Sproxton Cross Commentary

<BODY TEXT=#000000 LINK=#0000FF VLINK=#FF0000 BGCOLOR=#FFFFD5 > <BASE TARGET="_top"> <DIV ALIGN=center class=s4> <B>The Sproxton Cross </B></DIV> <DIV class=s5> <B>A paper written by Raymond Taylor, 1999 </B></DIV> <DIV class=s5> <B></B><FONT style='color:#000000;font-size:14pt;'><B>For the parish of High Framland </B></FONT></DIV> <DIV class=s2> <A class=s2 HREF="javascript:IperF_open('sproxton_6-000017.htm','Cross_Photos','height=300,width=400,dependent=0,fullscreen=0,location=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,status=0,toolbar=0','Pag17');">Photographs</A> </DIV> <DIV class=s2> This is the only pre-Conquest cross in Leicestershire that stands complete. This is firstly due to the fact that it is carved from a single piece of stone, rather than having the head formed of a separate piece mortised into the shaft, and secondly because, when it was taken down, probably at the time of the Reformation (Edward VI’s Privy Council having issued an Order in 1547 to destroy or deface all religious imagery that might be considered idolatrous), it was not broken up, as was the fate of so many ancient crosses, but was instead put to use as a footbridge across a muddy ditch on the way to Saltby. This explains why the east facing side of the cross is completely smooth, and devoid of any detail. When the cross was taken down the socket within which the shaft stood was, however, left in situ in Sproxton churchyard, and it is illustrated in its own right in John Nichols’ ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester’ (1794). Illustrations of the cross which accompany Nichols’ text are reproduced above. In that same year of 1794 the shaft was rescued from profane use by William Mountsey (Vicar of Sproxton 1791-1818), who had it erected as an ornament within the grotto in the garden of his newly built Vicarage. It is assumed that it was John Nichols who was responsible for instigating the cross’s rescue. The shaft was not reunited with its socket until 1884, the two components being secured with a lead join (the restoration of Sproxton Church had been completed the previous year). There is a local tradition, no doubt fanciful, that the socket stone is of extremely ancient age, having originally been connected with pagan rites of animal sacrifice, and that it was christianised by having the cross shaft inserted into it. </DIV> <DIV class=s2> The cross stands 7' 9" in total height, the lowest 1' 3" being formed by the socket, which is 2' 4" square. The cross-head accounts for 1' 9½" of the height. The broad side of the shaft is 1' 3½" wide at the base, tapering to 1' 1" where it meets the head, and the narrow side of the shaft measures 10". Note how the head of the cross ‘weeps’, that is to say, it leans slightly to one side. T.E. Routh, in his description of the cross contained in Volume XX (1937) of the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society, which is the best account of the Sproxton Cross so far written, intimates that the slight lean to the north is ‘…probably due to the carver’s having to make the best of defective material, not being able to get a better stone’. It is worth mentioning in passing that the stone would not have been carved in an upright position, but a horizontal one, laid flat upon the ground. An iron chisel would have been used to carve the detail. The stone is Jurassic period oolitic limestone, probably quarried in the area around Colsterworth, some four or so miles east of Sproxton, just across the county boundary in Lincolnshire.  </DIV> <DIV class=s2> The Sproxton Cross is a ‘wheel-headed’ cross, and there are two theories as to how this particular form of cross-head actually evolved. Professor Baldwin Brown in his book ‘The Arts in Early England’ (1937) stated that the wheel-head is of Roman origin, deriving from XP, the ‘Chi-Rho’, XP being the first two letters of the Name of Christ , (‘Christos’) in Greek. The Chi-Rho was adopted by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 A.D., and is known as the ‘Labarum of Constantine’ by the Church of Rome. The Labarum was latterly stylised yet further, the X or ‘Chi’ being rotated to form an upright cross, with the loop of the P or ‘Rho’ attached to the top of the vertical arm. Baldwin Brown propounded that if so set within a circle, as was often the case, this would explain the provenance of the four ‘cut-outs’ in wheel-headed crosses. </DIV> <DIV class=s2> A slightly earlier theory, but one which is altogether more plausible than Baldwin Brown’s, is that proposed by W.G. Collingwood in his ‘Northumbrian Crosses of the Pre-Conquest Age’ (1927). Collingwood claimed that the wheel-head is of Celtic origin, probably having originated on the Isle of Man, and that the form was introduced into England by Norse invaders in the 10th century. The device probably started out in the Bronze Age as a sun-symbol, being achieved by the division of a circle into quadrants, or a greater number of segments, by means of simple radii. Collingwood’s theory of Manx derivation is ostensibly borne out by the fact that the distribution of wheel-headed crosses is most intense in areas of Scandinavian settlement, in particular the northern counties of Cumberland and Yorkshire and that part of Lancashire that lies between them. The Sproxton Cross is often ignorantly referred to as a Saxon cross, but in both style and form it is in fact Anglo-Norse, belonging to the Jellinge style of Scandinavian art which flourished in the 10th century. It must be pointed out that the wheel-head does not occur on Anglian, or Saxon crosses, which are invariably ‘free-armed’. In its evolution within the Anglo-Norse style, the wheel becomes progressively larger until it practically engulfs the cross, which is then formed by the four aforementioned ‘cut-outs’ being made within the wheel, hence the descriptive term ‘cut-out wheel-head’. This helps us date the Sproxton Cross as being late on in the development of the form, having been carved in the late 10th century, or at the very latest, the early 11th. A late 10th century date is probably more likely than the early 11th though, and the reason why will be given later in this account.  </DIV> <DIV class=s2> We must now consider the carvings which still remain upon three sides of the Sproxton Cross. Those on the west facing side being the most prominent, these will be described first. The lower of the two figures of beasts which are depicted is in a better state of preservation than the one above it, and by common consent it has been identified as a dragon, whose tail extends to form an interlace pattern below him. The Norse peoples believed the dragon to be a beneficent beast who was able to drive away the evil World Serpent or Midgardsorm, hence the Vikings’ placing of a dragon’s head mascot upon the prows of their longships for protection. It was not until later centuries that the dragon’s reputation was to suffer with his diminishment to a symbol of evil. A relatively recent article (1976) by J.T. Lang, ‘Sigurd and Weland in Pre-Conquest Carving in Northern England’(Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. XXXXVIII) comments upon the story in the Völsunga Saga of the Norse hero Sigurd receiving enlightenment by eating the heart of Fáfnir, whom he had slain. Fáfnir was originally human, but had been turned into a dragon for having murdered his father Hreidmar, and for appropriating the treasure given by Odin and Hœnir to his brother Regin and himself in compensation for the loss of their brother Otr, who had been murdered by the false god, Loki. Regin, seeking revenge (and also, no doubt, the treasure) persuades Sigurd to slay Fáfnir, whom Sigurd duly puts to the sword. According to Lang, Sigurd’s eating of the heart of Fáfnir might possibly be regarded as a symbol for the Christian Eucharist. It is worth mentioning that a dragon also occurs upon a contemporary Anglo-Danish cross fragment preserved in All Saints’ Church at Asfordby. The uppermost of the two carvings on the west is difficult to adjudge with certainty, but most previous commentators are of the opinion that it is probably a representation of an eagle. The Vikings practised an especially savage ritual known as the Rite of the ‘Blood Eagle’, in which a defeated enemy’s lungs were torn out and forced apart so as to resemble the wings of an eagle. The ‘Blood Eagle’ was then held aloft and dedicated to Odin, the Ruler of the Norse Gods, as a victory offering. When the Vikings took York in 867 it is believed that the Northumbrian king Ælla was put to death in this gruesome manner by York’s new ruler, Ivarr. If the carving here does indeed represent an eagle, as presumed, there may be another possible parallel here between Christ’s sacrifice, through his Blood upon the Cross, with that of the votive ‘Blood Eagle’.  </DIV> <DIV class=s2> The southern side of the shaft is carved with a leafy vine scroll, which may have originated as a depiction of Yggdrasil, the Nordic ‘World Tree’ or ‘Tree of Life’, but which found easy assimilation into Christian iconography as symbolising Communion in Jesus Christ, ‘the True Vine’. Note how the vine scroll is continuous, running the entire length of the shaft, paying no attention to the projecting band which occurs almost exactly two-thirds of the way up. On the northern side, however, there are two quite different designs carved above and below the projecting band aforementioned. The upper design consists of simple interlace, while the lower is a ring pattern formed by interlinked circles. These interlinked circles again point to a Manx-Viking source, and may represent a wheel in motion, upwardly ascending towards the cross. The wheel was considered a sacred object by the Norse peoples, it being a means whereby the soul could be conveyed to the afterlife, and this is attested to by the fact that wheeled wagons have been excavated from Viking burial mounds in Scandinavia. It should be noted that the designs upon both narrow sides of the shaft continue onto the cross-head, signifying that the carver’s intention was to integrate the cross-head with the shaft.  </DIV> <DIV class=s2> Lastly, it should be pointed out that the image of Crucifixion was by no means a new, or unfamiliar symbol to the Norse peoples. In the epic poem the Volüspa, Odin, his side pierced by the spear Gungnir, is crucified for nine days and nights upon Yggdrasil in the hope that the secrets of Ragnarök, the inevitable Doom of the Gods, might be revealed to him in the form of Magic Runes. </DIV> <DIV class=s2> The second half of the 10th century is the period when the Norse peoples were converting to Christianity, and many Anglo-Scandinavian crosses from this period at first sight appear to show both Christian and pagan images juxtaposed, but the images are more likely to have been carefully chosen to be dualistic in meaning and symbolism so as to facilitate the transition from pagan to Christian belief. It is unlikely that the carvings upon the Sproxton Cross are a random assemblage of disparate images, but that instead they form a unified, and sophisticated composition, whose principal theme is the Promise of Life Eternal through Communion in Christ. It is unlikely that the Sproxton Cross was ever intended as a memorial to a warrior, as has been sometimes supposed. It is far more likely to have been erected as a ‘preaching cross’, whose purpose would have been evangelical, at which the villagers would asssemble to hear the Gospel proclaimed, probably by an itinerant priest from the nearby mission church of Buckminster. The carvings upon the cross would have served as powerful visual aids in completing the conversion of a populace who at best would have been only semi-christianised. The accepted late 10th century dating of the Sproxton Cross is important in this context. Acceptance of the Dionysian system of dating B.C./A.D. had become relatively commonplace in England since the time of the earlier Saxon conversion to Christianity in the 8th century. Consequentially it had come to be believed that the end of the first millennium A.D. would bring with it the apocalypse. The carvings upon the Sproxton Cross would have had profound contemporary significance in relating the message that people should accept Christ quickly, before the impending Doom. The Anglo-Scandinavians of Sproxton would have seen this as a fixing of the date for Ragnarök, and journeying priests would have cleverly convinced them that the hope of Life Eternal would be better vested in Christ, rather than Odin, for while Odin cannot cannot prevent the inevitable Doom, Christ triumphs at the Last Judgement. To the pagan mind this would of course have made Christ a more powerful God-figure than Odin.  </DIV> <DIV class=s2> It is tempting to speculate as to what the lost images upon the east facing side of the cross might have been. Given that the imagery upon the west facing side is zoomorphic, showing beasts, might the imagery upon the eastern side have been anthropomorphic instead? Perhaps there were episodes from the Volüspa recounting the life of Baldr, ‘the beautiful god’. The famous wheel-headed cross in Gosforth churchyard, in Cumberland, shows scenes from the legend of Baldr, dualistically identifying him with Christ. After the murder of Baldr by his blind brother Höd, who has been tricked by Loki into shooting a dart of poisonous mistletoe into Baldr, Hermód, one of Odin’s sons, is told by the rulers of the underworld that Baldr will only be released from Nifelheim, the purgatorial underworld, if everything in the world weeps for him. But a giantess called Thökk (who is perhaps the evil Loki in disguise) refuses to weep, thereby imprisoning Baldr, who can only be released from Nifelheim at the time of Ragnarök, when the old gods will perish and the world will be reborn. At Gosforth the epic of Baldr is considered as paralleling the Resurrection of Christ and the coming of His Kingdom. Possibly at Sproxton there may have been a representation of a scene from the tale of Baldr, perhaps a carving of Loki, bound up, and cast into the darkness of Nifelheim for his part in the slaying of Baldr, which would, of course, have served as a symbol for Satan chained and cast into the abyss for a thousand years at the time of Revelation. And maybe there was a representation of Heimdall ‘the World-brightener’, blowing upon the Gjallarhorn, to summon the old gods to their doom, Heimdall, of course, being equated with the Angel Gabriel.  </DIV> <DIV class=s2> Previous commentators have not broached the subject of the aforementioned projecting band upon the shaft, which is 7" wide, and which is positioned 3' 1" from the base. Perhaps it once carried a frieze of sculpted scenes carved in the very lowest relief, which have weathered away. However, it should be borne in mind that ancient crosses such as Sproxton’s would have originally been intended to be painted in bright colours, and this has been proven by forensic research, where such research has been undertaken. The most common colour scheme involved the use of black, white and red pigments, red being used for the backgrounds, and black and white for the raised detail. Parts of the Sproxton Cross may even have been gilded. Most likely there were painted scenes, or even more probably, a painted Runic inscription running around the cross at this point. What its message may have been we are not likely ever to know, but it is worth bearing in mind that the 8th century Anglian cross at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire has a crucifixion poem carved upon it, incised in Old English runes, and it is by no means inconceivable that the projecting band upon the Sproxton Cross may have borne a painted runic statement concerning the Crucifixion, or perhaps even more likely, a passage from the Revelation of St. John. </DIV> <DIV class=s2> As a last word concerning the Sproxton Cross, John Nichols tells us ‘the flowered fancy-work is very bold and perfect’. Sadly, erosion through weathering, but moreso through acid-rain pollution, has take place in the two hundred years since the cross was re-erected, and the carvings can no longer be considered ‘bold and perfect’ by any stretch of the imagination. In 1951 the cross was listed as an Ancient Monument, and in 1967 plans were made to have it moved inside the church, but this intention has not materialised. A word of caution however: moving ancient sculpture indoors is not necessarily a guarantee of preservation. The effect of changes of humidity levels inside an old church can have just as deleterious an effect as atmospheric pollution does outdoors, and the only real hope for the survival of the carvings upon the Sproxton Cross must lie with future reduction in emission levels from the burning of fossil-carbon fuels. Given that so many pre-Conquest and medieval crosses fell victim to deliberate vandalism at the time of the Reformation, it would be sad indeed if the Sproxton Cross, having survived the depredations of the iconoclasts, was to end up a victim of environmental damage. The Sproxton Cross has survived an entire millennium, even if for almost a quarter of this period it lay neglected and forgotten. Let us hope and pray that increased environmental awareness will ensure that the Sproxton Cross survives for well into the next millennial period. </DIV>