ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of FiguresList of DiagramsList of TablesIntroduction1. Helena and the Jews. The Legend of the Finding of the CrossConstantine the Great, the cross, and the Inventio crucis The Judas Cyriacus legend2. The Finding of the Cross in Carolingian and Romanesque artThe iconographic roots. Identity and diversityThe Meuse region and Rhineland in the twelfth century. Expansion and enhancement3. Heraclius and the Persians. The Legend of the Exaltation of the Cross Exaltatio crucis .

Worldviews in conflictHeraclius as exemplar. Loci sancti , crusades and pilgrimage4. The spreading of the Finding and Exaltation of the Cross in the late Middle AgesThe Legenda Aurea Northern Germany and the Teutonic Order. Between Tempzin and MarienwerderSouthern Germany and the Danube basin. Nuremberg, insignia of state and new iconographic formulasThe Netherlands. A periphery?5. From Paradise to Golgotha. The Legend of the Wood of the CrossBetween typologia and narratio Seth and the return to ParadiseThe Queen of Sheba, the sibyl and the Wood of the Cross6.

The monumental programmes of the Legend of the Cross in Italy, Germany and Switzerland (1388-ca. 1495)Italy. Tradition and innovationNorth of the Alps. Neglected and diverseConclusionEpilogue Colour Plates BibliographyPhotographic AcknowledgementsIndex of WorksIndex of Names.