The Ruthwell Cross and its Texts

The Ruthwell Cross and its Texts
Author :
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages : 424
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9783110785449
ISBN-13 : 3110785447
Rating : 4/5 (447 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Ruthwell Cross and its Texts by : Kerstin Majewski

Download or read book The Ruthwell Cross and its Texts written by Kerstin Majewski and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-10-24 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ruthwell Cross is one of the finest Anglo-Saxon high crosses that have come down to us. The longest epigraphic text in the Old English Runes Corpus is inscribed on two sides of the monument: it forms an alliterative poem, in which the Cross itself narrates the crucifixion episode. Parts of the inscription are irrevocably lost. This study establishes a historico-cultural context for the Ruthwell Cross’s texts and sculptures. It shows that The Ruthwell Crucifixion Poem is an integral part of a Christian artefact but also an independent text. Although its verses match closely with lines of The Dream of the Rood in the Vercelli Book, a comparative analysis gives new insight into their complex relationship. An annotated transliteration of the runes offers intriguing information for runologists. Detailed linguistic and metrical analyses finally yield a new reconstruction of the lost runes. All in all, this study takes a fresh look at the Ruthwell Cross and provides the first scholarly edition of the reconstructed Ruthwell Crucifixion Poem—one of the earliest religious poems of Anglo-Saxon England. It will be of interest to scholars and students of historical linguistics, medieval English literature and culture, art history, and archaeology.


The Ruthwell Cross and its Texts Related Books