The holy shroud was transported to Turin by Emmanuel Philibert, of Savoy, in 1578, to spare a long walk to St. Charles of Borromeo, who had vowed to make on foot a pilgrimage to its shrine.
The clergy and people of Milan accompanied him to the gates of the city, where he changed his long cloak for a belted robe; gave his blessing to the crowds prostrated before him, and then, assuming the pilgrim hat and staff, set off with his companions. On their way they took only sufficient food to support life, and as they walked sung hymns and recited prayers. During their hours of rest they performed divine service, and after four days’ march, they arrived in Turin, and accomplished their vow.
Among those who contested the authenticity of this relic, the principal was Calvin,—who reminded his hearers that the Hebrews were in the habit of enveloping their dead in bandages, not in shrouds; and gave also a list of the various places in which are exhibited a shroud and the cloth which covered the face, as those worn by the Saviour. He even hinted that the object of his discourse was not the same bestowed by Marguerite de Charny, as that had been consumed in the great fire at Chambéry, and this one substituted.
There have been always great objections made to allowing the curious or pious to approach too near, in order to observe the stains on the linen. Philip the Fifth, king of Spain, when he allied himself to the house of Parma, obtained, with great difficulty, permission to have a drawing taken of the saint linceul. The reliquary was displaced with great ceremony, and illuminated by a multitude of wax lights. The artist remained on his knees the whole time, and executed his sketch while eight bishops said each a separate mass at the eight altars which surround the chapel.
Savoy passed from the possession of the Romans to that of the Burgundians, and next formed part of the kingdom of France ere it again became incorporated in the new kingdom of Burgundy.
In the tenth century this last was united to Germany, and Savoy, then a part of the empire, was governed by counts whom the Emperor named. It was made a duchy in 1417, when ruled by Amedée the Eighth; in the time of Francis the First its southern part belonged to France; become German once more, hostilities recommenced between Duke Charles Emmanuel and Henry the Fourth of France; and the peace of Vervins, which put a stop to them, lost several cantons to Savoy. It was this circumstance which induced the dukes to turn their eyes toward Italy; but when Piedmont had gradually asserted her superiority, the emissaries of France knew how to profit adroitly by the discontent her arrogance awakened. In 1792 Savoy gave herself to France, and remained French till the treaties of Vienna and Paris of 1814 and 15.
The founder of the house of Savoy was Humbert of the White Hands, who died about 1048, and was buried before the portal of the church of St. Jean de Maurienne.
Peter of Savoy (who was born at Suza in 1203) saw a path opened to his ambition by the marriage of Henry the Third of England with his niece Eleonora of Provence. In 1241 he hastened to the British court, where he soon won the feeble monarch’s confidence, was placed at the head of the administration, created Earl of Richmond, and loaded with dignities and honours, till the jealousy of the nation being roused by this treatment of a foreigner he was obliged to return to his own country. The palace in the Strand, which was pulled down not many years ago, and called the Savoy, was bestowed on and named from him. He died in 1268 in the castle of Chillon, which had been built by his order.
The most chivalrous of the Counts of Savoy, and the one of whom the recollection is most forcibly recalled by the ruins of his castle, was Amedée the Sixth, called the Green Count, from the colour he had adopted. On his return from a successful campaign in Piedmont, he held a magnificent tournament in Chambéry. The spot chosen was that which at present serves as exercising ground for the troops, and fashionable promenade, the Vernay; before Amedée’s time, who changed the stream’s course, it was the bed of a destructive torrent, the Leysse, which now flows calmly, hid in its deep channel, far under an alley of plane trees. Opposite this alley, I mean on the other side of the Champ de Mars, is the ancient grove of tall thick trees, the favourite walk of the inhabitants of Chambéry: all round are mountains, near and distant, green, or barren, or snowy; whose variety of colouring is increased by what painters call accidents of light, which, caused by their position and the clouds they attract, alter and add to their beauty every moment. It was here that the lists were prepared in 1347 or 48; the city was crowded with the fair and the noble, who came as spectators or sharers in the festival: the tournament was to last three days. There were nineteen champions, the chief among them young Amedée himself; and the first day they entered the ground prepared for them, each knight on his war-horse, and by his side the lady, whose colours he wore, mounted on a lively steed, and holding in her hand the end of a slight silken string with which she led her champion. Count Amedée appeared in green; the plumes of his helmet, his surcoat, the housings of his charger, the dresses of his squires and pages were all green. He bore away the praises of all, and in remembrance of that day thenceforth adopted the colour, and was called the Green Count.
In the year 1365, the Emperor Charles the Fourth, desiring to return to his own states, prayed Amedée to grant him a safe reception and passage in his lands. The count held himself highly honoured, and conducted the emperor to Chambéry, with all due solemnities. Near the old palace had been raised on a high scaffolding a throne; and on it sat Charles the Fourth, surrounded by his court, and wearing the insignia of empire.