The Warrior and the Saint

Guest post by Ian Sharpe.

There is something otherworldly about an old Norman church. A sanctity, certainly; the trappings of Christian worship both exude and compel hushed reverence. A sense of community perhaps, as the Anglican Communion struggles to fill the gaps left by austerity, providing food banks now alongside village fetes and raffles. But there is always something beyond that; something in the very fabric of the building, buried deep in the centuries old stone. The best of those churches are keepers of ancient tales, conduits that speak of England’s green hills and forests and what lies beneath.

I was married in one such church, parts of which date from the 12^th century, set on falling ground to the west of my home town. The churchyard contains St Withburga's Well, supplied by a spring that is said to have issued forth from the burial place of Withburga, who laid the foundation of a church and convent there, the first Christian settlement in the area in the year 654. She lived and died in an era of unprecedented change. Her father was Anna, King of the East Angles, pagans who came to the British Isles with iron and fire, who believed the green church of the woods heard their prayers more clearly than any monument of stone.

But it is stone that has proved the most enduring store of the pagan story.

At the north side of Gosforth village on Wasdale Road, Cumbria, stands the ancient parish church of St Mary and, in the churchyard the equally ancient and famous Gosforth Cross. This magnificent cross has stood on the same spot for over a thousand years. The monument is a very tall, slender cross made from red sandstone, richly decorated with some very exquisite carvings of Norse gods, Christian symbolism and mythical beasts. It is at the heart of the All FatherParadox and takes pride of place on the cover. I chose this cross as my central motif for the novel because, like Withburga’s well, it has been witnessed to endless change. We can only imagine who built it and why, or what manner of men have toiled in its shadow over the course of that millennium. There was nothing like going there this summer and feeling the power of the landscape myself.

Christianity was in the north-west of England long before of course. Roman soldiers had spread the faith, and left traces when their armies were withdrawn. Wandering saints and preachers came up the Irish Sea from Rome, such as the man later venerated as St. Patrick or Bega of St. Bees, bringing their religion to the Anglo-Saxons who settled there. There is no definitive proof of a church in Gosforth before the Viking Age, but it would have been Celtic, made of wattle and daub, and it too, would have been focused around the local holy spring.

The Vikings swept through Britain with series of invasions throughout the 10th century, and for a time controlled the area of northern England known as Danelaw. Names of towns, roads, and families still in existence today attest to this Scandinavian stronghold. But, like the Angles before them, it seems as though the conquerors were quickly conquered by the customs and beliefs prevalent in their new land. The Gosforth Cross speaks to this unique juncture in time, a world halfway between the pagan and the Christian.

It was first identified in 1886 by the amateur antiquarian Charles Arundel Parker. His findings were a sensation in an age obsessed with Vikings (Wagner's Ring debuted just ten years before), the Victoria and Albert Museum quickly had a replica made. Parker demonstrated that the cross showed scenes described in Norse myth, such as Loki bound, the god Víðarr tearing the jaws of Fenrir, and Thor's failed attempt to catch Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent.

Inside St. Mary’s church are two hogback tombs, another example of this unique fusion of Viking paganism and Anglo-Saxon Christian cultures. About four to five feet long and shaped generally like a bowed house, the hogback derives its name from the convex curve of its roof. Narrative scenes on their sides also depict scenes from Norse mythology and Christian iconography. They are assumed to be tombstones or gravemarkers, and once they too probably stood in the churchyard. But over time, their original use forgotten, their pagan overtones became uncouth. When the church was rebuilt in the 12^th century, they were used in the foundations – and only rediscovered in the 1896 rebuilding. At one time, there were other crosses standing in the churchyard as well - some of the fragments remain, also built into the church wall, but most of the structures are lost.

But, what if the experts have got it wrong? What if the depicted duality was something they made up, or misidentified?  What if the gravemarkers and crosses had a different purpose, also broken up and buried with the ages? Or, what if the tipping point toward Christianity changed? What would 1,000 years of history look like then?

I was fascinated by one of the key figures represented on the cross, thought to be the god Heimdall. Heimdall is the sentry of Asgard and a member of the Aesir, the gods of the Norse pantheon. He is the herald of Ragnarök, fated to sound his majestic trumpet, Gjallarhorn, and leading the Aesir into their final battle.

In an entangled world of the Vikingverse, St. Mary’s is home to Churchwarden Michaels, himself a guardian of sorts. But it soon becomes difficult for him to tell Christian from Norse, friend from foe. It is often said that X marks the spot, but exactly what is underneath?