A heritage of holy wood : the legend of the true Cross in text and image / by Barbara Baert ; translated from the Dutch by Lee Preedy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baert, Barbara.

Contributor:

Preedy, Lee.

Series:

Cultures, beliefs, and traditions ; v. 22.

Cultures, beliefs, and traditions ; v. 22

Standardized Title:

Erfenis van heilig hout. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holy Cross--Legends--Art.

Holy Cross.

Art, Byzantine.

Art, Medieval.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (597 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the fourth century the idea arose that the Cross on which Christ was crucified had been found by Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. Thus began a legend that would grow and flourish throughout the Middle Ages and cause the diffusion of countless splinters of holy wood. And where there is wood, there was once a tree. Could it be that the Cross was made from that most noble species, the Tree of Life? So, gathering characters along the way, the legend evolved into a tale that stretches from the Creation to the End of Time. A Heritage of Holy Wood is the first reconstruction of the iconographic and literary tradition of the Legend of the True Cross. Its broad scope encompasses relic cults, pilgrimages, travellers' tales and the Tree of Life and involves Church Fathers, crusader kings, Teutonic Knights and mendicant orders, all of which influenced the legend's depiction from its earliest representation in manuscripts, reliquaries and altarpieces, to the great monumental cycles of the high Middle Ages. If the holy wood was the medium of medieval memory, A Heritage of Holy Wood reveals the growth rings of fifteen centuries of imagery.

Contents:

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

List of Diagrams

List of Tables

Introduction

1. Helena and the Jews. The Legend of the Finding of the Cross

Constantine the Great, the cross, and the Inventio crucis

The Judas Cyriacus legend

2. The Finding of the Cross in Carolingian and Romanesque art

The iconographic roots. Identity and diversity

The Meuse region and Rhineland in the twelfth century. Expansion and enhancement

3. Heraclius and the Persians. The Legend of the Exaltation of the Cross

Exaltatio crucis. Worldviews in conflict

Heraclius as exemplar. Loci sancti , crusades and pilgrimage

4. The spreading of the Finding and Exaltation of the Cross in the late Middle Ages

The Legenda Aurea

Northern Germany and the Teutonic Order. Between Tempzin and Marienwerder

Southern Germany and the Danube basin. Nuremberg, insignia of state and new iconographic formulas

The Netherlands. A periphery?

5. From Paradise to Golgotha. The Legend of the Wood of the Cross

Between typologia and narratio

Seth and the return to Paradise

The Queen of Sheba, the sibyl and the Wood of the Cross

6. The monumental programmes of the Legend of the Cross in Italy, Germany and Switzerland (1388-ca. 1495)

Italy. Tradition and innovation

North of the Alps. Neglected and diverse

Conclusion

Epilogue

Colour Plates

Bibliography

Photographic Acknowledgements

Index of Works

Index of Names.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [455]-503) and indexes.

ISBN:

1-280-91539-0

9786610915392

90-474-0574-9

1-4294-5472-5

OCLC:

191935466

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789047405740 DOI