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Revision as of 05:20, 3 January 2025 by Srnec (talk | contribs) (start)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Translatio sanguinis Domini (or De pretioso sanguine Domini nostri) is a short Latin text that was composed at the Abbey of Reichenau around 925. It records how several relics associated with Jesus, including drops of his blood, wound up at Reichenau. It is a largely fictional account.
According to the Translatio, Azan, the prefect of Jerusalem, having heard about Charlemagne's virtues, miracles and victories in battle, wishes to see the emperor in person and sign a treaty of friendship. He approaches Pope Leo to arrange a meeting, offering Charlemagne "gifts greater than anything ever before brought to the West", but the emperor rejects the overture. The pope, who understands that it is relics of Jesus that are in view, sends messengers to the emperor, saying, "if ... you are proclaimed as the most famous in the whole universe, you ought to give your life over to danger, if the situation demands it, and walk on foot after him to procure so magnificent a treasure." Charlemagne relents, but Azan falls ill in Corsica. The emperor sends envoys to meet him because of his own fear of sea travel. In the guise of a pilgrim, Charlemagne walks barefoot from Ravenna to Sicily, where he finally meets Azan and receives the relics in an onyx staurotheke. They include the drops of blood, a piece of the true cross, a thorn from the crown of thorns, one of the holy nails and a piece of the Holy Sepulcher. He sends most of them to the palace chapel in Aachen, but the blood he sends to Reichenau.
References
- ^ Anne A. Latowsky, Emperor of the World: Charlemagne and the Construction of Imperial Authority, 800–1229 (Cornell University Press, 2013), pp. 60–62.