A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, [1] is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. [2] Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Rood is an archaic word for pole, from Old English rōd 'pole', specifically 'cross', from Proto-Germanic *rodo, cognate to Old Saxon rōda, Old High German ruoda 'rod'. [3]
Rood was originally the only Old English word for the instrument of Jesus Christ's death. The words crúc and in the North cros (from either Old Irish or Old Norse) appeared by late Old English; crucifix is first recorded in English in the Ancrene Wisse of about 1225. [4] More precisely, the Rood or Holyrood was the True Cross, the specific wooden cross used in Christ's crucifixion. The word remains in use in some names, such as Holyrood Palace and the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood . The phrase "by the rood" was used in swearing, e.g. "No, by the rood, not so" in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 4).
The alternative term triumphal cross (Latin : crux triumphalis, German : Triumphkreuz), which is more usual in Europe, signifies the triumph that the resurrected Jesus Christ ( Christus triumphans) won over death. [5]
In church architecture the rood, or rood cross, is a life-sized crucifix displayed on the central axis of a church, normally at the chancel arch. The earliest roods hung from the top of the chancel arch (rood arch), or rested on a plain "rood beam" across it, usually at the level of the capitals of the columns. This original arrangement is still found in many churches in Germany and Scandinavia, although many other surviving crosses now hang on walls.
If the choir is separated from the church interior by a rood screen, the rood cross is placed on, or more rarely in front of, the screen. [6] [7] Under the rood is usually the altar of the Holy Cross.
Numerous near life-size crucifixes survive from the Romanesque period or earlier, with the Gero Cross in Cologne Cathedral (AD 965–970) and the Volto Santo of Lucca the best known. The prototype may have been one known to have been set up in Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel in Aachen, apparently in gold foil worked over a wooden core in the manner of the Golden Madonna of Essen, [8] though figureless jeweled gold crosses are recorded in similar positions in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople in the 5th century. Many figures in precious metal are recorded in Anglo-Saxon monastic records, though none now survive. Notables sometimes gave their crowns (Cnut the Great at Winchester Cathedral), necklaces (Lady Godiva to the Virgin accompanying the rood at Evesham Abbey), or swords (Tovi the Proud, Waltham Abbey) to decorate them. [9] The original location and support for the surviving figures is often unclear but a number of northern European churches preserve the original setting in full – they are known as a Triumphkreuz in German, from the "triumphal arch" (or "chancel arch") of Early Christian architecture. As in later examples the Virgin and Saint John often flank the cross, and cherubim and other figures are sometimes seen. A gilt rood in the 10th-century Mainz Cathedral was only placed on a beam on special feast days. [10]
In the Romanesque era the crucified Christ was presented as ruler and judge. Instead of a crown of thorns he wears a crown or a halo; on his feet he wears "shoes" as a sign of the ruler. He is victorious over death. His feet are parallel to each other on the wooden support ("four-nail type") and not one on top of the other. [11] The perizoma (loincloth) is highly stylized and falls in vertical folds.
In the transition to the Gothic style, the triumphant Christ becomes a suffering Christ, the pitiful Man of Sorrows. Instead of the ruler's crown, he wears the crown of thorns, his feet are placed one above the other and are pierced with a single nail. His facial expression and posture express his pain. The wounds of the body are often dramatically portrayed. The loincloth is no longer so clearly stylized. The attendant figures Mary and John show signs of grief. [12]
A triumphal cross may be surrounded by a group of people. These people may include Mary and John, the "beloved disciple" (based on John's Gospel – John 19:25–27, Matthew 27:25f, Mark 15;40f and Luke 23:49), but also apostles, angels and the benefactor.
Rood screens developed in the 13th century as wooden or stone screens, usually separating the chancel or choir from the nave, upon which the rood now stood. The screen may be elaborately carved and was often richly painted and gilded. Rood screens were found in Christian churches in most parts of Europe by the end of the Middle Ages, though in Catholic countries the great majority were gradually removed after the Council of Trent, and most were removed or drastically cut down in areas controlled by Calvinists and Anglicans. The best medieval examples are now mostly in the Lutheran countries such as Germany and Scandinavia, where they were often left undisturbed in country churches.
Rood screens are the Western equivalent of the Byzantine templon beam, which developed into the Eastern Orthodox iconostasis. Some rood screens incorporate a rood loft, a narrow gallery or just flat walkway which could be used to clean or decorate the rood or cover it up in Lent, or in larger examples used by singers or musicians. An alternative type of screen is the Pulpitum, as seen in Exeter Cathedral, which is near the main altar of the church.
The rood provided a focus for worship, most especially in Holy Week when worship was highly elaborate. During Lent the rood was veiled; on Palm Sunday it was revealed before the procession of palms, and the congregation knelt before it. The whole Passion story would then be read from the rood loft, at the foot of the crucifix, by three ministers.
Few original medieval rood crosses have survived in churches of the United Kingdom. [13] Most were deliberately destroyed as acts of iconoclasm during the English Reformation and the English Civil War, when many rood screens were also removed. Today, in many British churches, the "rood stair" that gave access to the gallery is often the only remaining sign of the former rood screen and rood loft.
In the 19th century, under the influence of the Oxford Movement, roods and screens were again added to many Anglican churches.
A unique rood exists at St Mary's parish church, Charlton-on-Otmoor, near Oxford, England, where a large wooden cross, solidly covered in greenery stands on the early 16th-century rood screen (said by Sherwood and Pevsner to be the finest in Oxfordshire). [14] The cross is redecorated twice a year, on 1 May and 19 September (the patronal festival, calculated according to the Julian Calendar), when children from the local primary school, carrying small crosses decorated with flowers, bring a long, flower-decorated, rope-like garland. The cross is dressed or redecorated with locally obtained box foliage. The rope-like garland is hung across the rood screen during the "May Garland Service". [15]
An engraving from 1822/1823 (Dunkin) shows the dressed rood cross as a more open, foliage-covered framework, similar to certain types of corn dolly, with a smaller attendant figure of similar appearance. Folklorists have commented on the garland crosses' resemblance to human figures, and noted that they replaced statues of St Mary and Saint James the Great which had stood on the rood screen until they were destroyed during the Reformation. Until the 1850s, the larger garland cross was carried in a May Day procession, accompanied by morris dancers, to the former Benedictine Studley priory (as the statue of St Mary had been, until the Reformation). Meanwhile, the women of the village used to carry the smaller garland cross through Charlton, [15] though it seems that this ceased some time between 1823 and 1840, when an illustration in J.H. Parker's A Glossary of Terms Used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic Architecture shows only one garland cross, centrally positioned on the rood screen. [16]
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later date being the most commonly held. In the 12th century it developed into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches. Examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman architecture. The Romanesque style in England and Sicily is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture.
In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. Iconostasis also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church. The iconostasis evolved from the Byzantine templon, a process complete by the 15th century.
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary, at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron. The rood screen would originally have been surmounted by a rood loft carrying the Great Rood, a sculptural representation of the Crucifixion. In English, Scottish, and Welsh cathedrals, monastic, and collegiate churches, there were commonly two transverse screens, with a rood screen or rood beam located one bay west of the pulpitum screen, but this double arrangement nowhere survives complete, and accordingly the preserved pulpitum in such churches is sometimes referred to as a rood screen. At Wells Cathedral the medieval arrangement was restored in the 20th century, with the medieval strainer arch supporting a rood, placed in front of the pulpitum and organ.
Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture, which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed arches, but also barrel vaults, apses, and acanthus-leaf decoration – but had also developed many very different characteristics. In Southern France, Spain, and Italy there was an architectural continuity with the Late Antique, but the Romanesque style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia. Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style.
Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is a church in Paris, France, on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement, near the Panthéon. It contains the shrine of St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. The church also contains the tombs of Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. Jean-Paul Marat is buried in the church's cemetery.
The term Poor Man's Bible has come into use in modern times to describe works of art within churches and cathedrals which either individually or collectively have been created to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for a largely illiterate population. These artworks may take the form of carvings, paintings, mosaics or stained-glass windows. In some churches a single artwork, such as a stained-glass window, has the role of Poor Man's Bible, while in others, the entire church is decorated with a complex biblical narrative that unites in a single scheme.
The Gero Cross or Gero Crucifix, of around 965–970, is the oldest large sculpture of the crucified Christ north of the Alps, and has always been displayed in Cologne Cathedral in Germany. It was commissioned by Gero, Archbishop of Cologne, who died in 976, thus providing a terminus ante quem for the work. It is carved in oak, and painted and partially gilded – both have been renewed. The halo and cross-pieces are original, but the Baroque surround was added in 1683. The figure is 187 cm high, and the span of its arms is 165 cm. It is the earliest known Western depiction of Christ on the cross while dead; earlier depictions had Christ appearing alive.
Charlton-on-Otmoor is a village and civil parish about 9 miles (14 km) NE of Oxford and 6 miles (10 km) SW of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The village, one of the seven "towns" of Otmoor, is on the northern edge of the moor on a ridge of Cornbrash. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 449.
Woodeaton or Wood Eaton is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Oxford, England. It also has a special needs school called Woodeaton Manor School.
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained glass. Combined, these features allowed the creation of buildings of unprecedented height and grandeur, filled with light from large stained glass windows. Important examples include Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. The Gothic style endured in England much longer than in Continental Europe.
The pulpitum is a common feature in medieval cathedral and monastic church architecture in Europe. It is a massive screen that divides the choir from the nave and ambulatory. It is usually constructed of stone, but there are also wooden examples as at Hexham Abbey and at Edington Priory. In France it is called a jubé. Typically it is lavishly carved and decorated. Those at York Minster and Canterbury Cathedral preserve complete medieval sets of statues of the kings of England.
Church architecture of England refers to the architecture of buildings of Christian churches in England. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions. Christian architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Christianity to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Christian culture. From the birth of Christianity to the present, the most significant period of transformation for Christian architecture and design was the Gothic cathedral.
St. Mary's Church in Marienberg in the German state of Saxony is an Evangelical-Lutheran church in the southeast of the county of Erzgebirgskreis. It is the most recent of the three Ore Mountain Late Gothic hall churches.
Kippinge Church stands alone, midway between Vester Kippinge and Øster Kippinge in northwestern Falster, Denmark. It is west of Redslev wood. Thanks to three reputed miracles, the Early Gothic church attracted many pilgrims until the end of the 19th century. It is known for its rich Renaissance furnishings and its frescos from the mid-14th century.
Öja Church is a medieval church in Öja on the Swedish island of Gotland. The church dates from the 13th century and contains an unusual large and elaborately decorated triumphal cross or rood. It belongs to the Church of Sweden and lies in the Diocese of Visby.
Stånga Church is a medieval church in Stånga on the Swedish island of Gotland. The site of the church has probably been considered sacred since before the Christianization of Scandinavia.
St. Marien is a Lutheran parish and market church in Osnabrück, Germany. It is one of the most artistically and historically significant buildings in the North German city. A previous Romanesque church was mentioned in records as early as 1177. However, the history of the church's construction began some time before it was first mentioned in writing. Archaeological traces suggest the existence of a predecessor building in the 10th century. Construction of the Gothic hall church which exists today started in the 13th century and was completed between 1430 and 1440.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Ashwell, in the English county of Hertfordshire, is the Anglican parish church for the village. It comes under the Diocese of St Albans and is one of the largest village churches in the county. The Church is part of a wider benefice, together with St Nicholas', Hinxworth and St Vincent's, Newnham, and the Rector of all three parishes is Reverend Christine Campbell, who was licensed to the parishes in September 2021. As a village church in the heart of the community, St Mary’s exists "to welcome everyone and share the love and life of Christ with all, through our worship, teaching and life together, now and into the future".
Hamra Church is a medieval church in Hamra, Gotland, Sweden.
