Comment récupérer une relique ? Un cambriolage à la collégiale de Boulogne en 1133

Abstract

A text, transmitted in three witnesses from the seventeenth century, narrates a conflict that occurred in the year 1133 between the clerics of Thérouanne and those of Boulogne. The former accused the latter of having stolen, in 1083, their patron saint Maximus’ head, when that sacred relic had been temporarily sheltered in Boulogne. The story, full of details, relates how a team from Thérouanne broke into and entered the church of Boulogne in order to retrieve their relic and return home with it, with the saint’s approval. There is no doubt that this document is medieval, given that a manuscript from the years 1380-1420 contains an abbreviated version of it.