32The reliquary of Jacques de Vitry, a prominent clergyman and theologian in the early 33 13th century, has experienced several transfers over the last centuries, which seriously 34 question the attribution of the remains to the late Cardinal. Uncertainty about the year of his 35 birth poses an additional question regarding his age at death in 1240. The reliquary, located in 36 the Saint Marie d'Oigines church, Belgium, was reopened in 2015 for an interdisciplinary 37 study around his relics as well as the Treasure of Oignies, a remarkable cultural heritage 38 notably built from Jacques de Vitry's donation. Anthropological, isotopic and genetic 39 analyses were performed independently on the remains found in the reliquary. Results of the 40 analyses provided evidence that the likelihood that these remains are those of Jacques de 41 Vitry is very high: the remains belong to the same human male individual and the historical 42 tradition about his age is confirmed. In addition, a separate relic (left tibia) was analysed and 43 found to match with the remains of the reliquary (right tibia). The unique Jacques de Vitry's 44 mitre, made of parchment, was sampled non-destructively and the extracted parchment45collagen was analysed by a proteomic method in order to determine the animal species. The 46 results showed that, surprisingly, not all parts of the mitre were made from the same species. 47All together, these findings are expected to fertilize knowledge carried by historical tradition 48 around the relics of Jacques de Vitry and his related cultural heritage. 49

No abstract

The reliquary of Jacques de Vitry, a prominent clergyman and theologian in the early 13th century, has experienced several transfers over the last centuries, which seriously question the attribution of the remains to the late Cardinal. Uncertainty about the year of his birth poses an additional question regarding his age at death in 1240. The reliquary, located in the Saint Marie d’Oigines church, Belgium, was reopened in 2015 for an interdisciplinary study around his relics as well as the Treasure of Oignies, a remarkable cultural heritage notably built from Jacques de Vitry’s donation. Anthropological, isotopic and genetic analyses were performed independently on the remains found in the reliquary. Results of the analyses provided evidence that the likelihood that these remains are those of Jacques de Vitry is very high: the remains belong to the same human male individual and the historical tradition about his age is confirmed. In addition, a separate relic (left tibia) was analysed and found to match with the remains of the reliquary (right tibia). The unique Jacques de Vitry’s mitre, made of parchment, was sampled non-destructively and the extracted parchment collagen was analysed by a proteomic method in order to determine the animal species. The results showed that, surprisingly, not all parts of the mitre were made from the same species. All together, these findings are expected to fertilize knowledge carried by historical tradition around the relics of Jacques de Vitry and his related cultural heritage.