Manx Crosses: A Handbook of Stone Sculpture 500-1040 in the Isle of Man

The carved stone crosses of the Isle of Man of the late fifth to mid-eleventh century are of national and international importance. They provide the most coherent source for the early history of Christianity in the Island, and for the arrival and conversion of Scandinavian settlers in the last century of the Viking Age – a century which produced some of the earliest recognisable images of the heroes and gods of the North; earlier, indeed, than those found in Scandinavia. This, the first general survey of the material for more than a century, provides a new view of the political and religious connections of the Isle of Man in a period of great turmoil in the Irish Sea region. The book also includes an up-to-date annotated inventory of the monuments.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to the Island

CHAPTER 2 Early stones and sacred sites

CHAPTER 3 The Monastery at Maughold and pre-Scandinavian monuments in the Island

CHAPTER 4 The cusp of the Scandinavian settlement of the Isle of Man

CHAPTER 5 The stone sculpture of the Scandinavian settlement

Chapter 6 The Scandinavian runic inscriptions

Bibliography & Suggested Reading

Appendix: A hand-list of the Manx Crosses