The Vercelli Book and

1. The Vercelli Book and The Ruthwell Cross

2. The Vercelli Book • Dates from the late 10th century • One of four important OE collections (another is the Exeter Book) • Contains 23 homiletic (sermon; moralizing lecture) and hagiographic (biography presenting person as perfect) writings and 6 interspersed poems • Most famous poem is “The Dream of the Rood”

3. The Vercelli Book • Book is written in a single handwriting • Organized thematically around the Church’s liturgical calendar • Four poems besides “Rood” survive in tact, one a fragment

4. The Dream of the Rood • One of the oldest Christian poems • Written in alliterative verse • Sections found on Ruthwell Cross • May have been authored by Caedmon or Cynewulf whose name is signed to “The Fates of the Apostles” and “Elene,” two poems in Vercelli

5. The Ruthwell Cross • a sculptured, monumental, stone cross of the late 7th or early 8th century • Until tmid17th century located near altar of church at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire • 1642 cross taken down, partially defaced • some parts buried in churchyard • others used as paving in the nave

6. The Ruthwell Cross • cross remained in this state for 130 years, after which remaining fragments (used as paving) also buried in the churchyard. • 1802 minister Henry Duncan reconstructed monument • 1887 monument moved back into the church

7. The Ruthwell Cross The Ruthwell Church

8. The Ruthwell Cross Ruthwell Cross in Churchyard, ca. 1880

9. The Ruthwell Cross

10. The Ruthwell Cross