FOOTNOTES:
[543] Archæol. Journal, vol. vi. p. 259.
[544] Sinclair's Statist. Acc. vol. iv. p. 546.
[545] Sinclair's Statistical Account, vol. iv. p. 538.
[546] Report on the Silver Fragments in the possession of General Durham, Largo, commonly called the Silver Armour of Norrie's Law.—Cupar, 1839.
[548] Historical Essay on the Dress of the ancient Irish, by Joseph C. Walker, M.R.I.A. Dublin, 1788, p. 15, Plate II. No. 4.
[549] Archæol. Jour. vol. vi. p. 105.
[550] Archæol. Jour. vol. vi. p. 255.
[553] New Statistical Account, vol. vi. p. 57.
[554] New Statistical Account, vol. xi. p. 146.
[557] Minute of Soc. Antiq. Scot., June 2, 1828.
CHAPTER IV.
SCOTO-SCANDINAVIAN RELICS.
From the slight historical sketch introduced in a preceding chapter, we perceive that the plundering expeditions of the Norse Vikings, and the establishment of Norwegian dominion by Harold in the Northern and Western Isles, were rapidly superseded by the establishment of an independent Scoto-Norwegian kingdom, which diminished the direct intercourse with Scandinavia Proper, and led to some interfusion of the Celtic and Scandinavian races. To this period, therefore, we must look for the introduction of pure Scandinavian antiquities into Scotland, and also for the production of those native relics which bear manifest traces of the influence of Scandinavian art. In the Western Isles especially, where the expatriated Vikings of Norway fixed their head-quarters, and in Man, and the Orkney and Shetland Isles, where the first independent Scoto-Norwegian kingdoms were established, we may naturally look for many traces of Scandinavian arts.
To this period belongs the very characteristic and beautiful ornament, usually designated the shell-shaped brooch, and which is equally familiar to Scandinavian and British antiquaries. In Scotland especially, many beautiful examples have been found: several of them are preserved in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, and from these the following is selected as surpassing in beauty of design and intricacy of ornament, any other example of which I am aware. It consists, as usual, of a convex plate of metal, with an ornamental border, surmounted by another convex plate of greater depth, highly ornamented with embossed and perforated designs, the effect of which appears to have been further heightened by the lower plate being gilded so as to shew through the open work. In this example the gilding still remains tolerably perfect. On the under side are the projecting plates still retaining a fragment of the corroded iron pin, where it has turned on a hinge, and at the opposite end the bronze catch into which it clasped. The under side of the brooch appears to have been lined with coarse linen, the texture of which is still clearly defined on the coating of verd antique with which it is now covered. But its peculiar features consist of an elevated central ornament resembling a crown, and four intricately chased projections terminating in horses' heads. It was found in September 1786, along with another brooch of the same kind, lying beside a skeleton, under a flat stone, very near the surface, above the ruins of a Pictish house or burgh, in Caithness. It measures nearly four and a half inches in length, by three inches in breadth, and two and two-fifth inches in height to the top of the crown. Like many others of the same type, it appears to have been jewelled. In several examples of these brooches which I have compared, the lower convex plates so nearly resemble each other, as to suggest the probability of their having been cast in the same mould, while the upper plates entirely differ.
These oval brooches are most frequently found in pairs, and may be presumed to have been worn on the front of the shoulders or breast, as shewn in a curious piece of sculpture, evidently of nearly the same period, which is built into the church wall of Invergowrie. It is engraved in Mr. Chalmers of Auldbar's "Ancient Sculptured Monuments of Angus," (Pl. XXII.) and represents, apparently, three dignitaries, probably priests, as two of them hold books in their hands. The two outer figures are adorned with large brooches on their shoulders, while the central, and perhaps more important figure, is without them, but wears instead a circular ornament on the lower front of his garment. Along with the pairs of oval brooches is frequently found a third, flat and sometimes trefoiled. One of these, referred to more particularly on a subsequent page, found along with a pair of oval brooches, in a barrow on the Island of Westray, in 1839, was first observed on the exposure of the skeleton, apparently laid on the abdomen, while the others were beside the ribs, as if worn on the breast. Another example from the Island of Sangay is figured in the Vetusta Monumenta, (vol. ii. Pl. XX.) A beautiful pair, made of a white-coloured metal, found under peculiar circumstances in a tumulus in Yorkshire, and another from the neighbourhood of Bedale, are figured in the Archæological Journal.[558] Various other specimens are preserved, both in public and private collections, but none of those that I have seen appear to equal in elaborateness or beauty of design, the Caithness brooch figured above.
Sculpture at Invergowrie.
By far the most remarkable relic associated with the period of Scandinavian invasion yet discovered in Scotland, is the beautiful Runic brooch, engraved on Plate I., which forms the frontispiece to this volume. It was found in the autumn of 1830, on the estate of Robert Hunter, Esq. of Hunterston, in the parish of West Kilbride, Ayrshire, within about an hundred yards of the sea, by two workmen who had commenced to quarry for stones. It lay quite close to the surface, at the foot of a steep cliff, called the "Hawking Craig," where the falcon still breeds,—a part of the Goldenberry hill, which bounds the extreme western point of Ayrshire. Between the Hawking Craig and the sea is a level piece of ground, where local tradition affirms that a skirmish took place, shortly before the celebrated battle of Largs, fought A.D. 1263,[559] when the fleet of King Haco was shattered by a tempest, and the Norse foe, already dispirited and greatly reduced in numbers, was totally routed, and finally driven from the Scottish mainland. In further confirmation of the local tradition Mr. Hunter adds,—"On the opposite side of the Hawking Craig, where the brooch was found, I discovered, in making a fence, some graves, composed merely of six rough stones, but with nothing inside but some charcoal, the bones being quite decayed. A short distance from this, at the foot of the hill, is the flat piece of ground assigned as the scene of the skirmish, in confirmation of which I discovered some graves there. A short way from this was a large cairn or tumulus of stones, wherein were found coins, &c.; but I just recollect, as a boy, the stones having been carted away: I found also an urn of unbaked clay, half filled with bones partially burned." It might admit of doubt if the Norsemen were likely to tarry on an enemy's coast, after so decisive a defeat, long enough to construct the cist and cinerary urn, and to rear the funeral pile, though we know that they were permitted to land, after the battle of Largs, in order to bury their dead. But we may dispense with the argument in this case, as we have not the slightest reason to imagine that the cinerary urn was in use, either by Scots or Norwegians, of the thirteenth century. In truth, the whole theory by which the remarkable relic now referred to is sought to be connected with the important historical event of the reign of Alexander III., is destitute of any satisfactory foundation. The locality is far removed from Largs, and not the slightest value can be attached to any local tradition of Norwegian skirmishes or battles. A reference to the old and new statistical accounts of the various parishes, along both the Ayrshire and Argyleshire coasts, will suffice to shew that the battle of King Haco has proved as infallible a source of explanation for the discovery of cists, tumuli, cairns, and sepulchral relics of every kind, as if it were a well authenticated fact that no one had died, from the days of Noah to our own, but at the battle of Largs!
Sturla, the Norse skald, has celebrated the gorgeous armament of Haco in the famous Raven's Ode, and disguises the extent of his monarch's defeat with the skill of a courtly bard; but in vain. King Haco gathered together the shattered remnant of his fleet, and bore away for Orkney, where he died, not many weeks after, of a broken heart. The old Norse skald thus refers to his earlier success, while the fleet was gathering along the Scottish shores, in sight of the Ayrshire coast:—"Our fierce veterans, feeders of wolves, hastened their fatal course through the mountains. In the fell battle mingling, Aleinn the Dauntless wreaked vengeance on the expiring foe. But now our sovereign encountered the horrid powers of enchantment. A tempest, magic-raised, blew upon our warriors ambitious of conquest, and against the floating habitations of the brave. The roaring billows dashed shielded companies on the Scottish strand."
In one of the skirmishes which preceded the fatal encounter fought on Tuesday the 2d of October 1263, the beautiful brooch engraved on Plate I. is assumed to have been lost. Both the character of its inscription and the style of its ornament suggest the probability of its pertaining to a much earlier period; and even Danish antiquaries, while not unwilling to authenticate its Scandinavian origin, have sought for it a date one hundred and thirty-three years prior to the defeat of King Haco, and the final abandonment of the Scottish mainland by the Norwegian invader. The brooch is of silver, richly wrought with gold filigree work, and measures four inches and nine-tenths in greatest diameter. It is also set with amber, and is in a nearly perfect condition. The only injury it has received, with the exception of the point of the acus being broken off, is in some of the amber settings, occasioned either by the action of the weather, to which it was exposed from lying so near the surface, or possibly from the frequent burning of the whins which abound along the cliff where it was found. But the most remarkable feature of this beautiful personal ornament is an inscription engraved in large Runic characters on its under side.
Shortly after the discovery of this interesting relic, it was exhibited to the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, and Mr. T. G. Repp, a native of Iceland, familiar with Runic literature, read the inscription thus:—
ᛘᛆᛚᚮᚱᛁᚦᛆ᛬ᛆ᛬ᛐᛆᛚᚴ᛬ᚦᛁᛍ᛬᛬ᛐᚭᛚᚴ᛬ᚭᛍᚠᚱᛁᛑᚭ᛬
Maloritha á dalk this; Dólk Osfriđo; which he thus translated: Maloritha possidet hanc fibulam; Fibula Osfridie. At the same time drawings of the brooch were made, and a cast in sulphur was taken from the inscription, which is now deposited in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. This valuable historic relic, which is here for the first time presented to British archæologists, has attracted considerable attention among Danish antiquaries. It was made the subject of a learned communication by Finn Magnusen, in the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie for 1846, (pp. 323-599,) but it admits of doubt if he has been more successful in the correct rendering of this than of the well-known Runamo or Ruthwell inscriptions, though he is equally precise in assigning to our Ayrshire brooch a definite date and owner, as in identifying Offa, and the other historical characters of whom mention is made, according to certain readings of the Ruthwell Runes.
The inscription on the brooch is traced in large Runic characters, of which an exact fac-simile is introduced in the frontispiece, and differs essentially from any readings hitherto given of it by Danish antiquaries. Professor Magnusen's version, furnished by the late Mr. Donald Gregory, then Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, was probably only a copy of that made by Mr. Repp, though he reads the second name ᚮᛍᚠᚱᛁᛐᚭ, and contrives to elicit a vast deal more significance from the brief legend than its former translator dreamt of. He renders the first part—MALFRIÞA A DALK ÞIS; and translates it, Malfritha is the owner of this brooch. In this Malfritha he ingeniously discovers the Norwegian Queen Malford, a Russian princess who lived about A.D. 1130, while he finds in the Osfrido of the latter part of his version, Astrith the wife of King Svenir. A passage, moreover, in the Saga of King Haco, wherein the monarch complains of having been despoiled in infancy of all his inheritance save a brooch and a ring, completed the coveted cycle of historical identification, and here accordingly we have the brooch of King Haco, and an undoubted memorial of the Battle of Largs! A glance at the fac-simile of the inscription will shew how much imagination had to do even with the literal elements of this unparalleled discovery. In adapting the first name to his historical romance, Professor Magnusen reads ᚮ as F, not only without any authority, but even while recognising the regular ᚠ, or Runic F, in the second name—a needless liberty as will appear. The word ᚦᛁᛍ is no less a creation of the fancy. The mark which appears to have been construed into the terminating circle of the ᛍ, and to have given some show of probability to the others, being only the head of one of the silver rivets, which chances there to protrude in the middle of a line.
Meanwhile let us glance at the safer guidance which pure archæological evidence supplies. In addition to the inscription, I have introduced in the drawing, portions of the ornamental borders running along the outer and inner edges of the brooch. The Irish antiquary especially will recognise in these the familiar interlaced patterns to be found on nearly every native ecclesiastical and personal ornament pertaining to the early Christian period prior to the first appearance of the Northern Vikings, and with these the entire design and ornamentation correspond. But for the inscription, in fact, no one would have dreamt of assigning to the brooch a foreign origin; yet it does not seem to have ever occurred to the Scottish antiquaries to whom it was submitted, that the inscription might also be native, and equally Celtic with the workmanship. It will be seen that a rude chevron pattern is engraved on the back of the brooch, cut in the same style as the inscription, evidently the work of very different, and no doubt later hands, than those of the original jeweller. The whole reasoning, both of Scottish and Danish antiquaries in relation to this interesting relic, has heretofore proceeded on the assumption that a Runic inscription must have a direct Scandinavian origin: a conclusion by no means necessarily resulting from the use of Runes in Scotland at the date assigned to this one, after alliances and intermarriages had long existed between the Scandinavian and Celtic races of Scotland.
The Runic monuments of the Isle of Man present some remarkable features, manifestly pointing them out as the product of a Scandinavian colony in close alliance with a native Celtic population, and possessed both of a language and style of art resulting from the intercourse of these diverse races. The Manx Runic alphabet appears also to have some literal peculiarities altogether singular, though probably once common to the Hebrides and Northern Isles, and found also, as might have been anticipated, on the Hunterston brooch. To these features of the Manx alphabet, my attention was called by Professor P. A. Munch of Christiania, during the visit of that distinguished Northern scholar to this country in 1849; by whom, indeed, they were for the first time detected, when inspecting a series of casts of the Manx inscriptions in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. In these ᚮ is sometimes used as B, so that the first name on the brooch reads Malbritha. From the incidents already narrated relative to the Scandinavian acquirement of possessions on the Scottish mainland, both by conquest and marriage, it cannot be doubted that, in so far as the Celtic race had any literary acquirements, they must have been familiarized both with the Northern language and Runes. It need not, therefore, surprise us to find in the owner of the Hunterston brooch not a Norwegian queen but a Scottish chief of the same name as the Celtic Maormor, Melbrigda Tönn, slain by Sigurd, the Orkney jarl, when he invaded the north of Scotland A.D. 894. The name, indeed, is familiar to the student of early Scottish history, and its first syllable is one of the commonest Celtic prefixes, as in the Mail Pataric on the Iona tomb, and even in the royal name of Malcolm, Maol Columb, the servant of Columba, as Maol Brigda signifies the servant of St. Bridget. In all cases it is a male prefix, the Gaelic maol meaning bald as well as subordinate, and being undoubtedly employed in its latter acceptation with reference to the tonsure. It is accordingly frequently met with in the names of ecclesiastics, as in the Pictish chronicle, A.D. 965, "Maelbrigd episcopus pausavit," and again repeatedly in an early Irish MS. copy of the Gospels, preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum,—n, 1802; as, for example, at the end of the Gospel of St. John, the colophon, "Or. do Maelbrigte h-Ua Maeluanaig, qui scripsit hunc librum."
Here, therefore, we have a probable key to the language of the whole inscription, nor can it be regarded as an extravagant idea that a Celt should write his native language in an alphabet already familiar to him. The characters on the brooch, it will be seen, include various Binderuner or compound Runes, which add to the difficulty of translation. Making allowance for these, the following version has this merit at least, compared with previous ones, that it does not select merely such letters as will conform to a preconceived theory, but takes the whole in natural order. In the latter part of the inscription the second letter is a compound Rune, consisting of ᛅᚭ, or perhaps of ᛁᛅᚭ, the next of ᛚᛉ, and the fourth of ᛆᚭ—a construction entirely in accordance with the usual mode of interpreting the Binderuner, which were in common use at the very period of the most intimate Celtic and Scandinavian intercourse. The whole will thus read:
ᛘᛆᛚᚮᚱᛁᚦᛆ᛬ᛆ᛬ᛐᛆᛁᛘᛁᚼᛂᚼ᛬ᛁ᛬ᛐᛅᚭᛚ᛬ᛘᛆᚭᛚᚠᚱᛁᛐᛁ
The additional marks are mostly irregular lines, with no distinctive character, and executed with so little care, that it is not improbable they have been introduced merely to occupy the remaining space with a uniform texture. What is decipherable reads in good Scottish Celtic: Malbritha a daimiheh i dæol Maolfridi; i.e., Malbritha his friend in recompense to Maolfridi: a is the possessive pronoun his; daimheach, a friend or relative; i or h-i, the old Celtic preposition in; and dìol, a reward for service done. It must be borne in remembrance that the spelling of the Scottish Gaelic is entirely modern. It is the sound therefore that is chiefly to be looked to, but the variations even in the spelling are not important. No Scandinavian scholar can examine the fac-simile of the inscription, and question the fact that the concluding portion actually contains the masculine name which Professor Magnusen was at such needless pains to try and educe from that of Malbritha. The chief value, however, to the Scottish antiquary of the reading now given, arises from no identification of these old Celtic friends, but from its establishing the fact—in itself so probable—that they did actually employ the Scoto-Scandinavian Runes in writing their own native language.
The annexed woodcut represents an exceedingly beautiful Scottish brooch, the size of the original, now in the collection of John Bell, Esq. of Dungannon. Like the Hunterston brooch, it is of silver, set with amber, and with the pattern wrought in gold. The resemblance of the two, both in style of ornament and in some of the details, can hardly fail to be admitted. This very fine specimen was found in the immediate vicinity of the celebrated mounds of Dunipace, Stirlingshire, the subject of antiquarian speculation from the days of Buchanan to our own. Another very fine large silver brooch, jewelled and plated with gold, formerly in the celebrated collection of Major Sirr, and now in that of C. K. Sharpe, Esq., has the acus exactly corresponding in its form and peculiar construction to that of the Hunterston brooch, while its other details are such as Scottish and Irish antiquaries are familiar with on the native gold and silver work of Celtic Christian art prior to the eleventh century. In point of workmanship and style of art, therefore, we have no reason to ascribe to our Runic brooch a foreign origin. Other evidence equally exposes the fallacy of assuming a necessary connexion between the discovery of Runes on our western coast and the fatal expedition of King Haco.
Directly opposite to the Ayrshire coast, and within sight of the Bay of Largs, a small island protects the entrance to Lamlash Bay, in the Isle of Arran, the well-known anchorage where Haco mustered his shattered fleet after his overthrow. In the Norwegian account of the expedition, after the narration of the fatal storm and conflict, it is stated, "The king sailed past Kumbrey (Cumbray) to Melansay, where he lay some nights."[560] This Melans ey, or isle, there can be little doubt is Holy Island, in the Bay of Lamlash, which contains the cave assigned by immemorial tradition as the residence of St. Molio or St. Maoliosa, a disciple of Columba, and a favourite Celtic saint. The island corresponds in geological structure to the southern district of Arran, presenting along the shore the common red sandstone strata, overflowed by a great mass of claystone and claystone porphyry, which towers above it in rugged and picturesque cliffs, fringed by the dwarf oak and birch, to a height of about a thousand feet. The cave of St. Molio is little more than a waterworn recess in the sandstone rock at an elevation of about thirty feet from the present level of the sea. On the shore below, a circular well is pointed out as St. Molio's Bath, and a large block of sandstone cut perfectly flat on the top, and surrounded with a series of artificial recesses or seats, bears the name of the Saint's Chair. Such relics are by no means rare in Scotland. They appear to have been singularly characteristic of Celtic hagiology. The Bath of St. Cuthbert was once a favourite resort in Strathtay; that of St. Woloc exists in Strathdeveron; and that of St. Fillan remains in the strath of Perthshire which still bears his name. St. Kentigern also had once his "bath," "bed," and "chair," near the Molendinar Burn. The Stone Chair of St. Marnan is still at Aberchirder; that of St. Fillan was recently preserved at the Mill of Killin; while another of these singular Celtic relics, placed at a commanding point, near Achtereachan, Glencoe, where a bend of the glen enables it to command both views, bears the name of Cathair Malvina, or the Chair of Malvina, one of Ossian's heroines.
The roof and sides of the cave of St. Molio, on Holy Island, are covered with rude marks and inscriptions of many different periods, among which may be discerned the following Runic inscription, cut with great regularity, in characters of about an inch and a half in length.
❌ ᚿᛁᚴᚢᛚᚮᛌ⁝ᛆᚼᛅᚿᛂ⁝ᚱᛅᛁᛌᛐ᛫
The reading is sufficiently simple and unmistakable. Nikulos ahane raist. The first, ᚿᛁᚴᚢᛚᚮᛌ, is manifestly a proper name. No such word as ᛆᚼᛅᚿᛂ is known in the Icelandic or ancient Norse tongue, unless it be simply a Hane: of Hane, the name of a place. We may therefore, perhaps, without impropriety, look for it in the native Celtic, where abhadh, pronounced very nearly in accordance with the spelling of ahane, signifies a hollow or abode. The last word, ᚱᛅᛁᛌᛐ, is of common occurrence in Runic inscriptions, the preterite of rísta, to engrave. In the present example, therefore, we shall not probably err in reading the inscription Nicholas engraved, or cut, this cave.
According to established custom with all relics found in the neighbourhood of the estuary of the Clyde, possessing the slightest affinity to those of ancient Scandinavia, this Runic inscription will no doubt be ascribed to the followers of King Haco in the thirteenth century. But independently of the improbability of the defeated Norsemen employing themselves in inscribing such a retreat, the simplicity of the Runes favours the probability of its pertaining to an earlier period. It is not altogether impossible, however, that even now, after the lapse of at least six centuries, we may be able from the brief Runes of St. Molio's Cave, to identify the anchorite who dwelt in this rude retreat. From the initial ✠, the inscription appears to be the work of an ecclesiastic; and in the Chronicon Manniæ, after recording the death of Bishop Michael, the elevation of his successor Nicholas, a native of Argyle, is thus noted: Huic successit Nicolaus Archadiensis genere, qui jacet in monasterio Benchorensi.[561] He appears to have succeeded to the see about the year 1193, and to have held it for about fourteen years.[562] The coincidence both of name and place of nativity certainly give probability to the supposition that the recluse of Holy Island in the bay of Lamlash, and the old Manx bishop, may have been one; at the same time it must be observed that such attempts at identification rest on an extremely uncertain basis, and have been the fruitful source of error.
The traces of the use of Runic characters are still abundant in the Isle of Man, and undoubtedly belong to the period of the general adoption of Christianity there, though it is not possible to assign to them a precise date. But the above are not the only Runes inscribed on St. Molio's cave. The whole surrounding surface of the rock is covered with crosses, evidently the marks of pious but illiterate pilgrims, who thus recorded their visit to the Holy Isle. Among these, however, are also traceable initials, monograms, and other more perfect evidences of the former concourse of pilgrims to the sacred spot. The annexed fac-simile of a group of them shews the curious character of these primitive holographs; but among them the experienced eye will at once discern the Runic characters, not regularly and boldly cut as in the former inscription, but irregularly scratched, as with the hasty hand of the wayfaring pilgrim. It is hardly necessary now too curiously to investigate the primitive record, though the letters are for the most part sufficiently distinct and well defined. The ᚳ, or k, is not a Scandinavian but an Anglo-Saxon Rune: a mixture by no means improbable by a Celtic inscriber. The whole probably imply no more than the proper name Akiethir, though it does not present, as in the former case, one familiar to our ears. Possibly like some other Runic inscriptions, it reads from right to left, in which case we should perhaps recognise it as a female name, Ritheika.
Runic Inscription in St. Molio's Cave.
The rounded Roman characters, from which the medieval church-lettering ultimately sprung, were in use in the North more than a century prior to the era of King Haco, though they had not entirely superseded the Runes. But before this took place the Runic alphabet had been augmented by various new characters, and the Binderuner, or compound Runes, were in general use, especially in proper names, many of which are united into a single monogram. Both of the inscriptions in St. Molio's Cave are free from the later abridged mode of writing, and would therefore seem more probably ascribable to an older date than the thirteenth century, or indeed the not greatly earlier era of Bishop Nicholas of Man.
In this conclusion Scandinavian scholars will probably concur, though they may perhaps detect in other undecipherable groups of markings on the same cave the characteristic Binderuner of a later date. It can hardly be expected that they will unhesitatingly concur in another idea, advanced I believe for the first time, that the Celtic population of Scotland were as familiar with the Northern Runes as the natives of the kingdom of Northumbria are proved to have been with the Anglo-Saxon Runes, in which the most remarkable Scottish Runic monument—the Cross of Ruthwell—is inscribed. Of this, however, we are not entirely without some direct indications. The earliest, if not indeed the only medieval Scottish document which contains any allusion to the Pictish race, is a charter of confirmation of the lands of Burgie, in the reign of Alexander II., which occurs in the Chartulary of Moray. In describing the marches of the lands of Burgie, as fixed by perambulation, it refers to the various landmarks as follows: "Scilicet a magna quercu in Malevin quam predictus comes Malcolumo primo fecit cruce signari usque ad Rune Pictorum, et inde usque ad Tubernacrumkel, et inde per sicum usque ad Tubernafein, et inde usque ad Runetwethel, et inde per rivulam qui currit per meresiam usque ad vadum quod dicitur Blakeford, quod est inter Burgyn et Ulern."[563] To this interesting and curious charter another parchment is attached, which professes to furnish an explanation of the local names. They contain, it will be observed, an admixture of Celtic and Saxon terminology, sufficiently characteristic of the previous history of the locality; and the explanatory parchment is chiefly valuable as shewing how effectually the intrusion of the later race had adulterated or effaced the native traditions. The following is the explanatory translation:—"Rune Pictorum, the carne of the Pethis, or the Pecht's fieldis. Tubernacrumkel, ane well with ane thrawine mowth, or ane cassin well, or ane crwik in it." It is sufficiently obvious that the explanations are given with uncertainty and doubt, and there can be little hesitation in translating the first name, not as the Pictish fields, but as the Pictish Runes, referring, as may be assumed, to an inscribed Celtic monument which had of old marked one of the Burgie marches; though in the reign of Alexander II., and long prior to the Battle of Largs, the very meaning of the term had been forgotten in Scotland. No attempt is made in the Burgie parchment to explain the name Runetwethel, but its correspondence to that of Ruthwell, the site of the celebrated Runic monument in Dumfriesshire, is perhaps not unworthy of notice.[564] The form of the northern Runes, as of the eastern Cuneatic characters, is manifestly traceable to a people whose literature was confined to graven records, chiefly on stone. Many of the medieval mason's marks are not only similar in general form, but some of them are identical with the following characters of the Runic alphabets:—ᚺᛋᛟᚻᚩᛖᛞᛘᚷᛗᛦ While this correspondence may be sufficiently explained by the simplicity of such combinations of lines, and their ready execution by the mason's pen, the absence of rounded forms, such as predominate in the Roman alphabet, adds another proof that the origin of medieval architecture, and perhaps also of Free Masonry, is traceable to the northern countries of Europe. The medieval mason's marks may undoubtedly be assumed with equal probability to retain the traces of the obsolete Runes, as the Bomœrker (literally house-marks) employed by the peasantry in certain districts of Sweden and Norway as signatures, or marks on personal property, in which the northern antiquaries recognise surviving elements of the Runic alphabet. In more recent times the term Runic has been used in this country in the vaguest and most uncertain fashion, occasionally without any very definite meaning appearing to be attached to it, and not infrequently as synonymous with Danish or Scandinavian.
These indications of the use of Runes by the native Celtic population of Scotland, are—like many other ideas advanced in this elementary treatise on our national antiquities—offered suggestively, and liable to the correction which further discoveries may suggest. The Celtic character of the name on the Hunterston brooch, the equally familiar one, in its Greek form, of that in the cave of St. Molio—peculiarly characteristic of the native Christian ascetics prior to the eleventh century,—and the Runic characters mingling with the initials and pilgrims' marks of the Holy Isle, are all suggestive of the same idea; and this it will be seen receives further confirmation from other Runic inscriptions. But whatever conclusion be finally adopted as to the precise rendering of the Hunterston inscription, or the inferences to be drawn from the various Runic memorials found in Scotland, it will be universally acknowledged that the brooch on which the former occurs is a relic of no ordinary interest or value. Though it may not admit of comparison with the celebrated golden horns, it surpasses, I believe, any other inscribed Runic relic hitherto discovered in Denmark or Sweden. A gold head ring found a few years since at Starup, in the neighbourhood of Haderslev, with Runic letters upon it, is engraved in Mr. Worsaae's Primeval Antiquities of Denmark. The inscription is simply the word luþro, traced on the inner side of the ring, and assumed as probably denoting the name of the owner, which in this case also is supposed to be that of a man.[565]
While the Isle of Man still retains many interesting traces of Scandinavian influence, in its memorial crosses graven with inscriptions in the Northern Runes, it is surprising how very partial are the indications of the same influence in the older northern jarldom. Only two imperfect Runic inscriptions have been observed in Shetland, and are described by Dr. Hibbert from drawings by Mr. Low.[566] One of them on a slab or grave-stone at Crosskirk, in Northmavine, is too much mutilated to render any attempt at restoration or decipherment of its meaning possible. The other was fixed in the wall of the Parish Church of Sandness, where it probably still remains; but, if there be no error in Dr. Hibbert's engraving of it, it only adds another to the frequent examples in Scotland of the term Runic being applied to designate any strange or incomprehensible device on a sepulchral monument. In Orkney no Runic monument is known to exist, though it cannot be doubted that many such must have been erected during the earlier years of the independent occupation of the Northern Islands by the Norwegian Jarls. Some of these, it is not impossible, may even yet be brought to light; though the continuous presence of a busy population during the intervening centuries affords too satisfactory means of accounting for their destruction to render such discoveries very probable at this late date. The annexed illustration of a later and more complicated Runic inscription than any known British example, is the remarkable memorial stone found in 1824 on the Island of Kingiktorsoak, Greenland, under the parallel of 73°, proving the zeal with which the old Scandinavian colonists pushed their adventurous course even to the extreme north of the inhospitable region of Greenland. It is introduced here chiefly to shew the complicated and much more intricate character of Scandinavian inscriptions of a later and well ascertained period; the era of the colonisation of Greenland being sufficiently established as a historical fact. Mr. C. C. Rafn finds in the concluding Runes the date 1135. During the recent repairs executed on St. Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall, some singularly interesting discoveries were made connected with the period of its earliest Scandinavian bishops. A tomb was opened accidentally in the choir of the cathedral, which from the inscription accompanying it appears to have been the place to which the remains of William, according to Torfæus, first resident Bishop of Orkney, were translated, after the elongation of the cathedral, towards the close of the twelfth century. Along with the bones were interred a leaden plate inscribed in the common Church letters of the period:—H. Requiescit. Williamus. Senex. felicis. memorie. On the reverse of the plate are the words, pmus epis. Further excavations in the east end of the choir, and close to the presumed site of the high altar, led to the discovery of two curious pieces of sculpture, in bas relief, representing St. Olaf and St. Magnus. These, however, as well as the tomb of Bishop Tulloch, with crosier, paten, and chalice inclosed, and other discoveries made at the same period, belong to a later era than that of Runic literature, and are only referred to now as suggesting the possibility of still earlier relics of the Scandinavian period of Orcadian history being yet brought to light, while the first of them shews that the Runic character had fallen into disuse soon after the introduction of Christianity in the north.
Greenland Runic Inscription.
It is to the Manx monuments, however, that we must turn for the most distinct and abundant traces of Scandinavian influence, though modified both by the arts and the faith of the older Celtic population. The Runic inscriptions are conjoined with the sacred emblem of the Christian faith, and are associated with ornamental accompaniments, some of which are sufficiently common on the sculptured memorials of the Scottish mainland and isles, though never found on contemporary native monuments of Scandinavia. The close resemblance of a peculiar trefoil ornament on the upper part of one of these crosses at Kirk Michael, to the device on the reverse of the coins of Aulaf, King of Northumbria, has been pointed out;[567] but it is impossible to limit to a single country or to a very narrow period much of the common ornamentation vulgarly called Runic knotwork. It may be traced on manuscripts, monuments, and relics of Scoto-Irish, Pictish, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman origin, from the sixth to the twelfth century. It is, however, frequently found with other accompaniments of a more precise character, and this in the case of the Manx crosses of Kirk Andreas and Kirk Michael, approaches more nearly to the style of the singular sculptured standing stones of Scotland than to any other monuments of the north of Europe. Here, therefore, sheltered by the isolation of this island, and by the veneration or by the superstition of its inhabitants, examples have been preserved of the style of Scoto-Norwegian monuments of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which must once have abounded in the Scottish Northern and Western Isles, and on those parts of the mainland longest subject to Scandinavian rule. "The fear of sacrilege evinced by the Manx peasants is very great. The ruined chapels are still venerated, and a Manx formula of cursing is,—May a stone of the church be found in a corner of your house."[568] That the monuments of this period should have disappeared cannot surprise us, when we reflect on the very few memorials we now possess of that important era of Scottish ecclesiastical history which intervenes between the building of the white-walled cathedral of St. Ninian at Whithern, about the year 412, and the founding of the Abbey of Dunfermline in the eleventh century. I am fortunate in having obtained the assistance of Professor P. A. Munch—whose name will, I believe, be sufficient authority among northern scholars—in translating such of the Manx monuments as are referred to here. Previous transcriptions made by copyists unfamiliar with the Runic characters, or ignorant of the language in which they are inscribed, have added much uncertainty and obscurity to the subject, and produced so many various readings as to bring the whole inquiry into disrepute.[569]
At Kirk Andreas, near Ramsey, at Kirk Michael, Kirk Bride, Kirk Maughold, and Balsalla, are various of these interesting memorials of the Scandinavian era, supplying us with examples of the art and evidences of the faith of the period, and even furnishing some curious personal information regarding the men of that time. Not the least interesting of these minute records is that supplied by the inscription on one of the Kirk Michael crosses, already referred to:—
ᛘᛆᛁᛚ᛬ᚮᚱᛁᚴᛐᛁ᛬ᛌᚢᚿᚱ᛬ᛅᚦᛆᚴᛆᚿᛌ᛬ᛌᛘᛁᚦ᛬ᚱᛆᛁᛌᛐᛁ᛬ᚴᚱᚢᛌ᛬
ᚦᛆᚿᚨ᛬ᚠᚢᚱ᛬ᛌᛆᛚᚢ᛬ᛌᛁᚿᛁ᛬ᛌᛁᚿ᛬ᚮᚱᚢᚴᚢᛁᚿ᛬ᚴᛆᚢᛐ[ᛋ]᛬
ᚴᛁᚱᚦᛁ᛬ᚦᛆᚿᚨ᛬ᛆᚢᚴ᛬ᛆᛚᛆ᛬ᛁᛘᛆᚢᚿ
Rendered literally, according to the equivalent for each Runic character, it is:—Mail orikti sunr aþakans smiþ raisti krus þana fur salu sini sin oruguin gauts girþi þana auk ala i maun. And in pure Norse it reads:—Mailorikti (Mailbrigdi) sunr Aþakans smiðar reisti kross þenna fyrir sálu sinni sins öruggs vinar Gauts's gerði þenna ok alla i Mön; i.e., Mailbrikti, son of Athacan the smith, raised this cross for his soul, and that of his faithful friend Gaut, who made this [cross] and all [the crosses] in Man. The name of the faithful Gaut, the old Manx sculptor, occurs on other inscriptions, as on a mutilated fragment at Kirk Andreas:—
ᚦᚨᚿᛆ᛬ᚢᚠ᛬ᚢᚠᛆᛁᚴ᛬ᚠᛆᚢᚦᚢᚱ᛬ᛌᛁᚿ᛫ᛁᚿ᛬ᚴᛆᚢᛐᚱ᛬ᚴᛁᚱᚦᛁ᛬ᛌᚢᚿᚱ᛬
[ᛒᛁᛆ]ᚱᚿᛆᚱ᛬ᚴ᛬᛬᛬
Literally, þana uf ufaig fauþur sin in gautr girthi sunr ... rnar g ... orthog. (N. N. reisti kross) þenna of Ufeig föður sinn, en Gautr gerði, sunr Bjarnar g.... N. N. raised this cross over Ufeig his father, but Gaut made [it] the son of Björn.... Another of the Kirk Michael crosses, which has been more frequently and diversely translated than any British Runic inscription, consists of an upright square slab, with a cross cut on both sides, according to the usual style of the Scottish memorial stones, and decorated with a variety of sculptured figures and animals, representing a stag hunt. One of the edges is ornamented with interlaced work, as shewn in the annexed illustration, and along the opposite edge is the legend, surmounted with a small incised figure of a warrior in simple costume, with his arms extended, holding a spear in his right hand, and bearing a round shield on the left arm. The letters are sharply cut, and the author of "Ecclesiological Notes on the Isle of Man" refers to this as the most perfect Runic inscription in the three kingdoms:—
ᛆᚢᚮᛚᚠᛁᚱ᛬ᛌᚢᚿᚱ᛬ᚦᚢᚱᚢᛚᚠᛌ᛬ᚼᛁᚿᛌ᛬ᚱᛆᚢᚦᛆ᛬ᚱᛁᛌᛐᛁ᛬ᚴᚱᚢᛌ᛬
ᚦᚨᚿᚨ᛬ᛆᚠᛐ᛬ᚠᚱᛁᚦᚢ᛬ᛘᚢᚦᚢᚱ᛬ᛌᛁᚿᚨ
Kirk Michael Cross.
Its literal rendering is:—Auolfir sunr þurulfs hins rauþa risti krus þana aft friþu muþur sina; betraying like the others the variations of a provincial dialect, or a foreign use of the old Norse tongue. More correctly it is:—Eyolfr sunr þórolfs hins rauða reisti kross þenna eft Friðu móður sína; i.e., Eyolf, the son of Thorolf the Red, raised this cross after (or in memory of) Frida his mother. This exceedingly simple memorial of affection, contrasting in its brevity so strikingly with the inflated extravagancies of modern monumental inscriptions, affords a good example of the most usual style of the Manx Runic legends. One cross at Kirk Andreas is raised by Sandulfr suarte, or Sandulf the Black, in memory of his sons and wife; while on another imperfect fragment of a cross may still be traced the words:—Oskitil uilti i trigu aiþsuara sinn; i.e., Oskitil betrayed in truce his sworn friend. The precise object of this unusual memorial cannot now be guessed at with any degree of certainty, though the fragment preserves sufficient that is peculiar to excite our regret at its recovery in so imperfect and dubious a state. Another mutilated cross at Kirk Michael is interesting as an additional example of a Runic inscription containing names essentially Celtic in character. Part of the inscription is so much defaced by the weather as to baffle any attempt at a consistent rendering of its meaning, but of the portion copied below no doubt can be entertained. It is presented here in fac-simile, as an illustration of the style of engraving of the Manx inscriptions, though it differs in the use of ᛋᛏ for the more common Runic characters introduced on the other crosses as equivalent to the s and t.
ᛘᛅᛚᛚᚤᛘᚴᚢᚾ᛬ᚱᛅᛁᛲᛏᛁ᛬ᚴᚱᚢᛲ᛬ᚦᛆᚾᛅ᛬ᛂᚠᛏᛁᚱ⁝ᛘᛅᛚ᛫ᛘᚢᚱᚢ᛬ᚠᚢᛲᛏᚱᛅᛲᚢᚾ
The inscription literally reads:—Mal-lymkun raisti krus thana eftir Mal-muru fustra sun; i.e., Mallymcun raised this cross, after Malmor his foster-son. The frequent allusions in Runic inscriptions to the foster-father, brother, or son, shews the singular estimation in which such peculiar ties of adopted relationship were held by the northern races at that early date, as they have continued to be even to our own day among the Scottish Highlanders. But the most thoroughly Scandinavian in character of all the Manx Runic crosses is the beautiful one which stands in the churchyard at Kirk Braddan. I am not aware if crosses of this form are found in Denmark or Norway, but in nearly all the principal details, especially on the shaft, it differs entirely from the other Manx crosses, and corresponds to those on Scandinavian relics of the Iron Period. It has been broken in two, and otherwise mutilated; but the two principal pieces have been clasped together with iron bands, so that a good idea can still be formed of it in its perfect state. The shaft is decorated with the common dragon ornaments, intricately intertwined over its whole surface; thus greatly differing in style from the Runic crosses wrought by the skilful hands of Gaut, as well as from the contemporary standing stones of the Scottish mainland. This, therefore, we may be justified in assuming, is the work of some Norwegian artist, whose style was derived from his own fatherland, though in some degree modified by the favourite models of Celtic art which have influenced the form of other Christian monuments in the island. It is probably one of the latest of all the Runic memorials in Man, while at the same time it presents the Scandinavian characters accompanying a style of art to some extent derived from the same foreign source. It can hardly indeed admit of doubt, that in some at least of the Manx monuments we must recognise the adaptation of the Norse literature and dialect to native memorials. The cross cut in relief on the flat slab, with the subordinate accompaniments illustrative of feats of war or the chase, appear to be peculiarly characteristic of primitive Pictish art; while the perforated head with interlaced ornamentation, such as that which is here associated with the old dragon pattern and other Pagan devices of Scandinavia, is more directly traceable to the early Christian arts of Celtic Ireland. The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland possesses a complete cast of this beautiful cross, taken when the iron clamps were removed for the purpose of being renewed, and which thus supplies a portion of the Runic inscription which can no longer be seen. It is as follows:—
ᚦᚢᚱᛚᛁᚮᚱ᛬ᚾᛂᛅᚴᛁ᛬ᚱᛁᛌᛐᛁ᛬ᚴᚱᚢᛌ᛬ᚦᚨᚿᚨ᛬ᛆᚠᛐ᛬ᚠᛁᛅᚴ᛬ᛌᚢᚿ᛬
[ᛌ]ᛁᚿ᛬[ᛒ]ᚱᚢᚦᚢᚱ᛬ᛌᚢᚿ᛬ᛅᛆᚮᚱᛌ
Literally,—þurlior neaki risti krus þana aft fiak sun sin bruþur sun eaors. Orthogr.: Thorliótr neaki reisti kross þenna eft Fiak sun sinn, bróđurson Eaors; i.e., Thorlior Neaki raised this cross after Fiak his son, the nephew (brother's son) of Eaor. In addition to this the following marks occur on the under side of the head of the cross, and have been variously figured in the different editions of Camden, and elsewhere. The Runic ᚢ appears to be used in its literal sense, and the remainder may be assumed as rude attempts at Roman characters, in which case I think there can be little hesitation in reading it as the sacred name IHESVS—a curious example of the transition from the use of Runes to Roman characters.
Kirk Braddan Cross.
It has already been noted that the term Runic is used in Scotland in the vaguest sense, being frequently understood as synonymous with Scandinavian. In the account of St. Madoes' Parish, Perthshire, for example, we read: "In the churchyard there is a very beautiful specimen of that class of monuments called Runic, from their imagined Norse or Danish origin." It may be perhaps assumed that another stone in the parish of Anwoth, Kirkcudbrightshire, has no better claims to rank among the Runic monuments of Scotland, notwithstanding that the older Statist applies the name in reference to its inscription. It is thus described in the Old Statistical Account of the parish, along with a large moat which occupies a steep rocky peninsula jutting out into the sea: "Near to this moat stands a thin stone, nearly perpendicular, five feet three inches high, engraved on both sides with the rude figure of a cross, accompanied with several ornamental strokes, which some antiquaries suppose to be Runic inscriptions."[570] But one other remarkable Runic monument remains to be considered, surpassing in extent and importance any of those yet described, and rendered not the less interesting from the very curious literary controversy to which it has given rise. This is the celebrated cross of Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, inscribed not in Northern but Anglo-Saxon Runes. Like the few English examples yet discovered, it is in the Northumbrian dialect of Anglo-Saxon, and therefore is traceable, not to that northern intrusion of the Scandinavian branch of the Teutonic races which we have hitherto considered, and by which the old Celtic race of Scotland has been so greatly modified, but to the influx of a Teutonic race from the south, by which the Celtic occupants of the Scottish Lowlands and the whole Northumbrian kingdom, were ultimately superseded. Nevertheless the cross of Ruthwell may be referred to here without any great risk of confusion, along with those inscribed in the old Norse dialect; notwithstanding the justice of Mr. J. M. Kemble's remarks, that "the characters of the Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, and Icelanders, are not less distinct from those of the Goths, High and Low Germans, and Anglo-Saxons, than the languages of the several nations which they represented."[571] The Ruthwell cross is unquestionably by far the most important Runic monument in Britain, and has excited an attention fully equal to the great interest justly pertaining to it. A beautiful engraving of this ancient monument in the fourth volume of the Archæologia Scotica, accompanied with careful fac-similes of its inscriptions, renders any minute description of it superfluous.
Setting aside certain old and sufficiently vague local traditions recorded in the first Statistical Account of the Parish of Ruthwell, we obtain the earliest authentic notice of it only in the seventeenth century, at which time it appears to have still remained in the parish church, uninjured by any of those earlier ebullitions of misdirected popular zeal to which so many Scottish relics of Christian art fell a prey. When, however, the struggle between Charles I. and his people was rapidly hastening to a crisis, and religious differences were forced by many concurrent influences into violent collision, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which met at St. Andrews in the month of July 1642, passed an order decreeing the demolition of the Ruthwell cross as a monument of idolatry. The order met with a less hearty and thorough-going execution than might have been anticipated from the spirit prevailing at a period when the whole course of public events had tended to inflame men's minds to the uttermost. The column, however, was thrown down and broken in several pieces; but it still lay in the church, and was examined there by Pennant so recently as 1772. Soon after this, however, it was cast out into the churchyard, where its exposure to weather, and its liability to careless and wanton mutilation, threatened at length most effectually to accomplish the object of the St. Andrews Assembly's Order of 1642, when fortunately the Rev. Dr. Duncan was presented to the parish. Soon afterwards he had the fragments of the venerable memorial pieced together, and re-erected within the friendly shelter of the manse garden,—a monument to his own good taste, with which his name will be associated by thousands who know not the large-hearted benevolence and piety with which he adorned the sacred office which he filled.
Not content, however, with merely restoring the venerable memorial, Dr. Duncan executed careful drawings of it, from which the engravings in the fourth volume of the Archæologia Scotica were made. These are accompanied with a history from his pen, and an accurate translation of the Latin inscription, which is cut in Roman characters on the back and front of the cross. With the Runic inscription, which occupies the remaining sides of the monument, Dr. Duncan attempted no more than to furnish the Scottish antiquaries with an accurate copy, leaving those who deemed themselves able for the task to encounter its difficulties, and render an intelligible version of its meaning. This was accordingly undertaken by Mr. Thorleif G. Repp, a learned northern scholar, and a native of Iceland, then resident in Edinburgh, who, reading the letters correctly enough, proceeded to weave them into imaginary words and sentences, by means of which he makes out the inscription to record "a gift for the expiation of an injury, of a cristpason or baptismal fount, of eleven pounds weight, made by the authority of the Therfusian fathers, for the devastation of the fields." Other portions of the inscription were made to supply the name of the devastated locality, "The dale of Ashlafr," a place as little heard of before as were its holy conservators, the Monks of Therfuse! Dr. Duncan remarks, in furnishing an abstract of Mr. Repp's rendering of the Ruthwell Runes,—"It is obvious that, in future inquiries on this subject, it will be of considerable importance to fix the locality of Ashlafardhal and Therfuse!" The accurate drawings of Dr. Duncan, however, published as they were to the learned world by the Scottish Antiquaries, had at length supplied the most important desiderata towards the elucidation of the old Anglo-Saxon memorial. Professor Finn Magnusen was the first to avail himself of the new elements for the satisfactory investigation of this venerable Teutonic relic, and published, in Danish, in the "Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1836-37," and nearly at the same time in English, in the "Report addressed by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries to its British and American Members," a revised version of the Ruthwell inscription, in which, while confirming the somewhat startling opinion of Mr. Repp, that it was in a language consisting both of Anglo-Saxon and old Northern words, he arrives at very different, but still more precise conclusions. The learned Dane, however, had obtained, as he conceived, a source of information which not even the zealous incumbent of Ruthwell parish had access to.
"Fortunately," says he, "we are in possession of what must be admitted to be an important document in the case before us, a document the existence of which was unknown as well to Mr. Repp as, to the best of our belief, to all others now living, that have devoted attention to the monument in question. Dr. Duncan observes that the capital of the column, which in the delineations he gives of it shews no characters or traces of such, had, however, formerly inscriptions, now quite illegible. The greater part of them, meanwhile, are found on a delineation of the two broader sides of the said capital, which together with the two Runic sides of the whole column, (consequently more of it than has been given by Hickes or Gordon,) is to be seen on a large folio copperplate engraving, now the property of me, Finn Magnusen. It was given to me some years ago by my much-lamented friend and predecessor, Professor Thorkelin, who, however, his memory being impaired by age, could not remember anything more about it than that it represented a column in Scotland, and that he had obtained it, he knew not how or of whom, during his travels in Britain."[572]
This rare and indeed seemingly unique print Professor Magnusen accordingly designates the "Thorkelin Engraving." Its age he conceives must be about 150 years, or perhaps still older. "Be this as it may," he adds, "it serves to throw a new and most important light—in fact, the most important yet obtained—on the design and purpose of the column, inasmuch as it has preserved the initial words of its inscription, setting forth that one Ofa, a descendant of Voda, had caused it to be cut," &c. Accordingly, setting aside the humbler attempts of Mr. Repp, the Danish professor substitutes a marriage for the devastation of his predecessor, discovers four important historical personages in the record, nearly fixes the precise year A.D. 650 for the handfasting, and altogether furnishes an entirely new chapter of Anglo-Saxon history, based almost entirely on this Thorkelin print! Some able northern scholars, more familiar with Anglo-Saxon literature than Professor Magnusen, adopted the very summary process of dealing with the new element thus unexpectedly brought to bear on the inquiry, by doubting the authenticity, if not even the existence, of this unique print. Of its existence, however, there can be no doubt, since, instead of being the rarity which Professor Magnusen imagined, it is to be found in every archæological library in the kingdom, being none other (as I think will no longer be doubted) than one of two etchings, executed by the well-known Scottish antiquary, Mr. Adam de Cardonnel, and forming Plates LIV. and LV. of the Vetusta Monumenta, vol. ii., published in 1789. These are accompanied by a description furnished by R. G., (Roger Gale,) and to it the following postscript has subsequently been added, which it will be seen supplies the account Professor Magnusen failed to obtain from his aged friend: "Since this account was read before the Society [of Antiquaries of London,] the drawing has been shewn to Mr. Professor Thorkelin, who has been investigating all such monuments of his countrymen in this kingdom, but he has not returned any opinion." These engravings of the Ruthwell inscription appear to have excited little interest, probably on account of their being accompanied by no critical analysis or attempt at translation. They would seem to have escaped the notice of Mr. J. M. Kemble, otherwise he would have found there all that the drawings of Dr. Duncan supply, with, indeed, some slight additions; for it chances oddly enough that the old Scottish Antiquary has copied the Anglo-Saxon Runes—about which it may reasonably be doubted if he knew anything—a great deal more correctly than the Latin inscription in familiar Roman characters, some of which he has contrived to render totally unintelligible. It was probably a result of this carelessness, that in arranging a broken fragment of the top of the cross, along with the lower stem, he misplaced the parts, wedding the imperfect upper fragments of the Latin, to the remainder of the Anglo-Saxon inscription. The offspring of this misalliance was the Ofa, Voden's kinsman, of Professor Magnusen, whose double genealogy is given with amusing precision, "according to the Younger Edda!" The slightest glance at Cardonnel's etchings will shew that the learned Dane, in attempting to decipher this supposed invaluable addition, was only torturing ill-copied Roman characters into convenient Northern or Anglo-Saxon Runes.
In 1838, Mr. John M. Kemble, an English Anglo-Saxon scholar, undertook to unwind this ravelled skein, and in an able paper "On Anglo-Saxon Runes,"[573] pointed out the valuelessness of any amount of knowledge of the Scandinavian languages as a means for deciphering Anglo-Saxon inscriptions. Following out his own views he accordingly produced a translation differing, toto cœlo, from either of those already referred to, but which commends itself in some degree even to the mere English student, who detects in the old Anglo-Saxon the radicals of his native tongue; as in the original of Mr. Repp's Cristpason:—Krist waes on rodi,—Christ was on the Rood or Cross. Combating with the difficulties arising solely from the mutilated and fragmentary state of what Mr. Kemble so justly styles "this noble monument of Anglo-Saxon antiquity," he demonstrates the rhythmic character of the construction, deducing from this the strongest proof of the accuracy of his reading. Still should the reader, who is thus compelled to consider two learned versions of this inscription as no better than the Antiquary's Agricola dicavit libens lubens, hesitate about accepting the third as less open to challenge, his scepticism could not perhaps be greatly blamed. A remarkable chance, however, threw in the way of the intelligent Anglo-Saxon scholar an altogether indisputable confirmation of the general accuracy of the conclusions he had arrived at. A comparison of the various steps in this process of elucidation furnishes one of the most singular modern contributions to the curiosities of literature. A few years ago a MS. volume consisting chiefly of Anglo-Saxon homilies, was discovered at Vercelli, in the Milanese, but which also contained, intermingled with the prose, some Anglo-Saxon religious poems. One of these, entitled a "Dream of the Holy Rood," extends to 310 lines, and in this are found the whole of the fragmentary lines previously translated by Mr. Kemble, along with the context which fills up the numerous lacunæ of the time-worn inscription on the Ruthwell cross. No confirmation of the accuracy of conclusions previously published could well be more gratifying or satisfactory than this; independently of which the beauty of the Anglo-Saxon poem suffices to convey a singularly vivid idea of the civilisation existing at the period—probably not later than the ninth century—when it was engraved on the venerable Scottish monument which has anew excited the veneration of the modern descendants of its old Anglo-Saxon builders, and, with some portion of its former beauty renewed by the piety of modern hands, is restored to the occupation of its ancient site. Of the high civilisation of this period, however, the student of Anglo-Saxon history can need no new proof when he bears in mind, as Mr. Kemble has remarked, "that before the close of the eighth century Northumberland was more advanced in civilisation than any other portion of Teutonic Europe."
The "Dream of the Holy Rood" represents the sleeping Christian suddenly startled by the vision of the Cross, the instrument of man's salvation, which appears in the sky attended with angels, and manifesting, by various changes, its sympathy in the passion and the glory of the Redeemer. At length the Cross itself addresses the sleeper, and describes its feelings on being made the instrument of the suffering of the Son of God. It is from this beautiful part of the poem that the verses have been selected for inscription on the Ruthwell cross. The following extracts, in which the fragments still legible on the old monument are printed in italics, will help the reader to form some idea of the refinement of the period when the cross was erected, and may also suffice to shew how little need there is to seek in Scandinavian, or other foreign sources, for the taste or skill manifested in the works of early native art. The Cross thus speaks in person:—
'Twas many a year ago,
I yet remember it,
That I was hewn down
At the wood's end,
Stirred from out my dream.
Strong foes took me there,
They made me for a spectacle,
They bade me uplift their outcasts:
There men bore me upon their shoulders
until they set me down upon a hill,
There foes enough fastened me.
There saw I the Lord of mankind
hasten with mighty power,
because he would mount on me.
There then I dared not,
against the Lord's command,
bow down or burst asunder;
There I saw tremble
the extent of the earth.
I had power all
his foes to fell,
but yet I stood fast.
Then the young hero prepared himself,
That was Almighty God,
Strong and firm of mood
he mounted the lofty cross,
courageously in sight of many,
when he willed to redeem mankind.
I trembled when the hero embraced me,
yet dared I not bow down to earth,
fall to the bosom of the ground,
but I was compelled to stand fast.
A cross was I reared.
I raised the powerful king,
the lord of the heavens;
I dared not fall down.
They pierced me with dark nails,
on me are the wounds visible!
* * * * * * *
They reviled us both together.
I was all stained with blood
poured from the man's side.
* * * * * * *
The shadow went forth,
wan under the welkin:
All creation wept;
they mourned the fall of their king.
Christ was on the cross,
yet thither hastening,
unto the noble one.
All that beheld I,
With sorrow I was overwhelmed.
* * * * * * *
The warriors left me there
Standing defiled with gore;
I was all wounded with shafts.
They laid him down limb-weary,
They stood at the corpse's head;
They beheld the Lord of heaven,
and he rested himself there awhile,
weary after his mighty contest.
This curious poem is marked by what Mr. Kemble has pronounced to betray evidence of modern handling, and is perhaps the amplification by a later Anglo-Saxon poet,—it may be of the simpler address originally graven on the Ruthwell cross. Of the general identity between the poem and the inscription, however, not the slightest doubt can exist; and we therefore no longer depend on any future discovery for supplying the deficiencies of the Runic legend, though we can only guess as to the full extent to which it was carried in its original form. "It always seemed probable," says Mr. Kemble in concluding his observations on the old Scottish monument, "that much of the inscription was missing, and the comparison instituted above renders this certain. The passages which remain are too fragmentary ever to have constituted a substantive whole, without very considerable additions, which there is no longer room for upon the cross in its present form. Buried perhaps beneath the soil of the churchyard, or worked into the walls of neighbouring habitations, the supplementary fragments may yet be reserved for a late resurrection. Should they ever again meet the eyes of men they will add little to our knowledge; still we should rejoice to find them once again resuming their old place in the pillar, and helping to reconstruct in its original form the most beautiful as well as the most interesting relic of Teutonic antiquity."[574]
It would be vain to speculate now on the probability of the former existence of such monuments in other localities, when it is considered that in the great majority of cases scarcely a relic remains even of the ancient parish churches of Scotland, built after the final establishment of a Saxon population in the low country. One other Runic monument, however, is known to have existed in the same district down to a very, recent period. Mr. Charles Kirkpatrick Sharp of Hoddam, informs me that in the ancient church of Hoddam, a sculptured stone, which was built into the wall, bore an inscription of some length, in Runic characters. Of this he made a copy before the final demolition of the ruined church in 1815, but he has since sought for the transcript in vain. The original, it is to be feared, no longer exists; but among various sculptured fragments rescued from the ruins, and now in Mr. Sharp's collection, are portions of the shaft of a cross, divided into compartments with sculptured figures in relief, bearing a very considerable resemblance to the style of decoration on the Ruthwell cross, with the addition in one compartment of the favourite interlaced knotwork of Scottish and Irish sculptors. That the venerable ecclesiastical edifice included in its masonry relics of still earlier date, has already been shewn by the rescue of a Roman altar from its ruined walls, dedicated by a cohort of German auxiliaries to imperial Jove.[575]
Other remarkable Anglo-Saxon memorials have been discovered within the ancient kingdom of Northumbria, as well as beyond its southern limits. One of the most interesting of these is a square font, at Bridekirk, in Cumberland. It is covered on each of its four sides with singular sculptures, in some of which a resemblance may be traced to the decorations of the Scottish standing stones. On the east side a curious group represents the baptism of our Saviour, who stands in a square font with a nimbus encircling his head, and over him is the dove perched on a tree. On the south side is a Runic inscription interwoven among ornaments, which still remains to be satisfactorily explained.[576] Mr. Rolfe of Sandwick has in his possession the silver hilt of a sword found in an Anglo-Saxon barrow, and inscribed in Runic characters.[577] A few other examples of the use of the Anglo-Saxon Runes in England have been discovered from time to time,[578] and receive the attention justly due to objects of such high interest, now that English archæologists have learned that it is to themselves and not to Scandinavian scholars that they must look for the elucidation of the literature of their own Anglo-Saxon progenitors.
Bronze Ring Pin.
In the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which were so long occupied as a Norse jarldom, the relics of Scandinavian art are, as might be expected, more abundant than in any other part of the country. The woodcut represents a bronze pin about one-fourth of the natural size, which was found in a tumulus at Sandwick, in Orkney. Another nearly similar to this, preserved in the local museum at Kirkwall, is said to have been found in a cist containing a human skeleton, and sticking in the skull, as if it had been the instrument of death. Other examples of similar pins with rings attached to them have been discovered at various times in the Orkney Islands. But not only have such relics been met with singly from time to time, but occasionally whole groups of graves have been exposed containing Scandinavian weapons and personal ornaments, and in some cases at least appearing to indicate the site of a battle-field in which many of the Northern warriors have fallen. Wallace describes, in his Account of the Islands of Orkney, the discovery of graves in the Links of Tranaby in Westray, "in one of which was seen a man lying with his sword on the one hand and a Danish axe on the other, and others that have had dogs, combs, and knives buried with them." In the spring of 1849 the shifting of the sands during the continuance of high easterly winds brought to light a remarkable group of graves on the Links of Pier-o-waal at Westray. A partial notice of this interesting discovery was communicated by Mr. T. Crofton Croker to the Journal of the Archæological Association,[579] accompanied with illustrations engraved from various of the articles found deposited with the dead. The following details are chiefly supplied from notes by Mr. William Rendall, surgeon, who repaired to the Links of Pier-o-waal on learning of the discovery of the graves, and wrote down these observations as they fell under his notice.[580] Though in some cases less ample than might be desired, they supply an exceedingly interesting series of data in illustration of the sepulchral relics of Orkney belonging to the latest Pagan era.
The following group of graves was found near the sea-shore, on the Links of Pier-o-waal, Orkney, on a line running north and south.
No. 1. This grave appeared to have been previously disturbed. Sufficient traces of the skeleton were found to indicate that the body had lain north and south, rather inclining to the right side, with the face towards the sea. Only half of the skull remained, and from its appearance it might have been cleft when interred. A small iron hatchet lay before the body. Half of a helmet was also discovered, and small pieces of iron were scattered around, apparently indicating that the occupant of the grave had been buried in armour.
No. 2 contained part of a human skeleton along with that of a horse. The horse lay on its belly, with its head towards the sea, and directly north-east, with its hinder parts towards the south-west. The horse's head, which was quite entire and of rather a small size, was resting on the nose. On removing it, an iron-bit with one of the bridle-rings attached, was found between its jaws. The remains of the human skeleton were lying immediately in front of the horse's head, with the feet towards the north, and the thigh bones crossed. No skull could be found. On the right side of the skeleton lay a buckle and a piece of bone which had been attached to metal. A piece of iron, either a small sword or a spear-head, and considerable remains of iron rust, shewed that in this case also the deceased warrior had been laid to rest accompanied with the panoply of war. Part of the skeleton of a dog was discovered in the same grave.—No. 3 also contained portions both of a human skeleton and of a horse. The position of the former could not be ascertained. Beside it lay a small dagger, and other remains of iron weapons or armour were found in fragments in the grave. No. 4 contained a skeleton, lying north and south, on its right side, and with the knees drawn up towards the abdomen. No remains of armour were found.
This interesting group of early graves appears to have been entirely distinct from those alluded to in Mr. T. Crofton Croker's account. The second group, to which he refers, is described by Mr. Kendall as having been discovered surrounding a tumulus, or mound of sand and small stones, at a considerable distance from the sea, in a line running north-west from the former site of graves.
No. 1 was found on the south-west side of the mound. It contained a large male skeleton nearly entire, lying north and south, with the head to the north, and having large stones set round it in a square form: doubtless the usual rude cist so generally adopted in the Pagan sepulture of the north of Europe. After carefully removing the sand, the skeleton was discovered lying inclined towards the left side, with the knees drawn up, and the arms crossing over the breast. About two inches from the top of the head was found a cup-like piece of iron, described by Mr. Rendall as "evidently the part of a helmet." Notwithstanding its position, however, it was more probably the umbone of a shield, of which other remains were discovered in the cist, consisting of pieces of wood, with fragments of the iron covering still adhering to them. On the left side of the skeleton lay an iron sword, measuring about four feet in length; a large sharpening stone, a comb, and several glass beads, were also found in the grave.
No. 2. On the north side of the mound a second grave was opened, which contained a small skeleton, lying north and south, and supposed by Mr. Rendall to have been a female. In this and following examples the position differed from that previously described in having the head to the south. No fragments of iron or indications of rust suggested the former presence of arms or armour, but on the breast lay a pair of the large oval or shell-shaped brooches, already described; and lower down, right over the region of the stomach, was found another ornament of the class of trefoil-shaped clasps, described by Mr. Worsaae, in his "Primeval Antiquities of Denmark," as occasionally found in connexion with the oval brooches.[581]—No. 3. A third grave, opened on the north side of the mound, disclosed a small skeleton lying between two rows of stones. This appears to have been the grave most minutely described and illustrated in Mr. T. Crofton Croker's communication to the Journal of the Archæological Society.[582]
It also contained a pair of the large oval brooches, one of which is here figured one-fourth the original size. Two long combs, decorated on each side with ornamental carvings, were found, one of them above each shoulder. The teeth of the combs were fastened between two plates of bone, rivetted together with copper nails. A small bronze pin or bodkin was likewise picked up among the interesting contents of this cist. In this case also the skeleton is believed by Mr. Rendall to have been that of a female: an opinion which coincides with the conclusions arrived at by Mr. Worsaae,[583] though the very large size of the brooches seems more suited for the personal decorations of the chieftain or the priest.
Oval Brooch.
No. 4 was another cist on the north side of the mound, but it had been previously disturbed, and contained only portions of a human skeleton.—No. 5 was opened on the north-east side of the mound. It inclosed part of a small skeleton, which Mr. Rendall pronounces to be "evidently that of a female." This also contained a pair of oval brooches, an ornamental pin or bodkin, and a pair of combs. The woodcut represents one of the combs, which was presented to Mr. Croker. It is much to be regretted that the valuable series of Scoto-Scandinavian relics, thus brought to light by the disturbance of this tumular cemetery, have already been dispersed in many private hands, so as to be irrecoverably lost. Their value would have been greatly augmented as the illustrations of an important period in our national history, could the entire collection have been kept together, and deposited in some accessible public museum.[584]
One of the bronze pins found in the above graves is figured in the Journal of the Archæological Association. Like others previously noticed it has a ring at the head, though it is otherwise much ruder than the example found at Sandwick. It is engraved here about two-thirds of the size of the original, which was thickly encrusted with verd antique when discovered. It is described in the notes furnished to Mr. Croker as "a sharp-pointed metal instrument, hardly a span in length, having a circular ring of the same metal for a head. It was found lying on the abdomen. This was the skeleton of an aged person, of the ordinary size. It was nearly entire. This grave was both covered and surrounded by large flat stones."
Such are some of the traces of Scandinavian influence which the Scottish archæologist meets with in the course of his researches. They all belong to a comparatively recent period; and of the beautiful class of personal ornaments, the oval brooches, which are so frequently found, Mr. Worsaae remarks, "that they are positively to be referred to the last period of Paganism we know with complete certainty, because they are frequently found in graves in Iceland, which country was first peopled by Pagan Norwegians at the close of the ninth century." Long before that date, however, Christianity had reached the Scottish shores; and though impeded, and even frequently eradicated from districts where it had taken deep root, chiefly by the malign influence of these Pagan Northmen, we have no reason to think it was ever entirely extinct. Hence we are abundantly justified in claiming a native origin for the Pagan arts of Scotland, and in referring all Scandinavian influence to a late period and a very limited locality.
One other singular class of Northern relics of which analogous types have been found in Scotland, remains to be noticed. These consist of a curious variety of vessels, presumed to have been designed for holding liquors, but invariably made in the form of some animal or monstrous hybrid. They differ entirely from any class of antiquities hitherto noticed, and more nearly resemble ancient Indian bronzes than any of the relics of early Northern art. The annexed figure represents one of these, in the collection of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharp, Esq., and found by him among a hoard of long-forgotten family heirlooms, in a vault of his paternal mansion of Hoddam Castle, Dumfriesshire. Of its previous history nothing is known. It is made of bronze. The principal figure is a lion, without a tail, measuring fourteen inches in length, and nearly fourteen inches in greatest height. On the back is perched a nondescript animal, half greyhound, half fish, apparently intended for a handle to the whole, while from the breast projects a stag's head with large antlers. This has a perforation in the back of the neck, as if for the insertion of a stop-cock, and it appears probable was designed for running off the liquid contained within the singular vessel to which it is attached. A small square lid on the top of the lion's head, opening with a hinge, supplies the requisite aperture for filling it with whatever liquor it was designed to hold. A similar relic, possessed by Sir John Maxwell, Bart., was dug up a few years since on the Pollock estate, and another in the collection of the late E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., was also in the form of a lion. The conclusion which the appearance of the whole of these relics would suggest to an observer unfamiliar with Northern antiquities, would certainly be that they were the products of ancient Indian rather than of Scandinavian art. The following account, however, derived from Kluver's Norwegian Antiquities,[585] will shew that they are well known not only in Norway and Denmark, but even in Iceland—that interesting Northern stronghold of the later relics of Scandinavian art.
"On the farm of Vaaden, about five miles south-west from Drontheim, there was found some years ago in a field, and at no great distance from the surface, an animal form with beak and wings. In its beak it carries a man wearing a kirtle and closed helmet, booted and spurred. The figure, which is of brass composition, weighs five and one-half pounds. It is hollow internally. There is an aperture on the neck of the animal, which has been provided with a lid, and another aperture in the back of the helmet worn by the mailed figure which it carries in its beak. Another animal figure has been preserved from time immemorial, at Moldè, a small sea-port a little to the south of Drontheim. It resembles a unicorn, and has an aperture in the neck, to which obviously a lid had been attached. From the handle along the back, which represents a serpent, and the circumstance of the horn in the forehead being hollow, it may reasonably be conjectured to have been used as a liquor decanter. A third figure of a similar description, which is said to have been found under ground at Helgeland—a province situated to the northward of Drontheim—represents a knight mounted on a piebald horse in complete armour, wearing a coat of ring-mail, a square helmet with vizor down, and carrying a drawn sword in his hand. In this figure likewise there is an aperture in the upper part of the helmet, and another in the forehead of the horse."
The whole of these singular groups are figured in Kluver's work, and it will be seen that they closely correspond to the Scottish example from Hoddam Castle. The costume of the knights in two of them shews that they cannot be assigned to an earlier date than the latter part of the thirteenth century. They are all nearly of the same proportions, measuring about ten inches in length, and six inches in height, exclusive of the mailed knight mounted on the horse in the figure last described. Another curious specimen of the same class of antiquities, in which the principal figure is a lion, has been preserved for ages in the church of St. Olaf, at Vatnsfjord, in Iceland, and is described by Professor Sjöborg, who conceives it to have been used as a lamp. It is also referred to by Professor Finn Magnusen in the following remarks on those figured by Kluver:—"These curious liquor decanters—of which various specimens exist in Denmark and other countries—are of a very remarkable formation. The two first seem to bespeak an origin in the heathen mythology. Assuming that even in the middle ages or at a later period they were used in the rites of the Catholic Church, as in the instance of a like vessel, known by the name of the Thorlacian, presented to the church at Vatnsfjord, still it is by no means certain that such was their original purpose. Many articles, such as tapestries, cups, vases, candlesticks, &c., were used as household commodities before they were diverted to ecclesiastical purposes. In the same way these liquor decanters, which neither bear the forms nor devices of Christian art, have probably been originally adapted to another use." It will be readily admitted that these relics present little appearance of having been designed as any of the sacred vessels of the medieval church; nevertheless little doubt can be entertained that they were so used in the north, and perhaps at an early period throughout Christendom, as part of the furniture of the altar. Professor Munch, who examined the example figured above, in the collection of Mr. Sharp, during his recent visit to this country, observes in a letter written since his return to Norway: "Notwithstanding their fantastic shapes, of some four-footed beast, they were used upon the altar as vessels containing the water which the officiating Diaconus poured upon the hands of the priest before his touching the host at the elevation. I understand from Mr. Thomsen, who learned it from a Frenchman educated at Smyrna, that such vessels are still used for the same purpose in the Roman Catholic chapels in the Levant. It is therefore probable that those found in Norway have either been brought from Byzantium, or made after Byzantine models."
The ecclesiastical character of these singular relics would therefore seem to be more certainly established than their Scandinavian origin, though it may still be doubted whether they were primarily designed for any sacred purpose. It is, however, sufficient for our present object to trace the analogy discernible between the Scottish relic figured above and those Scandinavian antiquities discovered in the native country of the old Northmen, or preserved in their ancient seat of colonization on the verge of the Arctic Circle. In the latter instance, at least, we find them devoted to the uses of the church and placed alongside of its most sacred furniture; while to all appearance they seem to be more adapted to social purposes, which, among the northern nations especially, are most allied to excess.
These objects of Northern antiquity, however, form a class by themselves, and bear no analogy to the prevailing types of the last Pagan period, either in the Scandinavian countries or in Britain. However clearly the facts above referred to shew that they pertain to the antiquities of Norway and Denmark, they cannot be assigned to the same era of Northern art, which produced the beautiful oval brooches and other contemporary relics. They seem rather to point to a later period of intercourse with the East, when the Cufic coins, which are familiar to Northern antiquaries, were introduced. The oldest of these date as early as the year 79 of the Hegira, or A.D. 698, but they have been found of A.D. 1010, and may be presumed to have reached the north of Europe at a somewhat later period than the last of these dates.
Beautiful as some of the relics of Scandinavian art found in Scotland are, they can hardly be considered equal to contemporary examples of native workmanship, such as the very fine early Scottish brooch found in the vicinity of the mounds of Dunipace, and figured on a previous page. Compared with the Caithness oval brooch, selected as the very best of its class, it will, I think, be generally acknowledged as exhibiting both a more defined and a higher style of art. But independently of the beauty of this native relic, nothing is more remarkable than the striking contrast which it presents in form, and style of ornament, to any known class of Scandinavian personal ornaments, while, like most of the later native examples, it bears a close affinity to the contemporary productions of Irish art. The woodcut shews the ornamental interlaced knotwork on the upper portion of the acus, which, in the complete view of the brooch, is concealed by the central ornament.[586] In its imperfect state it is sufficiently apparent that this had been of the same disproportionate length as is frequently found in Irish examples, otherwise greatly varying in form. This is particularly the case with the ring fibulæ, generally of silver. One of these, found in county Antrim, and engraved in the Archæological Journal, measures above six and one-fourth inches long,[587] while a larger and still more beautiful one, in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin, is nearly fourteen inches in length. This singular feature in the brooches of the early Christian Period both of Scotland and Ireland, most probably had its origin in some peculiar fashion of the Celtic dress, superseded in the former country during the vital changes which affected it in the eleventh century. The annexed woodcut shews another beautiful Scottish brooch, also from the collection of Mr. John Bell of Dungannon. It is of less costly material than the Dunipace brooch, being made of bronze, but, like it, it has been jewelled, and is otherwise little inferior in point of workmanship. It was found accidentally amongst old brass, in a brazier's shop in Glasgow, and is engraved here the full size of the original.
The brooch has always been a favourite Celtic ornament, and is indeed almost indispensable to the Highland costume. It is worn universally by the Scottish Highlanders, both male and female; and in many Highland families, of various ranks, favourite brooches have been preserved through many generations, as heirlooms which no pecuniary inducement would tempt their humblest owner to part with. The most celebrated of these is the brooch of Lorn, dropt by Robert the Bruce after the defeat of his followers at Methven, when he was compelled to abandon his mantle and the brooch which fastened it, to rid himself of an assailant who held it in his dying grasp. This interesting historic memorial is still preserved by the lineal descendant of the Macdougals of Lorn.[588] Another remarkable relic of the same class is the Glenlyon brooch, which has been preserved in the family of the Campbells of Glenlyon for many generations. It is circular, and of silver, richly jewelled. An ornamental bar, also jewelled, crosses the centre, and two tongues meet on this from opposite sides. It is engraved on Plate II. from careful drawings made from the original. On the lower side are the names of the three Kings of Cologne, a favourite inscription on medieval amulets, thus,—
Caspar. Melchior. Baltazar. Consumatum.
Pennant has engraved this ancient Scottish brooch, but the figure conveys a very partial idea of the rude magnificence of the original, which measures five and a half inches in circumference.[589]
With these native personal ornaments, introduced here for the purpose of comparison and contrast with those traceable to a Scandinavian source, may also be noticed the silver brooches, of various forms, which are frequently found in Scotland, and are also not unfamiliar to English antiquaries. They are invariably inscribed with some sacred formula or charm, the most common one being Iesus Nazarenus. One example, in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, is a small octagonal fibula, without ornament, which is said to have been discovered in excavating the tomb of King Robert the Bruce, at Dunfermline, in 1818. It is inscribed,—Iesus. Nazarenus Rex. Iudeorum. Another of the same form, but larger, and of superior workmanship, recently found among the ruins of Eilan Donan Castle, on Loch Duich, the ancient stronghold of the M'Kenzies, bears the abbreviated inscription, Iesus. Nazar. Scottish examples of the same class might be greatly multiplied, but the most of them belong to a considerably later period than that to which we now refer.