posted 07-26-2006 06:03 AM            

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This started long before the Crusades. As far as I know, the first "boom" started after Charlemagne decided somewhere around 800 A.D. that every church in his kingdom shall have at least one holy relict. He and his entourage brought many of them across the alps from Italy. Every church from then on tried to get the most prestigious relicts...

But the tradition goes further back. One example for that is the holy cross: It is said that Helena, mother of the roman emperor Constantine I., found it in the early 4th century in Jerusalem. But parts of that cross spread fast across the empire (and grew constantly in number... ;-)). As the Persians came to Jerusalem in 618 A.D. the roobed Helena's cross but gave it back in 628. It seems to have vanished after the Crusaders took it with them into the battle of Hattin in 1187.