274 General Discussion of the Crosses 



The Sagittarius is sometimes found in the tympana and archi- 

 volts of French churches of the period,^ as weh as in the zodiacs 

 rather frequently employed for ornamental purposes. He also 

 appears on various tympana of Norman churches in England. Thus 

 at Kencott, Oxfordshire, he is ' discharging an arrow into the jaws 

 of a dragon.' ^ At Stoke-sub-Hamden, Somersetshire, he is shooting 

 an arrow at a lion.^ ' On the font at Dareuth, Kent, Sagittarius 

 is facing a drago.i, and on the point of discharging his arrow, while 

 on a capital of the chancel arch at Adel, Yorkshire, he is aiming at 

 the head of a similar monster, and a smaller dragon is attacking him 

 from behind. On two stones let into the. south wall of the nave of 

 Eastham Church, Worcestershire, are sculptured representations 

 of Sagittarius and Leo. On the font at West Rounton, Yorkshire, 

 Sagittarius is discharging his arrow at the head of the " savage man," 

 according to the interpretation of Mr. J. Romilly Allen, " Early 

 Christian Symbolism," p. 361.' * 



On the edge of a panel of the Halton Cross, Lancaster, is a figure 

 of an archer, ' shooting upwards toward the cross-head ' ^ ; and there 

 is a Sagittarius on the Camuston stone in Scotland, shooting obli- 

 quely upwards to the right, and above iiim a Crucifixion. On the 

 other side is Christ in Majesty, with two angels, and below four 

 saints, probably the Evangelists, with books.^ 



1 Caumont 1. 185, 189. 



2 Keyser, p. 23 ; cf. p. XL, and Fig. 70. 



3 Keyser, p. 46; cf. p. XL, and Fig. 69. 



* Keyser, p. XL. Cf. Allen, Early Christ. Symbolism, pp. 362-364 : 

 ' In the deserts of India there are savages who have one horn in the middle 

 of the forehead. . . . The savages make war on the Sagittarii, and the Sa- 

 gittarii on them. The war between the savages and the Sagittarii signifies 

 the contest between the soul and the flesh. . . . Sagittarius is represented in 

 the illustrations of the bestiary, as on the signs of the Zodiac, half horse, 

 half man, shooting with a bow and arrow at a savage clothed in a lion's skin, 

 having a horn on the top of his head. ... In other cases Sagittarius is contend- 

 ing with a hon, or a dragon. . . . On the tympanum of the west doorway of 

 Ault Hacknall Church in Derbyshire is a very remarkable figure of a centaur 

 with a nimbus round the head, holding a branch in its right hand and a cross 

 in the left. Facing the centaur is a huge beast followed by a small animal.' 

 There are illustrations of the Sagittarius on pp. 229, 234, 255, 361, 362, 363, 

 364, 365. On the centaur cf. Anderson, Early Christ. Mon. of Scotlandy 

 p. XLV. 



5 Early Sculpt. Crosses, pp. 189-90. 



« Allen, Early Christ. Mon. of Scotland 3. 252. 



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