Gothic Cross

Ostrogoth coin with a cross. Byzantine imitation c. 550 AD

(Ebay)

Today the term Gothic cross is often used for a dagger like design with numerous variations popularly sold as pendants or even used as a tattoo. These cross designs are often associated with Gothic subculture with murderous Nazi, bloody vampire or other such dark associations. These crosses have little or nothing to do with the historical Goths.

Do we have real Gothic crosses that would have survived in structures, gravestones or archaeological discoveries from the times of Wulfila and the Arian Christians from late 4th to the end of 6th century? The problem is that with the victory of Nicene Christians there apparently was a heavy onslaught on heretic Arian places of worship and mosaics and objects of art where destroyed.

For this reason alone it may not be easy to find crosses among the surviving evidence of historic Goths.

But it is also possible that cross itself was not a central symbol among Gothic Christians. These were warriors who venerated heroic deeds and loved bloody battles.  The shameful death of our Savior as a defenseless victim on a cross might not have been easy to accept. In other words, Gothic Christianity may have emphasized other things than the suffering and slaughter of the Lamb of God.

We may note that also in the 3rd and 4th centuries when Christ reached the hearts of the Goths through the missionary work of Wulfila and others cross was not a common symbol in the Church. The memory of its cruelty was still alive and it was something like a gas chamber or electric chair would be for today's Christians. Only later, after Constantine the Great forbade crucifixion in Rome and after the reality of it was forgotten did the cross become a prominent symbol of Christianity.

Here is some evidence that I have been able to find and it all is from the later periods in 6th and even 7th centuries when the Gothic Arian Christianity was nearing its end.


Ostrogoths

The beautiful mosaics in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo,,Ravenna, made during the rule of king Theodoric (496-526) were largely destroyed with the suppression of Arianism. The mosaic depicting bearded Christ seated on throne has survived but the cruciform halo surrounding His head is later Byzantine addition (see in here more pictures of the Ostrogoth and Justinian mosaics in this Basilica which is listed by UNESCO as part of world cultural heritage).

Coin of Athalaric, Ravenna 526-540 AD

(ref)

There is numismatic evidence of crosses, like in this decanummi of king Athalaric. But this cross does not represent any Gothic cross as it is an imitation of the standard designs in Byzantine coins.

Coin of Baduila 541-549 AD 

(ref)

The nummi of king Baduila has a small cross that clearly shows Christian identity. It is, of course, too tiny to indicate any specific type of cross.

The coins are imitations of Byzantine coins and may therefore not be good evidence about Ostrogoth Christians attitude towards the symbol of a cross.



Visigoths It is difficult to find crosses among the scant material remains of Arian Goths from the Visigothic period of Spain 409-711. Nicene Catholics may have efficiently destroyed the places of worship and heretic religious art objects after the Third Council of Toledo 581 AD in the same manner the Byzantines destroyed Arian art after victory over the Ostrogoths.

There are several outstanding jewelry crosses in the Treasure of Guarrazar found in tombs after heavy storms in August 1858 in an orchard in Guadamar near Toledo. Most of the treasure has since been stolen; surviving objects are on display in the Royal Palace of Madrid, in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid and in the Museum of Middle Ages, Paris. 

However, these very skilfully made precious objects are dated quite late in Visigoth history, to the seventh century AD when the Visigoths had already converted from Arianism to the Catholic faith. Indeed, the inclusion of crosses may have been a deliberate act to emphasize the newly found orthodoxy of the Goths of Spain.

The Treasure of Guarrazar is an archeological find composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses that had originally been offered to the Roman Catholic Church by the Kings of the Visigoths in the seventh century in Hispania, as a gesture of the orthodoxy of their faith and their submission to the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

The most valuable of all is the votive crown of king Reccesuinth with its blue sapphires from the former Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and spectacular pendilia (hanging jewels and ornaments).

Though the treasure is now divided and much has disappeared, it represents the best surviving group of Early Medieval Christian votive offerings, and was probably comparable to groups deposited in other major European shrines that have now disappeared.
(wikipedia)

19th century lithograph of objects in the Guarrazar treasure

(wikimedia)

The shape of the crosses found in the beautiful Visigoth treasure does resemble the shape of the cross seen minted on the simple Ostrogoth coin shown above.