THE CROSS AS TREE - T-Space - University of Toronto

295 Pages·2009·3.07 MB·English

THE CROSS AS TREE: THE WOOD-OF-THE-CROSS LEGENDS IN
MIDDLE ENGLISH AND LATIN TEXTS IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

by

Nicole Fallon

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Ph.D.
Graduate Department of the Centre for Medieval Studies
University of Toronto

© Copyright by Nicole Fallon 2009
Dissertation Abstract
“The Cross as Tree: The Wood-of-the-Cross Legends in
Middle English and Latin Texts in Medieval England”

for the degree of Ph.D.
2009
Nicole Fallon
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

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
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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.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my thesis committee members, Profs. Joe Goering and
Suzanne Akbari (co-supervisors) and Prof. Andy Orchard, for all their help, advice and
diligent proof-reading. Any errors remaining in this work are my own. I owe a debt of
gratitude to Dr. Greti Dinkova-Bruun, whose assistance with my edition of the Latin
rood-tree legend was invaluable, and to Dr. Bob Miller in Oxford whose expertise in the
subject of the wood-of-the-cross legends is formidable, and whose generosity with his
own work admirable. I also gratefully acknowledge the help of Prof. Ruth Harvey, who
read the manuscript for style and clarity, and the input of my internal and external
examiners, Profs. Alexandra Gillespie and Zbigniew Izydorczyk, who provided their own
specialized perspectives on my topic. Special mention should also be made of the
wonderful administrative staff at the Centre for Medieval Studies, in particular Grace
Desa, who always made the Centre feel like home.
I was assisted financially during the completion of this degree by funding from
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship
and the ITER Fellowship. I am also grateful to the Prudence Tracy Memorial Award and
the Edward W. Nuffield Graduate Travel Fellowship, which helped fund my research trip
to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the unwavering support given to me by my
husband, family and friends, without whose encouragement this thesis would never have
been written.
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Dedicated to my husband and family,
and especially to my father,
Nick Quickert, Ph.D. (University of Toronto, 1970),
who, although he studied in a completely different field,
nevertheless knows the effort involved.
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Table of Contents

Dissertation Abstract ii

Acknowledgments iv

Dedication v

Table of Contents vi

List of Tables and Figures x

Chapter 1: Overview of the Development of and Past Scholarship on the
Legend of the Wood-of-the-Cross

1.1 Focus of This Study 1
1.2 Overview of the Development of the Legend of the Wood of the Cross 3
1.2.1 The Quest of Seth 3
1.2.2 Holy Wood Traced Back to Old Testament Figures 10
1.2.3 Holy Wood Traced Back to Paradise (Without Seth) 11
1.2.4 The Seth Legend and Wood Pre-History Merge 12
1.2.5 Latin Versions of the Wood-of-the-Cross Legend 15
1.3 Summary of the Rood-Tree Legend and Post peccatum Adae 21
1.4 Eastern Versions of the Wood-of-the-Cross Legends 27
1.4.1 Greek Versions 27
1.4.2 Slavonic Versions 30
1.4.3 Relevant Armenian Texts 34
1.5 Past Scholarship on the Wood-of-the-Cross Legends 35

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Chapter 2: The Anglo-Saxon Heritage of Devotion to the Cross and the
Cross as Tree

2.1 Evidence from Anglo-Saxon Poetry: The Dream of the Rood and Elene 38
2.2 Anglo-Saxon Homilies on the Cross 44
2.3 Anglo-Saxon Cross Riddles 46
2.4 The Anglo-Saxon Cult of the Cross 51
2.5 The Cross as Green Tree in the Vindicta salvatoris and Art 61
2.6 The Monumental Crosses 64
2.7 The Pagan Background of the World Tree 68

Chapter 3: The Wood of the Cross Before Christ in Latin and English Texts Found
in England

3.1 The Rood-Tree Legend in English and Latin 73

3.1.1 The Date of the Rood-Tree Legend 76

3.1.2 Relations Among the Members of the Rood-Tree Group 77

3.1.3 The Influence of the Rood-Tree Legend on Vernacular Versions 79

3.1.4 A Comparison of the Rood-Tree Legend As Found in Extant 80
English and Latin Manuscripts

3.1.5 Authorship of the Additions and Expansions Found in the 92
English Version of the Rood-Tree Legend

3.1.6 Post peccatum Adae and the Geographical Distribution of its 93
Manuscripts

3.1.7 Post peccatum Adae and its Relationship to the Rood-Tree Legend 96

3.2 English Derivatives of the Main Latin Wood-of-the-Cross Narratives 99

3.2.1 The South English Legendary 99

3.2.2 The Northern Passion and the Northern Homily Collection 101

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3.2.3 The Cursor mundi and its Old French Source the Traduction 104
Anonyme

3.2.4 The Middle English Translation of Roger d’Argenteuil’s 109
Bible en François

3.2.5 Middle English Prose Adaptations of the Post peccatum Adae 111

3.2.6 The English Metrical Versions of the Vita Adae et Evae: 114
the Auchinleck Couplets and the Canticum de creatione

3.2.7 Middle English Prose Adaptations of the Vita Adae et Evae 117

3.2.8 The Wood of the Cross in Middle English Manuscript Adaptations
of the Legenda Aurea 119

3.2.9 Brief Overview of Relevant Anglo-Norman Texts 123

3.3 Manifestations of the Wood-of-the-Cross Legends in Drama and Art 126

3.4 Characteristics of the Wood-of-the-Cross Texts in England 130

Chapter 4: The Christian Tradition of the Sacred Tree in Patristic and Medieval
Writings

4.1 Trees in the Biblical Tradition 132

4.2 Sacred Tree Symbolism in the Patristic Tradition 138

4.2.1 The Arbor Vitae 140

4.2.2 The Arbor Crucis 143

4.2.3 Influences of Greek Patristic and Semitic Thought on the 146
Christian Cross-Tree Connection

4.3 Specific Patristic and Medieval Texts Illustrative of the Cross-Tree Tradition 148

4.3.1 The Carmen de pascha 148

4.3.2 Quodvultdeus’ Sermon De cataclysmo ad catechumenos 150

4.3.3 Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job: Parable of the Mustard Seed 152

4.3.4 Venantius Fortunatus’ Hymns to the Cross 153
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4.3.5 Rabanus Maurus’ Carmen de laudibus sanctae crucis 156

4.3.6 Peter Damian’s De exaltatione sanctae crucis 157

4.3.7 Writings of Honorius of Autun 158

4.3.8 – Bonaventure’s Lignum vitae 163

4.4 The Dimensions of the Cross and the Tree of Virtues 164

4.5 Apocryphal Texts 165

4.6 Availability of Texts in England 171

Chapter 5: Shared Motifs: The Wood-of-the-Cross Legends and the Romance
Tradition

5.1 The Child in the Tree 175

5.1.1 The Child in the Tree in the Arthurian Romances 178

5.1.2 Past Interpretations of the Child in the Tree Motif 181

5.1.3 The Influence of Iconography on the Child in the Tree Motif 188

5.1.4 The Child in the Tree Motif and the Suffering Christ Child 194

5.2 Descendants of the Tree of Life and Solomon’s Ship in the Grail Romances 205

5.3 Miracles of Unseasonable Growth 209

5.3.1 Sir Cleges and Other Miraculously Blooming Cherry Trees 210

5.3.2 Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Thorn of Glastonbury 212

5.4 Wonders of the East: Marvellous Trees and the Earthly Paradise in 216
Mandeville and the Alexander Romances

Chapter 6: Concluding Thoughts and Future Avenues of Research 226
Appendix: Edited Text of the Latin Rood-Tree Legend 231
Bibliography 263
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List of Tables and Figures

Table 1: Latin Versions of the Wood-of-the-Cross Legend 18

Table 2: A Comparison of the Narrative Motifs in the Latin and English 88
Versions of the Rood-Tree Legend

Flowchart of the Latin, Middle English and Anglo-Norman Wood-of-the-Cross 125
Legends and Sources

Fig. 1 – Lancelot Consults a Holy Hermit Shown as a Dendrite (Oxford, 191
Bodleian Library, MS Douce 215 f. 14r)

Fig. 2 – Jesse with the Virga and Virgin Mary (Chapelle du Liget, Chemillé- 193
sur-Indrois, France)

Fig. 3 – The “Tree of Suffering”: The Christ Child Surrounded by the 201
Instruments of his Passion (panel of the Buxheim Altar, Ulm by Daniel
Mauch, c. 1500)

Fig. 4 – Christ Crucified on the Tree of Life Springing from the Infant Christ 203
(fourteenth-century wall painting in St. George’s Church, Wismar,
Germany)

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