The Ruthwell cross and its texts : a new reconstruction and an edition of the Ruthwell crucifixion poem

Author(s)

    • Majewski, Kerstin

Bibliographic Information

The Ruthwell cross and its texts : a new reconstruction and an edition of the Ruthwell crucifixion poem

Kerstin Majewski

(Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde / herausgegeben von Heinrich Beck, Herbert Jankuhn, Reinhard Wenskus, Bd. 132 . Runische Schriftlichkeit in den germanischen Sprachen / herausgegeben von Edith Marold ; Bd. 3)

De Gruyter, c2022

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [371]-390) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

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.

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