Case file · Apparition / miracle
The Holy Lance of Antioch
Besieged in Antioch in June 1098, Crusaders followed the visions of the peasant Peter Bartholomew, who said Saint Andrew showed him where the lance that pierced Christ was buried. A spearhead was dug up in the Church of St Peter.
1098 CE · 36.20, 36.16 · status: disputed
The account
The find revived the starving army, which broke out and defeated Kerbogha's force; chroniclers said warrior saints on white horses rode with them. Doubts grew, and in 1099 Peter underwent an ordeal by fire to prove his visions; he died of his burns days later.
The sceptical view
The papal legate Adhemar doubted it, and many contemporaries thought Peter planted the relic.