| Ruthwell Cross |
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| anglo-saxon art | |
| runic inscriptions | |
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The Ruthwell Cross is an important Anglo Saxon Cross , dating back the eighth century. This cross is remarkable for its Runic inscription, which contains excerpts from '' The Dream Of The Rood '', an Old English Poem . It is 18 feet (5.5 metres) high. The cross was smashed in 1664 , but it was restored in 1818 by Henry Duncan . It now rests in Ruthwell church. INSCRIPTION There are carvings upon it of various events in the life of Jesus , on the north and south sides. On the top-stone, north, is a representation of Saint John with the eagle, and on the top-stone, south, is St John with the Lamb Of God . On the east and west is carved a vine in fruit, with animals feeding. At each side of the vine-tracery the runes are carved. The runes were first described around 1600, and Reginald Bainbrigg of Appleby recorded the inscription for the ''Britannia'' of William Camden . Around 1832 , the runes were recognized as different from the Scandinavian futhark by Thorleif Repp , by reference to the Exeter Book . The '' Dream Of The Rood '' reading: : : ''Krist wæs on rodi. Hweþræ'/ þer fusæ fearran kwomu / æþþilæ til anum.'' : "Christ was on the cross. Yet / the brave came there from afar / to their lord." is due to John Kemble who in an 1842 article. Kemble's revised reading is based on the poem of the Vercelli Book , to the extent that missing words in each are supplied from the other. ICONOCLASM This cross used to stand in the church at Ruthwell; it escaped injury at the time of general destruction in the sixteenth century, but the General Assembly Of The Church Of Scotland ordered the "''many idolatrous monuments erected and made for religious worship''" to be "''taken down, demolished, and destroyed''". It was not till two years later, however, that the cross was taken down when an Act was passed "''anent the Idolatrous Monuments in Ruthwell''". It was shattered, and some of the carved emblems were nearly obliterated, and in this state the rood was left where it had fallen, in the altarless church, and was used, it appears, as a bench to sit upon. Later on it was removed from the church and left out in the churchyard. But after many years, Henry Duncan collected all the pieces he could find, and put them together, adding two new crossbeams (the original ones were lost), and having gaps filled in with little pieces of stone. LITERATURE
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