Overview

• Published on August 28 in the Journal of Medieval History, Dr Nicolas Sarzeaud’s study presents a newly identified passage by the medieval scholar Nicole Oresme.
• Oresme’s text, dated between 1355 and 1382 and likely after 1370, labels the cloth a “clear” and “patent” fake and accuses clergy of deceiving people to elicit offerings at a church in Champagne.
• The finding predates the well-known 1389 denunciation by Bishop Pierre d’Arcis, establishing the earliest documented rejection of the Lirey/Turin shroud.
• Recent technical work, including 2025 3D analysis in Archaeometry, supports a non-corpse origin consistent with a low-relief sculpture, aligning with 1988 radiocarbon dates in the late 13th to 14th century.
• Shroud historian Andrea Nicolotti calls the document further evidence of medieval skepticism, though some researchers continue to argue that no adequate natural or forgery mechanism has been demonstrated.