of Broniholm a richly endowed house, and enabled the monks to put up new and handsome buildings.[1]
The Crusaders were not indifferent to the value of the coverings of these relics, and, while they looked after objects of veneration, kept a keen eye also on the reliquaries — the gold and silver ornaments of the church, church furniture, golden embroidery, silk cloths, and Ihe beautiful bindings set with precious stones of the gospels and liturgies. The treasury of St. Mark's at Yenice was filled, in 1205, with costly reliquaries received from Constantinople.[2] It is hardly possible to believe that the cunning workmen and traders of Constantinople did not palm off upon the Crusaders a good many relics which they knew to be fictitious. The objects could be manufactured so cheaply, and the critical spirit of the Crusader was so slightly developed, that it would be beyond the power of human nature to let such a chance of profit escape.
In the years which followed the conquest Latin priests were sent to Constantinople from France, Flanders, and Italy, to take charge of the churches in the city. These priests appear to have been great hunters after relics. Thus it came to pass that there was scarcely an important church or monastery in most Western countries which did not possess some share of the spoil which came from Constantinople.
For some years the demand for relics seemed to be insatiable, and caused fresh supplies to be forthcoming to an almost unlimited extent. The new relics, equally with the old, were certified in due form to be what they professed to be. Documents duly attested and full of detailed evidence, sometimes doubtless manufactured for the occasion, easily satisfied those
- ↑ The story is told most fully by Roger of Wendower, and is illustrative of many similar stories. There appears to have been a practice in England like that which still prevails on the peninsula of Mount Athos. Pilgrims went from monastery to monastery to do reverence to the relics, and in each case they were expected to pay for the privilege of doing so. Such pilgrimages were, as they are still in the East, one of the chief sources of revenue for the monkish houses. — "Radulphus," ed. J. Stephenson, Loudon, 1875, copied in "Exuv. Sac." ii. p. 284, where also see Roger of Wendower.
- ↑ "Exuv. Sac." xliii.
