Dissertation Abstract: The medieval wood-of-the-cross legends trace the history of the wood of Christ’s cross back to Old Testament figures and sometimes to paradise itself, where the holy wood was derived from the very tree from which Adam and Eve disobediently ate. These legends are thought to have originated in Greek, afterwards radiating into Latin and the vernacular languages of Western Europe. The earliest witness of these narratives (the “rood-tree” legend) is extant in English fragments of the eleventh century, with full versions found in one twelfth-century English manuscript and several Latin ones originating in England. In this study I examine both the setting into which the rood-tree legend arrived, as well as the later, more elaborate wood-of-the-cross legends that inspired adaptations into Middle English writings. The opening chapter establishes the development of the wood-of-the-cross narrative and its manifestations in both the Latin West and the Eastern languages. Chapter two characterizes the strong devotion to the holy cross in Anglo-Saxon England, and its manifestation in literature, theological writings and art, while chapter three details the Latin and Middle English versions of the wood-of-the-cross legends in manuscript form in England. The fourth chapter traces the concept of the “cross as tree,” beginning with medieval glosses on important biblical tree references, followed by the use of the cross-tree image in Christian writings from patristic times through the medieval period. The penultimate chapter examines key narrative motifs from the legends and provides important parallels of these motifs in other genres, including romance, hagiography and travel writing. I conclude that the wood-of-the-cross legends would have been welcomed into Anglo-Saxon England by a pre-existing reverence for the holy cross, and that this devotion probably bolstered their reception in that country. However, the most significant reasons for the legends’ popularity are not specific to England, but rather are common throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages: the adaptability of the tree as a symbol, the familiarity of the narrative motifs used, and the significant appeal of the legends’ typological structure which tied the wood of Christ’s cross to the very tree whose violation had brought about the Fall of man.

Dissertation Abstract: The medieval wood-of-the-cross legends trace the history of the wood of Christ’s cross back to Old Testament figures and sometimes to paradise itself, where the holy wood was derived from the very tree from which Adam and Eve disobediently ate. These legends are thought to have originated in Greek, afterwards radiating into Latin and the vernacular languages of Western Europe. The earliest witness of these narratives (the “rood-tree” legend) is extant in English fragments of the eleventh century, with full versions found in one twelfth-century English manuscript and several Latin ones originating in England. In this study I examine both the setting into which the rood-tree legend arrived, as well as the later, more elaborate wood-of-the-cross legends that inspired adaptations into Middle English writings. The opening chapter establishes the development of the wood-of-the-cross narrative and its manifestations in both the Latin West and the Eastern languages. Chapter two characterizes the strong devotion to the holy cross in Anglo-Saxon England, and its manifestation in literature, theological writings and art, while chapter three details the Latin and Middle English versions of the wood-of-the-cross legends in manuscript form in England. The fourth chapter traces the concept of the “cross as tree,” beginning with medieval glosses on important biblical tree references, followed by the use of the cross-tree image in Christian writings from patristic times through the medieval period. The penultimate chapter examines key narrative motifs from the legends and provides important parallels of these motifs in other genres, including romance, hagiography and travel writing. I conclude that the wood-of-the-cross legends would have been welcomed into Anglo-Saxon England by a pre-existing reverence for the holy cross, and that this devotion probably bolstered their reception in that country. However, the most significant reasons for the legends’ popularity are not specific to England, but rather are common throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages: the adaptability of the tree as a symbol, the familiarity of the narrative motifs used, and the significant appeal of the legends’ typological structure which tied the wood of Christ’s cross to the very tree whose violation had brought about the Fall of man.

This study has a threefold aim:  to make a theological contextualisation of four medieval anti-Jewish motifs in Christian iconography represented in churches in Sweden and to study how these motifs has been described and contextualised in guidebooks and other material written for the interested public from post-war to recent years. The study also explores the role of heritagisation and musealisation of the church buildings in relation to how the motifs are described in the material. There is also an underlying, constructive aim: to suggest how The Church of Sweden can work with these motifs in theological reflection and historical presentations to the public concerning this part of the cultural heritage. The motifs analysed are The Judensau, Ecclesia and Synagoga, Cain and a motif illustrating a medieval legend about the funeral of the Virgin Mary. They were all painted in Swedish churches in a time when there were no Jewish settlements in the area. The study argues that the iconography can be interpreted as an expression of othering and that the four motifs can all be theologically contextualised by using Jesper Svartvik’s threefold typology of Christian anti-Jewish discourse. The study further shows that very few of the texts in the guidebooks and other books in the material describes the motifs and contextualises them theologically.  The study suggests that this can be related to the more than hundred years old heritagisation- and musealisation process in The Church of Sweden which has created a twofold and split role of the church as both manager of the religious mission and of the cultural heritage.   It has not been the primary aim of the church to theologically contextualise the cultural heritage. New questions concerning the motifs arise in today’s multicultural and multireligious society. The study suggests that the church can approach the part of the cultural heritage which today is seen as problematic from David Lowenthal’s concept of an informed acceptance and tolerance of the past in order to be able to take responsibility for the future in dialogue with others.