Klöster im Hochmittelalter

216 I Thomas Coomans


Fig. 4 Villers-in-Brabant, Cistercian church, crossing from the northeast and location of the Duke
Henry II and Sophie of Thuringia's tomb

cross was placed on the top of the spire of the crossing {crux metallina cooperta
auro super turrim nostram): this cross was covered with gold and contained rel-
ics from monastic saints.32 Although the practice of placing cross-reliquaries on
top of buildings is sparsely documented, but by no means unknown, it is the
duality and contrast of the Villers crosses that make them most interesting. In
the east, the golden cross of the spire above the crossing and liturgical choir
marked the monastic part of the church. In the west, the silver cross of the West-
bau marked the secular part of the church. These crosses expressed the bipolar-
ity of the church and the society with a royal element, the regnum - Bandmann's
imperium 33 - and a priestly element, the sacerdotium.34
From the thirteenth century, the Dukes of Brabant also wore the prestigious
title of Duke of Lotharingia, occupied a prominent position within the Holy Ro-
St Bernard, St Margaret, St Gertrude, and the Eleven Thousand Virgins. Cronica Villiarien-
sis Monasterii, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptorum 25, ed. by Georg Waitz,
Leipzig 1925, p. 209, 1. 30-38.
32 Relics of Christ's cross, St Benedict, St Bernard, St Lambert, St Nicolas, St Florent, and the
Eleven Thousand Virgins. Cronica Villiariensis Monasterii (as in note 31), p. 211, 1. 33-37.
33 Bandmann, Early Medieval Architecture (as in note 12), pp. 212-219.
34 Coomans, L'abbaye (as in note 25), pp. 214-223.