The Prevalence of Miraculous Crosses and Crucifixes in Norway—And Their European Siblings

In medieval Norway, crosses and crucifixes predominated as images credited with wonderworking powers. Based on surviving written and material sources, we might carefully estimate that around 2000 large wooden polychrome sculptures of crosses and crucifixes existed in medieval Norway. Today, a total of 170 medieval wooden polychrome crosses, crucifixes, and Calvary groups are preserved. In this chapter, we search for traces of the miraculous Norwegian crosses and crucifixes in a variety of sources and situate them in a European context.