LDEWB/3

(St. David's leaning Staff)
Corpus Refs:Huebner/1876:118
Macalister/1949:992
Nash-Williams/1950:120
Site:LDEWB
Discovery:first mentioned, 1696 Lhuyd, E.
History:Westwood/1879, 140--141: `now stands...near the south-west entrance into the church of Llandewi brefi. It is described and figured by Edward Lhwyd in Gibson's Camden, p. 644, and vol. ii. p. 40; Gough's Camden, iii. p. 158; as well as by Sir S. Meyrick'.
Geology:Macalister/1949, 140: `schist'.
Dimensions:1.73 x 0.24 x 0.24 (converted from Macalister/1949)
Setting:in ground
Location:earliest
Macalister/1949, 140: `in front of the porch at the W. end of the church'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `In churchyard on S. side of church'.

CISP: the stone is now inside the church and cemented onto the floor.

Form:cross-marked
Westwood/1879, 141: `It was described as 7 feet 7 inches high and 10 inches wide, but it has evidently been removed, as it is now only 5 feet above ground'.

Macalister/1949, 140: `A pillar'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 98: `Tall pillar-stone. 69+" h. x 10" w. x 10" t.'.

Condition:complete , good
Folklore:Westwood/1876, 141: `It is called by the inhabitants St. David's leaning Staff, on which he is said to have leaned when preaching at the synod'.

Crosses:1: latin; linear; straight; crosslet; plain; none; none; none; n/a
Decorations:

Westwood/1876, 141: `The upper part of the stone bears a tall cross 29 inches long, each limb having a small slender cross-bar near its extremity'.

Macalister/1949, 140: `On the west face is a cross-crosslet'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 98: `Incised linear Latin cross-crosslet (Fig. 6, 21)'.

References


Inscriptions


LDEWB/3/1     Pictures

Readings

Westwood, J.O. (1876):GENLISINIBT~DS~
Expansion:
GENLISINI B[ENEDICA]T D[EU]S
Expansion:
GENLISINI B[ENEDICI]T D[EU]S
Westwood/1876 141 reading only
Macalister, R.A.S. (1949):CENLISINIBT~DS~
Expansion:
CENLISINI BENEDICAT DEUS
Anon/1931 390 reading only
Macalister/1949 140 reading only
Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950):CENLISINIBT~DS~
Expansion:
CENLISINI BENEDICAT DEUS
Translation:
(The Cross) of Cenlisini (PN). May God bless him.
Nash-Williams/1950 98--100 reading only

Notes

Orientation:vertical down
Position:W ; broad ; below cross ; undivided
Nash-Williams/1950, 98: `Incised linear Latin cross-crosslet...with inscription below in one line reading vertically downwards'.
Incision:pocked
Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `neatly picked'.
Date:600 - 899 (Nash-Williams/1950)
Language:Latin (rbook)
Ling. Notes:none
Palaeography:Westwood/1879, 141: `I have now before me a number of sketches and rubbings made by the Rev. H. L. Jones, Mr. Wakeman of Dublin, and myself, confirmed by an examination of the stone itself. The first letter terminates below in a triangular impression, which leads me to infer that it is a G; the second is clearly a minuscule E with the horizontal cross-bar extending half an inch beyond the loop; the third letter resembles H, but it is clearly an N of one of the Hiberno-Saxon forms of that letter; the fourth letter is a minuscule l, with the bottom of the stroke bent upwards; the following letters ISI are clear. The next is N, in another of the Hiberno-Saxon forms of the letter common in eighth or ninth century MSS., followed by BT~ DS~. The small horizontal lines over the last four letters indicate that two words are here contracted; the DS~ I apprehend unquestionably stand for the word deus, and I venture to suggest that the two preceding letters BT~ are the contracted form of the word benedicat or benedicit (the Llanwnnws Stone, Ph. LXVIII. fig. l, giving the clue to the latter word). I therefore read the inscription, `Genlisini benedicit deus.

The letters occupy two feet of the length of the stone, and are 3 inches high'.

Macalister/1949, 140: `The first letter is C, not G, as in previous readings: the use of two kinds of N in the name is noteworthy. The prayer B[enedica]T D[eu]S has been added by a later hand: the lettering is different in technique from the rest'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `Round half-uncials, neatly picked in good calligraphic style, with bars of contraction. The contraction D~S~ (for deus) is normal, while that for benedicat follows the same `first and last letter' rule'.

Legibility:good
Lines:1
Carving errors:0
Doubtful:no

Names

References