ABSTRACT
Peter Bartholomew is best known for his miraculous ‘discovery’ of the Holy Lance, the spear which pierced Christ’s side during the crucifixion, inside the city of Antioch during the First Crusade, and for his subsequent dramatic death after an ordeal by fire to prove the veracity of this holy relic. The events surrounding the Lance polarised some authors, so that Peter Bartholomew’s story was constructed and reconstructed in ways that reflected different models of clerical masculinity and religious leadership. In this essay, five main aspects are examined—the establishment of Peter Bartholomew’s character, the performative elements discovery of the Lance, Peter’s claims to authority, his confrontations with doubters and representations of the ordeal by fire. In particular, differing accounts of the ordeal have not yet been fully examined by historians, especially in respect of the Peter Tudebode manuscript tradition. This essay uses variations in the portrayal of Peter Bartholomew in comparison with other figures such as Arnulf of Chocques and Adhémar of le Puy to explore how the miraculous combined with ideas about clerical masculinity in order to reflect different ecclesiastical ideals of authority in respect of the visionary experience. It also sheds further light on how authors constructed and evaluated the veracity of divine intervention on crusade.
