Medieval scams

[sand3]

Trying to think of various fake items that medieval grifters and con-artists would have sold, like pieces of unicorn horn (to cure poison and sickness) or wood from the True Cross. I've been searching on google using 'medieval scam', 'medieval con artist', 'medieval snake oil', 'medieval fake unicorn', 'medieval unicorn horn true cross' and the

Comments

[csi_vixen]

A popular fake item were fake relics; the belongings of saints. Little bits of bone, blood stained fabric, pig's bone, etc., said to belong to a certain saint or important religious figure.

[kittybacklash]

I came here to say this. There are about 3 skulls of Jesus' grandma verified by the church cause a few scam artists got insanely lucky :p

Relics were exactly what they'd be selling along with potions that were coloured water etc etc.

[nanini]

So the church verified 3 skulls. Lovely.

[kittybacklash]

Uh huh. I imagine they weren't shown them all at once and said "These are all from the same woman!" but probably seperate bishops/cardinals said "Yes, this is the real thing" before realising that apparently the other two were too.

[rustlemybustle]

If you read The Pardoner's Tale in the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, he describes some of the stuff he sells. I've pulled a description from the wikipedia page.

The Pardoner is also deceptive in how he carries out his job. Instead of selling genuine relics, the bones he carries belong to pigs, not departed saints. The cross he carries appears to be studded with precious stones that are in fact bits of common metal.

[fides]

If you haven't already, then I'd check out Chaucer's Pardoner. Chaucer details a variety of scams the Pardoner runs including fakes indulgences, bones of saints (from pig bones) etc.

[lolmac]

Giggling at the notion of fake indulgences, given that selling indulgences, period, was also a complete scam -- a completely official one backed by (and badly undermining) the full authority of the church. Just imagine, a scam of a scam . . .

[nuranar]

Hehe, I never thought of that! Of course, they're scams in completely different directions, but still...

[reynardo]

I can tell you that in Jerusalem and Cairo during WWII my grandfather was offered serviette rings made from pieces of the true cross :-)

What a lot of the other said. If you can think of a relic of a saint (such as a vial of blood that won't clot, or a finger bone, or a piece of a tree in the Garden of Gethsemane), then there would have been a scammed version of it. Chicken bones, coloured oil, a chip of old wood embedded in beeswax... Whales teeth make great unicorn horns, by the way - they carve up nicely. Gryphon scales made of snakeskin, beaver fur for manticore hair...

[sand3]

'old wood embedded in beeswax'

What's that one about?

[reynardo]

It'd be more "true cross bits", or part of the coffin of a saint, or from one of the many specific trees mentioned in the Bible. (The one the tax collector hid in, or the one that didn't have fruit for Jesus) - you pick. The wax holds the relic in place in a cavity in the centre of a crucifix.

[the_physicist]

so much, lol! the question is what could they not have sold? :P

Wood from the cross is a good one, parts of Turin shroud too maybe, ..., parts of a chair one of the apostles sat on even! They could make up anything as the common person couldn't read the Bible. If there was a local saint who was important that anything the con guy could come up with from the stories about their life, like the chair they sat on. Or bones. Bones of holy people are always a good one.