Niedermunster Abbey, Alsace

This he later offered to Hugo of Tours who, feeling that he was not worthy to receive such a gift, had the gold cross which contained it strapped to a camel and sent it off to roam where it would, accompanied by five knights.

The camel finally stopped at Niedermunster, there the knights founded the adjacent St James' hermitage.

A similar Charlemagne legend relates that a fragment of the cross was given to William of Gellone and kept in the monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert.

This relic attracted many visitors, the most famous of whom was reputedly Richard the Lion Heart in 1194, although the earliest reference to this visit can only be traced back to 1751.

In the 16th century it was transferred to the Jesuits at Molsheim, only to disappear during the Revolution, when it was melted down in the Strasbourg Mint.