Miraculous Materials

In this chapter, we will examine whether the cross from Borre and the crucifixes from Røldal and Fana were recognized as miraculous—not only on account of the legends and traditions surrounding them, or their iconography and formal qualities but also as a result of allegorical interpretations of the materials they were made of. We will investigate whether their materials could be understood as pointers to an unseen God, as signifiers or bearers of meaning that potentially communicated with the medieval beholder. Could the wood, colour, or the different minerals and pigments used as colouring material have been interpreted allegorically and thus functioned rhetorically to convince the pious of their supernatural powers? Moreover, is it also possible that the minerals and pigments used for manufacturing the objects were understood as therapeutic in themselves?