Geoffroi de Charny (1300?-1356)

Geoffroi de Charny was a French knight from the early 14th century, and one of the most well respected of his time. He was born sometime prior to 1307, most likely in Lirey, France. His father was Jean de Charny, Lord of Lirey - a minor land owner, they were considered a "cadet family". His mother was Margaret de Joinville, daughter of Jean de Joinville, a close friend of King Louis IX. Geoffroi's first wife was Jeanne de Toucy who gave him the Castle of Pierre-Perthuis as her dowry. She died in 1341 and he remarried to Jeanne de Vergy, Lady of Montfort and Savoisy. With her he had two children - Geoffroy and Charlotte.

He carried the "Oriflamme" in battle, the standard of the crown of France. This showed his position and loyalty to the king as it was an honor to carry it and made him a target in battle. Geoffroi had fougth at Hainult and in Flanders and participated in a failed crusade under Humbert II of Viennois - they signed a treaty with the Turks in 1348. He also spent some time in captivity in Herefordshire, England in about 1342 before being killed in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. But he is best known for being the author of several books on chivalry - the most famous being the "Book of Chivalry" written in about 1350.

But Geoffroi does not have an entry on this blog for his chivalry and battle history. He is instead mentioned because of his uncle and wife and his connection with the "Shroud of Turin" and the Knights Templar. His uncle was Geoffrey de Charney, who died in 1314. His wife, Jeanne de Vergy, is the first confirmed owner of "Shroud of Turin". It is therefore speculated that Jeanne found the shroud among her husbands belongings after his death, and that he had acquired it from his uncle, who in turn had acquired it through the Knights Templar who, supposedly, had taken it from Constantinople at some early date. Others believe that Geoffroi acquired it himself while on Crusade in 1348.

The church at Lirey

We do know that Geoffroi wrote to Pope Clement VI (if you have a copy of this letter, I would love to see it), that stated that he planned to build a church in Lirey, France in honor of the Holy Trinity who answered his prayers for a miraculous escape from England. Some believe that he must have already had the shroud at this time, but there is no record of it. One interesting piece of evidence to support this is a medallion, supposedly made to commemorate this church, depicting what looks like the double full body figure of the "Shroud of Turin". If the medallion, which is held at the National Museum of the Middle Ages, at the Cluny Abby hotel in Paris, is authentic (I have recently written to them, hope to get an answer soon) - then it would suggest that di Vinci did not make the shroud - unless he made a new one in the likeness of this one, which there is some evidence to support. It does not disprove that it may have been made during the carbon 14 dated period of 1290-1360. When a new church was built, it was customary for it to be commemorated with some sort of artifact from Christ, and it was quite common for these artifacts to be "representations" and not real.

When the shroud at Lirey, now referred to as the "Lirey Winding Sheet", was first displayed it was immediately displaced by the Bishop of Troyes who wrote to the pope with his displeasure of the fake shroud being presented as real. He noted that the shroud was clearly a painting, and that he had in fact met the painter who admitted to creating it. Some argue that such a clear forgery of the time could not possibly be the same shroud that we know today, such a perfect image. The pope examined the evidence before him and gave his blessing that the shroud could be shown as long as the priest stated to the crowd that it was only a "representation" of the shroud of Christ, and not the real shroud. This proves, without a doubt, that the shroud owned by Geoffroi de Charny and Jeanne de Vegny, the same one on the medallion at the museum and Paris and, supposedly, the same Shroud of Turin, is a fake created by a french painter in Lirey in the 1350s.