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Tynwald: A Viking ceremony |
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Peace and prosperity
Manx Cross
© Courtesy of the Isle of Man Department of Tourism and Leisure |
Despite raiding and plundering from the island for countless decades the Vikings did eventually settle there and inter-marry with the local Celts. Although it is difficult to gage the exact figures of intermarriage, in the opinion of Andrew Johnson of Manx National Heritage, it “probably ended up being pretty unrestricted”. He also argues the significance of how much the indigenous populations appear to have wanted to be ‘Scandinavian’, through the ‘adoption of art-styles, social and political structures’.
The Norse and Celtic names on the cross slabs of the 10th Century provide us with some evidence of intermarriage. A ‘cross slab’ is a carved slab of local stone, symbolic of a Christian cross, which was usually used as a grave memorial. In the ninth Century these slabs had become larger crosses, heavily influenced by Scottish and Irish designs. By the 10th and early 11th Century the slabs were symbolic of the Viking influence: where their illustrations 
Viking warriors preparing for battle
© Courtesy of the Viking Jorvick Centre |
of Norse folklore and Celtic interlace. Examples of these later crosses can be seen at the parish churches of Maughold, Kirk Michael and Old Kirk Braddan. Among the Norse crosses at Maghold is one which depicts scenes from the story of Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer.
Andrew Johnson, however, argues that while the crosses are indicative of the mixing of the two cultures, it is on a rather superficial level. Rather they are, “about the sophisticated religious knowledge that different audiences would bring to the frequent study of the crosses”. An example of this type of cross can be seen at Kirk Michael, where there is a slab that has Christ with a cockerel on one side, and a winged figure on the other. All three figures can be interpreted as Christian: Christ, an angel, and the cockerel that figures in St Peter’s denial of Christ.
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