Editing Christogram (section)

=== Chi Rho (ΧΡ) ===
{{Main|Chi Rho}}

[[File:Chrismon Sancti Ambrosii.jpg|thumb|A [[Chi Rho]] combined with [[Alpha and Omega]], in 1669 labelled {{lang|la|Chrismon Sancti Ambrosii}}, [[Milan Cathedral]]{{efn|The symbol was moved to storage for the refurbishments under [[Pellegrino Tibaldi]] and re-instated in the choir on 6 September 1669.<ref>http://www.storiadimilano.it/cron/dal1651al1675.htm storiadimilano.it</ref><!--the point being that this is a 17th-century attestation of "chrismon"--> Use of the name {{lang|la|Chrismon}} is apparently based on the term {{lang|la|crismon}} as used by [[Landulf of Milan]];<ref>[http://www.mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/xfromcc.php?tabelle=Landulfus_Mediolanensis_cps2&rumpfid=Landulfus_Mediolanensis_cps2,%20Historia%20Mediolanensis&id=Landulfus_Mediolanensis_cps2,%20Historia%20Mediolanensis&corpus=2&lang=0&von=overview_by_author I.12]</ref> Landulf's mention of a ''crismon'' of [[Saint Ambrose]] clearly refers to [[chrism]], i.e. holy oil, not a symbol.<ref>I. A. Ferrai, "I Fonti di Landolfo Seniore", ''Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italiano'' 14 (1895), [https://archive.org/stream/bullettinodelli13italgoog#page/n34/mode/2up p. 29].</ref>}}]]
The [[Alpha and Omega]] symbols may at times accompany the Chi-Rho monogram.<ref>''Allegory of the Church'' by Calvin Kendall 1998 {{ISBN|1-4426-1309-2}} page 137</ref> Since the 17th century, {{lang|la|[[:wikt:chrismon|Chrismon]]}} ({{lang|la|chrismum}}; also {{lang|la|chrismos, chrismus}}) has been used as a [[Neo-Latin]] term for the Chi Rho monogram.

Because the {{lang|la|chrismon}} was used as a kind of "invocation" at the beginning of documents of the [[Merovingian period]], the term also came to be used of the  "[[cross-signature]]s" in early medieval charters.{{efn|While in English literature of the 19th to mid 20th century, {{lang|la|chrismon}} refers to the Chi Rho monogram exclusively, the German-language usage has also come to be adopted in some cases in the specific context of medieval sigla, especially in works translated from German into English, e.g.
Hans Belting, Edmund Jephcott (trans.), ''Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image Before the Era of Art'' (1997), pp. 107–109.<ref>For German usage, see Ersch ''et al''., Volume 1, Issue 29 of ''Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste'', 1837, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sgxJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA303 p. 303] {{in lang|de}}.
Johann Christoph Gatterer, ''Elementa artis diplomaticae universalis'' (1765), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4lgnePhbj5wC/page/n170  p. 145] ( '' Abriß der Diplomatik'' 1798,
[https://books.google.com/books?id=NaRAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA64  p. 64]).</ref>}} {{lang|la|Chrismon}} in this context may refer to the Merovingian period abbreviation ''I. C. N.'' for {{lang|la|in Christi nomine}}, later (in the [[Carolingian period]]) also ''I. C.'' for {{lang|la|in Christo}}, and still later (in the high medieval period) just ''C.'' for {{lang|la|Christus}}.<ref>Johann Christoph Gatterer, ''Abriß der Diplomatik'' (1798),
[https://books.google.com/books?id=NaRAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA64 p. 64f].
Carl Ernst Bohn, ''Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek'' vol. 111 (1792), [https://books.google.com/books?id=s2hcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA521 p. 521].</ref>

[[St Cuthbert's coffin]] (late 7th century) has an exceptional realisation of the Christogram written in [[Anglo-Saxon runes]], as ᛁᚻᛋ ᛉᛈᛋ, transliterated to the Latin alphabet as 'IHS XPS', with the ''chi'' rendered as the ''[[eolh]]'' rune (the old ''z'' or ''algiz'' rune) and the ''rho'' rendered as the [[Peorth|p-rune]].