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http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/63.12

The Cloisters Cross, 12th century
English
Walrus ivory; 22 5/8 x 14 1/4 in. (57.5 x 36.2 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1963 (63.12)

The cross is a direct display of the importance of Christianity during this time period. The Cloister Cross has different depictions on each side which have different meanings.

This side of the cross reads "the earth trembles, death defeated groans with the buried one rising./ life has been called, synagogue  has collapsed with great foolish effort." and "Cham laughs when he sees the naked private parts of his parent/ the Jews laughed at the pain of God dying." From this it is clear that the artist was clearly a Christian. Based on the words inscribed into the piece it seems that Jews were looked down upon. Based on this time period negative views of Jews by Christians was not uncommon especially in England where the cross draws its origins from.

In the picture of this side the top appears to resemble the hilt of a sword with the long extending bottom being a blade. This appears to be in reference to all of the wars and fighting that has been going on during this period. 

Each of the three outer most points has groups of people gathered together. It is as though these people are looking up toward the sky or perhaps toward heaven. This appears to be representative of God as the Father. This portion of the Holy Trinity being the one that resides in heaven watching down on Earth as is seen frequently throughout the Christian faith. At the right there is a man with his arms stretched out as though he is on a cross surrounded by many other people. This portion of the cross depicts the death of Jesus on the cross. The left portion of the cross difficult to see from this picture, but it seems that the three outer portions are intended to represent the Holy Trinity.

At the bottom of the cross are a man and a woman that are holding on to what I interpreted at the swords blade earlier. This could be another reference to the Bible and the man and women could be Adam and Eve. The blade of the sword is the tree of life from which they took fruit when they were told not to by God. The very tree which they held on to ended up causing them pain just as a sword is the creation of humans but has only caused pain to other humans.

On this side of the cross the larger images are more animalistic. Based the book The Cloisters Cross: Its Art and Meaning By Elizabeth C. Parker, Charles T. Little the animals are (to the right) the ox of Saint Luke, (to the left) the Lion of Saint Mark and (at the top) the Eagle of Saint John. They are perhaps displayed because they are the ones that Christians looked up to. There is a missing section at the bottom which may have been reserved for Matthew. The shaft of the cross holds other people who must have been prophets or disciples as well. In the center of the cross there is a carving of a lamb. This represents the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is Jesus and because of this majority of the figures on this side of the cross are looking toward the center. The portion of the cross running between the Lion and the Ox appear to hold even more people looking toward the center of the cross. They are looking toward Jesus even though he is being slain in they will continue to keep their eyes on him and follow him. The few figures that do look away must represent those who betrayed Jesus or will not follow the path that he set for them.