Runic Inscriptions 253 



Danish memorial stones are of the 9th century and later/ and as 

 those of the Isle of Man probably he between 1050 and 1100, or later,- 

 it is antecedently improbable that there should be such a memorial 

 cross in the England of the 7th century. 



First, as to the RuthweU Cross. For some time it was supposed, 

 on the testimony of George Stephens,^ that words which might be 

 translated, Ccedmon me made, were to be found near the top of the 

 cross ; but this was completely disproved by Vietor* in 1885, had it 

 not been sufficiently discredited already by the impossibihty of 

 making any sense of the words supposed to stand there. 



Next, as to the Bewcastle Cross. In 1857, Rev. John Maughan, 

 who had previously^ come to quite a different result, interpreted the 

 long inscription to mean ^ : ' t Hwaetred, Wasthgar, and Alwfwold set 

 up this slender pillar in memory of Alcfrid, ane king, and son of 

 Oswy. tPray thou for them, their sins, their souls.' 



About the same time, Rev. Daniel H. Haigh, an antiquary of 

 somewhat similar standing, rendered the same inscription thus : 

 ' Hwaetred, Witgaer, Felwold, and Roetbert set up this beacon of 

 victory in memory of Alcfrid. Pray for his soul.'' This he after- 

 wards revised to read : ' This memorial set Hwaetred in the great 

 pestilence year to Roetbert to King Alcfride. Pray for their souls.'* 

 A few years later, Haigh rendered ^ : ' This memorial Hwaetred set 

 and carved this monument after the prince, after the King Alcfrid ; 

 pray for their souls.' 



George Stephens, the runologist, inclined to Maughan's version, 

 and gave this rendering in his large work -^^ : ' This spiring sign-pillar 

 set was by Hwaetred, Wothgar, Olufwolth, after Alcfrith, sometime 

 king and son of Oswi. fPray for his soul's great sin.'^^ 



1 P. 32. 



2 P. 39, note 2. 



' See my edition of The Dream of the Rood, pp. xii ff . 



* Die Norih. Runensteine, p. 12. 



^ Archceological Journal 11. 131-3. 



® Memoir, p. 18 ; see Fig. 33. 



' Maughan, Memoir, p. 33 ; see Fig. 33. 



8 Ibid., p. 36. 



^ The Conquest of Britain (London, 1861), p. 37 ; see Fig. 33. 



10 Old-North. Runic Mon. 1. 402. 



11 Cf. Browne, Conv. of Hept., p. 203 ; Collingwood, in Victoria Hist. 

 Cumb. 1. 278. 



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