43-634: The Kildalton Cross is a monolithic high cross in Celtic cross form in the churchyard of the former parish church of Kildalton (from Scottish Gaelic Cill Daltain , "Church of the Foster Son" (i.e. St John the Evangelist ) on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides , Scotland . It was carved probably in the second half of the 8th century AD, and is closely related to crosses of similar date on Iona . It
86-658: A Celtic cross ; this seems to be an innovation of Celtic Christianity , perhaps at Iona . Although the earliest example of this form has been found on fifth-seventh century Coptic textile. The term "high cross" is mainly used in Ireland and Scotland, but the tradition across Britain and Ireland is essentially a single phenomenon, though there are certainly strong regional variations. Some crosses were erected just outside churches and monasteries; others at sites that may have marked boundaries or crossroads, or preceded churches. Whether they were used as " preaching crosses " at early dates
129-521: A circle, representing the material world, supported by a square Christian cross intersecting it. After the Fall of France , Vichy government relied on pre-existing organisations to implement its youth policy according to the principles of the National Revolution . The field was dominated by Catholic scout movements, the leaders of which were put in charge of Secretariat-General of Youth. In 1941,
172-526: A flag with a Celtic cross in the centre. A version of the Celtic cross is used as a symbol by white supremacists . It was used by Nazis in Norway in the 1930s and 1940s, and more recently it has been used by neo-Nazis , Klansmen , and other white supremacist groups. In general, white supremacists use a version of the symbol with a square cross as opposed to the traditional elongated cross. This symbol forms part of
215-666: A head in cross form include the Cross of Kells , Ardboe High Cross , the crosses at Monasterboice , the Cross of the Scriptures, Clonmacnoise and those in Scotland at Iona and the Kildalton Cross , which may be the earliest to survive in good condition. Surviving, free-standing crosses are in Cornwall , including St Piran 's cross at Perranporth , and Wales. Other stone crosses are found in
258-409: A local bishop or abbot), approaching life-size, and carved in very high relief. The Irish tradition largely died out after the 12th century, until the 19th-century Celtic Revival , when the Celtic cross form saw a lasting revival for gravestones and memorials, usually just using ornamental decoration and inscriptions. These are now found across the world, often in contexts without any specific link to
301-487: A major role in formation of Fédération Nationale Catholique and Ligue DRAC [ fr ] . The same year, impressed by Quickborn [ de ] , a Catholic organisation within the German Youth Movement , he founded its local equivalent, Cadets. Doncœur, inspired by the G. K. Chesterton's novel The Ball and the Cross , decided that the symbol of the movement, croix cadet , should consist of
344-535: A number of theories as to its origin in Ireland and Britain. Some scholars consider the ring a holdover from earlier wooden crosses, which may have required struts to support the crossarm. Others have seen it as deriving from indigenous Bronze Age art featuring a wheel or disc around a head, or from early Coptic crosses based on the ankh . However, Michael W. Herren, Shirley Ann Brown, and others believe it originates in earlier ringed crosses in Christian art . Crosses with
387-545: A ring representing the celestial sphere developed from the writings of the Church Fathers . The "cosmological cross" is an important motif in Coelius Sedulius 's poem Carmen Paschale , known in Ireland by the seventh century. It is not clear where the first high crosses originated. The first examples date to about the ninth century and occur in two groups: at Ahenny in Ireland, and at Iona , an Irish monastery off
430-758: A time when Norse settlers appeared in the British Isles and met a Christian culture. A fragmentary cross has been discovered in Granhammar in Vintrosa parish in Närke , Sweden and testify to the English mission in the central Swedish provinces. The Swedish cross was very similar to a cross in Leek, Staffordshire , and may have been made by an English immigrant. In Norway the British tradition
473-583: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . High cross A high cross or standing cross ( Irish : cros ard / ardchros , Scottish Gaelic : crois àrd / àrd-chrois , Welsh : croes uchel / croes eglwysig ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. These probably developed from earlier traditions using wood, perhaps with metalwork attachments, and earlier pagan Celtic memorial stones;
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#1732852277487516-448: Is often considered the finest surviving Celtic cross in Scotland, and is certainly one of the most perfect monuments of its date to survive in western Europe . The cross and the adjacent roofless medieval parish church are in the care of Historic Environment Scotland (access at all times) and are jointly a scheduled ancient monument . A simpler cross of late medieval date stands nearby. The Kildalton Cross features an iconic image of
559-494: Is unclear, and many crosses have been moved to their present locations. They do not seem to have been used as grave-markers in the early medieval period. In the 19th century Celtic Revival Celtic crosses, with decoration in a form of insular style, became very popular as gravestones and memorials, and are now found in many parts of the world. Unlike the Irish originals, the decoration usually does not include figures. High crosses are
602-479: The Ardagh chalice . However, the shape achieved its greatest popularity by its use in the monumental stone high crosses , a distinctive and widespread form of Insular art . These monuments, which first appeared in the ninth century, usually (though not always) take the form of a ringed cross on a stepped or pyramidal base. The form has obvious structural advantages, reducing the length of unsupported side arms. There are
645-470: The Bewcastle Cross . The earliest 8th- or 9th-century Irish crosses had only ornament, including interlace and round bosses, but from the 9th and 10th century, figurative images appear, sometimes just a figure of Christ crucified in the centre, but in the largest 10th century examples large numbers of figures over much of the surface. Some late Irish examples have fewer figures (often Christ accompanied by
688-628: The Pictish stones of Scotland may also have influenced the form. The earliest surviving examples seem to come from the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria , which had been converted to Christianity by Irish missionaries; it remains unclear whether the form first developed in Ireland or Britain. Their relief decoration is a mixture of religious figures and sections of decoration such as knotwork , interlace and in Britain vine-scrolls , all in
731-511: The Reformation , and typically only sections of the shaft remain. The ring initially served to strengthen the head and the arms of the high cross, but it soon became a decorative feature as well. The high crosses were status symbols, either for a monastery or for a sponsor or patron, and possibly preaching crosses , and may have had other functions. Some have inscriptions recording the donor who commissioned them, like Muiredach's High Cross and
774-621: The Viking invasions, the settled Norse population of the Danelaw adopted the form, and a number of crosses combine Christian imagery with pagan Norse myths , which the Church seems to have tolerated, and adopted at least as metaphors for the period when conversion was bedding down. The Gosforth Cross , a very rare almost-complete cross in England, is an example. By the 10th century such Anglo-Norse crosses were
817-591: The 1850s, the Celtic cross has been used extensively as grave markers, straying from medieval usage, when the symbol was typically used for a public monument. The Celtic cross now appears in various retail items. Both the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Northern Ireland national football team have used versions of the Celtic cross in their logos and advertising. The Church in Wales since 1954 have used
860-556: The Celtic areas of Wales , Devon, Brittany and Cornwall , where ogham inscriptions also indicate an Irish presence, and some examples can be found on Continental Europe, particularly where the style was taken by Insular missionaries. Most Irish High crosses have the distinctive shape of the ringed Celtic cross , and they are generally larger and more massive, and feature more figural decoration than those elsewhere. They have probably more often survived as well; most recorded crosses in Britain were destroyed or damaged by iconoclasm after
903-650: The Dublin Industrial Exhibition. In 1857, Henry O'Neill published Illustrations of the Most Interesting of the Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland . These two events stimulated interest in the Celtic cross as a symbol for a renewed sense of heritage within Ireland. New versions of the high cross were designed for fashionable cemetery monuments in Victorian Dublin in the 1860s. From Dublin,
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#1732852277487946-589: The Early Medieval period, have continued to be erected and replaced until modern times. In Pictish Scotland the cross-slab, a flat stone with a cross in relief or incised on an essentially rectangular stone, developed as a hybrid form of the Pictish stone and the high cross. The cross is normally only on one side of the stone and the remaining areas of the stone may be covered with interlace or other decoration. These are usually distinguished from true high crosses. The tradition of raising high crosses appeared at
989-653: The Insular Celts or Britain. Anglo-Saxon crosses were typically more slender, and often nearly square in section, though when, as with the Ruthwell Cross and Bewcastle Cross , they were geographically close to areas of the Celtic Church, they seem to have been larger, perhaps to meet local expectations, and the two 9th century Mercian Sandbach Crosses are the largest up to that period from anywhere. The heads tend to be smaller and usually not Celtic crosses, although
1032-402: The Irish crosses is the so-called Tall Cross at Monasterboice, County Louth. It stands at seven metres or twenty-two feet high. Anglo-Saxon examples mostly remained slender in comparison, but could be large; except in earlier Northumbrian examples their decoration is mostly ornamental rather than figures. The crosses often, though not always, feature a stone ring around the intersection, forming
1075-666: The Scottish coast. The Ahenny group is generally earlier. However, it is possible that St. Johns Cross at Iona was the first high cross; Iona's influence as a center of pilgrimage may have led this cross to inspire the Ahenny group as well as other ringed crosses in Pictish stones . A variety of crosses bear inscriptions in ogham , an early medieval Irish alphabet. Standing crosses in Ireland and areas under Irish influence tend to be shorter and more massive than their Anglo-Saxon equivalents, which have mostly lost their headpieces. Irish examples with
1118-891: The Virgin and Child, which is closely related to similar Virgin and Child iconography found on St. Martin's Cross and St. Oran's Cross at Iona . In addition, this panel displays similarities with folio 7v in the Book of Kells . This type of iconography of the Virgin and Child may be related to contemporary Marian iconography in the Mediterranean, specifically the Maria Regina which was used in Rome to refute iconoclasm . 55°41′2″N 6°2′40″W / 55.68389°N 6.04444°W / 55.68389; -6.04444 This Argyll and Bute location article
1161-401: The bulk of the production in England, as the high cross seems to have been abandoned further south, although the simple and practical Dartmoor crosses , no doubt an essential aid to navigating Dartmoor , appear to have continued to be made for centuries after. Given the tough granite used, decoration is mostly slight and they are hard to date confidently. Market crosses , many once dating to
1204-529: The dates assigned to most of the early crosses surviving in good condition, whether at Ruthwell and Bewcastle, the Western Ossory group in Ireland, Iona or the Kildalton Cross on Islay , have all shown a tendency to converge on the period around or slightly before 800, despite the differences between the Northumbrian and Celtic types. The high cross later spread to the rest of the British Isles, including
1247-662: The earliest surviving free-standing stone crosses are the Carndonagh stones in Carndonagh , Donegal , which appear to be erected by missionaries from Iona . fleeing the Viking raiders, "giving Iona a critical role in the formation of ringed crosses". The round bosses seen on early crosses probably derive from Pictish stones. High crosses may exist from the 7th century in Northumbria , which then included much of south-east Scotland, and Ireland, though Irish dates are being moved later. However
1290-678: The early 21st century, Irish sculptor Brendan McGloin was commissioned by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Portland to handcraft a full size replica of the Clonmacnoise Cross of the Scriptures. The 13-foot, 5 tonne sandstone cross was completed in 2007 and shipped from Donegal to Portland, Oregon , where it will stand as a Famine memorial. In 2016, a high cross was erected outside Wakefield Cathedral , West Yorkshire, England, carved from stone quarried in Holmfirth and carved by Celia Kilner. This
1333-672: The former Northumbria and Scotland, and further south in England, where they merge with the similar Anglo-Saxon cross making tradition, in the Ruthwell Cross for example. Most examples in Britain were destroyed during the Protestant Reformation . By about A.D. 1200 the initial wave of cross building came to an end in Ireland. Popular legend in Ireland says that the Christian cross was introduced by Saint Patrick or possibly Saint Declan , though there are no examples from this early period. It has often been claimed that Patrick combined
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1376-454: The logo of Stormfront . It is suggested that adoption of the symbol in the context of right-wing politics is linked with the activity of Jesuit priest Paul Doncœur [ fr ] , a prominent figure of the interwar scout movement in France. In 1924, the victory of anti-clerical Cartel des Gauches in general elections caused the mobilisation of right-wing forces, with Doncœur playing
1419-562: The majority of cross-heads have not survived at all. Carved figures in these large examples are much larger and carved in deeper relief than the Irish equivalents with similar dates – only some very late Irish crosses show equally large figures. Anglo-Saxon decoration often combines panels of vine-leaf scrolls with others of interlace, although the placement and effect from a distance is similar to Celtic examples. Smaller examples may have only had such decoration, and inscriptions, which are much more common on Anglo-Saxon than Irish crosses. After
1462-472: The most famous are: From the 19th century, many large modern versions have been erected for various functions, and smaller Celtic crosses have become popular for individual grave monuments, usually featuring only abstract ornament, usually interlace . In 1887, the Rev. William Slater Calverley commissioned a replica life-sized copy of Gosforth cross and had it erected in the churchyard at Aspatria, Cumbria.[3] In
1505-805: The ninth through the 12th centuries. A staple of Insular art , the Celtic cross is essentially a Latin cross with a nimbus surrounding the intersection of the arms and stem. Scholars have debated its exact origins, but it is related to earlier crosses featuring rings. The form gained new popularity during the Celtic Revival of the 19th century; the name "Celtic cross" is a convention dating from that time. The shape, usually decorated with interlace and other motifs from Insular art, became popular for funerary monuments and other uses, and has remained so, spreading well beyond Ireland. Ringed crosses similar to older Continental forms appeared in Ireland, England and Scotland in incised stone slab artwork and artifacts like
1548-568: The primary surviving monumental works of Insular art , and the largest number in Britain survive from areas that remained under Celtic Christianity until relatively late. No examples, or traces, of the putative earlier forms in wood or with metal attachments have survived; the decorative repertoire of early crosses certainly borrows from that of metalwork, but the same is true of Insular illuminated manuscripts. Saint Adomnán , Abbot of Iona who died in 704, mentions similar free standing ringed wooden crosses, later replaced by stone versions. Perhaps
1591-482: The revival spread to the rest of the country and beyond. Since the Celtic Revival, the ringed cross became an emblem of Celtic identity, in addition to its more traditional religious symbolism. Modern interest in the symbol increased because of Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie . The two worked on the island of Iona in Scotland from 1899 to 1940 and popularised use of the Celtic cross in jewelry. Since its revival in
1634-581: The styles also found in insular art in other media such as illuminated manuscripts and metalwork. They were probably normally painted, perhaps over a modelled layer of plaster; with the loss of paint and the effects of weathering the reliefs, in particular scenes crowded with small figures, are often now rather indistinct and hard to read. The earlier crosses were typically up to about two metres or eight feet high, but in Ireland examples up to three times higher appear later, retaining thick massive proportions, giving large surface areas for carving. The tallest of
1677-534: The symbol of Christianity with the sun cross to give pagan followers an idea of the importance of the cross. By linking it with the idea of the life-giving properties of the sun, these two ideas were linked to appeal to pagans. Other interpretations claim that placing the cross on top of the circle represents Christ's supremacy over the pagan sun. The Celtic Revival of the mid-19th century led to an increased use and creation of Celtic crosses in Ireland. In 1853, casts of several historical high crosses were exhibited at
1720-570: The symbol of Doncœur, now named croix celtique , was adopted as an emblem for Cadets of the Légion in Algeria , a youth movement within Légion Française des Combattants , a veteran organisation which the government hoped could be transformed to function as the single party of the state. Then it was used as insignia of Equipes nationales, a youth civilian service institution founded in 1942. After
1763-496: The war, Pierre Sidos appropriated the symbol as an emblem of the far-right movement Jeune Nation , founded by him in 1949. White supremacist use of the long and short Celtic cross represents only a small minority of the symbol's use. The symbol in both forms is used by non-extremists in contexts such as Christianity, neo-Paganism, and Irish patriotism. Still, according to the American Anti-Defamation League ,
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1806-488: Was based on the remains of a Saxon high cross, dated 930 A.D. Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages . A type of ringed cross , it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses erected across the islands, especially in regions evangelised by Irish missionaries , from
1849-568: Was more widely accepted and some 60 stone crosses are known from the country, but only four of them can be safely dated to the Viking Age thanks to runic inscriptions on the crosses. Many of the crosses have probably been raised on pagan grave fields when the family was baptised. Later, they were moved to cemeteries. The high cross tradition also probably helped increase the popularity of raising runestones (often with engraved crosses) in Sweden. Amongst
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