The Holy Shroud back to Constantinopl
Roughly speaking, the Holy Shroud was brought to a kingdom situated in the south part of present-day Turkey from Jerusalem in the first century AD.
Then it was taken to Constantinople (presently Istanbul). There were some evidence that the Shroud was on display in the palace in Constantinople. But the capital of the Empire of the East faced a notoriously severe attack by the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204).
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and sacked the Christian (Eastern Orthodox) city of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. This is seen as one of the final acts in the Great Schism between the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, and a key turning point in the decline of the empire and of Christianity in the Near East.During this turmoil, it is believed that the Shroud was taken by French crusaders. And a pious French noble man called Otho de La Roche was given the Shroud as his share of pillage. He was counselor for the knight commander of the Fourth Crusade.
The Latin soldiery subjected the greatest city in Europe to an indescribable sack. For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scale which even the ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. Constantinople had become a veritable museum of ancient and Byzantine art, an emporium of such incredible wealth that the Latins were astounded at the riches they found. Though the Venetians had an appreciation for the art which they discovered (they were themselves semi-Byzantines) and saved much of it, the French and others destroyed indiscriminately, halting to refresh themselves with wine, violation of nuns, and murder of Orthodox clerics. The Crusaders vented their hatred for the Greeks most spectacularly in the desecration of the greatest Church in Christendom. They smashed the silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of Hagia Sophia, and seated upon the patriarchal throne a whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church's holy vessels. The estrangement of East and West, which had proceeded over the centuries, culminated in the horrible massacre that accompanied the conquest of Constantinople. The Greeks were convinced that even the Turks, had they taken the city, would not have been as cruel as the Latin Christians. The defeat of Byzantium, already in a state of decline, accelerated political degeneration so that the Byzantines eventually became an easy prey to the Turks. The Fourth Crusade and the crusading movement generally thus resulted, ultimately, in the victory of Islam, a result which was of course the exact opposite of its original intention.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade#Sack_of_Constantinople
Then Otho de La Roche, baron of Ray-sur-Saone, became Lord of Athens. Otto arrived at Athens around the end of 1204. Indeed, two different sources of information can confirm the presence of the Shroud in Athens in the summer of 1205. In 1205 he married cousin Isabelle. Between them, there was a son named Otho II. But his wife Isabelle died and he re-married a Greek woman and then came back to France with the Shroud. After his death in 1234 the Shroud seems to have remained in Ray-sur-Saoine.
Otho II took control of the fief Ray-sur-Saone with the Shroud. Then Otho II died in 1254 leaving two daughters; one of them was Isabelle. Isabelle married into the family of de Vergy to have a son called Jean I. On this occasion the Shroud seems to have been handed over to the de Vergy family.
Jean I de Vergy had a son Guillaume whose daughter was Jeanne de Vergy. Jeanne married Geoffroi I de Charney. Then, thanks to Jeanne de Vergy, related in the fifth generation with Otho de La Roche, the Shroud was shown in public in Lirey. It is an official start of the emergence of the Holy Shroud in the general public.
However, her son Geoffroi II did not inherit a Shroud when his father died. The Shroud must have been treated as property of the de Vergy family, because in the period between 1360 and 1389 the Shroud was preserved in Monfort-en-Auxious, a de Vergy property.
(Refer to http://www.acheiropoietos.info/proceedings/PianaMYHSWeb.pdf)
To make sure, Geoffroi I de Charne was not an irresponsible person. He looks like a man of honor.
Geoffroi de Charny (c. 1300 – 19 September 1356) was a French knight and author of at least three works on chivalry. He was born around 1300. His father, Jean de Charny was the Lord of Lirey in Burgundy and his mother was Margaret de Joinville. His grandfather on his mother's side, Jean de Joinville, was a close friend of King Louis IX and author of his biography.
Geoffroi de Charny and his wife Jeanne de Vergy are the first reliably recorded owners of the Turin Shroud.[9][10] The first public exhibition of the Shroud is memorialized in The Pilgrimage Medal shown here and dating from that time. The medal shows the image of the Shroud[11] with very precise indications in spite of its small dimensions. On this medal one can see a frontal and dorsal view of the body, the linen herring patterns, four marks of burns as well as the coats of arms of the Charny and Vergy families. This pilgrimage medal is exhibited at the Cluny museum in Paris (France).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroi_de_Charny#Shroud_of_Turin
So, now we know how the Holy Shroud suddenly appeared in France in the 14th century without involvement of the Vatican.
It had been possessions of the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire but not of the Vatican. And it was plunder of French crusaders who carried out the Fourth Crusade. But fortunately this Holy Shroud settled in the hand of a pious French nobleman who happened to become the Lord of Athens. And there were some reliable proofs that the Holy Shroud existed in Athens in 1205.
So, we can now trace the Holy Shroud as far as Constantinople (presently Istanbul).
But when and how did the Holy Shroud reach the capital of the Byzantine Empire ?
944 – The Shroud arrives in Constantinople. Theophanes presents the “hagion mandylion” to Emperor Romanus, which he has brought to Constantinople from Edessahttp://maxondeadline.com/the-true-icon-about-the-book/timeline/
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Mat 12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.