Ekeby-fonten og Cotton Genesis. Diskussion af en usædvanlig gotlandsk døbefont

Abstract

Title: The Baptismal Font in Ekeby and the Cotton Genesis. A Reconsideration of an unusual Baptismal Font on Gotland

The baptismal font in Ekeby Church has earlier (1980) been connected with the Cotton Genesis recension. In this article the relation is approved, reconsidered and expanded, and a specific connection to the Anglo-Saxon adoption of the Cotton Genesis tradition is pointed out. A signifi-cant feature in that recension is the importance given to the Fall of the Rebel Angels. This phenomenon appears to have been adopted in Ekeby in an innovative way. It is also suggested, that the unusual choice of motifs and iconography on the font was motivated by the liturgy of the sacrament of baptism. Furthermore, the Western recension of Cotton Genesis is placed in a general frame, suggesting that the manuscript in the West was known through the imperial court in Constantinople and thereby connected with the early rulers of the Christian Empire. This aura made Cotton Genesis desirable for Christian princes in western Europe, who also wanted to consider themselves as leaders of God’s people, i.e. of the Church, on its pilgrimage in the world of sin. Finally, the question is raised if this Augustinian framework is also relevant for the baptismal font in Ekeby Church, a question that cannot be answered with any certainty.