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