569
Latin
Vexilla Regis and the Passion Hymns
Venantius Fortunatus · c. 530–c. 609
Hymns written for the arrival of a relic of the cross at Poitiers, singing of the tree on which the price of the world hung.
Western · Hymns
501–600
The Sixth Century
1 work
701–800
The Eighth Century
1 work
c. 700–800
Old English
The Dream of the Rood
Anonymous
A dreamer sees the cross, which then speaks: a tree cut down and made to hold its lord, forbidden to bend or fall, sharing the wounds driven through him.
Anglo-Saxon · Poetry
801–900
The Ninth Century
2 works
c. 810–814
Latin
In Praise of the Holy Cross
De Laudibus Sanctae Crucis
Rabanus Maurus · c. 780–856
Twenty-eight figure poems in which letters picked out within a grid of text form crosses, figures, and shapes that can be read as separate verses.
Western · Poetry
c. 850–900
Old English
The Signed Poems
Cynewulf
Four poems — Elene, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles, and Christ II — each with the poet's name spelled out in runes woven into the closing lines, where he asks readers to pray for him and describes his fear of judgement.
Anglo-Saxon · PoetryActsMatthewRevelationEphesians
1501–1600
The Sixteenth Century
1 work
April 1518
Latin
The Heidelberg Disputation
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Forty theses distinguishing a theologian of glory, who sees God in works and power, from a theologian of the cross, who recognises him in suffering and shame.
Lutheran · Theses1 Corinthians