Professor Cynthia Hahn will deliver a lecture at the University of Texas at Austin on Friday, November 21st at 4:30 pm entitled “The Making of the Crown of Thorns: A Relic and its Presentation.”
“The Crown of Thorns is one of the most famous relics of Christendom, yet was little noticed before the tenth century. It was with the Crusades and Louis IX’s acquisition of the relic for France that it came to prominence. The king’s coordinated program of relic promotion—using ceremony, architecture, reliquaries, and the distribution of relics—solidified both the fame of the relic and the French king’s status as “the most Christian king.”