A Likely Possibility: Besançon
The Edessa Cloth can
be implicitly linked to the Marquis Boniface de Montferrat who led
the attack on the Bucholean Palace and Pharos Chapel in
Constantinople where the cloth was kept. When it surfaced in
Athens, three years later, it was in the trust of Otto de la
Roche, an associate of the Marquis Boniface de Montferrat.
Historians have
speculated that the cloth may have passed into the hands to the
Knights Templar soon thereafter. They were a powerful, rich and
secretive organization. Under Phillip IV of France, efforts to
suppress their power and acquire their assets resulted in
extraordinary charges being leveled against them, including secret
rituals of worshipping an image with a bearded man's face. In
1307, the leaders of the Templars, were executed. One of the
leaders was a knight called Geoffrey de Charny, possibly a
relative of the Geoffrey de Charny who displayed the Shroud in
Lirey about 50 years later.
But there is another
tantalizing possibility: Besançon. Historian Dan Scavone has
proposed that the Shroud was taken to Besançon early after its
disappearance from Constantinople. There is some evidence that it
was acquired by Geoffrey de Charny before 1349 when wrote to Pope
Clement VI stating his intention to build a church at Lirey.
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