opinions as to the. Date of the Crosses 221 



1873. James A. H. Murray^ wrote : ' Eadwin was succeeded by 

 Oswald and Oswiu, during whose reign the Angle power was still 

 further extended in what is now the south of Scotland, their supre- 

 mac}^ being apparentlj^ recognized by the Cumbrian Britons. Wit- 

 nesses to this extension of the Northumbrian area, at or shortly after 

 this period, exist in the Cross of Bewcastle, in Cumberland, with a 

 Runic inscription commemorating Alchfrid, son of Oswiu, who was 

 associated with his father in the government about 660, and the 

 Runic Cross at RuthweU in Dumfriesshire, of the same high antiq- 

 uity.' 



1874. Frederik Hammerich^ attributed the Ruthwell Cross 

 to the end of the 7th century, following Stephens. His grounds 

 were the style of the monument, the forms of the letters, and the 

 antiquity of the language — besides the inscription read by Stephens 

 on the top-stone. 



1876. Henry Sweet ^ referred to the Ruthwell Cross inscription as 

 being ' in the old Northumbrian dialect of the seventh or eighth 

 century.' 



1879. Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell^ read the runes 

 on the top-stone of the Ruthwell Cross as: KSDMAMAFA^UOO. 

 They give the date in one place ^ as ca. 700, and in another' as ca. 800. 



1880. Sophus Miiller^ declared that the RuthweU Cross must be 

 posterior to 800, on account of its decorative features, and indeed 

 that it could scarcely have been sculptured much before 1000 A. D. 



1884. George F. Browne^ remarked : ' The head of the cross bears 

 the words, " Caedmon made me." The Bewcastle inscription states 

 that the pillar was erected to King Alchfrith, in the first j^ear of 

 King Ecgfrith, about A. D. 665. On the bands dividing the panels 

 are names of near relatives of these kings. Alchfrith was the patron 

 of Wilfrith. The runes are unquestionably Anglian runes, and some 

 Anglo-Saxon scholars say that the grammatical peculiarities are 



^ Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, p. 9. 



'■ Aelteste Christliche Epik der Angelsachsen, Deutschen und Nordldnder, 

 34. The Danish original appeared in the previous year. 



Aarbeger for Nordisk Oldkyndigheid, 



(9) 



