William Nicolson, F.R.S. and the runes of the Bewcastle Cross

Abstract

The writings of a seventeenth/eighteenth century divine do not sound a promising source of material for a modern discussion of a point in Old English linguistics. Yet any examination of the runic texts engraved on the Bewcastle Cross, one of the most important and controversial monuments of Northumbrian art, must begin with a report of William Nicolson, a Cumberland cleric, Bishop of Carlisle from 1702 to 1718 and thereafter Bishop of Derry and nominated Archbishop of Cashel and Emly. In this connexion the student of Old English finds an interest in the early history of the Royal Society. O f Nicolson the man we know a good deal, for diaries, notebooks and many of his letters have survived. He had wide interests, which he pursued with energy. He engaged in the religious and political controversies of his time, studied languages, writing Latin and German with ease and having some knowledge of Scandinavian tongues, and also found time to be an antiquarian, local historian and student of the natural sciences. We find him writing on botanical and geological subjects, translating a work on astronomy, examining collections of coins and medals, observing local industries and their techniques, recording old inscriptions, collecting lists of local dialect words, remarking ancient and curious buildings, and commenting on folk customs. He corresponded with the learned antiquaries of his time, and wrote and edited books on antiquarian subjects. Among Nicolson’s interests was one in runic inscriptions. Besides recording the two rune-stones then known in his native county of Cumberland, he twice made the toilsome journey to Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire to see the fragments of the famous runic cross which lay in the church there. His drawings of the runic texts of one of these fragments are of the greatest importance to the modern runologist.