Some miscellaneous crosses connected with burial may be included here. According to Rock,' a cross and a book of the Gospels were laid across the body to preserve it from the attack of demons. Frequently buried with the corpse was a cross which, according to the same authority, was "generally of wood, with a sheathing of gilt metal.'' King Edward the Confessor was buried with a golden crucifix.3

I have met but one instance of the so-called cross of absolution;' this was found in the tomb of Saint Birinus.* 3. Boundary. In the crosses of the graveyard, we noted four small crosses marking the limits of the ground. These were boundary crosses.' There are references in the terms contained in charters to various boundary crosses, in which they are referred to as a 'gilded cross,' a 'wooden cross,' a 'stone cross,' a 'red cross,' and sometimes merely a 'Christ symbol.' These served to mark the limits of church property.

6

So the monks of Edmundsbury erected four crosses, one at each extremity of the town, to define the limits of their authority, and Bishop Losinga' raised a cross at Norwich to serve as a boundary mark between the land of the church and the borough. St. Guthlac also set up a cross at Croyland as a boundary mark.

There is an Irish canon of the eighth century which directs that a cross should be set up on all consecrated grounds, not only to mark the bounds, but also to sanctify the spot. A few centuries later, in England, a law had to be passed forbidding men to set up a cross falsely upon their lands in order to pass them off as church property, and so evade taxation.

8

To these boundary stones of the church land, the so

12. 312.

8 Archæol. 3, 390.

2 Lingard 2. 50.

*Rock 1. 173, note.

e. g. Earle, Handbook, p. 29; Codex Dipl. 2. 287.

*Dugdale, Monasticon 3. 99.

'Ibid.

8 Seymour, p. 321.

called 'Rogations' were made. The Rogation Days were the seventh of the calends of May,' and the three days before Ascension Day. In these Rogations, the clergy and all the parish walked in procession with candles and crosses, laid earth and grass upon the boundary stones, and offered prayers to avert pestilence.

4. Sanctuary. In the Irish canon quoted above, the cross served not only to mark the boundary but also to consecrate the land. It was so sacred an emblem that none would dare remove it as a landmark, and it made the ground upon which it stood holy. Hence it became a mark of sanctuary. Some churches, out of special reverence for the saints whose bones they possessed, had a peculiar privilege of sanctuary. 'A chair of stone, called the Frid, or Frith stool, was sometimes set near the shrine of certain saints, or the high altar; the churches of York, Hexham, and Beverley enjoyed this privilege, and in the last two these stools are still preserved. The rights of the Frith stool overshadowed the region for the distance of a mile, and guarded to the refugee the widest privilege belonging by charter to this sanctuary, as long as he chose to remain within bounds. Crosses marked the limits of safety. . . . This custom is noticed in the dying wish of St. Cuthbert, who desired to be buried at Farne, lest if buried at Lindisfarne his grave might become a place of refuge for runaways.'

92

The fugitive who got within the protection of these sanctuary crosses was given a black robe with a yellow cross on his shoulder, in token of the shelter the symbol had given him. The crosses themselves stood very high, so that the fugitive could see them from afar, and be guided to safety.

5. The Standard Cross. Probably the earliest use of the monumental cross in Anglo-Saxon England was that as a standard of the faith, and a centre for preaching the Gos

1

Canons of St. Cuthbert (747 A. D.) at Cloveshoe; q. ibid. p. 322. Rock 3, part 1, p. 365.

2

3

Seymour, p. 220.

pel. The custom was practised in the conversion of the Britons, and continued many centuries. When St. Botulf went to found his monastery in the wilderness of Lincolnshire at about the middle of the seventh century, he and his companions, before they did anything else, planted the standard of the cross, and set up the ensign of heavenly peace in the cross of Christ.'' In the life of St. Willibald it is written that it was the ancient custom of the Saxon nation, on the estate of some of their nobles and great men to erect, not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God, beautifully and honorably adorned, and erected on high for the common use of daily prayer." Some of the crosses that remain to this day give evidence of serving as a place of general worship, with a bowl hollowed out of a stone upon the base for holding the sacred water, the remainder of the stone serving in all probability for an altar.'

2

This custom of raising the standard cross was doubtless introduced from Rome, and practised by missionaries of the faith generally. For example, Boniface complained of a Gallic bishop, Adalbert, who went about among the Franks, and seduced them with divers falsehoods, so that by setting up crosses in the fields and pulpits, he made all the people come together thither and forsake the public churches.' Naturally, in order to attract the most attention and draw the largest crowd, the missionary selected for planting the cross the places of resort and the most conspicuous situations. So crosses became frequently associated with wells and markets.

These first crosses set up by the missionaries were doubtless crude and frail, but later, especially where there was no church built and the cross had to serve for a place of worship, permanent and highly decorated stones were set up for the purpose. These early standard crosses served also to consecrate the ground for the site of the church

1Ecclesiologist 8, 228.

'Ibid.

4

'Cutts, Parish Priests, p. 24.

Boniface, Opera 1. 117; cf. p. 122.

(according to the custom in the early church of Rome), whenever a church was built beside it to take its place as a centre of worship.

6. Oratory Crosses. Nor was the cross merely for public worship and the preaching of the Word; it was also a shrine for private supplication. On the highways and at cross-roads, especially in Cornwall, crosses were erected for the benefit of travelers. Some, evidently, were for the purpose of getting the prayers of wayfarers for the soul of the deceased to whom the cross was erected as a memorial, or for the one who erected the cross himself. For example, one cross is inscribed,

Alcne prepared this cross for his soul.1

Other stones served for an entire family; for example, E. and G. wrought this family stone for Elfric's soul and for themselves.2

These oratory crosses were erected, evidently, as a work of merit.

However, the divisions that we have followed are arbitrary at best. Almost any one of the crosses might have the functions of any or all of the rest, and there is no doubt that many of them served more purposes than

one.

The larger of these crosses were generally set up on three steps, symbolical of the Trinity, on which worshipers might kneel. The side of the cross which had the symbol of Christ incised, or bore the image carved, faced the west, with arms pointing north and south. Thus the worshiper turned his face to the east, and the ancient traditions of the position of Christ in the crucifixion were also preserved.

1

After the Norman conquest these stone crosses were

1 Brit. Arch. Journ. 42. 313.

2 Brit. Arch. Journ. 42. 313.

3e. g. the memorial cross of Cuthbert became a graveyard cross at Durham. See above.

broken up and used for building material, whenever they were conveniently to hand. The survivors of this Norman ruthlessness had to suffer, beside the ordinary ravages of time, the iconoclastic zeal of the Puritans, so that it is a marvel that so many beautiful examples of the Anglo-Saxon cross-monument exist to-day.'

(d) The Cross in Other Arts

Before concluding this discussion of the cross in AngloSaxon art, we should give at least a passing mention to the arts of illumination and of jewelry.

Naturally, the cross was constantly employed as a motive in the designs of the illuminated page. It appears constantly, now conspicuously, now in all sorts of disguises. Sometimes it is used merely in the border of a picture, and again it occupies the full space of the design. Of the latter, a most beautiful example is that given in a facsimile in Plate 12 of Westwood's Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, a page taken from one of the most beautiful illuminations ever done in England, the Lindisfarne Gospels. It is wholly Celtic in character, and probably was done by Irish artists; at any rate, it came from an ancient seat of Irish culture.

According to the facsimiles which I have examined, the picture of the crucifixion on manuscripts belong to a late period, either the end of the tenth or the eleventh century. An Irish manuscript of the ninth century pictures the Crucified swathed in a conventional garment from head to foot, following the older style of the full tunic, with head erect and arms at right angles to the body. Further, the wound is on the left side.

In the later Anglo-Saxon illuminations, however, a newer style is seen; the head inclines slightly to the right, the body is clothed only in a short tunic extending from the waist to the knee. The wound is on the right side, and the

1

For a list of interlaced stone remains, compiled by J. R. Allen and G. F. Browne, see Brit. Arch. Journ. 41. 351.

2 Westwood, Irish and A.-S. MSS.