is some doubt as to whether the cover in the possession of the de Charny family was the same shroud that was passed on to the Turin Cathedral. What is known is that there was a shroud in the town of Lirey that was believed to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. There may have been two: one a fake that was discredited, and one that was thought legitimate and passed on to the church.