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THE VIKINGS AND THE CELTIC CHURCH 51
were supported on the dead bodies of the Norsemen, while
near by was
"
a trench full of gold and silver to give to
Patrick ; for the Danes," adds the chronicler,
"
were a
people with a kind of piety ; they could for a while refrain
from meat and from women." 1
This confusion of the two religions is also illustrated in
the crosses, symbols of Christianity, which the Vikings
erected in the north of England and in the Isle of Man to
the memory of their kinsfolk. On the Gosforth cross in
Cumberland a representation of the Crucifixion obviously
influenced by Celtic designs is found side by side with a
figure of the god Vitharr slaying the Wolf, a scene de-
scribed in Vafthruthnismdl ; while on the western side
of the cross is portrayed the punishment of L,oki.
2
A frag-
ment of a cross in the same locality shows Thor fishing
for the Mithgarthsormr,
3
a subject which is also treated
on a cross slab in Kirk Bride Parish Church, Isle of Man. 4
Among the many other Celtic crosses in Man are four upon
which are carved pictures from the story of Sigurthr
Fafnisbani :
Sigurthr roasting the dragon’s heart on the
fire and cooling his fingers in his mouth, his steed Grani
and the tree with the talking birds ; another figure has been
identified with Loki throwing stones at the Otter. 5
There
are besides twenty-six crosses with Runic inscriptions, six
of which bring out the Viking connection with the Celtic
Church. On one the Ogam alphabet is scratched, and the
same monument bears a Runic inscription which tells us
that
"
Mai Lumkun (ir . Mael I^omchon) raised this cross
1
Three Fragments of Annals, pp. 120-124.
2
Cf. Gylfaginning, chs. 51, 52.
3
Hymiskvitha, pcu>s. Cf. W. S. Calverley : The Ancient Crosses
at Gosforth, p. 168.
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