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The Christ and the beasts panel on the Ruthwell Cross

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Kristine Edmondson Haney
Kristine Edmondson Haney
Affiliation:
The University of Massachusetts
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Extract

Although the Ruthwell Cross has universally been regarded as one of the most outstanding achievements of early Northumbrian civilization, the meaning of its iconographic programme remains the subject of considerable debate. Central to most interpretations is the largest panel on the Cross, one depicting Christ and the beasts (see pl. Ia). The correct identification of this scene has long been regarded as crucial for achieving an understanding of the iconographic programme as a whole. While this scene must be accepted as the key to the programme, no entirely satisfactory explanation of its meaning has hitherto been offered. This study will draw attention to textual and visual evidence which provides a new basis for understanding this panel and its relationship to the remaining scenes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 14 , December 1985 , pp. 215 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

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3 Ibid. p. 1; Schapiro, ‘The Religious Meaning’, p. 233.

4 Saxl, ‘Ruthwell’, figs. 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 20 and 24.

5 Ibid. fig. 24.

6 Ibid. figs. 11, 13, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23 and 25.

7 Combining figures and adapting them to a new context is not unusual in this period; see Kitzinger, Ernst, The Relics of St. Cuthbert, ed. Battiscombe, C. F. (Oxford, 1956), p. 275Google Scholar, on the adaptation of all the angels on St Cuthbert's coffin from a single model, and Bruce-Mitford, R., Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Lindisfarnensis, 2 vols. (Olten and Lausanne, 1960) 11, 142–9Google Scholar, on the use of the Codex Amiatinus Ezra portrait for St Matthew in the Lindisfarne Gospels.

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19 Schapiro also offered visual parallels which depicted Christ tempted by the devil and dated from the eleventh to the fourteenth century; see Schapiro, ‘The Religious Meaning’, p. 237.

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22 ‘I am a mortal and one of the inhabitants of the desert whom the pagans, deluded by all manner of error, worship under the names of fauns, satyrs, and incubi. I serve as the ambassador of my flock. We beseech you to intercede for us with him who is Lord over all, for we acknowledge that he came at one time for the salvation of the world and that his sound went forth into all the earth. The aged traveller wept many tears over these words which told of the great overflowing joy of his heart. He rejoiced over the glory of Christ and the defeat of Satan. At the same time, he was astonished that he could understand the creature's speech and, striking the ground with his staff, cried out: “Woe to you Alexandria, because you worship monsters instead of God! Woe to you, meretricious city, in which all the demons of the world find refuge. What now will you answer? Beasts speak the name of Christ and you bring forth monsters instead of (worshipping) God.” ’

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24 Jerome, , Vita S. Pauli, ed. Oldfather, p. 40Google Scholar. ‘Therefore, having offered praise to God with an act of thankfulness, each sat at the edge of the clear spring. Here arose a dispute, which lasted almost until evening, over who should break the bread. Paul, according to custom as host, urged Antony, while Antony felt that by right of his seniority, the privilege belonged to Paul. Finally it was decided that each would pick up one end of the bread and pull it towards himself; his own portion would remain in his hands.’

25 Earlier depictions of Paul and Antony appear in Egypt at Bawit (sixth century), Deir Saint Paul (seventh century), Khirbet-el-Mard (seventh century) and Deir Abú Makár; see Porter, Crosses, fig. 140. In these cases, the saints are shown as single, standing orant figures. See also Cuttler, Charles, ‘The Temptations of Saint Antony in Art from Earliest Times to the First Quarter of the Sixteenth Century’ (unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, New York Univ., 1952);Google ScholarFerrari, G., ‘Sources for the Early Iconography of St Antony’, Studia Anselmiana 38 (1956), 248–53Google Scholar; Noordeloos, Knipping, ‘De Ikonographie van het bezoek van Antonius den Grote aan Paulus van Thebe’, Het Gildebock 24 (1941), 33–73.Google Scholar

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27 Aldhelmi Opera, ed. R. Ehwald, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auct. antiq. 15 (Berlin, 1919), 265Google Scholar; see also Aldhelm: the Prose Works, trans. M. Lapidgeand M. Herren (Ipswich and Totowa, NJ, 1979), pp. 87–8.Google Scholar

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29 The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great, by an Anonymous Monk of Whitby, ed. Bertram Colgrave (Lawrence, Kan., 1968).Google Scholar

30 Two Lives of Saint Cuthbert: a Life by an Anonymous Monk of Lindisfarne and Bede's Prose Life, ed. Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge, 1940).Google Scholar

31 Anglo-Saxon Saints and Heroes, ed. C. Albertson (New York, 1967), pp. 165–222Google Scholar; Felix's Life of Saint Guthlac, ed. Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge, 1956).Google Scholar

32 For arguments dating the Cross to the early eighth century, see ,Campbell, A., Old English Grammar (Oxford, 1959), p. 4Google Scholar, n. 2; The Dream of the Rood, ed. B. Dickins and A. S. C. Ross, 4th ed. (London, 1967), p. 13Google Scholar; Howlett, D. R., ‘Two Panels on the Ruthwell Cross’, Jnl of the Warburg and Courtauld Insts. 37 (1974), 333–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Cramp, Rosemary, ‘The Anglian Sculpted Crosses of Dumfriesshire’, Trans. of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural Hist, and Antiquarian Soc. 37 (1959–1960), 1–30, at 12.Google Scholar

33 See Colgrave, ‘Earliest Saints Lives’, p. 37.

34 Quentin, Henri, Les Martyrologes historiques du moyen âge (Paris, 1908), p. 2Google Scholar; De Rossi, J. B. and Duchesne, L., Martyrologium Hieronyianum, Acta Sanctorum, Januarii 1 (Brussels, 1894), 602–9Google Scholar; Édition pratique des martyrologes de Bède, de l' Anonyme lyonnais et de Florus, ed. J. Dubois and G. Renaud (Paris, 1976).Google Scholar

35 Bede appended 114 notices to the church calendar. His sources are Quentin, listed, Les Martyrologes, p. 112Google Scholar. See also Aigrain, R., L'hagiographie, ses sources, ses méthodes, son histoire (Paris, 1953), p. 52Google Scholar, and Ogilvy, , Books, p. 180.Google Scholar

36 Quentin, , Les Martyrologes, p. 99Google Scholar. Although there is ample documentation for the inclusion of readings from the martyrology in the liturgy for the mid-eighth century, the situation before this date in England has not been specifically documented. See Gaiffier, Baudouin de, ‘De l'usage et de la lecture du martyrologe’, AB 79 (1961), 44–6Google Scholar; see also Piper, Ferdinand, Die Kalendarien und Martyrologien der Angelsachsen (Berlin, 1862), p. 63.Google Scholar

37 Ryan, John, Irish Monasticism (Dublin, 1931), p. 35Google Scholar; see also Stancliffe, C., ‘Red, White and Blue Martyrdom’, Ireland in Early Mediaeval Europe, ed. Whitelock, D., McKitterick, R. and Dumville, D. (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 21–46.Google Scholar

38 Colgrave, ‘Earliest Saints' Lives’, p. 42. For a recent discussion, see Kech, Herbert, Hagiographie als christliche Unterbaltungsliteratur (Göttingen, 1977), pp. 148–57.Google Scholar

39 Jerome, , Vita S. Pauli, ed. Oldfather, p. 38.Google Scholar

40 The Letters of St Jerome, trans. C. Mierow 1 (London, 1963), 172Google Scholar. The Latin text is as follows: ‘Verum quia nunc de virginibus scribens paene superflue de monachis disputavi, ad tertium genus veniam quos anachoretas vocant et qui de coenobiis exeuntes excepto pane et sale amplius ad deserta nil perferunt. Huius vitae auctor Paulus, inlustrator Antonius …’ (Jerome, , Epistula xxii. 36, ed. 1. Hilberg, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 4 (Vienna, 1910), 200Google Scholar; see also Epistula lviii (Ibid. p. 534)).

41 Letters, trans. Mierow 1, 172. The corresponding Latin passage reads: ‘… ut ad superiora conscendam, princeps lohannes baptista fuit’. (ed. Hilberg, p. 200). Jerome also states in his seventy-fifth homily that John the Baptist set the example for monks; see The Homilies of St Jerome, trans. Mary L. Ewald, Fathers of the Church 57 (Washington, DC, 1966), 124Google Scholar, and Jerome, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Morin, G., Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina (hereafter CCSL) 78 (Turnhout, 1958), 453–4.Google Scholar

42 Leclercq, J., The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, trans. Misrahi, C. (New York, 1962), p. 103.Google Scholar

43 Fuhrmann, M., Acta Sincera Sancti Pauli Thebaei Cognomento Primi Eremitae (Neustadt, 1760), pp. 90–3.Google Scholar

44 Cassian, John, Conférences XVIII–XXIV, ed. and trans. Pichéry, E., Sources chrétiennes 64 (Paris, 1959), 17.Google Scholar

45 Doble, G. H., Lives of the Welsh Saints, ed. Evans, D. S. (Cardiff, 1971), p. 45Google Scholar; Thompson, A. H., ‘Northumbrian Monasticism’, Bede: his Life, Times, and Writings, ed. Thompson, A. H. (1935; repr. New York, 1966), p. 69Google Scholar; Colgrave, ‘Earliest Saints' Lives’, p. 40.

46 Two Lives, ed. Colgrave, p. 1.

47 Bede, , Vita S. Cuthberti (Two Lives, ed. Colgrave, p. 223Google Scholar); Anglo-Saxon Saints, ed. Albertson, p. 62, n. 31.

48 Thus St Iltut was fed in the manner of Paul and Antony, and St Paulinus of Wales went to live in the desert like Paul the Hermit; see Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae, ed. A. W. Wade-Evans (Cardiff, 1944), p. 220Google Scholar, and Doble, , Lives, pp. 113 and 150.Google Scholar

49 Bede, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, D., CCSL 122 (Turnhout, 1955), 2–3Google Scholar. ‘Symbolically the desert in which John remained signifies the life of holy men who living either alone or mixed with a crowd continually with the total intention of mind spurn the desires of the present age and cling to God alone in the hidden region of the heart and they are delighted to place their hope in Him. It was that most desired solitude of mind for (the sake of contemplating) God that the prophet, with the aiding grace of the Holy Spirit, desired to attain when he said: “Who will give to me wings like those of doves and I will fly and rest.” And the same prophet when having himself attained that same solitude soon, with the Lord helping him, leaping from the ordinary entanglements of earthly things, added: “Behold I fleeing have withdrawn myself from those things and remained in solitude.”’

50 Aldhelmi Opera, ed. Ehwald, pp. 253, 264–5; Aldhelm: the Prose Works, trans. Lapidge and Herren, pp. 79, 87–8. See also Schapiro, ‘Ruthwell’, p. 236.

51 The identification of this figure as John the Baptist has recently been challenged by Meyvaert, Paul, ‘An Apocalypse Panel of the Ruthwell Cross’, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Proc. of the Southeastern Institute of Med. and Renaissance Stud., Summer, 1978, ed. Tirro, F. (Durham, NC, 1982), pp. 3–31Google Scholar. Meyvaert points out that the figure is not entirely consistent with images of John the Baptist, since he stands on two globes and does not wear a hair shirt, and since the lamb is not encircled by a medallion. Furthermore, the Quinisext Council in Trullo (ad 692) prohibited scenes of John pointing to the Lamb. Instead, he identifies the figure as Christ together with the apocalyptic Lamb, described in Revelation. Although Meyvaert raises some noteworthy objections, a consideration of the corresponding Bewcastle panel confirms the traditional identification as John the Baptist. Here the bearded figure is clearly distinguished from the beardless Christ below. The globes have been eliminated and the lamb is surrounded by a medallion. The commonly accepted dating of this panel further suggests that the Trullo prohibition had a limited impact in the early eighth century. The identification of the scene with apocalyptic imagery is also problematic, since both Meyvaert's parallels and visual ones dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries refer almost without exception to a single globe and seated figure. Here, he argues that Insular artists intended figures standing before thrones to be viewed as seated ones. While this is sometimes the case, it generally applies when the artist was not skilled enough to depict a seated one, as in his pl. V. However, this does not apear to apply to the Ruthwell panel. No throne is visible behind the figure (as it is in pl. V), and the pose of Mary in the flight scene amply demonstrates the ability of the sculptor to render a seated figure convincingly.

52 Two Lives, ed. Colgrave, p. 155. ‘Principium nobis scribendi de vita et miraculis beati patris Cuthberti Ieremias propheta consecrat, qui anachoreticae perfectionis statum glorificans ait, “Bonum est viro cum portaverit iugum ab adolescentia sua, sedebit solitarius et tacebit, quia levabit se super se”.’ Cf. Ibid. pp. 214–15: ‘At postquam in eodem monasterio multa annorum curricula explevit, tandem diu concupita, quaesita, ac petita solitudinis secreta, comitante praefati abbatis sui simul et fratrum gratia multum laetabundus adiit. Gaudebat namque quia de longa perfectione conversationis activae, ad otium divinae speculationis iam mereretur ascendere.’

53 Letters, trans. Mierow 1, p. 32. ‘Solus ibi, immo iam Christo comitante non solus, videt gloriam dei, quam etiam apostoli nisi in deserto non viderant’ (Jerome, , Epistula, ed. Hilberg, p. 16).Google Scholar

54 Two Lives, ed. Colgrave, p. 178.

55 Anglo-Saxon Saints, ed. Albertson, p. 198; Felix, , Vita Sancti Guthlaci, ed. Colgrave, p. 122Google Scholar. ‘Nonne legisti, quia, qui Deo puro spiritu copulatur, omnia sibi in Deo coniunguntur? Et qui ab hominibus cognosci denegat, agnosci a feris et frequentari ab angelis nequit.’

56 This view has been expressed most recently by O'carrigain, E., ‘Liturgical Innovations Associated with Pope Sergius and the Iconography of the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses’, Bede and Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Farrell, pp. 131–47.Google Scholar

57 Jerome, , Vita S. Pauli, ed. Oldfather, p. 40.Google Scholar

58 Two Lives, ed. Colgrave, pp. 180–1.

59 Jerome, , Vita S. Pauli, ed. Oldfather, p. 40.Google Scholar

60 Two Lives, ed. Colgrave, pp. 84–5.

61 Ibid. pp. 86–7.

62 Ibid. p. 197, referring to ps. lxvii.36.

63 Matthew 111.1–3, Mark 1.11–12, Luke 111.16–17, John 1.15–17.

64 Bede, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, p. 8Google Scholar. ‘For above he said that “the word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory the glory as if of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth”. Which statement of the precursor John the Evangelist confirmed by his testimony saying: “This was He about whom I spoke to you: who is going to come after me is preferred before me because He was prior to me.” Again John speaking tells us that he follows those things to which He gave a beginning with the words: ‘And of His fullness we have all received, grace for grace.”’

65 Ibid. p. 10. ‘The law was given by Moses when the people were ordered to be cleansed by a sprinkling of the blood of the lamb. The grace and truth symbolized in the law were accomplished through Jesus Christ when He having suffered on the cross washes us from our sins in His blood.’

66 Other interpretations of the programme as a whole which should also be considered include Saxl, ‘Ruthwell’, and Howlett, ‘Two Panels’, p. 336. In the final analysis, however, Meyvaert (‘John the Baptist’) is undoubtedly correct when he says that the entire meaning is lost to us.

67 Saxl, ‘Ruthwell’, p. 5. See also Mütherich, F., Der Stuttgarter Bilderpsalter 11, 177–8.Google Scholar

68 See Evangelia Apocrypha, ed. Constantinus Tischendorf (Leipzig, 1853), pp. 81–2.Google Scholar

69 Ibid. pp. 86–7.

70 Bede, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, p. 70Google Scholar. ‘And thus it came to pass that the assembly of gentiles who are symbolized by Egypt, previously darkened by sin, received the light of the word. That is just as the boy Jesus and His mother led by Joseph into Egypt symbolizes that faith in the Lord's incarnation and membership in the religious community of the church was given to the Gentiles through the holy doctors. Since they were in Egypt up to the death of Herod this indicates figuratively that the Christian faith will remain among the gentiles until all of them have entered into it and thus all Israel will become safe.’

71 Another identification of this scene as Mary and Martha has been suggested Howlett, ‘Two Panels’, pp. 333–5.

72 Bede, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, pp. 23–4Google Scholar. ‘Truly and in a specific way is he blessed: after he was bom he received the grace of benediction from the Lord in a way not in our manner but (even more) is he blessed who came in the name of the Lord to save the world.’

73 Bede, , In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, ed. Hurst, D., CCSL 120 (Turnhout, 1960), 169.Google Scholar

74 Jerome's text and the Ruthwell inscription use the verb cognoscere to describe the response of the beasts to Christ. It has been translated as ‘to know’ in the English edition of the Vita S. Pauli, trans. Ewald, M. L., Early Christian Biographies (Washington, DC, 1952), p. 230Google Scholar. It can also be translated as ‘to acknowledge’ or ‘to grasp the religious truth’; see Niermeyer, J. F., Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus (Leiden, 1976), p. 196Google Scholar. This, together with the animals’ request that Antony intercede for them and the respectful attitude of the beasts on the Cross suggests that they accept Christ as the saviour of the world.

75 Bede, , In Lucae Evangelium, ed. Hurst, p. 167Google Scholar. See also Bede, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, pp. 209–10.Google Scholar

76 Ibid. p. 162. ‘Caeci erant qui necdum perfectum fidei lumen habebant, claudi qui bona quae noverant operandi gressibus implere nequibant, aridi qui quamlibet oculum scientiae habentes pinguedine tamen spei et dilectionis egebant. Tales in quinque porticibus iacebant, sed nonnisi in piscina angelo veniente sanabantur, quia per legem cognitio peccati, gratia autem remissionis nonnisi per Iesum Christum facta est.’

77 For a recent treatment of this question, see Benedicts Ward, , Miracles and the Medieval Mind (Philadelphia, Pa, 1982).Google Scholar

78 Bede, , Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, p. 166.Google Scholar ‘Wherefore again he said: “Freely therefore will I glory in my infirmities so that the strength of Christ might dwell in me.” Because some of them complain against the manifestation of the glory of the Creator and His holy works, He himself shows this who says regarding the man born blind to his inquiring disciples: “Neither had this man sinned, nor his parents so that he was born blind but that the works of God may be manifested in him.” ’

79 On the pairing of these scenes, see O'carrigain, ‘Liturgical Innovations’, pp. 131–45.

80 Opera Homiletica, ed. Hurst, pp. 16–17. He should notice the clever order of the words and for all the more reason should it be planted into our heart in so far as it is manifestly clear that (in these words) consists the whole sum of our redemption. For most manifestly, they preach that the Lord Jesus is our saviour and true son of God the Father and true Son of the Father of mankind.’

81 Bede, , In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, ed. Hurst p. 404Google Scholar. ‘And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew: “This is the King of the Jews”. The inscription which bears witness to Jesus Christ as king most beautifully is placed not below but on the upper part of the cross, because although he suffered for us by the infirmity that is characteristic of men, nevertheless above the cross he shone forth with the majesty of a king. Also, this is most aptly placed because he is at once priest and king and when he offered the most exceptional sacrifice of his flesh to his Father on the altar of the cross he also extended the dignity of a king with which he was endowed by title so that it may be known by all those willing to read, that is, to hear and believe that he did not lose his power through his cross but rather established more ably and strengthened it.’

82 I should like to thank Steven Brown, Hugo Buchthal and Ernst Kitzinger for making valuable suggestions for the improvement of this paper. I should also like to offer special thanks to Julian Brown, not only for commenting on several drafts of this paper, but also for his support and encouragement during the course of its preparation.