Liturgical Images and the Old English Poems of the Dream of the Rood Tradition

620 Book Reviews / Religion and the Arts 12 (2008) 602–629 Ó Carragáin, Éamonn. Ritual and the Rood: Liturgical Images and the Old English Poems of the Dream of the Rood Tradition. British Library Studies in Medieval Culture, eds. Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick. Lon- don and Toronto ON: Th e British Library and University of Toronto Press, 2005. Pp. xxxii + 427 + 74 illustrations + unpaginated illus. pp. $80.00 cloth. amonn Ó Carragáin’s magisterial synthesis of iconography, theology, Éliturgy, and church history represents both the culmination of his decades-long engagement with the backgrounds, contemporary contexts, and subsequent history of the Northumbrian crosses; and the clearest and most convincing presentation yet of the cultural milieu in which the crosses, in addition to the later Brussels Cross and the closely related Old English poem “Th e Dream of the Rood,” were created and used. Despite some limitations engendered by the book’s methodology and scope, it will surely stand as the essential treatment of this group of texts and artifacts for many years to come. Th e principal objects and texts under discussion are the Northumbrian stone crosses at Ruthwell (dated by Ó Carragáin to the 730s or early 740s, somewhat earlier than the usual date of mid- to late eighth century) and Bewcastle (early eighth century, shortly before Ruthwell); the poem “Th e Dream of the Rood” (of uncertain date, but contained in the late tenth- century Vercelli Book manuscript from southern England); and the wood- and-silver Brussels Cross (early eleventh century, also southern). Although infl uenced by diff erent traditions, the objects in this group are nicely cohe- sive: the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses are related in their iconography and general style, and the inscriptions on the Ruthwell and Brussels Crosses and the text of “Th e Dream” derive ultimately from a common or closely related vernacular source. Ó Carragáin’s main task—in which he is largely successful—is to characterize in detail the theological and liturgical milieu that both generated the earlier artifacts and constituted a vibrant tradition that remained relevant in the eleventh century. Ó Carragáin begins with a reconsideration of the evidence concerning the situation and uses of the Ruthwell Cross. He vividly describes the removal, defacement, and weathering that have bedeviled the cross over the centuries, and maintains convincingly that the upper stone was not an afterthought to the main construction, that the panel titles and the vine- scroll decoration form artistic and thematic units, that the cross design is “an integrated synthesis” superseding the distinction between “Roman” © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/156852908X357498 Book Reviews / Religion and the Arts 12 (2008) 602–629 621 and “Celtic” features, and that the cross and its setting imply “communal functions” related to the sacraments. His analysis of the position and order- ing of the runic vernacular inscriptions leads to the compelling conclusion that they were intended to be read clockwise, following the motion of the sun. Less convincing are his assertions that the Latin inscriptions were intended to be read in the same way (most “but not all” of them encourage a sunwise movement) and that “the concept of gift-exchange infl uenced the editing of the Ruthwell verse tituli” (this idea is thinly supported by his liturgical sources, though he could have strengthened it greatly with ideas about reciprocal service and reward drawn from Anglo-Saxon culture; see below). Th e book’s greatest innovation, and most obvious strength, is its use of liturgical and theological sources to explain the visual and textual motifs of the Ruthwell Cross and “Th e Dream of the Rood” (Chapter 5). For example, he dramatically sketches the details of the monothelete crisis of 649– 675, a dispute over the single or dual nature of Christ’s will and operations that resulted in the exile and death of Pope Martin I and the mutilation of Maximus the Confessor. Th e fi nal result—an insistence on Christ’s human will in harmony with his divine one—made a realistic poem about the fortitude and will of Christ particularly welcome in the early eighth century. Th e same kinds of connections are drawn between details of the crosses and the poem, the Eastern innovations of the cults of the cross and the Virgin, and controversies such as those about Christ as the Agnus Dei and iconoclasm. It is true that at times Ó Carragáin tacitly assumes a strong and direct connection between innovations in Roman liturgy and the details of artistic and religious practice in Northumbria, without any fi rm evidence. For example, he claims that the structure of the following prayer from the Old Gelasian sacramentary provides an analogue for the twofold structure of the Ruthwell text, in which the cross is fi rst mocked by Christ’s enemies and then bows to present his body to his followers: God, from whom both Judas received the punishment of his crime and the thief the reward of his confession, grant us the eff ect of your forgive- ness, so that as by his Passion Christ our Lord brought to each the reward they merited, so, the ancient fault having been removed, we may be granted the grace of his Resurrection, who lives and reigns with you. Th is is a tenuous connection that relies on the general acceptance of a strong and direct connection between Roman liturgy and Northumbrian .

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