S&V - October 2005 - Page 7
The first official appearance of a shroud that the historians undoubtedly identify as the shroud of Turin dates back to 1357. The exhibition of the linen in the collegial Our-Lady, in Lirey, is described in a report of the bishop of Troyes. No representation, no mention written prior to this date shows the characteristics of the relic; of course it exists a miniature representing the setting of Christ in a shroud and the discovery of this empty shroud, in the Codex Pray, a work published about 1192-1195. On the drawing of this shroud one distinguishes four round marks arranged in L in which several people see a pattern identical to that formed by the four holes in the linen caused by a fire. Why not?

However, these marks are not exceptional: one finds these small circles on several miniatures of the same Codex arranged according to various configurations. As for the shroud itself, it is covered with signs in the shape of cross and corbelling in which the same authors believe to recognize the rafters of the linen cloth of Turin.

However, the drawing differs from it. In addition, this representation of the shroud shows no imprint: no face nor body printed on its fabric. What leaves skeptic on the assimilation of the shroud of the Pray Codex to the shroud of Turin.

VSD - Page 26
Some new historical investigations allow now to follow the trace of the shroud of Turin until about 1150. Let us quote in particular the existence on the shroud of small holes of burn arranged at right angles, which one finds on the shroud of Lier, a painting due to Van Orley which reproduces the shroud. The picture is dated back to 1516. It cannot be traces of the Chambery fire of 1532 in which the shroud very nearly disappeared, but probably of marks due to a clumsy blow of censer.

However these particular marks were also found on a representation of the shroud included in the codex Pray, a Hungarian medieval manuscript preserved at the national library of Budapest. This manuscript having been dated back to 1150 thanks to musical partitions it contains, one can deduce that the shroud was known at least a century before 1260, lower date provided by carbon-14 dating, which thus calls into question this dating.