Whithorn's Early Medieval Sculptured Stones

惠索恩的中世纪早期石雕

• 批准号: AH/F005288/1
• 负责人: Katherine Forsyth
• 金额: $ 1.51万
• 依托单位: University of Glasgow
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FF005288%2F1
• 关键词: Whithorn; Early; Medieval; Sculptured; Stones

Whithorn is known as the 'cradle of Scottish Christianity' and is home to the earliest Christian artefact from Scotland, the fifth century 'Latinus' inscribed stone. Famous for its connection with St Ninian, it was one of the key centres of early Christianity in Britain. The British monastery, renowned in Ireland as a school for saints, was superseded in the seventh century when Whithorn became the seat of a Northumbrian bishopric and a centre of pilgrimage. Major archaeological excavations in 1980s and 90s threw new light on its role as an important and wealthy manufacturing and trading centre in this Northumbrian period and in the subsequent Norse era.Each of these phases has left its trace in the sculptural record at Whithorn. There are about 64 monuments from Whithorn itself, a further 17 from a nearby eremitic site, St Ninian's Cave, and about 30 pieces in a distinctive 'Whithorn School' style found elsewhere in the local region but almost certainly produced in a workshop at Whithorn itself. This large collection of early Christian sculpture, one of the most significant in Britain, is notable for including several inscriptions, in both Latin and in Anglian runes. The material ranges in date from the 5th to 12th centuries/the longest continuous sequence in the British Isles/yet within this range almost 90% of the monuments date to a narrow chronological period: the 10th and 11th centuries. This happens to be the period when historical documentation for Whithorn is entirely lacking and so, while the sculpture provides an important counterweight to other forms of evidence in all periods, in this later period it is crucial to our understanding of Whithorn's development. In regional terms, Derek Craig's published work on the 'Whithorn School' sculpture has shown how it manifests relationships of power between a major ecclesiastical centre and its dependants, and between secular and ecclesiastical authorities. Because it includes an exceptionally large number of near contemporary monuments from a single workshop in a highly distinctive local style, the Whithorn collection presents an unprecedented opportunity to analyse the organisation of sculpture production and the transmission of skills.My work on the early inscribed monuments from Whithorn led to my involvement as academic consultant to Historic Scotland (HS) on a major project to conserve and re-display the Whithorn sculpture. I spent 18 months on the project in an innovative working arrangement (2003-4). I was able to draw on previous unpublished work by Derek Craig on provenance and style, and on newly commissioned specialist reports on geology, and runic inscriptions. In addition to marshalling existing data I contributed substantial original work of my own, including further work on provenance and historical context, and analysis of cross form, decoration and inscriptions. The result was an unpublished research report to HS which formed the basis of their interpretative strategy. I also provided text for panels in the museum and script for audio-visual interpretation. The museum opened in July 2005 and represents the popular dissemination of this research. It is vital, however, that it bear further fruit in the form of an academic publication. I propose to spend my research leave completing a corpus of the early Medieval Sculpture from Whithorn and its hinterland. I have the support of stakeholder institutions and agreement from specialist contributors, including Dr Craig. HS will provide photographs and drawings and have pledged a publication grant. The basic research is already in place, and my task will be to draw together the raw material already gathered and present it in catalogue format. Much of the analysis and the framework for the introductory chapters exists already in my unpublished report. Because the project is thus far advanced I am confidentthat the remaining work can be completed within the proposed time-scale.

惠索恩被称为“苏格兰基督教的摇篮”，是苏格兰最早的基督教文物——五世纪刻有“拉丁语”的石碑的所在地。它因与圣尼尼安的联系而闻名，是英国早期基督教的主要中心之一。英国修道院在爱尔兰作为圣徒学校而闻名，但在七世纪时惠索恩成为诺森布里亚主教区和朝圣中心，被取代。 20 世纪 80 年代和 90 年代的重大考古发掘，让人们对它在诺森布里亚时期和随后的挪威时代作为重要而富裕的制造和贸易中心的角色有了新的认识。每个阶段都在惠索恩的雕塑记录中留下了痕迹。惠索恩本身有大约 64 座纪念碑，另外 17 座来自附近的隐士遗址圣尼尼安洞穴，还有约 30 件具有独特“惠索恩学派”风格的作品在当地其他地方发现，但几乎可以肯定是在惠索恩本身的一个作坊中制作的。这个大量的早期基督教雕塑收藏是英国最重要的雕塑之一，以包含多处拉丁文和盎格鲁符文铭文而闻名。这些材料的年代从 5 世纪到 12 世纪/不列颠群岛最长的连续序列/但在这个范围内，几乎 90% 的纪念碑可以追溯到一个狭窄的年代时期：10 世纪和 11 世纪。这个时期恰好是惠索恩完全缺乏历史文献的时期，因此，虽然该雕塑为所有时期的其他形式的证据提供了重要的平衡，但在后来的时期，它对于我们理解惠索恩的发展至关重要。从地区角度来看，德里克·克雷格（Derek Craig）出版的“惠索恩学派”雕塑作品展示了它如何体现主要教会中心与其附属机构之间以及世俗当局与教会当局之间的权力关系。由于Whithorn收藏包含来自同一工作室的大量近乎当代的纪念碑，具有高度独特的当地风格，因此为分析雕塑生产的组织和技能的传播提供了前所未有的机会。我对Whithorn早期铭文纪念碑的研究使我作为学术顾问参与了历史苏格兰（HS）的一个重大项目，以保护和重新展示Whithorn雕塑。我在创新的工作安排下花了 18 个月的时间在这个项目上（2003-4）。我能够借鉴德里克·克雷格之前未发表的关于出处和风格的著作，以及新委托的关于地质学和符文铭文的专家报告。除了整理现有数据外，我还贡献了自己的大量原创作品，包括对出处和历史背景的进一步研究，以及对十字形状、装饰和铭文的分析。结果是向 HS 提交了一份未发表的研究报告，该报告构成了他们解释策略的基础。我还为博物馆的展板提供了文本以及用于视听解释的脚本。该博物馆于 2005 年 7 月开放，代表了这项研究的广泛传播。然而，至关重要的是，它以学术出版物的形式取得进一步的成果。我打算利用我的研究假期来完成惠索恩及其腹地早期中世纪雕塑的资料库。我得到了利益相关机构的支持以及包括克雷格博士在内的专家贡献者的同意。 HS 将提供照片和图纸，并承诺提供出版资助。基础研究已经就位，我的任务是将已经收集到的原材料汇总起来，并以目录的形式呈现。介绍性章节的大部分分析和框架已经存在于我未发表的报告中。由于该项目到目前为止已取得进展，我相信剩余的工作可以在建议的时间内完成。