Note
Date August 2017
Event ID 1037874
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037874
The medieval church of Rodel
The village of Rodel lies on a rocky headland at the southern tip of the island of Harris, in the Western Isles. Rodel is most widely known for its remarkable church, the best preserved medieval church in the Isles. It is unusually large: most churches and chapels in the region were simple rectangular structures. Also, Rodel has an imposing tower, an unusual feature in the isles, making it a significant landmark for travellers by road or sea.
The present building was built in the early years of the sixteenth century by Alasdair ‘Crotach’ MacLeod of Dunvegan and Harris. MacLeod was a powerful figure in the Isles in the first half of the sixteenth century: he is said to have earned his by-name ‘Crotach’, or ‘humpback’ from an injury sustained in a skirmish in Skye against the Macdonalds. He was involved in a rebellion in 1515, but having made his peace with the Crown, survived to a good age, dying about 1547.
The interior of the church is now bare of the fixtures and fittings necessary for worship in the medieval church, such as the altar, lighting, statues and paintings, but what does survive is the tomb built for Alasdair, one of the most elaborately sculptured medieval tombs in Scotland.
The tomb of Alasdair Crotach
At first sight, the wealth of sculpture is overwhelming, but it is worthwhile to take the time to stand back and to examine each part in turn.
The carved stone effigy of Alasdair MacLeod lies in front of the arched tomb recess: he is depicted as a warrior chief, fully clad in armour and clasping a sword. The armour itself is a mark of status: not for him an old-fashioned shirt of mail or padded linen. Instead Alasdair is shown in expensive modern plate armour.
The back of the recess also displays symbols of his power and prestige: one panel displays a detailed image of a castle, all towers and battlements – presumably representing his principal stronghold, at Dunvegan on Skye, although it is unlikely to have been intended to be an accurate depiction of it. To the right is a birlinn, a West Highland galley, in full sail. MacLeod’s ability to exert his authority over his island principality depended upon his fleet of these galleys, and upon the heavily armed and armoured warriors that these carried. One of these warriors, in a tall, conical helmet, extraordinarily long coat of mail armour, and wielding a long handled axe can be seen in another panel. But being an island lord was not all about warfare: behind the warrior can be seen two huntsmen and their dogs, intent upon a herd of deer crowded together upon the adjacent panel.
Together, this imagery speaks of MacLeod’s worldly power, his pride in his status and the pleasures he enjoyed. But the rest of the monument looks to his future in the eternity of the afterlife. One panel clearly illustrates the perils of transition between life and death: St Michael and a demon weigh MacLeod’s soul in the scales. Although the scene portrays the perils of a sinful life, and the risk of eternal damnation, it is also one of hope: although the demon has seized the scales and is attempting to cheat the outcome, the angel wards him off with a sword.
Alasdair could not hope that the angel’s intervention would guarantee him direct access to heaven: before he could progress that far, he would have to undergo the painful trials of Purgatory, an intermediate state between heaven and hell, where common sinners could expiate their sins, and cleanse their souls.
But the tomb also shows that MacLeod would not face these trials alone: in the centre of the panels the Virgin Mary sits enthroned, flanked by two saints, one bearing a skull as an emblem of mortality. The stones of the arch bear the angels of the heavenly host and further saints – prayer to the Virgin and these saints would help to ease the sinner’s progress through Purgatory and, eventually, to eternal life.
Iain Fraser, Archive Manager, HES Archives and Engagement
