The Figure-Sculpture : Falconer 281 



' " while Sir William Lenglis, knight, was hunting in the neighborhood 

 of Brunstock, in the autumn of 1360, he set his falcon to flight, but 

 the bird disappeared from view and did not return.". . . Raughton 

 near Dalston was a celebrated eyry in the twelfth century. . . . "The 

 vill of Ratton [Raughton] is a serjeanty to keep the hawks' eyries 

 of the lord the King, and is worth 100s. a year." ' ^ Ailred says 

 that when Hexham was renovated about the beginning of the twelfth 

 century, the whole place and neighborhood were deserted, and the 

 re-founder of the church maintained himself and his family for two 

 years by hunting and hawking. ^ 



Since there were almost no trained falcons in Kent about 750, it is 

 not likely that they were sufficiently common in Northern Cumberland 

 in the preceding century to admit of a falconer, with his hawk and 

 appurtenances, forming the theme of a piece of sculpture. The later 

 the period to which the cross can be assigned, the greater the 

 probability that the sport was famihar in this sequestered part of 

 the country. As the Normans were passionate devotees of the sport, 

 it would not be unreasonable to assume that this panel was executed 

 when Norman landowners had secured influential positions in Northern 

 England and Southern Scotland. 



As to the identity of the figure, it is evident that no sculptor 

 would have commemorated a mere professional falconer on such a 

 cross, and that it may well have been a royal or noble personage who 

 is thus depicted.^ It is conceivable that if such a royal or noble 

 personage had been responsible for the erection of the cross, he might 

 have been portrayed upon it, either at his own instance, or as a com- 

 pliment on the part of the sculptor or of some ecclesiastical body 



1 lUd., 2. 420-1. 



2 Raine, Priory of Hexham 1. 8, note. Ailred's words are {ibid., p. 191): 

 ' Erat autem talis terrae illius desolatio, ut fere bienno ex sole venatu et 

 aucupio se suamque familiam sustineret.' Hexham is only some 24 miles 

 distant from Bewcastle. 



3 Anderson (Scotland in Early Christ. Times 2. 163-4) is disinclined to 

 entertain any such theory for the Scottish stones. He says : ' The custom 

 of presenting in monumental sculpture historical representations of secular 

 scenes derived from the Kfe or times of the persons commemorated, was 

 not only extremely rare and exceptional everywhere throughout the whole 

 period of early Christian art, but was absolutely unknown in this country 

 as far as any positive evidence exists. No monument is known to bear any 

 commemorative reference, sculptured or inscribed, to any historical event 

 occurring \vithin the country in early Christian times.' But see p. 70, note 2. 

 On equestrian statues in rehgious architecture bearing the names of Constan- 

 tine and Charlemagne, see Enlart, Manuel d' Archeologie Fran^aise 1. 366. 



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