Holy Bones, Holy Dust. How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe

Relics were every where in medieval society. Saintly morsels such as bones, hair, teeth and clothes, and items like the Crown of Thorns, coveted by Louis IX of France, were thought to bring the believer closer to the saint who might intercede with God on his or her behalf. In the first comprehensive history in English of the rise of relic cults, Charles Freeman takes readers on a vivid, fast-paced journey from Constantinople to the northern Isles of Scotland over the course of a millennium.
Freeman illustrates that the pervasiveness and variety of relics answered specific needs of ordinary people across a darkened Europe under threat of political upheavals, disease and hellfire. But relics were not only venerated - they were traded, collected, lost, stolen, duplicated and destroyed. They were bargaining chips, good business and good propaganda, politically appropriated across Europe, and even used to wield military power. Freeman examines an expansive array of relics, showing how the mania for these objects deepens our understanding of the medieval world and why relics continue to capture our imagination.