The frequently repeated tale that the fragments of the True Cross would have added up to a whole forest appears to be a modern myth.74 Indeed, it is only one of a cluster of widely credited myths about the Middle Ages (in the Middle Ages it was believed the earth was flat; lords enjoyed droit de seigneur over peasant women; the Scholastics debated how many angels could dance on the head of a pin),75 raising questions about which age is really the more credulous. Is the level of common “knowledge” about the Middle Ages actually negative?
