The Use of Permutatios to Explai the Hackess Cross Tree Rue Iscriptio Richard Sermo Gloucester Archaeology Uit Barbica Road Gloucester GLl 2 JF Eglad E-mail: richards@glos-city.gov.uk Abstract: AU that remais of the Hackess Cross are t^vo damaged stoe fragmets of a 8th or 9th cetwy Aglo-Saxo moumet The cross fragmets bear five iscriptios, vo coded or cryptic iscriptios, ad three i Lati which refer to a abbess amed Oedilbtirga. The first of the cryptic iscriptios is writte i what appears to be a form of Ogham, while the secod is writte i a combiatio of Aglo-Saxo Rues ad Tree Rues. I 19941 gave a paper at the CAA coferece held at Glasgow Uiversity o the use of computer geerated permutatios i attemptig to decipher the cryptic iscriptios (Sermo, 1995, 253-257 ad 1996, 101-111). This work iterpreted the Ogham iscriptio as a dedicatio i Old Irish which traslated 'Cross to Kig Jesus, rock of help fi-om Agus ', ad the stadard Aglo-Saxo Rues as a Old Eglish aagram meaig 'Oedilburg kew me'. However, o iterpretatio was offered at that time for the Tree Rue iscriptio. Recetly a more critical re-examiatio of the Ruic iscriptio has bee carried out, where oly those characters that could be read with a high degree of cofidece were accepted. As a resuu oe of the permutatios of the Tree Rue iscriptio was foud to cotai the persoal ame 'Bosa 'who was bishop of York from 678 to 705 AD, ad a cotemporary of Abbess Hilda who fouded the moastery at Hackess. Itroductio The moumet cosists of two damaged stoe fragmets from a 8th or 9th cetury Aglia cross, presetly located i the south aisle of St Peter's church at Hackess i North Yorkshire (see Figure 1). The stoes were discovered some time before 1848 i a outhouse o the former moastery site at Hackess Hall, ad appear at some time to have bee used as a gatepost. The fragmets are from the top ad the bottom of the cross shaft, ad together stad to a height of 1.5 metres. However, the origial height of the moumet would have bee somethig like 4.5 metres. The stoes are decorated i relief with vie scroll, iterlace, the feet of two beasts, ad what is presumably the head of Jesus. I its origial form the Hackess cross would have bee equal to the well kow examples at Bewcastle ad Ruthwell. The cross fragmets also bears five iscriptios, two coded or cryptic iscriptios, ad three i Lati which all refer to a abbess amed Oedilburga (see Table 1 ). Oedilburga was presumably abbess of the moastery at Hackess that accordig to Bede (Sherley-Price 1968,249) was fouded by Abbess Hilda of Whitby i 680 AD; That same ight it pleased Almighty God to make her death (Hilda 's) kow by meas of a visio i a moastery some cosiderable distace away, which she had fouded that same year at Hackess (Hacaos). Hilda's successor to the moastery at Whitby was Abbess Aelflfled, who is metioed i the Life of St Wilfiid by Eddius Stephaus (Webb ad Farmer 1983,171), whe she visits her dyig brother Kig Aldfrith of Northumbria at Driffield i 705 AD; This verbatim accout was give us by trushvorthy witesses, amog whom were Abbess Aelffled, herself a kig's daughter ad Abbess Aethilberg (Aedilberg). These evets all fit ito place whe we realise that Hackess hes o route betwee Whitby ad Driffield. It would therfore make perfect sese for Aelfiled to have broke her jourey at Hackess ad from there o to have bee accompaied by Aethilberg who is almost certaily the same perso as Oedilburga commemorated o the cross. The first of the cryptic iscriptios is writte i what appears to be a form of Ogham, a alphabet developed i Irelad i the 4th cetury AD. I my previous work this was iterpreted as a dedicatio i Old Irish which traslated 'Cross to Kig Jesus, rock of help from Agus'. The secod cryptic iscriptio is writte i a combiatio of stadard Aglo-Saxo Rues (see Figure 2) ad more uusual Tree Rues. The Ruic Iscriptio The Ruic mscriptio is located o the east side of the upper fragmet ad cosists of 15 Aglo-Saxo Rues, 35 Tree Rues ad three Lati letters, combiig to form a six lie iscriptio (see Figure 3). I my previous work the first two lies of the iscriptio (+EMBDWŒ/GNLGU1ŒR) were iterpreted as a Old Eglish aagram cotaiig the ame Œdilburg, i keepig with the three Lati iscriptios which also commemorate Oedilburga (see Table 2). Here the words are spoke by the cross, i a familiar Aglo-Saxo literary device kow from the poem Dream of the Rood. Parallels also exist for Ruic aagrams, icludig a umber of riddles from the from the Exeter Book. The three Lati letters ORA at the ed of the Ruic iscriptio were iterpreted as a abbreviatio for the Lati orate or pray. The Tree Rues employed here are thought by Page (1973,64-66 ad 1999, 83-86) to be a form of Hahalrua, which are 521
described i the 9th cetury Isrima Tract, ad are similar to Norse rues from Maes Howe o Orkey. The Ruic alphabet (futhorc) is split ito four groups of eight letters. Each Rue is the represeted by a vertical stemlie, with the umber of arms to the left idicatig the group i which the Rue occurs ad those to the right idicatig its positio withi that group, thus givig rise to a alphabet of 32 letters (see Figure 4). However, due to the fragmetary state of the iscriptio, the actual readig of each Tree Rue is rather more problematic. If we compare the umber of arms o each Tree Rue that have bee idetified by Haigh (1875, 349-391), Colligwood (1927, 59-61) ad Brow (1930, 52-75) there are some sigificat differeces (see Table 3). Nevertheless, this compariso reveals broad agreemet for the Tree Rues idetified i the secod lie, ad would suggest that this is the best preserved part of the iscriptio. Followig a recet amd more critical re-examiatio of the iscriptio ad published photographs (Lag, 1991, Illustratio 463), oly eight of the Tree Rues could be safely idetified with a high degree of cofidece (see Table 4). As well as ucertaity about the correct readig of each idividual Tree Rue, attempts to decipher the iscriptio have bee further complicated by ucertaity about the order i which the Tree Rue letter groups were employed. If we divide the Aglo-Saxo Ruic alphabet ito four groups of eight letters, we the eed to establish the order i which these letter groups correlated to the Tree Rue letter groups. This gives us a total of 24 differet possible permutatios, which have ow bee geerated for the eight legible characters usig a computer program. Havig examied all the permutatios, the majority were largely uitelligible, however, umber 19 appeared to cotai the ame Bosa (see Table 5). For some time it has bee suggested that the first group of Tree Rues (1/1 to 1/8) may correspod to the fial group of eight letters i the Aglo-Saxo Ruic alphabet (Derolez, 1954,140-142), give that both groups appear to comprise the least used characters. It is therefore iterestig to ote that this is also the case with permutatio 19 (see Figure 5), ad that it is paralleled by the Maes Howe iscriptio where the Ruic letter groups are used i reverse order. Accordig to Bede (Kig, 1930,131), a mok amed Bosa was raised at Abbess Hilda's moastery i Whitby. ad later became bishop of York from 678 to 686 AD, ad from 691 util his death i 705 AD; I short, we have sice see five from the same moastery, aftevards bishops, ad all these me of sigular worth ad holiess, whose ames are Bosa, Aetla, Oflfor, Joh ad Wilfrid. Of the first we have said before, that he was cosecrated bishop of York. Bosa would certaily have kow about the moastery at Hackess, beig a daughter house of Whitby, ad is likely to have bee held i high regard by these commuities, which both lay withi his diocese. We should also bear i mid that the early church i Northumbria was a close kit commuity, ad that Hilda, Bosa, Aelffled ad Aethilberg would all have kow oe aother (see Table 6). Coclusios The legible Tree Rues umber oly eight out of 35, for which we have 24 possible readigs or permutatios. Fidig that oe of these permutatios cotais a kow persoal ame is by itself a sigificat result. However, whe we cosider that this is ot just ay ame but that of Bosa bishop of York, a cotemporary Abbesses Hilda, Aelffled ad Aethilberg (Oedilburga), it seems ulikely to be just a coicidece. I my previous work o the Hackess Cross I had cocluded that there was probably little more that could be doe o the Tree Rue iscriptio, give its fragmetary state. However, over the followig years I have foud it very difficult to put the problem dow. While re-readig some of the previous papers o the cross, I realised that there was cosiderable agreemet as to the readig of the secod lie of Tree Rues. With this i mid I decided to look agai at computer output from my earlier work. This has lead to the preset iterpretatio (see Table 7), which I believe fits both the historical ad cultural cotext of the moumet. Refereces Brow, G B. 1930. The Arts i Early Eglad VI, Lodo Colligwood, W G. 1927. Northumbria Crosses of the Pre- Norma Age, Lodo Derolez, R. 1954./Jï/mcflA/öMM^cr/p/a, Brugge Haigh, D H. 1875. The Moasteries of St Heiu ad St Hild. YAJ, 3 Kig, J E. ed 1930. Bede, Historical Works, II, Leob Classical Library Lag, J. 1991. Corpus of Aglo-Saxo Stoe Sculpture, III, British Academy Page, R 1. 1973 ad 1999. A Itroductio to Eglish Rues, Lodo Sermo, R. 1995. i Huggett J ad Rya N, eds, CAA 1994, BAR 5600,253-257 Sermo, R. 1996. The Hackess Cross Cryptic Iscriptios, YAJ, 68 Sheriey-Price, L. ed 1968. Bede, A Histoiy of the Eglish Church ad People, Lodo Webb, J F & Farmer, D H. ed 1983. The Age of Bede, Lodo 522
Tables Table 1. Hackess Cross Lati Iscriptios + REL(IGI)OSA ABBATISSA OEDILBVRGA ORATE PR(0 NOBIS) + Religious Abbess Oedilburga pray for us (OEDI)L(BVR)GA SEMPER TENENT MEMORES COMMV(NITATE)S TVAE TE AMANTISSIMA Oedilburga your commuities hold you always i memory most lovig mother MATER OEDILBV(RGA) BEATA A(D S)EMPER T(E REC)OLA(NT) Blessed Oedilburga always may they remember you Table 2. Iterpretatio of Stadard Aglo-Saxo Rues Recostructio + ŒDILBURG GNŒW ME Old Eglish Iterpretatio + CEöilburg ceow me + Oethilburg kew me Table 3. Compar iso ofp) 'evious Tree Rue Readigs Lie 1 Haigh 4/8 -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- Colligwood 3/8 -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- Brow 4/8 2/4 3/4 4/1 3/- -/- 3/3 -/- -/- -/- Lie 2 Haigh ^m. m.. 3/S 2/1 2/5 2/4 3/2 -/- -/- -/- Coiligwood 4/2 2/4 3/8 1/1 2/5 2/4 3/1 -/- -/- -/- Brow 4/2 2/4 3/8 1/1 3/5 2/4 3/1 1/1 -/- -/- Lie 3 Haigh '3/2 -A 4- -/- -/- 3/8 3/2 2/4 3/3 -/- Colligwood 3/1 -/- -/- -/- -/- 3/6 3/2 3/3 3/3 -/- Brow 3/2 l/i -/- -/- 4/6 3/8 3/3 3/5 4/4 -/- Lie 4 Haigh -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- Colligwood -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- Brow 1/1 1/1 2/3 -/- 3/8 7aô/e 4. Legible Tree Rues Lie 1 m V- -f' -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- Lie 2 m m m 1/1 3/5 2/4 -/- -/- -/- -/- Lie 3 m -f- 4- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- -/- Lie 4-1- -/- -/- -/- -/- 523
^ Table 5 Tree Rue Program Output 01 q aej d f 1 j... b 02 d b j q f ioj... ae 03 q ae m s f e m... 04 s m q f io m... ae 05 d b ea s f e ea... 06 s ea d f 1 ea... b 07 q ae o d h 1 o... b 08 d b o q h io 0... ae 09 q aem w h r m... u 10 w u m q h iom... ae 11 d b eaw h r ea... u 12 w u ea d h 1 ea... b 13 q aeo s t e o... 14 s o q t ioo... ae 15 q aej w t r j... u 16 w u j q t ioj... ae 17 s ea w t r ea... u 18 w u ea s t e ea... 19 d b o s a e 0... 20 s o d a 1 o... b 21 d b j w a r j... u 22 w u j d a 1 j... b 23 24 s w m w a r m... u m s a e m... Table 6. Hackess Timelie (614-714 AD) 614 Hilda is bom. 649 Hilda is appoited abbess of the moastery at Hartlepool. 654 Aelffled is bom. 657 Hilda fouds a moastery at Whitby, where Aelffled ad Bosa are traied. 678 Bosa is appoited bishop of York, followig the expulsio of Wilfrid. 680 Hilda fouds a daughter moastery at Hackess. 680 Hilda's death is see i visio at Hackess. 680 Aelffled is appoited abbess of Whitby. 705 Aelffled visits her dyig brother kig Aldfrith. accompaied by Abbess Aethilberg. 705 Death of Bosa. 714 Death of Aelffled. Table 7. Iterpretatio of Ruic Iscriptio Recostructio Traslatio u + Œdilburg goew me d Bosa eo... ora(te) + Oethilburg kew me d Bosa eo... pray 524
Figures ïf(s^ ï T Figure 1. The Hackess Cross Figure 3. Hackess Ruic Iscriptio f M l>f^l?. hx PMi I 4 t: K h J^oicg wh i je pxs t b emlgœdaseyeaiokgqst Figure 2. Aglo-Saxo Ruic Alphabet 525
Group llllllll A Group B fu >orcgw Group C Yy Yy ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^s ^s^s Group D ^ ^ ^ 4^ ^ ^ 4^ h i J e p X s t b e m I g œ d ^ a ae y ea io k g q Figure 4. Tree Rue Letter Groups Figure 5. Tree Rue Alphabet Recostructio 526