A red sandstone cross of the 9th or 10th century standing 4.4 metres tall in St Mary's churchyard, Gosforth, Cumbria, England, one of the best preserved pieces of Anglo-Scandinavian stone sculpture to survive. Its shaft is carved with a mixture of Norse mythological and Christian imagery read together rather than as rival traditions: Loki bound beneath a serpent with his wife Sigyn catching its venom, a figure identified as the god Vidarr, Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent, a horned bearer holding a horn to his lips most often read as the god Heimdall, and a panel read alternately as Baldr's death or the Crucifixion. The reading of the horn bearing figure as Heimdall is the majority scholarly view rather than a settled certainty. The cross remains in its original churchyard; the Victoria and Albert Museum cast a plaster replica in 1882 for display in London, and a life-sized replica was erected in 1887 at St Kentigern's Church, Aspatria.
In Other Languages (9 names)
- Kreuz von Gosforth
- Kruco de Gosforth
- Croix de Gosforth
- ゴスフォース十字架
- 고스포스 십자가
- Gosforthkrossen
- Gosforthkorset
- Krzyż z Gosforth
- Госфордский крест
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Heimdall directly: "to his lips most often read as the god Heimdall, and a panel read alternately as Baldr's death or the Crucifixion."
Loki, Deities This source names Loki directly: "rather than as rival traditions: Loki bound beneath a serpent with his wife Sigyn catching its venom, a figure identified as the god Vidarr, Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent, a horned bearer..."
Loki, Figures This source names Loki directly: "rather than as rival traditions: Loki bound beneath a serpent with his wife Sigyn catching its venom, a figure identified as the god Vidarr, Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent, a horned bearer..."
Thor, Deities This source names Thor directly: "a figure identified as the god Vidarr, Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent, a horned bearer holding a horn to his lips most often read as the god Heimdall, and a panel read alternately as Baldr's..."
Thor, Figures This source names Thor directly: "a figure identified as the god Vidarr, Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent, a horned bearer holding a horn to his lips most often read as the god Heimdall, and a panel read alternately as Baldr's..."
Belongs to Tradition
Depicts
The horn bearing figure on the cross's shaft, the majority scholarly reading rather than a certain identification, corroborated independently by the Wikipedia article on Heimdallr himself.
Sources
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