INTRODUCTION 



I. THE PROBLEM OF THE CROSSES 



The problem respecting the date of the Ruthwell and Bewcastle 

 crosses is none of the easiest to solve; the only hope of a solution 

 lies in a close and critical examination of every circumstance which 

 might conceivably be of assistance, beginning with the appearance 

 and characteristics of the monuments themselves. 



Let us first consider in what respects the two crosses resemble each 

 other. Each has the general form of an obehsk.^ Each, if it ever 

 had a cross-piece, has lost it now.^ The two, if the Ruthwell Cross 

 be considered without its unauthorized cross-piece, are not very 

 far from the same height (14i feet : 17^ feet), and taper to somewhat 

 the same degree. Each has a vine, with animal figures among its 

 branches, covering one or more faces of the monument — two in the 

 case of the Ruthwell Cross, and one in the case of the Bewcastle 

 Cross. Both have sculptured human figures, the Ruthwell Cross 

 on two faces, the Bewcastle Cross on one ; moreover, two of the 

 figure-subjects on one of the crosses are identical with two on the 

 other. Both have runic inscriptions, those on the Ruthwell Cross 

 occupying the borders of the faces which are ornamented with 

 vines, and presenting fragments of an Old English poem, The Dream 

 of the Rood, and those on the Bewcastle Cross being found, mostly 

 in an illegible condition, on three faces — that which contains the 

 figure-sculpture, and two adjacent sides — but not on that which 

 is filled with the ornamental vine. Each is found in the domain 

 of a church, the Ruthwell Cross within its walls, the Bewcastle Cross 

 just outside. Each suffered violence in the Reformation period — the 

 Ruthwell Cross certainly, and the Bewcastle Cross not improbably — 

 besides such defacement as they may have undergone in other ages. 

 Both are situated within the Border, using that term in a rather large 

 sense to denote the frontier where modern Scotland approaches 

 England, or England approaches Scotland, and where both countries 

 have naturally had an influence. Within this Border various races 

 have, within historic times, as well as in the very dawn of authentic 

 history, dwelt, and struggled, and ravaged, often in the wildest 

 and most savage manner. Both crosses are, and always have been. 



^ See p. 122, note 1, and Figs. 1 and 2. 

 2 See p. 123, note. 



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