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Case file s1188 · Heirlooms and treasure · 1238
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1238
Reliquary of the Crown of Thorns Notre-Dame NDP68 Cat95: Reliquary of the Crown of Thorns Notre-Dame NDP68 Cat95
Reliquary of the Crown of Thorns Notre-Dame NDP68 Cat95. Marie-Lan Nguyen. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
1238 (Baldwin II's offer to Louis IX)
Place
Constantinople; Venice, Italy; Paris, France
Field
Christian relic · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
medieval pledge (security for a loan); French Concordat of 1801 · Civil law
Historical event
Collapse of the Latin Empire of Constantinople; Notre-Dame fire, 15 April 2019
Heirlooms and treasureCrowns and successionMedievalMiddle EastEuropeFrance

A bankrupt emperor of Constantinople pawned the Crown of Thorns to Venetian lenders, and a fire chaplain carried it out of burning Notre-Dame

Tradition holds that a crown kept in Constantinople was the crown of thorns placed on Jesus. After the Fourth Crusade the city was ruled by Latin emperors. Baldwin II, short of money, pledged the crown to Venetian lenders as security for a heavy loan of 13,134 gold pieces†. In 1238 he offered it to Louis IX of France to win support. Louis redeemed the debt, and the crown was carried to Paris. He built the Sainte-Chapelle to house it, finished in 1248. It stayed there until the Revolution. The state then held it in the Bibliothèque nationale. After the Concordat of 1801 it was returned to the Church and placed in Notre-Dame. On 15 April 2019 fire destroyed the cathedral's roof and spire. Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris fire brigade, insisted on going in with the firefighters and helped bring out the crown and the Blessed Sacrament. Rescuers formed a human chain to carry relics out. The crown was taken to the Louvre for safekeeping. On 13 December 2024 it was carried back to Notre-Dame in procession. It is kept in a shrine in the cathedral and shown for veneration.

What the law took from it

An heirloom pledged for a loan belongs, in practice, to whoever can pay off the lender.

Sources
  1. newadvent.orgPress
  2. abc.net.auPress
  3. CBS NewsPress
  4. thecatholicthing.orgPress
  5. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “A bankrupt emperor of Constantinople pawned the Crown of Thorns to Venetian lenders, and a fire chaplain carried it out of burning Notre-Dame,” story s1188, https://www.celebrity.estate/crown-of-thorns-1238, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Heirlooms and treasureCrowns and successionMedievalMiddle EastEuropeCivil lawFrance