11. A UNIQUE MEDIAEVAL TOMB AT INCHMAHOME: A CULTURAL LINK. Where the lands of the Gael and Lowland Scot merge at the Lake of Menteith, there lies on a lake-isle a tomb which seems to be unique in Christendom. Its recumbent figures of man and wife were carved by a sculptor manifestly trained crafs inhi t during that great ascending phas Christiaf eo n latearte th , r thirteenth century; and he embodied in stone the traditional attitude of embrace con- secrated by Gaelic prayers for rest—rest in life and death, in divine salvation human i s a n love. • The t unknowntomno s singulas bi it t bu , r character seems to-have passed almost unnoticed. It is that' of Mary, Countess of Menteith, and of her husband, Walter firsthe , t Stewart Ear Menteithof l latteThe .ryea the die r in d1294 , predeceased by his wife some four or five years earlier. The lord wears armour of the late thirteenth century. On his head, over chain mail, he wears a helm without a visor, a bassinet with its strings knotted behind, and a surcoat covering his mailed bodys hand Hi gloved e weare . sar h d s ,an shor t spurs pointes Hi . d "heater" shield is carved with the chequer of the Stewarts, the fesse chequy, with 224 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1949-50. labea fivf o l e points s sworHi .d belt meet leathere sth n placessheato tw n hi . The face is of the long type commonly associated in Scotland with lordship, rather tha broae nth d type prevalent among Neolithic remain workine seed th sn an ni g folk of the west; he wears a moustache. The lady wears a flat-topped head-dress, with an enrichment above the right ear, and the ends of the head-dress fall to below the shoulder with string attachments. Her long flowing mantle is gathered waiste fee e eacf th o tTh t ha . figure rest upo ncreaturea , possibly intendeo dt resemble a lion, or simply a dog—his feet upon a larger, hers upon a smaller one. As the illustrations show (PL XXVIII), the pair are sculptured side by side, each with unde"ahusband'e m nheade otherth ar e th rth d f an "o ; s(unde lefm ar t r its Stewart shield) reaches over to hold his wife's right hand in his own. Although detain i technique th imperfecle b y ema t compare bese contemporarf th o t o dt y continental sculpture, the sculptural motif is original, bold, and conceived "in round.e th " Mutilated thoug deprive, be ht i d ocanopys fit ,elements e worth y nb , witd l tracan hal colouf eo r gone fro gres mit y freestone wore th , k retains rhythmic linsculpturad ean l unity. It is this attitude of calm embrace which is consecrated by an ancient native traditio prayerf n o fou e Th r .citation s which follow were gathered oralle th n yi Hebride Alexandey b s r Carmichae d recordedan l , wit s translationshhi s hi n i , Carmina Gadelica, vols. i-iv. (1900, 1928-41):— righy Th t hande "B God O . , 1 , unde heay rm d ..." 2. "Blighty eSpiritTh O , , ove, rme My soul on Thine own arm, O Christ . ." 3. "I am now going into the sleep, B t thahealtei n i I t h shall waken; death-sleee th n i e Ifm deatpo t e hb Thinn arm,o n B t ei e ow Gracef o d OI shal,Go l wake. n. Thinn belove. o n . t i e ow e m B dar My soul is on Thy right hand, O God . Encompas ...e sm " 4. "I lie in my bed, as I would lie in the grave, Thin beneatm ear necky hm Mary,f o Tho n ,u So victorious . Angels shall watch me, and I lying in slumber, And Angels shall guard me in the sleep of the grave. ..." r theiFo r poetic form shoule on , d hea e Gaelic—sonorousth r , vowel-rhymed dan rhythmic. openine Herth e ear g lines fro firsseconde d mth an t : 1. "Biodh do lamh dheas, a Dhe, fo mo cheann, Biodh do shoills, a Spioraid, os mo chionn ..." 2. "M'ana laimho d r m'Chriosda ,ai a ..." Reve . AllaTh Fr . n Macdonal Eriskaf do y also gave severa Gaelis hi n li c boof ko prayers (privately printe 1895)n di similaA . r prayer used nightl Islanden a y yb r was recited to me by his daughter-in-law. The Rev. Kenneth MacLeod records a "Pilgrim's Rune of Eigg" (Celtic Review, 1911) which closes with the petition: "Ma Mother you undetheree e b b rhead/ y m rm , ar ma r ' yhe NOTES. 225 The simple gesture of embrace at rest is universal to mankind, and among the Gael it is a recurring theme (Geddes, 1951). It leads naturally from human love image d carth f divinean o eo t , all-embracing t loveallusio Ye t seemi . o nt s strangely rare outsid Gaelreale e eth th f m.o uniquenese th Ao st monumene th f so t there seems little doubt, from scrutiny of the standard works of F. H. Crossley, Arthur Gardner and Louis Reau, and from correspondence received. Mr Crossley writes: "The position of the effigies at Inchmahome . was never adopted in England. In Scotland, according to McGibbon and Ross, many unusual figures were sculptured. ... In England a local styl founs ei remotn di e place Devon i s Cornwalld sa nan alsd Walesn oan ,i , t nothinbu s drasticallga y differen s thia t s tom t Inchmahome.ba " Monsieur Reau, after careful inquiry among his colleagues, informs me that he knows of no such effigies. Professor D. Talbot Rice knows of none in Byzantine art, of which I had inquired in view of the links of Celtic doctrine with Grecian sources. Frencn I Englisd han h church effigie husbanf o s wifed usuas i d an t ther i , lfo m to be carved side by side, the hands of each pressed together in prayer. More rarel man'e yth s right hand take wife's shi s left handman'e Th s. left hand rests on swor r gauntletdo breastr wife'e he th , n o s. Several example illustratee sar d by Crossley and Gardner. Even in these cases the bodies lie straight out, as if alone, except for the hand-clasp. The robes are carved as if they hung straight down from a figure standing in an attitude of prayer: if the photograph is placed erect, the pose is that of a standing saint. attitude Th r soldierefo s after 1140 suggests f eitheo e ev r briee th fn o res s a t battle, or else a curious mixture of rest and action, the right hand over the sword hilt, and the legs crossed with some suggestion of movement. This martial attitude is found, even when the warrior's wife lies at his side, on the monuments of England from before 1200 until 1350. A similar attitude, hand on sword and legs sideways, though not crossed, characterised Highland and Island monuments unti Reformatione lth ladeves o N yrwa .shown t seems,i , excep t Inchmahometa ; in Lewis, in the Church of Eye, a lady's tomb bears ornament only. To a sculptor, the treatment of the theme is significant. Archaic types of sculpture, the world over, are characterised by a frontal pose and limited action wit hlaca pelvif ko c movement. Wit thirteente hth h century bode th , infuseys i d with life, the figure turns from the head and shoulders through trunk and lower limbs (Miller, 1949). Even then, the memorial statues—whether of a single figur weddea r eo d pair—were still carve "uprighs da t statues laid horizontally." Their drapery falls as if the figure stood, as in the tombs of William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and of Henry II in Westminster Abbey, and in contemporary tomb Gloucesten i s othed an r r English cathedrals monumentn I . s made after 1250 there may be a slight forward movement, the drapery following; but the figure is still erect. What is so fascinating and so rare, if not indeed unique, in the tomb of the Menteith thas si t thi shea e arms,d turth df an n o this freedo movemenf mo d an t flo drapery,f wo carves i tombwifa e n states deo Th i . havo dt e died first hern i ; , movemene th perceptibles i t husbande th n i ; , reunite clears e heri o dt t Th i , . tha e tome b th t i thes f bquieo n o tw onee etw oCa ar t . dea Inchmahomn do e embodie supreme th f o o uniosea inspirationtw f no mankinf s o s firs e wa Th t d? e inspiratioth f primitivno e Christianity which reached Celtic Britain alone gth Roman thirroade th fourtr dgreao n e s i th ho t t century Celtid le cd movemenan , t of missions broken by the Nordic invasions, Saxon and Viking. The second was inspiratioe th n which took birt Franc n hi thirteente th n ei h century flowered an , d VOL. LXXXIV. 15 226 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1949-50. in the coloured and glowing sculpture found from Chartres or Rheims to Stras- bourg and Bamberg, Canterbury and Westminster, Elgin and Inchmahome.