Reliquary of the True Cross

c. 1214
Overall: 44 x 31 x 4.7 cm (17 5/16 x 12 3/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
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Description

A lengthy Latin inscription on the frame recounts the history of the central relic--a fragment of the True Cross--and provides an exact date for its container: "You who ask about the cross: read! The heir of Judas the priest/Stole it. But when, after boarding a ship,/He sought a mild breeze, a fierce storm opposed the sorry sailors./Out of his mind, he gnawed at his own hands./In the end the blessed Virgin spoke thus to him:/‘You shall soon be well, if you seek to return what was stolen.’/ He pays back this debt to the brothers of the Temple . . . When he died, they cast him overboard, and the storm subsided./Happy they arrive at Brindisi, quiet they have returned with the cross,/Which resides beautiful in this handsome panel. This tablet was created in the 1214th year from the Lord’s incarnation in the month of February."
Reliquary of the True Cross

Reliquary of the True Cross

c. 1214

Cross: Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem Panel: Rhine-Meuse region, Gothic period, 13th century

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