Abstract

In the Holy Week ceremonies described in the tenth-century guide to monastic living called the Regularis Concordia, the medieval congregant would encounter a cross that sings, is wrapped in cloth and buried in a tomb, and finally disappears over the course of the week’s observances. The medieval cross, as an object of study, has been interpreted from countless perspectives in a variety of disciplines. Perhaps the most powerful sign in medieval Europe, probably only surpassed by the Eucharistic host in the later Middle Ages, the cross was also a material object.