| Corpus Refs: | Nash-Williams/1950:380 |
| Site: | SDAV3 |
| Discovery: | in/on structure, 1939 workmen |
| History: | Nash-Williams/1950, 208: `Said to have been found some years before 1939 in the wall of the Cathedral close during the restoration of the gateway'. |
| Geology: | |
| Dimensions: | 0.56 x 0.25 x 0.1 (converted from Nash-Williams/1950) |
| Setting: | in display |
| Location: | on site Nash-Williams/1950, 210: `Inside Cathedral in S. transept'. |
| Form: | cross-marked Nash-Williams/1950, 208--210: `Rough rounded pillar-stone, formed of a natural water-worn boulder. 22" h. x 10" w. x 4" t. The stone bears crosses on both faces, apparently of different dates, suggesting that it was re-used...The present stone, decorated with simple cross and monograms, exemplifies a local type, here designated `Monogram' cross-slabs[1] -- though the presence of the `Monograms' is not invariable -- that appears to be peculiar to Pembrokeshire,[2] apart from a single early (?) example found in Herefordshire (No. 410 below). The combination of cross and monograms was perhaps intended to symbolize the Crucifixion, and on one stone (No. 411), apparently of related character, the monograms are replaced by the figure of Christ. The type is probably of Irish derivation, though perhaps based ultimately on Merovingian or even Coptic models.[3] The monograms occur also on related slabs of more decorative character (cf. No. 376). The use of the monograms and the presence of the developed wheel-cross form on certain of the plain slabs suggest that the group as a whole is not earlier than the 10th century. The present stone may, however, go back to the 9th century (cf. No. 4-10). [1] The name is of course strictly a misnomer since IHS, XPS, and the other forms are not monograms but abbreviations. The term, however, is convenient and expressive. [2] Other examples are Nos. 381, 392--4, 410. See p. 37. [3] See ICG, ii, [LeBlant/1865] no. 551 A; AMC, [Coutil/1931] opp. p. 30 (bottom l.) et passim; HAE, [Kaufmann/1917] p. 73. Cf. also No. 376 above'. |
| Condition: | complete , good |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | 1: latin; linear; straight; plain; plain; none; none; none; n/a 2: latin; outline; straight; plain; plain; cruciform; none; none; plain |
| Decorations: | Nash-Williams/1950, 208: `(a) Front. Rudely scored linear Latin cross (Fig. 6, 3). 7th--9th century(?). (b) Back (re-used as the front). Incised double-outline Latin cross with plain straight limbs, with the four sacred monograms symmetrically disposed in the upper and lower interspaces'. |
| Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950): | {A} || {W~} | {I~H~C} || {X~P~C} Expansion: ALPHA OMEGA IHC XPC Translation: (The Cross of) Alpha (and) Omega, Jesus Christ. Nash-Williams/1950 208 reading only |
| Orientation: | horizontal |
| Position: | ind ; broad ; within quadrants ; quadrant |
| Incision: | inc |
| Date: | 800 - 999 (Nash-Williams/1950) |
| Language: | Greek (greek) |
| Ling. Notes: | Nash-Williams/1950, 208--210: `The use of Alpha and Omega as Christian symbols on monuments goes back to the earliest times, in Britain[3] as on the Continent. The monograms IHC and XPC (derived from the earlier Greek two-letter forms IC and XC) and their Latin equivalent HS and XPS[4] are later, their earliest appearance on monuments in Ireland[5] and in Wales (No. 125) dating apparently in the first half of the 9th century. [3] Cf. CIIC, [Macalister/1945] 516 (Kirkmadrine, ? 5th-early 6th century A.D.). [4] The Greek contractions IC and XC, and their three-letter variants IHC and XPC, were in vogue in the E. Roman Empire apparently from the 3rd century A.D. onwards. By the end of the 7th century the Greek three-letter forms, with their Latin equivalents IHS and XPS, are found in use in Irish and English manuscripts, where the Greek forms remain a distinctive local feature until the 9th century. In the latter century they were adopted also on the Continent, where hitherto only the Latin forms had been used. In Latin manuscripts the Latin three-letter forms appear actually earlier than the Greek forms from which they were derived. [5] ICI, ii, [Petrie/1878] fig. 64 (Berechtuire slab, dated 839). See also generally ECS, [Allen/Anderson/1903] pp. 113 ff'. |
| Palaeography: | Nash-Williams/1950, 208: `Capitals, with round half-uncial P and X. A has a long top-bar (or straight serif) and angular cross-bar.[2] The centre-stroke of the omega is prolonged upwards to touch the bar or serif above (cf. No. 382). Bars of contraction are placed above the lower monograms. [2] This form of the A appears in the Lindisfarne Gospels. For its probable derivation, and that of the barred [omega], see p. 210, note 5'. |
| Legibility: | good |
| Lines: | 2 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |