MEDIEVAL ART OF THE WEST

But even an abstraction on such an item, something that adorned the sovereign’s forehead, must have had some meaning. Perhaps it is as Jantzen somewhat melodramatically yet masterfully interpreted it, that the unity of the apostles around Christ should have moved the hearts of those subjugated by the Ottonians to unite under the banner of a single Christian power. In any case, in the 1190s, German poet Walther von der Vogelweide understood its meaning in a similar way, writing a poem in honor of the newly crowned Philip of Swabia:

In the original text, there is mention of the Sage (der weise), a specific stone named for its beauty and size, however this detail eluded translation (by V. Mikushevich into Russian). It decorated the back of the king’s head (ob sîme nacke stê), which explains why it served as a ‘guiding star’ (leitesterne) for any prince following his sovereign. It should be noted that the poem by the talented Minnesang served as a political manifesto for the court and did not only reflect the personal opinion of the court poet.

The word ‘symbol’ is very close in meaning to the ‘sign’, but during the Middle Ages, the use of the latter term, ‘signum’, was preferred. Simple objects or gestures take on new meaning, depending primarily on those who use them and secondarily on the imagination of those who observe their use. In works of art throughout most of the Middle Ages, the figure of man is devoid of individual traits, but it always expresses some will or gesture and is always as meaningful. It can even be referred to as an embodied gesture, if a gesture is widely understood.

Every communicative situation in the Middle Ages is ambivalent and can often be construed by contemporaries through two or more contradictory senses—ambivalence and symbol. The cross, while not exclusive to Christians, is the richest symbol in Christianity in terms of content. Depending on the context, the interpreter, the manner of use, the timing, and the reason for interpretation, it can signify ideas and values that are diametrically opposed. It is no coincidence that the cross (Chrismon) appears in a dream that Constantine I3³Constantine the Great (306–337)Was a Roman emperor and the founder of Constantinople, the second capital of the Roman Empire. He became emperor after a struggle with his opponent Maxentius. Before the decisive battle at the Milvian Bridge (312), legend has it that Constantine saw a sign in his dream—a cross with the inscription ‘In hoc signo vices’ (By this sign, you will conquer). In Constantine's dream, the cross was formed by the combination of the Greek letters Chi and Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name. This symbol is also known as the ‘Chi-Rho’. During the battle, Constantine ordered his soldiers to paint it on their shields. The resulting military standard came to be known as the ‘Labarum’. The name of Constantine the Great holds significant importance in Christianity. Under his rule, Christianity gained the status of a permitted religion, and Constantine himself embraced Christianity on his deathbed. had, which was committed to parchment by Eusebius of Caesarea4⁴Eusebius of CaesareaGreek church historian, theologian, ‘father of church history’, a friend of Emperor Constantine. to become no more nor less than the constituent document of the birth of the Christian Empire. It is simultaneously a sign or an image of the cross, a life-giving tree, a banner (a military standard in the traditional Roman sense) decorated with the inscription ‘In hoc signo vinces’ (In this sign thou shalt conquer), under which Constantine’s legions allegedly went into battle against Maxentius, the co-ruling ‘tyrant’. It is also a sign from above, providentially pointing toward heavenly protection before Constantine’s decisive battle for control over Rome. According to Eusebius, Constantine saw that in all of his battles, the arrows would pass by the banner-man, while the labarum (golden cross), appearing right in the thick of the battle, would cause enemies to scatter and flee.

It is no surprise that such a miraculous banner, if we are to believe the biographer, was chosen to decorate the ceiling of the throne room of the Imperial Palace in New Rome.

The Savior died on the cross, but according to Christians, his death gave mankind eternal life and salvation, and therefore the symbol of death is paradoxically also the symbol of life. This transformation was expressed in an image, popular in the later Middle Ages,iThat is, in the eleventh to fourteenth centuries CE.of the so-called 'bloomed cross', interpreted as a 'tree of life' (lignum vitae) on which entire treatises were written. A mosaic decorating the conch of the apse in the Roman Basilica of San Clemente, created around the year 1125, depicts the Savior crucified in paradise rather than Calvary.5⁵GolgothaThe mountain in Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was crucified. His cross, decorated with twelve white doves, is growing from a wondrous bush that sits upon the four rivers of paradise. Deer are shown drinking from the rivers, a biblical metaphor for souls seeking unity with the deity.

The tree is surrounded by magnificent floral ornaments depicting the pastures of heaven, where there is a place for all of God’s creatures, evangelists, saints, and angels.6⁶Paradise PavilionA place of spiritual refuge and grace under Divine shade in the paradise garden. The walls of Jerusalem on the lower corners of the triumphal arch protect the flock of Christ, and the right hand of the Father is ready to place a crown on the head of the Son, which, just like the cross turns from an instrument of torment into a sign of victory that brings Him to eternity.7⁷God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy SpiritIn Christianity, three persons (hypostases) of the one God make up the Trinity. Only a seemingly sad Maria and brooding John,8⁸Virgin Mary and Evangelist JohnTraditional iconographic representation. At the bottom of the crucifixion, the Virgin Mary (Mother of God) and John, the author of one of the Four Gospels (narratives about the life of Jesus Christ), are depicted. standing 'on the earth'9⁹HumusIn icon painting, the term for the conventional representation of the earth is usually in the lower part of the icon, often in the form of a brown or green strip.on either side of the cross but depicted—and this is important—against a gold background shared by the entire composition remind us that the drama of the Salvation—death on the cross—takes place here in earthly Jerusalem. As we read the texts that accompany this complex scene, we are called on to contemplate this universal drama in both heaven and on earth. In any Russian church, even to this day, you will find images of a crucifix featuring the mysterious letters МЛРБ (phonetically MLRB in the Latin Alphabet) on either side of the cross. Their meaning is very simple—just as simple as that of the wonderful mosaic: Место Лобне Рай Бысть (The Place of the Skull Has Become Paradise).

It would have been possible not to write anything or simply replace the figure of Jesus with a 'precious abstraction' such as uncut stones. This practice was often followed by German ‘konungs’ during the first millennium, when they gave so-called votive crosses to monasteries and temples they considered strategically important. Perhaps some of them knew that, according to legend, the same stone-covered cross (crux gemmata) was erected on Golgotha by Constantine and his pious mother, Elena, the same one on which it is believed that the Savior was crucified. In fact, it is not known whether such a richly decorated cross stood over Calvary as early descriptions do not allow us to determine this conclusively, but this is exactly the kind of cross depicted against a background of Jerusalem by mosaicists in the Roman Basilica of Saint Pudentiana at around the year 400.

The gift of a cross or other relics and treasures was the most important policy lever for emperors, as well as the barbarian kings that emulated them. The very presence of such a gift on an altar guaranteed, in the present moment, the unseen presence of a distant Basileus or a king or duke eternally traveling his domain. Thus, symbolically the church was turned into a scale model of heavenly Jerusalem, a kind of votive body that was ideologically much more important than a palace. Around the year 1000, Otto III gave a luxurious cross to the Aachen Chapel. On the front of the cross where the Savior is usually depicted, we instead find a remarkable gemma with the image of Octavian,10¹⁰Octavian Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE)The first Roman emperor and the founder of the Roman Empire. which survives to this day. This amazing and profoundly symbolic switch was perhaps justified by the knowledge that God came into this world when Augustus was ruler.

An image of the dead Savior is engraved on the back. During religious processions, the cross was carried ahead of the ruler, which meant that he had to look at the reverse side. Such a peculiar cross, located in the symbolic capital of the state at the sovereign’s will, in the most sacred place clearly demonstrated to the people and to God that ‘Renovatio imperii Romanorum’ (renewal of the empire of the Romans) came together organically in the heart and mind of this devout young emperor with ‘imitatio Christi’ (the imitation of Christ), pax Romana with pax Christiana.

Queen Theodelinda of Lombardy, having accepted the Roman faith around the year 600, received a gospel as a gift from Gregory the Great, which was contained within a case that was decorated with precious stones and organically combined with highly prized enamel to imitate rubies. The crosses here contain a sacred text in the literal sense of the word, and the eight gemmas (unlike the century of Augustus when times were bleak) around these crosses were intended to be seen as a kind of ‘family tree’, which included the new owner of this treasure as a member of the ‘family’ of Roman emperors, popes, and Christ himself.