The cruces gemmatae of Oviedo between the eleventh and twelfth centuries

Abstract

Two early medieval jewelled crosses are preserved in the treasury of the Cathedral of Oviedo. The first, known as the Cross of the Angels, was donated by King Alfonso II in the year 808. The second, the so-called Cross of Victory, was given as a gift to the Cathedral by King Alfonso III in 908. The original function of these crosses remains unknown, as the early medieval sources are silent on the subject. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that the earlier of these two crosses was displayed on the main altar of the Cathedral of Oviedo before the twelfth century, while it seems likely that the second cross functioned as a processional cross. Around the turn of the twelfth century, the bishops of Oviedo began to develop a propagandistic programme using a series of old objects that were incorporated into new discursive contexts, in particular the corpus of texts redacted by Pelayo of Oviedo (1089–1153), consisting of the Liber Testamentorum and the Corpus Pelagianum. From this point on, the crosses became the stars of a series of legendary tales, whose enduring popularity has helped preserve these objects. This article reviews the historiographic process by which the first of these two crosses was transformed into acheiropoieton, and the second, into a Christian battle standard at the Battle of Covadonga.