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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-503) and indexes.

Helena and the Jews. The Legend of the Finding of the Cross -- The Finding of the Cross in Carolingian and Romanesque Art -- Heraclius and the Persians. The Legend of the Exaltation of the Cross -- The Spreading of the Finding and Exaltation of the Cross in the Late Middle Ages -- From Paradise to Golgotha. The Legend of the Wood of the Cross -- The Monumental Programmes of the Legend of the Cross in Italy, Germany and Switzerland.

Print version record.

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.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide