THE HOLY LANCE AS LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY SUBCULTURAL ICON

The Holy Lance (Figure 5.1) is displayed for public viewing in a glass case in the Treasury of the Vienna Hofburg. The objects immediately surrounding the lance are pieces from the imperial insignia of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. This collection of signs that legitimated the emperor was amassed largely by Charles IV in the fourteenth century and included the crown and the scepter, Charlemagne’s gloves and his priestly vestments, a splinter from the manger, a tooth of John the Baptist, and links from the chain used to fetter St. Peter. A cast lead pilgrim’s badge from the fourteenth century survives in the city museum in Prague, and shows Charles displaying the lance to pilgrims who have come there for the annual display of the imperial insignia (Figure 5.2).