Minster Undercroft

Found during excavations of 1966 - 71, in south side of foundation of south wall of late eleventh-century nave, within east end of south aisle of present nave

St Peter

Broken away at top and on lower part of face C; chipped, but carving crisp

There is a wide, plain edge moulding on face A, broader than on B–D, where it is one inch wide, exactly.

A (broad): A simple long panel is occupied by a large, frontal human figure with a scrolled nimbus, its crest broken away. The facial details are crudely brought into relief and the pupils of the eyes drilled. The arms hang from rounded shoulders and have double outline edges. The fingers, spread with a protruding thumb, lie on the upturned faces of two smaller figures. On the chest is a rectangular panel of seven vertical strips from which a double-outlined 'handle' is suspended, and gripped by the two small figures. The skirt is long, hanging in rough, vertical pleats from which bare feet protrude, framed by a sub-semicircular contoured border on which the figure stands.

The pair of small, flanking figures are shown in profile, with contoured bodies, and in a sitting position. Their arms and legs are bent at right angles. Their carving is in quite high relief. Their pointed chins are raised, and their incised eyes partly concealed by the principal figure's hands.

The lowest part of the stone is scabbled.

B (narrow): A plain edge moulding contains a continuous panel filled with a bird-chain. The birds are W-shaped with double outline, incised elliptical eyes, raised wings, and fan tails. They are disposed in 6.5 in registers, alternating head to tail, and are bound together by two median-incised, interlaced strands which are modelled in section. The cutting is incised but deep enough to convey relief. The tail and wings are depicted by parallel and V-shaped strips.

C (broad): There is a plain edge moulding flanking a long continuous panel which is badly damaged at its base. It contains a beast-chain of closely woven profile animals with ribbon bodies, double outlines, spiral joints and triple nose-folds. They are tightly interlocked by their long U-shaped necks. The tongue of one and what may be the tail of another are extended into a filling, median-incised strand at the top. Elsewhere, the ribbon bodies fill the space without fettering.

D (narrow): The plain edge moulding flanks a continuous panel filled by a beast-chain. Its animals are similar to face C's. They operate in pairs, interlocked by their necks. They have double-outlines, spiral joints, nose-folds, and extended ears which serve as median-incised fetters. Their module, regulating the registers, is 10 in. The beasts are arranged diagonally, with short legs pressed against the edge of the panel. The hind foot of a third beast survives amid the fettering at the top of the broken shaft.

The iconography of the principal face is puzzling. It has been interpreted as a benediction (Pattison 1973, 214) and as a misunderstood or reduced version of a Crucifixion (Lang 1977, 88–9). The style of the figure carving is crude and schematic, not naturalistic, so the rigid symmetry and the treatment of the small figures should perhaps be seen in decorative rather than iconographic terms. Nevertheless, the Christian character of the haloed figure cannot be doubted. The position of the flanking figures in relation to the dominant figure has a local analogue in a panel of the Nunburnholme shaft (Ill. 727) which is more surely derived from Irish Crucifixions. The York Minster carver can never have intended the scene as a Crucifixion, but rather misinterpreted the iconographic elements as a blessing. The parallel in a continental ivory suggested by Pattison (1973, 228, pl. LIa) is later than this carving and more complex, though unequivocally a benediction. His interpretation of the feature beneath the feet as deriving from a globe, is a possibility in view of the 'reduced iconography' of many Anglo-Scandinavian illustrative carvings.

A panel of the high cross at Durrow, co. Offaly, should also be compared with this and Nunburnholme 1. It has been interpreted as depicting 'The raised Christ' and shows the central figure similarly flanked by seated men holding a book (Harbison 1985, pl. V).

The scrolled halo is a common feature in the area, with parallels at Old Malton 1 (Ill. 735) and Newburgh Priory, North Riding (Pevsner 1966, pl. 9a). It derives, through pieces such as the Leeds Parish Church shaft, West Riding (Collingwood 1915, fig. j1 on 212), from Insular models, and should be compared with prototypes at Collingham, West Riding, and portraits in manuscripts (idem, fig. d on 156; Henry 1965, pl. K). The confusion of halo, hair, and head-dress may be the source of the scrolls: see the St Matthew 'portrait' at Ilkley, West Riding (Collingwood 1915, fig. c on 187).

The beast-chains are laid out on a rigid geometrical base with one inch as the unit of measure. Whilst the animals have quasi-Jellinge characteristics such as the outlines, joints, and nose-folds, these features could easily stem from the Insular repertoire (Lang 1986, 257–8). Their introduction into York sculpture, however, can be attributed to colonial Viking taste. The long bent necks derive from Anglian, perhaps Mercian, 'Great Beasts' (Lang 1978b, 149), but the density and rigorous interlacing of their packing within the panel is a new, Anglo-Scandinavian trait.

The bird-chain is unique to the York school (Lang 1978b, 147–8). Both the bird and beast varieties occur on the series of grave-covers from the city and the distinctive triple fold on the snout is a York characteristic. This shaft belongs to the Metropolitan School though, like all the major shafts from the Minster, its provenance is from Norman walling, not the eleventh-century cemetery.

Late ninth to early tenth century

Hope-Taylor 1971, 24–5, pl. 8a; Ramm 1972, 253, pl.; Pattison 1973, 213, pl. XLVI, a–b, pl. XLVII, a–b; Lang 1977, 88–9; Lang 1978b, 147–51, pls. 8.5, 8.14; Lang 1978c, 13–15, pl. Ib, fig. 2D; Bailey 1980, 56, 157, fig. 4, pls. 9–10; Lang 1984b, 50–1, fig. 4; Cramp 1984, I, 44; Wilson 1984, 145, pl. 175; Phillips 1985, 79, pl. 46; Lang 1986, 257–8, pl. 10; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 166; Lang 1988b, 18, ill. 6; Lang 1989, 3

1. All the pieces from the Minster were discovered as a result of the excavations of 1966-71 by H. Ramm and D. Phillips. They are to be published as a handlist, together with a critical essay, in the forthcoming Royal Commission volume on the excavations. That publication will provide the finer detail of their archaeological contexts, both in a table, and in a description of the excavation of the south transept cemetery.
The following are general references to the stones: Wilson 1978, 142; Hall 1980b, 7, 21; Lang 1988b, 8, 12; Lang 1989, 5.