SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Saga-Book of the Viking Society
cross; the other main face, however, was panelled and has
an elaborate fleshy interlace motif, of typically Mammen
taste, below a panel containing an overall interlace ornament.
It seems reasonably probable that these two slabs
were carved by the same man, and if Magnus Olsen was
right, his name was Thorbjorn,
Apart from the ornament of Frida's cross, Kirk Michael
132 (105), and the Braddan crosses, all other Mammen
elements in the Isle of Man are non-zoomorphic. They
usually consist of beaded interlace patterns (like those
already indicated) or feathered interlace combined with
beading, like that on the fragment Kirk Braddan 138 (lIO)
and on Kirk Michael 129 (101). The "Sigurd" slab,
Ramsey 122 (96), however, seems also to have reminiscences
of the Mammen style in the small interspaced
dots which fill the free spaces on the side decorated with
mythological scenes and on the side which bears
zoomorphic decoration. This ornament, however, has
elements of the Ringerike style - the tendril knot and
the birds' feathers which can be seen on the historiated
side - and must be considered as one of the latest in the
decorated Manx cross series. In fact, the mythological
scenes on this stone can be related to scenes found on
contemporary carved stones in Sweden.:" as well as on
earlier tapestries in Norway;"
Another slab with scenes from the Sigurd cycle is Malew
120 (94). This also bears a tenth-century ]ellinge-style
beast on the stem of the cross on face A. Similar animals
occur on Kirk Andreas 121 (95) (which has Ringerike
elements), Kirk Michael lI7 (89) (which has Ringerike
and Mammen elements), and Kirk Michael lI6 (90).
All the crosses and slabs which have been discussed so
far can be dated within a very narrow period - between,
say, 940 and 1020 - but there are a number of crosses
which for various reasons cannot be dated. Some of
., Cf. e.g, Kermode, op. cit., figs. 53 and 54.
• 8 S. Krafft, Pictorial Weavings of the Viking Age (1956).