Of the four evangelists, only Matthew describes the maternity visit received by Jesus and his parents in Bethlehem. An unnamed number of magicians or wise men from the East follow a star that shows them the way to the newborn King of the Jews. Only a few verses, which appeal enormously to the imagination of the Middle Ages. Three kings heavily loaded with symbolism are the end result. They take their final form in the thirteenth-century ‘Legend Aurea’.
The trio depicts the continents known until then and the stages of human life. At sixty, Melchior is the oldest and wisest of the bunch. The European, an old man with long white hair and a long beard, gives gold to the newborn. He is followed by Balthasar who, at forty years of age, brown in complexion and full of beard, represents Asia. He offers myrrh. The line is closed by Caspar, a young, athletically built Moor. Dark, beardless and barely twenty years old, the African honors God’s Son with incense.
These gifts were chosen for a reason. They too are loaded with meaning. Gold is a tribute to Christ’s kingship; frankincense to his divine majesty and myrrh, an embalming liquid, to his mortality. Medieval theologians declare that the three kings pay homage to the king with gold, to the priest with frankincense, and to the prophet in Christ with myrrh. Abbot Bernardus of Clairvaux (1090-1153), on the other hand, has a more practical attitude. He believes that gold empties poverty; the myrrh keeps the vermin far from the tender baby in the manger and the frankincense drives out the stench in the stable.
On the way back, the kings announce the arrival of the savior. They are said to be ordained bishops by the apostle Thomas, following which they travel as missionaries through India. The kings are martyred in quick succession and, each time yielding a little, are buried side by side in one tomb in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Saba.
As soon as the kings close their eyes, worship erupts. Numerous miracles set in motion a great stream of pilgrims. When grave and city are frequently besieged, the kings are sent back to their homeland separately. There they continue to marvel and attract a new crowd of pilgrims. In the fourth century, Empress Helena reunites the scattered remains. Son Constantine passes the relics on to Milan. Centuries later, the now-forgotten and accidentally rediscovered remains are presented by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to his chancellor Reinald von Dassel as a thank you for services rendered. The archbishop brings the kings to Cologne and accommodates the trio in the Dom Church. After the kings were transferred from a modest wooden coffin to the richly decorated ‘Dreikönigenschrein’ in 1214, veneration revived in all its intensity.
