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The Horn of Ulph

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

T. D. Kendrick
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Extract

The Horn of Ulph is one of the principal treasures of York Minster. It is exhibited in the Chapter House, and is well-known to visitors; but in spite of its fame this celebrated antiquity cannot be studied quickly and conveniently away from the Minster,l and the Dean of York has therefore rendered an important service to scholars by allowing Mr C. J. P. Cave to take the fine photographs reproduced here (PLATES I-V).

The horn is one of the so-called ‘oliphants’, i.e. horns made from tusks of elephant-ivory, and it is a particularly noble example, being both large and handsome, with a maximum length of 2 feet 4 inches and a mouth 5 inches in diameter. The ivory has coloured to a warm orange brown with rich cloudings and gradations in tone, the sunken fields in the carved zones having darkened almost to black; but though it is thus venerable in appearance, the horn is excellently preserved, and the unimpaired lustrous gIeam of the figures in relief and of the unornamented surface does much to enhance the mellow beauty of this magnificent piece. The shaft is faceted on the top and bottom with a gentle ribbing, as soft as the ‘bone’ of a good Malacca cane; but the flanks are rounded, and the section near the mouth is a natural oval. The metal fittings are silver-work of the 17th century, and consist of a plain rim and two inscribed bands to which are fastened the ends of the chain. The Latin inscription on the mounts states that the horn, having been given [to the Minster] by Ulph, a chieftain of western Deira, with all his lands, was subsequently lost or stolen, and afterwards restored and re-mounted by Henry Lord Fairfax in 1675.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 11 , Issue 43 , September 1937 , pp. 278 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1937

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References

1 For early publications, illustrated by drawings, seeVetwta Monuments I (1747), pl.2 ; Archaeological Journal (1869), XXVI,I ; Journal Brit. Arch. Association (1892), XLVIII,FSI. In recent years an admirableaccount has been written by Mr C. G. E. Bunt,illustrated by Miss H. L. Hodgson. It was published inYork (Report of the Friends of York Minster, 1935),and is obtainable at the Minster in pamphletform.

2 There is no justification for identifying this Ulph Thoroldsson with the better—known Ulph Thorgilsson who was the brother—in—law of Cnut and was eventually put to death by the king. Note that the use of a horn as a symbol of landed property is well attested ; .cf.Archaeologia (1786) 1’1, I ; Burlington Magazine (1909) xv, 221 ;ib. (1928) LII, 277. The Pusey horn, which wasrecently in the sale room, is a well known example.

3 British Museum MSS, Cleop. c. IV, fol. 16 and Titus A. XIX, fol. 8b. The poem is printed by James Raine, Historians of the Church of York (Rolls Series), 11,446 ff. (see lines 285–92). The tradition is repeated by Camden, Britannia (ed. Gough, 1789), 111,10, 65.

4 Neweton’s gift of the chain is recorded in a 16thcentury inventory ; see Raine,op. cit., 111, 386.

5 Probably 1309–10. The Rev. Chancellor F. Harrison, who has been kind enough to help me in connexion with this paper, remarks that the horn here, as now seen,is a poor representation of the real thing, having been restored after the fire of 1840–1. He observes further that Ulph‘s shield of arms is to be found balancing that of the king over the interior of the west door, and perhaps signifies in that position the temporal power of the church. In the choir, where there is a much better version of the horn, Ulph‘s shield comes next to that of France (before 1340), an obviously important place.

6 Anzeiger, f. schweizerische Altertumskunde (1926),NF. XXVII,p.93.Google Scholar

7 Anzeiger, f. schweizerische Altertumskunde loc. cit. p.169.This horn is associated by an inscription of I 199 with Adalbert 111 of Habsburg.Google Scholar