Ritual and the rood

A brilliant and richly documented study of an eighth-century Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture, the "Ruthwell Cross," which is carved with scenes from the Christian Bible and with lines, written in runes, from a celebrated Old English poem about Christ's crucifixion, "The Dream of the Rood." Ó Carragáin argues that the carvings on the Ruthwell Cross can be best explained as arising from reflection by Anglo-Saxon monks and clergy on four feast days of the Virgin Mary that had been recently introduced to England from the Roman liturgy.