Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017298
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017298
This, the tallest and most complex piece of early medieval sculpture in Scotland, most probably commemorates a heroic battle campaign, possibly against the Norse settlers of Orkney, by the men of Moray. The extensive province of Moray, from the 8th to the 12th century, retained considerable independence within the new kingdom. The stone has no connection with Swein Forkbeard who harried London in 994 and became King of Denmark (d 1014); it was given its misconceived name in 1726, probably shortly after it had been discovered, lying buried. Standing over 6.5m high, this 7.6 ton slab of sandstone was probably brought from the coast near Covesea, 15km to the north-east. In many ways it is the culmination of several centuries of Pictish stone carving, while the organised narrative of its eastern face looks also to later complex tapestry stories, such as Bayeux.
The western face bears a relief carving of a great ringheaded cross whose shaft, rising from a horizontal base, is filled with interlace spiral knotwork. Below, two long, bearded figures confront each other, with smaller attendants behind. The sides are highly decorated, most notably on the upper half of the south side, where a vine scroll is inhabited, unusually, by little male fIgures which recall the imp-like figures in the Book of Kells.
The east face is divided into four panels of unequal length which can be read as a heroic narrative from top to bottom. The top panel (a line of figures above three lines of horsemen) shows a leader and his guard arnving on horseback for a battle. The top third of the great central panel shows the early medieval practice of fIghting on foot; the upper line showing the leader flanked by his guard; the second row the single combat of the respective champions of both sides: note that the two left-most figures have tumed to run away, denoting defeat. The third row shows a beseiged stronghold (probably a broch) and, on the left, the treatment meted out to the captured defenders: six headless corpses, their hands tied, and a pile of severed heads in front of the tower. Below the pile is a seventh body which has just been decapitated, the executioner holds the head in his left hand. The bottom row of this large panel shows the rout of the defeated force, the six horses on the left fleeing from the infantry on the right. The third panel, with a curved object, perhaps a canopy, beneath which are piled more headless corpses and severed heads (including one in a little frame which may be the captured chiefs) represents the final defeat of the enemy. The last panel, partially obscured by the modem base, shows the dispersal of the vanquished army.
This is war reporting on a monumentally self confIdent scale.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
