All language subtitles for Secrets.Unlocked.Series.1.Part.8.Spear.of.Destiny.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Mastrelli: This relic has
passed through the hands

Of kings and conquerors.

It's been the center of
extraordinary claims.

They say it pierced
the side of christ,

That it holds inside it a
nail from the crucifixion,

That it guarantees its
possessor victory in battle.

But what are its real origins?

How has this one object
sparked so many stories?

Wrapped in silver, and gold,

And more than 1,000
years of mythmaking,

What is the truth about
the spear of destiny?

(dramatic music)

For centuries, the
mysteries of the past

Have kept their secrets,

But there are
clues cast in gold,

Etched in stone,

Written in blood.

We can unlock them.

Some objects seem to possess
an aura of mystery about them.

In central africa
they're called fetishes.

In north america, they're
called dream catchers.

Back in the day, this
papua new guinean mask

Might have brought its
owner some serious renown.

Then again there are
objects in this world

That inspire an entirely
different order of awe

And fascination that give
rise to myths and legends

And that extend the power of
the past to the present day.

Deep within the kunst
historische museum,

Vienna, austria,

Just such a relic is
on public display:

A fractured metal lance head.

Bound with silver wire and
wrapped in a sheath of gold.

It bears these words:

Lancea et clavus domini

"the spear and
nail of our lord."

It's called the spear of destiny

And, according to urban legend,

Adolf hitler once gazed
longingly upon it as a child.

Given the power
it's said to wield,

Such a myth is unsurprising.

Feather: The spear is
endowed with a power

To give someone
invincibility in battle.

And that aura grew and grew
and grew through history.

Mastrelli: But what is the
real story of the spear?

It's a question a
team of researchers

And conservators assembled

By the kunst historische
museum hopes to answer.

Kirchweger: We decided to do new
research on the holy lance.

Mastrelli: They'll scan
it for physical clues.

Schreiner: We have here the
results of the analysis.

Mastrelli: And examine the
evidence from four countries

And 20 centuries in a
quest to find the truth.

Dr. Helen bond is an expert
on early christianity

And the biblical origins
of the spear story.

It's mentioned just once,
in the gospel of st. John.

Bond: The story of the lance
is only in john's gospel

And that's the only place
in the entire new testament

That you get any reference
to the lance at all.

Mastrelli: It comes
during the crucifixion.

Jesus hangs lifeless
on the cross,

And a roman soldier wants to
check that he really is dead.

Bond: One of the soldiers
pierced his side with his lance,

And immediately blood
and water flowed out.

Mastrelli: The spear, because
it delivered the last wound

To jesus' body, is said to
possess tremendous power.

Bond: People have clearly
thought of the lance

As a way to connect them
to the death of jesus.

Mastrelli: In the middle
ages, hundreds of artifacts

Were venerated for their
supposed connection

To the lives of saints

But objects thought
to offer a direct,

Physical link to
jesus were much rarer.

Bond: There's not really very
many relics connected with jesus

But the primary ones as far as
the people in the middle ages

Were concerned were those
to do with his death.

Mastrelli: Tradition says that
the first attempts to gather

And preserve such objects
began in the fourth century ce.

That's when the emperor
constantine decreed christianity

The official religion
of the roman empire

And his mother helena
went on a quest

To find relics of the
crucifixion

300 years after the fact.

Bond: According to tradition,

His mother helena
went to jerusalem

And she was looking
around for the place

Where jesus was crucified.

Mastrelli: As a feat of
biblical archeology,

It was a remarkable success.

Bond: And as she was
digging around,

She found not only
fragments of the true cross,

But also nails that were
said to have attached jesus

To the cross and also the lance.

Mastrelli: Could two of helena's
finds have been incorporated

Into the spear of destiny?

And could either one,
or both, be genuine?

Today, new technology
offers the chance

To test those claims.

Kirchweger: The last time
substantial investigations

Have been taken
were in the 1920s,

And of course the possibilities

Are on a totally
different level nowadays.

Mastrelli: As curator,
dr. Franz kirchweger

Is the latest
keeper of the spear.

He has assembled a
multi-disciplinary team.

Kirchweger: The holy lance
has different layers

Telling a lot about its history.

Mastrelli: The plan is to study
each element of the spear,

Not just the spearhead,

But also the central iron
pin that divides the blade

And that some say holds
crucifixion nails.

But, first, that
golden outer layer.

Kirchweger has enlisted
the help of an expert

In medieval metals,
dr. Birgit buhler.

Buhler: If you look at it
from a distance at the letters,

It actually looks
quite good quality,

But when you look at it
in an optical microscope

You can see the tiny faults.

It looks like someone
was not a master

In the high art of engraving.

Mastrelli: This doesn't tell
us who the engraver was

Or for whom he worked,

But every individual feature
of his style is a clue,

Especially if the same style

Can be found on
other engravings.

Buhler: Craftsmanship is
always very specialized.

Mastrelli: Remarkably, a
comparable engraving does exist.

It's on the base of
a magnificent cross

Whose provenance is as clear

As the spear of
destiny's is murky.

Buhler: There maybe is a
correlation,

And maybe it's the
same craftsman.

Mastrelli: In fact, the
two pieces are so similar

That buhler is convinced
they're from the same time,

If not the same hand.

Moreover, the
inscription on the cross

Names the man for
whom it was made.

That man was charles iv,

The holy roman emperor
and king of bohemia.

In the mid-14th century, he
ruled much of central europe

From what is, today,
the czech republic.

Rosario: Charles the
relic collector,

Well, there was no one like him.

Wherever he went,

He collected any and every
relic that was available.

Mastrelli: Indeed, the
inscription is far

From the only indication

That the spear spent time
in charles' possession.

Charles himself
took care of that.

Here, at this top of his
castle residence near prague,

He built an extraordinary chapel

To host his vast
collection of relics.

Buhler: You open into a
world that is just lavish

And beautiful and sparkling.

The walls are set with
semi-precious stones

And with embossed gold work.

Above are the 130 paintings,
you can see the recesses there,

Each contained a relic of a
saint, it was a sacred space.

Mastrelli: This is where he
kept the spear of destiny

But it's how he
publicly displayed it

That's the most revealing.

Rosario: A special day organized

Which was only for
the holy lance

And nail of the lord and
that tells us how important

Charles must of thought
that this holy lance was.

Mastrelli: Each year,

It was ceremonially
carried out of the chapel

And onto a specially
-built balcony,

Here it was held up
before an adoring crowd.

King charles knew full well
the effect it would have.

Rosario: The holy lance

Had been bathed in the
very blood of christ

And consequently for
the medieval man,

You could get no closer
to the divine than that.

The medieval person considered

That he was in the very
presence of god at that moment.

Mastrelli: And that, of
course, made the person

Who owned this object
very important indeed.

Rosario: Anyone who possessed
the lance had been chosen by god

To be his
representative on earth,

To sit on the highest throne.

Mastrelli: Charles iv had
schemed his way to power,

Uniting a divided, unstable
kingdom under his sole control.

Part of that success came
from convincing his people

He had a god-given
right to rule.

And in that situation, the spear
was a very powerful weapon.

It's no wonder, perhaps that
he had it wrapped in gold.

Rosario: It was a way
of self-legitimizing,

Self-aggrandizing,

And for eternity to come.

Charles iv was on one
hand deeply religious,

And on the other hand a hard,
cold calculating pragmatist.

Mastrelli: King charles clearly
grasped that some relics

Can be a source of
real political power.

But charles iv lived some 13
centuries after the crucifixion

And had no way of knowing

Whether the spear
was genuine or not.

Today, though,

Thanks to the scientific
team now on the case,

That's a question that
might finally be answered.

An ancient bladed weapon is
more than an instrument of war,

It's also a kind of
recording device.

Even a cursory examination
can tell you a lot

About the history of
a sword or a dagger.

Take a look at the cutting
edge on this yemeni janbiya.

See the nicks and furrows?

This is a blade that's
been in the heat of battle

And has seen some
serious action.

Compare it to this sword,
you see how smooth it is?

This thing has never
even been sharpened

And it's certainly never
seen a day in combat.

Dr. Eric szameit is
an anthropologist

With a special interest
in ancient weaponry.

He's made a study of
how bladed weapons

Have evolved down the centuries.

And, using x-ray images,

He's produced a
replica of the spear,

As it would have looked,
when it was first made.

Szameit: The blade
is rather heavy.

Mastrelli: The key fact for
him is that this spear

Is designed for hand
-to-hand combat.

You could stroke from above

Or you could stroke
from the side.

Mastrelli: It's meant
to stab, to chop,

And to fend off
an enemy's blows.

Szameit: A very dangerous,
heavy weapon.

Mastrelli: It's
a style of combat

That will certainly take
its toll on the blade.

Szameit demonstrates.

(speaking in foreign language)

He has examined the holy
lance in microscopic detail,

But neither x-ray nor
microscopic analysis

Reveal any damage to the spear.

Szameit: It has no marks that it
was damaged during a battle.

This holy spear was never
used in real fighting.

Mastrelli: Given its reputation
as a powerful weapon,

It's a striking conclusion,

But it's not the only one
eric believes he can draw.

While it's not possible for him

To carbon date the age
of an iron spearhead,

It is possible to compare
iron-working techniques

As they've evolved over time.

And, if he can compare
the spear with weapons

Whose age he knows for certain,

He may be able to identify
the era in which it was made.

Szameit: We have a type of
early roman period spear,

Then we have part of a sword

From the ninth to 10th century.

Mastrelli: Szameit
brings all these items

To metallurgist
manfred schreiner.

Schreiner: This is an object
full of emotion

As the object itself

Has such a history
and is full of myth

But when you do the
analysis, it's a material

As all kinds of materials are

And it is very, very important
to clarify the history

And to clarify the
authenticity of the object.

Mastrelli: Until recently,

Determining an object's
chemical make up

Would have involved taking
samples and causing damage.

Schreiner: It was a kind of
challenge for me

To carry out non-destructive
investigations

And identify the material

Which is used for
this important object.

So, what we are analyzing

Is mainly the surface
of the material

Without taking any sample and
without changing the object.

Mastrelli: The method
schreiner uses today

Is called x-ray fluorescence.

It sends out a tightly
focused beam of x-rays,

And what bounces back is the
metal's chemical signature.

Schreiner: We have
here the result

Of the x-ray
fluorescence analysis

Obtained on the object
of the first century bc.

And what we clearly can
see is that iron of course

Is the main element present

But there is also a high
variety of additional elements

Such as zinc, nickel, even lead.

Mastrelli: Next, schreiner
focuses the x-ray

On the 10th century sword.

It shows that its purer
iron is made using a process

That wasn't available
in roman times.

Schreiner: And, of course, again
iron is the main component

But the amount of
minor components

And trace elements is
much, much smaller.

Mastrelli: Finally, manfred
compares these results

To what he finds
on the holy lance.

And for him, the
results are conclusive.

Schreiner: The holy lance

Completely differs
from the material

Which was used for roman lances.

It's rather typical and
characteristic for lances

Which were produced seven
or even 800 years later.

We have to say that the holy
lance is not a roman lance.

Mastrelli: If a lance
did pierce jesus' side,

It wasn't this one.

Kirchweger: Today we can
be absolutely sure

That this spear is nothing
to do with the time

And age of christ
and the roman period.

Mastrelli: But what about
the crucifixion nails

The spear is said to hold?

Could they be the
relic's real treasure?

Metallurgist robert
feather has devoted years

To studying claims that
the spear of destiny

Holds nails from
the crucifixion.

What most intrigues him is
this row of tiny brass crosses

Somehow pressed into the pin.

Buhler: In the iron itself there
are inlaid brass wires,

And this is a
decoration technique

Very typical for the
early middle ages.

And they are crosses,
which are of course

Related to the sacred
character of the object.

Feather: The question arises

What were the gold crosses
doing on the spear?

And my deduction was that
they were placed there

At time that the spear
was modified and the pin,

The central pin put in place.

Buhler: The technique
is basically

You cut a groove
in the object

And then you inlay the wire,
you fix it by hammering.

There could be
something below it,

There could be some
sacred material,

Some tiny fragment
of a sacred material

That you want to preserve,

And you mark this
spot with a cross,

And you have it
under the brass wire.

Mastrelli: And this is
exactly what feather

Believes he sees just visible,

Sticking out from beneath
the inlaid crosses

A sliver of a different metal.

Feather: I was able to
look at the spear

Under high-powered
magnification.

I could see distinctly

That there were separate
lumps on the pin.

You could see the join,

The lapping of those
lumps on the pin.

They had an iron composition

Which was different from
the rest of the pin itself.

Mastrelli: Some might argue
this is weak evidence.

Why accept a small
shard of unknown metal

As the support for the
relic's authenticity?

Then again, a 10th
century manuscript

Offers astounding support.

Bond: "it has crosses
made from the nails

"driven through the hands
and feet of our lord

"and redeemer jesus christ.

"they claim this lance belonged
to constantine the great,

"son of saint helena,

"the discoverer of the
life-giving cross."

Mastrelli: The same helena
who, tradition says,

Went to jerusalem

And tracked down relics
from the crucifixion.

Feather: Someone went to an
awful lot of trouble

To place these pieces
of separate metal,

Marking them with the
gold-looking cross,

And revering the spear.

But now it's got
something additional,

It's got pieces that
connect right back to jesus.

Kirchweger: This golden crosses
that are set on the pin,

That was probably
the starting point

For this belief
in the holy lance

As being something
transporting relics of christ.

Mastrelli: Whatever lies
beneath those tiny crosses,

Dr. Kirchweger's
team cannot reach it.

Not without
destroying the lance.

Indeed, this may be the
very part of the puzzle

That's destined to
remain unsolved.

Put together, the spear's
many layers form a record

Of extraordinary faith,
superstition, and ambition.

Above all, the spear
represents a legend so powerful

That even after many
hundreds of years,

The stories that surround
it continue to grow.

Kirchweger: It's kind
of fascinating

That this historic artifact

Still is able to create legends
in 20th and 21st century.

Bond: All of this huge amount
of speculation and thought

And adoration has been
put onto the lance.

And the amazing part about it

Is that it survived
those centuries

And it was always
venerated by every ruler.

Rosario: Locked inside the
spear of destiny

Is at least a
millennium of history.

Regardless of its origins,
it is a remarkable object.

And while we cannot prove
its ultimate authenticity,

The fact that this spear
possesses a kind of power

Is as undeniable today as
it was true 1,000 years ago.