SCULPTURED STANDING STONES.
The progress of our inquiry into the peculiar characteristics of
Scottish Archæology brings under consideration one of the most
interesting, yet most puzzling classes of monuments of early native
art. While England has her Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical remains
exhibiting more or less distinct traces of the transition by which
the debased Roman passed into the pure Romanesque or Norman style,
Scotland, along with Ireland, possesses examples of an early native
style of ecclesiastical architecture and of Christian monuments,
belonging to the same undefined period prior to the Norman invasion of
England.
Of the Sculptured Standing Stones of Scotland, including these
primitive Christian monuments, a few of the best known examples have
been repeatedly engraved, but generally on so small a scale, and with
so little attention to accuracy of detail, that they have failed
to secure that interest among British archæologists which their
great number and the very beautiful and singular character of their
sculptures merit. The reproach of leaving these remarkable national
monuments unillustrated has, however, been to a great extent removed
by the publication of Mr. Patrick Chalmers' magnificent work on the
Ancient Monuments of the County of Angus,[526] which furnishes an
extensive series of examples of the various sculptured stones long
ascribed to a Danish origin, but now nearly all recognised as peculiar
to Scotland. Attempts to decorate Scottish sepulchral memorials by
means of sculptured ornaments appear to have been made from an early
period. Several curious examples have already been noted of stone
cists, otherwise entirely unhewn, the covers of which have been rudely
ornamented with incised patterns similar to those which are seen on
the gigantic chambered cairn of New Grange, near Drogheda. But greater
interest perhaps attaches to another though more simply decorated
Scottish cist pertaining apparently to a much later period than the
cairn of New Grange, or the incised cists which have been classed
with that remarkable primitive sepulchre. On a rising ground about
half a mile to the east of the town of Alloa, called the Hawkhill, is
the large upright block of sandstone sculptured with a cross which is
represented in the annexed engraving. It measures ten and a quarter
feet in height, though little more than seven feet are now visible
above ground. A similar cross is cut on both sides of the stone, as
is not uncommon with such simple memorials. During the progress of
agricultural operations in the immediate vicinity of this ancient
cross, in the spring of 1829, Mr. Robert Bald, C.E., an intelligent
Scottish antiquary, obtained permission from the Earl of Mar to make
some excavations around it, when, at about nine feet north from
the monumental stone, a rude cist was found, constructed of unhewn
sandstone, measuring only three feet in length, and at each end of the
cover, _on the under side_, a simple cross was cut. The lines which
formed the crosses were not rudely executed, but straight and uniform,
and evidently finished with care, though the slab itself was unusually
rude and amorphous. The cist lay east and west, and contained nothing
but human bones greatly decayed. Drawings of the cross and cist, and
a plan of the ground, executed by Mr. Bald, are in the possession of
the Society of Antiquaries. Here we possess a singularly interesting
example of the union of Christian and Pagan sepulchral rites: the
cist laid east and west, according to the early Christian custom, yet
constructed of the old circumscribed dimensions, and of the rude but
durable materials in use for ages before the new faith had superseded
the aboriginal Pagan creeds.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Dunnichen Stone]
To this same transition-period there can now be little hesitation
in assigning that remarkable class of Scottish sculptured stones,
decorated most frequently on the one side with the figure of the cross,
and on the other with a few mystic symbols of constant recurrence which
still remain an enigma to British Antiquaries, and to most others a
subject of perfect indifference or contempt; though had they been
discovered on the banks of the Tigris or the Nile they would have
been thought worthy of the united efforts of European scholars for
their solution. Some of these monuments most probably belong to Pagan
times, as they contain only the mysterious symbols, unaccompanied by
the emblem of the Christian faith, and are usually of ruder execution,
and cut on unhewn stones. Of this class are the Standing Stones at
Kinellar and Newton, Aberdeenshire;[527] and those of Aberlemno,[528]
and Kirktown of Dunnichen, in Angusshire.[529] Theorists who have
deemed it indispensable to assign to these singular monuments an
antiquity long prior to the Christian era have supposed that the cross
has been superadded to the older Pagan sculptures. No traces of any
such hybrid union are now discoverable, but, on the contrary, where
we find the Christian and Pagan symbols combined, they are almost
invariably accompanied with elaborately interlaced patterns and figures
of dragons, serpents, and nondescript monsters, bearing a close and
unmistakable resemblance to the decorations of some of the most ancient
Irish manuscripts, nearly corresponding to the era of the introduction
of Christianity into Scotland. Several of the beautiful initials from
the Book of Kells, an Irish MS. of the sixth century, as engraved in
Mr. Westwood's Palæographia, bear a close resemblance to the style
of ornament of these sculptures; while the interlaced knotwork on the
case of the shrine of St. Maidoc, which Dr. Petrie conceives cannot be
later than the eighth century, though less distinctly characteristic,
and by no means peculiar to Ireland, very nearly corresponds in its
details to the ornamentation frequently introduced on these Scottish
monuments. Others, such as the Aberlemno and one of the Meigle crosses,
are decorated with raised pellets or nail-heads, manifestly derived
from the ornamental studs of the old British buckler, also to be found
elsewhere; as on one of the Manx sanctuary crosses to be seen about a
mile from St. Maughold's Church, in the Isle of Man. The arrangements
of the figures in some of the Scottish monuments of this period,
as in the celebrated Forres column, are also strikingly suggestive
of intimate intercourse between Scotland and Ireland at the period
of their erection, from their correspondence to such works as the
beautiful crosses at Monasterboice. In this case, however, the Irish
are evidently the later works, and are, indeed, assigned by Dr. Petrie
to the early part of the tenth century.
The locality in which these remarkable monuments are found is also
worthy of notice. No example occurs within the ancient limits of
Dalriada, or on the western coast in the vicinity of Ireland, nor has
any one been discovered south of the Forth, though met with both at
Largo and St. Andrews, or north of the ancient southern limits of the
Norse kingdom, if we except one now erected in the pleasure-grounds of
Dunrobin Castle. Yet it is within the same limited range of country,
extending along our eastern coast, that the only examples of primitive
ecclesiastical architecture occur undoubtedly pertaining to the
Scottish Celtic Church prior to its remodelling in the eleventh century.
No sculptured memorials of the singular class so abundant in Scotland,
have been discovered in Ireland, any more than in Norway, Sweden, or
Denmark, though so long ascribed to a Scandinavian origin. They are
manifestly native monuments, though betraying the same traces of the
influence of early Irish art, or at least indications of a period when
the peculiar style of their ornamentation was common both to Scotland
and Ireland, with which we are familiar in the works of the closing
Pagan era. Only one known period of Scottish history answers to these
requirements, and seems to point out the ruder class of sculptured
standing stones as the monuments of the Pagan Picts, and the more
elaborate ones, accompanied with the symbol of the Christian faith,
as belonging to that period which has been slightly sketched in a
preceding chapter, when Christianity was introduced to the Scottish
Picts at the very time in which we possess numerous proofs of the most
intimate intercourse between the two countries. What we chiefly want
at present for the elucidation of Scottish Archæology is not theories
but facts; yet such historical coincidences, though doubtless open to
challenge, are not unworthy of note, and cannot justly be ranked along
with the vague theoretical speculations, destitute of any foundation
but the fancy of their originators, which have discovered in these
Scottish sculptures Egyptian, Phœnician, Braminical, or Druidical
symbols, as it chanced to suit the favourite theory of the hour.
[Illustration]
The Dunnichen Stone affords a good example of the most frequent
symbolic figures: the =Z= shaped symbol, sometimes, as in this case,
intersecting two circles decorated within with foliated lines, and
united most frequently by two reversed curves, or occasionally
intertwined with a serpent. Along with these, there is also often
introduced a crescent-shaped device--the favourite emblem of Druidical
theorists--intersected by a =V= figure, more or less floriated, as
on St. Orland's Stone at Cossins,[530] the Aberlemno Cross,[531] and
many others. Ingenious theorists have recognised in these the initial
Z, L, S, of Zodiacus, Sol, and Luna, and the key to a whole system of
mystical enigmas! Another figure which occurs on the Dunnichen Stone
has been discovered to be the _Atf_, or high cap of the Egyptian Osiris
surmounted by a lotus! The same combination of symbols, however, is
engraved on one of the remarkable silver relics found at Norrie's Law,
Fifeshire, as shewn here the same size as the original. From this there
can be no doubt that it represents an animal's, probably a dog's, head;
and this is equally apparent on one of the crosses in the churchyard
of Meigle, and also on what is called "King Malcolm's grave-stone" at
Glammis, where the same figure accompanies the two-handed mirror. A
writer in the Archæological Journal mentions having met with an almost
precisely similar ornament to one of these symbols on Gnostic gems and
coins bearing cabalistic inscriptions; and "hence he is led to think
that the carvings on the reverse sides of these stones may have been
intended to refer to the perpetual conflict between the Cross on the
one hand, and false doctrines and worldly pursuits on the other. The
Gnostic emblem being intended as an indication of the former of these
principles, counteracting and opposing the spreading of the doctrines
of the Cross, and the scenes of the chase (so frequently accompanying
these sculptured emblems) as indicating the latter."[532] Such abstruse
and recondite ideas, however, seem altogether irreconcilable with the
age to which the monuments must be assigned, while they leave the
main point still unsolved, as to how these symbols do indicate false
doctrines or a Pagan faith. Two objects of domestic use, the mirror and
comb, frequently accompany the more mysterious figures, and after being
assumed by earlier antiquaries as the indications of a female monument,
have more recently been traced to the supposed emblems of Christian
martyrdom found sculptured on the tombs of the Roman catacombs. Dr.
Maitland, however, has successfully combated this mode of explaining
what were often no more than the implements of a trade or profession.
Above the figures of a mirror, comb, and pair of shears, on one of
the primitive Roman tombs, are the simple words VENERIÆ IN PACE, _To
Veneria in peace_,[533]--indications apparently solely of the sex,
or possibly of the occupation of the deceased. That these symbols
were used in Scotland for the same purpose at a much later period, is
proved by the sculptures on some medieval tombs, and in particular on
that of the prioress Anna at Iona, who, though a religious, looks no
martyr on her tomb. It is engraved by Pennant, (vol. ii. _Pl._ XXIV.
fig. 2,) and more minutely, though in a greatly more imperfect state,
in Mr. H. D. Graham's admirable illustrations of the Antiquities of
Iona, (_Pl._ XLV.) Two angels arrange the pillow of the good prioress,
a lady neither of spare nor youthful figure; while on either side of
her are her little lap-dogs, each with a riband and bell to its neck,
and over all the mirror and comb: possibly designed on this, as well
as on the Roman lady's tomb, to indicate the virginity or celibacy
of the dead. Besides these figures of most frequent occurrence,
however, others are also occasionally found curiously referrible to
an eastern origin, and, in particular, a symbolic elephant, as on
Martin's Stone at Ballutheron, on one of the crosses in the churchyard
of Meigle,[534] and on the Maiden Stone on Bennochie, Aberdeenshire,
where it accompanies the comb and mirror, from which the monument
has probably derived its name.[535] The peculiar character of these
singular representations of the elephant is well worthy of study from
the evidence they afford of the existence of eastern traditions at
the period of their execution. It is impossible to mistake the object
intended by the design, while at the same time it is obvious that
the artist can never have seen an elephant. What should be the feet
are curled up into scrolls, and the trunk is occasionally thrown in
a straight line over the back, whereas horses and other animals with
which he is familiar are executed with great spirit and truth. Fabulous
and monstrous figures also accompany these, such as the centaur
occasionally bearing the cross in its hands, and what appears in some
to be a branch of mistletoe, as on the reverse of another of the
singular crosses in the churchyard at Meigle. On a stone near Glammis
a man with a crocodile's head is introduced; on one of the Meigle
crosses, among sundry other nondescript animals, is the capricornus
or sea-goat; and on the inscribed cross of St. Vigeans a grotesque
hybrid, half-bird half-beast, stalks among the fantastic animals and
intertwining snakes which decorate its border.
A most lively fancy is apparent in many of these designs; but others
are possessed of a much higher value as illustrations of the manners,
customs, dresses, weapons, musical instruments, &c., in use at the
period when these monuments were erected. Thus in the very curious
piece of sculpture figured in the annexed engraving, we have a
representation of the use of the bow and arrow, and of a car drawn
by two horses. It is now preserved at Meigle along with others, the
supposed relics of the tomb of the frail Guanora, Arthur's queen,
who, according to Hector Boece, was made captive by the Picts, after
the defeat and death of Modred on the banks of the Humber, and passed
the remainder of her life in captivity within the strong fortress of
Dunbarré or Barry Hill. Thus strangely do we find the romantic tales of
the old troubadours, once familiar through medieval Europe, located
by popular tradition in the district of Strathmore. Mr. Chalmers
conceives that scarcely a doubt can be entertained of the reference
to the monument at Meigle ascribed to Queen Guanora, and of which the
engraving represents one of the most curious portions, in the following
note, under the year 1569, in the Extracta e Cronicis Scotiæ:--"At
Newtylde[536] thair is ane stane, callit be sum the Thane Stane, iii
eln of heicht, v quarteris braid, ane quarter thik and mair, with ane
cors at the heid of it, and ane goddes next that in ane cairt, and
twa hors drawand hir, and horsmen under that, and fuitmen and dogges,
halkis and serpentis: on the west side of it, ane cors curiouslie
grauit; bot all is maid of ane auld fassane of schap. It is allegit
that the Thane of Glammis set thir tua stanis quhen that cuntrey wes
all ane greit forrest." This description is of great value, not only
as preserving a tradition associated with the stone at a period very
near the time of Boece, yet differing entirely from his romantic tale
of Queen Guanora, but much more so, in that it conveys a tolerably
definite idea of what the monument actually was in the sixteenth
century.
[Illustration: Meigle Stone Car.]
The traditions associated with these singular monuments, whether
gathered directly from vague local traditions, or culled from the
marvellous pages of the monkish chroniclers, are equally contradictory
and valueless, as throwing any light on their origin, whether
associated with King Arthur and his ravished Queen, or, like the
remarkable Forres obelisk, popularly called King Sueno's Stone,
believed to commemorate the final defeat and ejection of the Norsemen
from the Scottish mainland. This beautiful monument, which measures
twenty three feet in height, has been repeatedly engraved;--by
Gordon, on a sufficiently large scale, but with little attempt at
accuracy of detail, and more carefully by Cordiner in his Scottish
Antiquities.
[Illustration: _Daniel Wilson Delᵗ._
_William Douglas Sculpᵗ._
ST ANDREWS' SARCOPHAGUS]
There can be no question that many of those sculptured monuments are
designed to commemorate particular events, though they have long since
proved faithless to their trust. Most of such, however, would probably
be of less interest to us than the minute and varied information which
we are still able to deduce from the primitive historic memorials. We
see in them the warrior on horseback and on foot, armed with sword,
spear, battle-axe, and dirk, and bearing his circular buckler on his
arm,--a much larger shield than that previously described among the
later relics of the Pagan era, and, indeed, closely resembling the
Highland target, which continued in use in Scotland till the final
extinction of the patriarchal system and hereditary customs of the
Highland clans, after their last struggle on Culloden Moor. Nor are
the sculptures less minute in their illustrations of domestic habits
and social arts. In Plates II. and VI. of Mr. Chalmers' valuable work,
we have representations of ancient chairs, and figures apparently
of priests and monks. In the former, also, and in Plate XIII., are
a harp and harper, the latter executed with much spirit, though now
greatly defaced; while hunting and hawking scenes frequently occur,
accompanied with very graphic representations of the beasts of chase.
There is, moreover, a peculiar style running throughout the whole of
these sculptures, and a certain action and contour in the figures and
animals, which mark them with as distinctive a character as belongs
to any medieval or modern school of art. The engraving on Plate IV.
represents one of the most elaborate of these Pictish hunting scenes,
fully answering to the description of the old Scottish chronicler, of
"horsemen, fuitmen, and dogges, halkis and serpentis." It occurs on
what is believed to have formed part of a stone coffin, which was dug
up in the immediate vicinity of St. Andrew's cathedral, and is now
preserved in St. Mary's College there. Along with this slab, which
measures five and three-fourths feet long, by two and one-fourth feet
broad, there was found what appears to have formed one end, and part of
the other, of the same sarcophagus or monument. Both are covered with
intricate knotwork, and in the more perfect of the two there are four
compartments, two of which are occupied each with a pair of apes, and
the others with globes, each encircled with two serpents. Not the least
curious feature of this elaborate design is the introduction of well
executed apes and other animals, which we would have supposed entirely
unknown to the ancient sculptor. Besides these the ram, the horse and
hawk, the fawn, the greyhound pursuing the fox in the thicket, and the
tiger or leopard, as the fierce assailant of the horseman seems to be,
are all executed with great fidelity and spirit. In addition to these
there is a nondescript monster, a sort of winged griffin, preying
upon a prostrate ass. But by far the most valuable portions of this
curious design are the human figures, with their variety of character
and costume. Here manifestly is the Patrician, with his long locks
and flowing robes, and his richly decorated dirk at his side, while
the plebeian huntsman betrays his humble rank, not only in his homely
dress and accoutrements, but even in the lean and half-bred cur which
forms his companion in the chase. But the engraving will furnish a much
more satisfactory idea of these curious details than any description
could convey. The most common decoration of this remarkable class
of native Scottish monuments, apart from the symbols and sculptured
figures so frequently introduced, is the interlaced knotwork which
appears to have been so favourite a device of Celtic art. It occurs
on the sculptures, the jewelry, the manuscripts, and the decorated
shrines and book-cases of early Irish Christian art, and has been
perpetuated almost to our own day on the weapons and personal ornaments
of the Scottish Highlanders. The annexed illustration represents
a very characteristic example of the common Highland brooch, from
the original in the collection of C. K. Sharp, Esq. It is of brass,
rudely engraved, evidently with the imperfect tools of the native
mountaineer. The tongue is of copper, and the brooch measures four and
one-tenth inches in diameter. Amid its decorations will be recognised
the triple knot, the supposed emblem of the Trinity, along with other
interlaced patterns, such as occur in the bosses of sepulchral and
monumental crosses of the seventh and eighth centuries. Precisely the
same ornaments may be seen on the Highland targets, preserved among
the memorials of the field of Culloden; while other combinations of
this favourite pattern formed the universal decoration on the handle of
the Highland dirk, from the earliest known examples to those belonging
to the same fatal field, on which the unbroken Celtic traditions of
Scotland were involved in the fortunes of the fated Stuart race.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Celtic Dirks.]
Only two of the ancient sculptured standing stones peculiar to Scotland
are accompanied with inscriptions. One of them, discovered about
thirty years since, on demolishing the ancient Church of Fordoun, in
the Mearns, was then apparently undecipherable,[537] and has since
become illegible; the other is on a beautiful though mutilated cross
in the churchyard of St. Vigeans. That of St. Vigeans is in the common
Celtic character familiar to us on early Irish monuments, and on the
oldest tombs at Iona, and therefore in so far adds confirmation to
the idea advanced as to the probable era of these sculptures. But
it is imperfect and perhaps too mutilated to admit of intelligible
translation, though sufficient remains in the first words, Aꞅoil en,
to shew that it is of the usual character of Scottish and Irish Celtic
monumental inscriptions.
"Mr. Petrie," says Mr. Chalmers, "is of opinion, from a portion of
it which he has deciphered, that the monument is Pictish, and he
expresses a hope that he will be able to explain the inscription." But
as the legible fragment seems to consist of only three words and part
of a fourth, no very valuable information can be looked for from its
fractional remainder.
One other peculiar and indeed altogether unique inscription occurs
on a rude unhewn standing stone of granite in the vicinity of the
Maiden Stone, with its mysterious symbols, at Newton, in Garioch,
Aberdeenshire. The column measures fully six feet in height, and about
two feet in greatest breadth. On its upper part is the inscription,
extending to six lines, in large and sufficiently distinct, but
entirely novel and unintelligible characters. It has been more than
once engraved, and repeatedly submitted to eminent antiquaries, but
still remains undeciphered. General Vallancey, the well-known Irish
antiquary, professed to read the two first words of it. What indeed
would he not have undertaken to decipher? These he rendered _Gylf
Gomarra_, Prince Gomarra, apparently from some slight or fancied
resemblance of the characters to the corresponding Roman letters, but
his G and F are manifestly the same, and the whole still remains an
enigma. The side of the same stone, however, bears another inscription,
also shewn in part in the annexed engraving, which appears to have
escaped the notice of earlier observers, though introduced as a mere
ornament in the representation inserted in the Transactions of the
Scottish Society of Antiquaries. It has recently been pronounced by
Irish antiquaries an Ogham inscription, and as such, is an object of
considerable interest, no other example of the use of that simple and
extremely primitive character, which the older antiquaries of Ireland
have made the subject of so many extravagant theories, having been
discovered in Scotland. It does not necessarily follow that the two
inscriptions belong to the same period, though found on one stone; but
both are as yet equally dumb and irresponsive oracles.
[Illustration]
Various early inscriptions in the same old Celtic character as that
engraved on the St. Vigeans' Cross are still to be found in Scotland,
and particularly in the Western Isles, where it had doubtless been in
general use, prior to the adoption of the later Church letters common
to medieval Europe. Of this class are two stones at Iona, adorned
with simple crosses, one of which has been made the subject of some
very fruitless speculation. "No one of the inscriptions in Iona,"
says Mr. H. D. Graham, "has been so much written about as this, and
antiquarians do not agree as to its signification. It is in the old
Gaelic character, and has been usually interpreted into _Donull fada
Chasach_--The cross of Donald Longshanks."[538] An older decipherer
reads it, "_Cormac Ulphada hic est situs_," indicative of the sepulchre
of Cormac Barbatus, one of the kings of Ireland, buried there A.D.
213; and a third assigns it as the memorial of a king of France, who
according to equally credible tradition found his last resting-place
in the sacred isle. Mr. Graham has accordingly designated it in his
Illustrations of the Monuments of Iona, "the disputed inscription,"
though finding for it a new reading, which assigns it to a Macdonald
of the Glengary line, A.D. 1461. The inscription reads: Oꞃ̄ ꝺo mail
Ꝼaꞇaꞃic, or with the first word extended:
✠ OROƖꞆ ꝹO MⱭƖɭ ꝻⱭꞆⱭRƖC
_A Prayer for the servant of Patrick._
Its modest memorial is sufficiently indefinite, yet it may be assumed
with much probability to mark the tomb of Bishop Patrick, whose demise
is thus recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, under A.D. 1174:
"Maol Patrick O'Banan, Bishop of Conor and Dal Araidhe, a venerable
man, full of sanctity, meekness, and purity of heart, died happily in
Hy of Columkille, at a good old age."[539]
[Illustration: Bishop Patrick's Tomb, Iona.]
Another rude and unsquared slab, with a slightly ornamented cross,
bears the still simpler inscription: Oꞃ̄ ɑꞃ ɑꞃmɩn ϵoᵹɑɩn, _armin_, or
more commonly _armunn_, being a brave man or chief. Extended it reads:
OROƖꞆ ⱭR ⱭRMƖN ΕOꝽⱭƖN
_A Prayer for the Chief Eogain or Ewen._
Eogan or Eoganan, of the Albanic Duan, commenced his reign over the
Dalriads in A.D. 801, and subsequently wrested from the Southern Picts
the territories conquered by Angus MacFergus, and governed for a time
by princes of his line.[540] The name is not uncommon among the early
western chiefs; and the Lord of Argyle at the period of Haco's invasion
in 1263, as appears from various early charters, was Eugene or Ewen,
son of Duncan, a descendant of the great Somerled.
Various other stones, with crosses cut upon them, evidently of the same
date as those thus inscribed, lie scattered among the remarkable tombs
of the RELIG ORAN, or St. Oran's Burial Ground,--that sacred spot, the
resting-place of saints, and kings, and old island chiefs, so deeply
interesting to every Scottish heart,--but these are the only examples
of this early class on which inscriptions are now decipherable.
Many of the tombs of a later date are ornamented with figures and
floriated patterns in relief, characterized by singular beauty and
great variety of design. The style of ornamentation on some of them is
peculiar to the Western Isles and the neighbouring Scottish mainland:
but such ample justice has been done to them in the recent beautiful
series of views of the "Antiquities of Iona," by Mr. H. D. Graham,
that it is unnecessary to resort to the less intelligible process
of verbal description. The intermingling of foliage, scroll-work,
chain-work, geometric patterns, and knotwork, with animals, figures,
and sacred or warlike implements, is characterized by a profuseness
and variety of design such as the sepulchral monuments of scarcely any
other single locality or age can equal. The greater number of them,
however, belong to a later period than that now under consideration,
but on this very account, as well as for other reasons, we must
dissent from the conclusions as to the origin of their style of art,
advanced by the Rev. J. S. Howison, in his valuable papers on the
Antiquities of Argyleshire. The well-ascertained dates of some of the
most remarkable of these monuments fix their era from the fourteenth
to the sixteenth century. The accompanying illustration supplies a
characteristic example, in the mutilated cross of Lauchlan M'Fingon,
the father of Abbot John of Iona, who died A.D. 1500, and had a more
important tomb, adorned with his recumbent figure in full canonicals,
within the cathedral, though his name figures on the cross in St.
Oran's Chapel, erected as we may presume by himself. It is a valuable
illustration for our present purpose, as the inscription and date are
still perfectly legible: ✠ Hec: est: Crux: Laeclanni: Maic: Fingone:
et: eius: filii: Johannis: abbatis: de: Hy: facta anno: domini: Mº:
CCCCº: LXXXº IXº. The _lymphad_, which figures as one of the herald's
quarterings of the Mackinnons, is indeed believed to have been derived
from the Northmen, but in the form it assumes on this and other Iona
sculptures, it bears as little resemblance to the long-oared war galley
so frequently engraved on native Scandinavian monuments and relics
as the accompanying ornaments do to any known device of Northern
origin. The late era to which some of the most characteristic of these
sculptures belong, should alone suffice to disprove the idea "that
the Scandinavians were the authors of this particular kind of art
exhibited by the stone crosses, as also by the sepulchral monuments
of Argyleshire;"[541] but no such monuments are now to be found in
any of the Scandinavian kingdoms, and since the style must have
arisen somewhere, it is surely not more difficult to conceive of it
originating in Scotland than in Norway, Sweden, or Denmark. In so far
as it is derived, its suggestive originals appear to have been much
more Irish than Scandinavian. Its peculiar individuality, however,
arises from the same cause as the very singular characteristics of
Irish ecclesiology. Both Scotland and Ireland stood more apart than
any other of the kingdoms of Christendom from the Crusades and other
great movements which conferred so remarkable a homogeneity on medieval
Europe. The earlier arts were consequently left there to develop new
forms and modifications long after they had been elsewhere entirely
superseded by the later styles of medieval art. At the period to which
the beautiful monuments of Argyleshire are referrible that district
stood singularly isolated, sharing only very partially even in the
influences of Scottish art, and still less in its social progress,
while at the same time the peculiar sanctity indissolubly associated
with its ancient shrines kept alive the spirit in which these
originated. Scarcely any circumstances can be conceived more favourable
for the development of a new style of art; and hence not only the
peculiarity but the endless variety discoverable on the monuments of
Argyleshire, and especially in the Relig Oran of Iona. A Scotsman may
be pardoned even for some excess of zeal in advancing his claims for
sole hereditary right to that historic ground, and the moss-grown
sculptures with which it is paved, where
"You never tread upon them but you set
Your feet upon some reverend history."
[Illustration: Iona Cross.]
FOOTNOTES:
[526] The Ancient Sculptured Monuments of the County of Angus,
including those at Meigle in Perthshire, and one at Fordoun in Mearns,
by Patrick Chalmers, of Auldbar, Esq. Bannatyne Club.
[527] Archæol. Scot. vol. ii. Pl. VI. fig. 3; Pl. IX. fig. 3.
[528] Sculptured Mon. of Angus, Pl. VI. fig. 3.
[529] Ibid., Pl. XIV. fig. 1.
[530] Sculptured Monuments of Angus, Plate XV.
[531] Ibid., Plate V.
[532] Archæol. Journal, vol. vi. p. 90.
[533] The Church in the Catacombs, p. 180.
[534] Sculptured Monuments of Angus, Plates VII. and XVII.
[535] Archæologica Scotica, vol. ii. Plate VI. fig. 2.
[536] Newtyle and Meigle are villages within two miles of each other.
[537] Archæol. Scot, vol ii. Plate V.
[538] Monuments of Iona, by H. D. Graham, Esq., p. 16.
[539] Annals of the Four Masters, translated by Owen Connellan, Esq.,
p. 8.
[540] Skene's Highlanders, vol. i. p. 53.
[541] Antiquities of Argyleshire, Trans. Camb. Camden Soc., Part III.
p. 177.