Did Cologne invent the Three Wise Men?

The true story behind the greatest relics coup of the Middle Ages

The greatest relics coup of the Middle Ages

Imagine: It’s the year 1164. A man named Rainald von Dassel enters Cologne with a large entourage – carrying bones that supposedly belong to the most famous figures in Christianity: the Three Wise Men.

Sounds like Hollywood? It’s the Middle Ages.

No, Cologne didn’t invent the Three Wise Men. But the city got them – and with it, pulled off a coup that permanently made Cologne a metropolis. How did a few bones make a city rich, powerful, and world-famous? That’s what this is about.

Who were the Three Wise Men really?

Let’s start with the facts: The Three Wise Men are not historically verifiable. The Gospel of Matthew only mentions “magicians” or “wise men from the East” – neither kings nor a fixed number.

The well-known names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar first appear in the 6th century. The “royalization” of the Magi is the result of later theological interpretations that drew on Old Testament prophecies: the Messiah had to be gifted by kings.

The Three only received a detailed life story in the 14th century by Johannes von Hildesheim. His texts read like a medieval biography – but are legend, not a historical source.

To this day, there is no reliable historical evidence about the origin of the alleged relics themselves. And this is where Cologne’s real story begins.

From Milan to Cologne: The coup of 1164

According to church tradition, Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, found the bones in the Holy Land and brought them to Constantinople. From there, they are said to have later reached Milan – a classic relics legend, not historically verifiable, but widely accepted in the Middle Ages.

In 1162, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa destroyed Milan. Two years later, his chancellor and confidant Rainald von Dassel, also Archbishop of Cologne, took possession of the relics – officially as an imperial redistribution, but in fact as spoils of war.

On July 23, 1164, Rainald arrived in Cologne with the bones. The city staged a triumphal procession: clergy, nobility, and the population received the relics with hymns, processions, and public enthusiasm.

Was that theft?
From today’s perspective: yes.
From a medieval perspective: a politically brilliant move.

What’s really inside the Shrine of the Three Kings?

This is where it gets exciting – and often misreported.

The Shrine of the Three Kings has never been opened for modern scientific investigations. There was no C14 radiocarbon dating and no “new radiological age determination,” as is often heard today.

However, the shrine was opened and examined in 1864, for the 700th anniversary of the transfer. The experts involved made astonishing discoveries:

• The bones come not from three, but from at least four people
• Including:
  • three adults
  • a child or adolescent
• The bones are highly fragmented and mixed together
• A clear chronological classification was and is not possible

The result does not fit the classic legend of the “three kings” – and yet was never perceived as a problem. Because in the Middle Ages, relics were not forensic evidence, but visible signs of divine proximity.

A modern age determination does not exist to this day. And this is no coincidence: An exact scientific analysis would damage the object of faith – and could destroy a symbolic truth without proving a historical one.

How Cologne became rich with the Three Kings

The effect was enormous. Cologne suddenly became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe. The Three Wise Men were considered the patron saints of travelers – and pilgrims came in droves.

Particularly symbolic: German kings traveled from their coronation in Aachen to Cologne to pray before the relics. With gifts. With money. Lots of money.

The influx was so great that the old Romanesque cathedral soon became too small. In 1248, the decision was made to build the Cologne Cathedral – one of the most ambitious construction projects of the Middle Ages.

It was financed not by a king, but by pilgrims, foundations, and donations. The cathedral is, viewed soberly, a monumental result of medieval relics marketing.

The Shrine of the Three Kings: Golden Staging

The construction of the Shrine of the Three Kings began around 1180. It was significantly shaped by Nicholas of Verdun, one of the most important goldsmiths of his time. Completion took decades.

The shrine is a complete work of art made of gold, silver, precious stones, and enamel – with biblical scenes, figures of prophets, and a central motif: the arrival of the relics in Cologne in 1164.

It survived fires, Napoleon, secularization, and the Second World War. To this day, it is a destination for pilgrims and visitors from all over the world.

Did Cologne invent the Three Wise Men?

The honest answer is: No.

But Cologne has done something just as powerful: The city has perfected, institutionalized, and made visible an existing legend – with rituals, architecture, and symbols.

The three crowns in the city’s coat of arms refer directly to the Three Wise Men. The first depictions can be found around 1300 in the cathedral choir – probably the earliest public use of the coat of arms.

Cologne didn’t invent the story.
But Cologne made it the truth.

Conclusion: Cologne’s greatest treasure

What do we learn from this?
Not every great story has to be provable – but it has to be told credibly.

A handful of bones of unclear origin was enough to make a city a European metropolis and to erect a structure that still attracts people from all over the world today.

That’s not a legend.
That’s Cologne cleverness.