The Cross of Mathilde (; ) is an Ottonian processional cross in the style which has been in Essen in Germany since it was made in the 11th century. It is named after Abbess Mathilde (died in 1011) who is depicted as the donor on a cloisonné enamel plaque on the cross's stem. It was made between about 1000, when Mathilde was abbess, and 1058, when Abbess Theophanu died; both were princesses of the Ottonian dynasty. It may have been completed in stages, and the corpus, the body of the crucified Christ, may be a still later replacement. The cross, which is also called the "second cross of Mathilde", forms part of a group along with the Cross of Otto and Mathilde or "first cross of Mathilde" from late in the preceding century, a third cross, sometimes called the Senkschmelz Cross, and the Cross of Theophanu from her period as abbess. All were made for Essen Abbey, now Essen Cathedral, and are kept in Essen Cathedral Treasury, where this cross is inventory number 4.
Description
The Cross of Mathilde is tall and wide and the cross beams are wide and deep. It consists of an oak core covered in gold sheet. Under the cross is a modern glass ball which serves as a handle. The ends of the Latin cross are flared in a way found in Mathilde's First Cross and the Ottonian Cross of Lothair at Aachen. The narrow sides and reverse of the Cross of Mathilde are covered with gilt copper. On the reverse it is decorated with a punchmarked Agnus Dei which is accompanied by the four Evangelists' symbols. On the obverse there is a crucifix cast in bronze The view that it is silver, often encountered in the literature, is faulty: Pawlik, Heilige, Reliquien und Reliquiare im Essener Stift – ein Inventar, p. 286 n. 71. and gilt, with three cavities for holding relics: two in the back and one in the occiput. To the left and right of the crucifix there are enamel roundels with personifications of the Sun and the Moon, surrounded by four pearls each and by filigreework. Above the crucifix is the normal cross inscription in enamel: IHC NAZA/RENVS REX / IVDEORV (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), above which there is a large red stone surrounded by four pearls. Under the crucifix there is a brown cameo gem of a lion and under that there is an enamel plate with the donor portrait which depicts Mathilde (named) in monastic clothing, kneeling in prayer before the Madonna. The central area with the crucifix, donor portrait, cross inscription, sun, moon and lion cameo is bordered by a strip of alternating enamel plates and stones, each surrounded by four pearls. At the end of each cross beam there are four teardrop-shaped, coloured stones around a central stone. On the right arm, the central stone is a cameo with a female bust looking left. On the left arm it is an intaglio cut in a piece of striped onyx, showing a helmeted soldier in profile, holding a spear.
The Cross of Mathilde is generally considered the weakest of the four Essen processional crosses in artistic terms,Eckenfels-Kunst, Goldemails. Untersuchungen zu ottonischen und frühsalischen Goldzellenschmelzen, p. 64. Pothmann considers the artistry and craftsmanship to be not as high as the others.Pothmann, Der Essener Kirchenschatz aus der Frühzeit der Stiftsgeschichte, p. 147. In 1904, Humann described it as a "cluttered grandeur and, every respect, a cruder image."Humann, Die Kunstwerke der Münsterkirche zu Essen, p. 145. The assessment of the cross is significantly complicated by an undocumented restoration which must have occurred between 1904 and 1950. In this restoration the edging enamels were melted, allowing the colours underneath to be seen.Falk, Catalogue "Krone und Schleier", p. 273; Beuckers, Catalogue "Gold vor Schwarz", p.86.
Crucifix
Jesus stands on a suppedaneum, with his legs together. The feet are not nailed. The loincloth is knotted in the middle and falls evenly in broad folds. The arms are slightly unequal in length. The head is bent to the side and is surrounded by a halo which is attached to the horizontal member of the cross and is not adjusted to take account of the tilt of the head. Humann calls the position of the body clumsy and awkward. Humann, Die Kunstwerke der Münsterkirche zu Essen, p. 119. Until 2010, the cavities on his back side contained three small relic packets, which were held in place by ties. The relics had been associated with the cross from its creation. The relic in the lowest cavity was wrapped in a purple-coloured piece of taffeta and lacks a cedula. A nocent relic wrapped in white linen is in the middle cavity with an accompanying cedula, from Innocent I (r.401-417). The script, Carolingian minuscule dates this to the 10th or 11th century and localises it to the scriptorium of Essen Abbey. Pawlik, Heilige, Reliquien und Reliquiare im Essener Stift – ein Inventar, S. 285. There are three further fragmentary parchment cedulae on cloth fragments in the cavity in the head. The script of these has typical elements of the Essen scriptorium; one of the fragments can be attributed to Lawrence of Rome (†258). The cross thus contained relics of Saints Lawrence and Innocent. Both of these saints were very important to the Ottonian dynasty to which Mathilde belonged: Innocent was patron saint of the oldest Ottonian abbey, Gandersheim and Otto I, Abbess Mathilde's grandfather, attributed his success in the Battle of Lechfeld (955) to Lawrence. The relic packets and cedulae are now stored in the Cathedral treasury chamber separately under inventory numbers MK1 to MK4.
Enamels The Cross of Mathilde was equipped with forty enamel tablets, of which 37 remain: the enamel with the donor portrait, the enamel with the cross inscription, two round enamels with the personifications of the Sun and the Moon, and 33 ornamental enamels. Three further ornamental enamels were lost before the first description of the cross. Of all the objects in the Essen treasury, the Cross of Mathilde is the most richly decorated with enamel. All the enamel frames are filigreed.
Donor portrait
The donor enamel is in size. Its iconic "Seat of Wisdom" shows an enthroned Madonna in frontal view on the right, holding her son on her left knee, in front of a figure dressed in the white robes of a monastic. The monastic holds a cross with both hands, which she offers to the baby Jesus. The child stretches both hands towards the cross in a gesture of acceptance. An inscription MA/HTH/ILD / AB/BH/II makes it possible to identify the monastic as the Abbess Mathilde. The inscription is probably faulty, with the second word to be read as ABBATI(SSA).Hermann, Die Inschriften der Stadt Essen (Die Deutschen Inschriften vol. 81), p. 17 n. 8. Above and to the right of the Madonna are two further inscriptions, which are incomprehensible. It is theorised that they are mutilated versions of Greek inscriptions. The epigraphist Sonja Hermann suggests that the enameller confused the third and fourth letters and has inverted a Τ, which would yield ΜΗΤΗΡ (μήτηρ - "mother"). Hermann would read the symbols on the right, which are arranged vertically, as ΙΥ ΧΥ as an abbreviation of Ι(ησο)ύ Χ(ριστο)ύ ("of Jesus Christ"). Hermann, Die Inschriften der Stadt Essen p. 18 n. 8.
The background of the enamel is in translucent green, with the letters set in gold. Mary's head is surrounded by an opaque yellow halo and she wears a white hood as well as a translucent brown-violet robe with red ochre sleeves. Robe and sleeves are harmonised by a single gold wire outline. Mary sits on a yellow throne, with her feet in grey shoes placed on a blue footrest. Her face is beige, with her circular eyes in the same colour as the face. Eyebrows, nose and mouth are depicted with gold wire. The hieratic pose of Mary is a notable feature of the Sedes Sapentiae.
The child sits on Mary's left knee, his legs hanging down between her knees. Jesus has a red halo with a gold cross. His face is detailed in gold, like Mary's. Christ wears a blue robe, with gold wire indicating folds in it, and grey shoes. Mathilde's clothing is made up of a tight white robe of a monastic, with a white hood which is detailed with gold wire. Under the robe, as is visible on her arms, she wears a blue undergarment. The cross which she holds upright is delineated with broader gold wire. Since the vertical cross beam merges into the side of the throne and the horizontal cross beam merges into the throne's armrest, the cross itself is difficult to make out. Mathilde's line of sight passes through the transept of her cross and Christ's hand to the face of her saviour.
This donor portrait shows parallels with the donor portrait on the cover of the Theophanu Gospels, in which Theophanu in a similar but more horizontal pose, presents her donation to an enthroned Mary. Because of the similarity of the posture of the enthroned Madonna to the Golden Madonna of Essen it has been suggested that the actual act of donation was performed in the presence of the statue. Fremer, Äbtissin Theophanu und das Stift Essen, p. 102; Westermann-Angerhausen, Das Gedächtnis der Gegenstände, p. 218.
Cross inscription The cross inscription IHC NAZA/RENVS REX / IVDEORV is made of golden wire set in a translucent blue background. It is surrounded by a broad gold border, and the lines of the inscription are separated by golden stripes. The letters are made easily readable, but do not reach the precision of their model on the Cross of Otto and Mathilde. Eckenfels-Kunst, Goldemails. Untersuchungen zu ottonischen und frühsalischen Goldzellenschmelzen, p. 67. The dotting of the gold border, which is characteristic of the workshop of Egbert of Trier, is absent, in contrast to the inscription plaque of the Cross of Otto and Mathilde.Eckenfels-Kunst, Goldemails. Untersuchungen zu ottonischen und frühsalischen Goldzellenschmelzen, p. 251.
Sun and Moon
The two round enamel medallions with personifications of the Sun and Moon, which symbolise the mourning of all creation at Christ's death, are located on the horizontal beam of the cross. Both personifications look towards Jesus, the Sun from the left and the Moon from the right. The background of the enamel plaque depicting the Sun is green. The bust of the Sun has a mournful expression and its hands are raised to its face. Its brown-violet eyes are round and its eyebrows as well as its bulbous nose are formed with a wire, while its wide open mouth is formed from two other wires. A furrowed brow is formed from a Y-shaped wire, reinforcing the mournful expression. The Sun wears a crown with four jagged rays in his golden hair and holds a cloth before his face.
The enamel plaque of the Moon is made as a mirror image of the Sun's plaque. The Moon also holds a cloth before her face. The enamel is generally darker, the use of wire somewhat better.Eckenfels-Kunst, Goldemails. Untersuchungen zu ottonischen und frühsalischen Goldzellenschmelzen, p. 252. In contrast to the Sun's enamel, the Moon's clothing and hair are full of wires. For the face, the enameller used a single wire for the nose and the mouth.
Enamels of the edging