The Arma Christi [General discussion]

[davidjackson]

A surprising amount of Arma Christi pages include a mean-looking man with a long beard shown in profile

Unfortunately, the image represents the Jews and is a common anti semitic trope of the era. Medieval Arma Christi imagery followed the common belief that the Jews were responsible for the crucifixion. The Jews and the Romans get confused in the middle ages. 

The imagery was almost always linked to Arma Christi prose, a retelling of the biblical story. There are several versions out there. Maybe you could run your ttr experiment for those pages against them? 

On a related note, the imagery of the Wound is called the Mandorla shape. The wound was often shown in a vaginal tradition, as it was through this wound that the church was born.

Remember that a.c. depicts a story. You need to find all the common items, otherwise it isn't there. You will usually expect to see the whole story up to the climatic death (wound) followed by the death, resurrection and ascension. It doesn't make sense to stop the story half way.