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Two lines of Old English poetry are inscribed on the Anglo-Saxon reliquary cross preserved in the Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule in Brussels: Rōd is mīn nama. Geō ic rīcne cyning bær byfigende, blōde bestēmed. [Crucifix is my name. Long ago I bore a powerful king, trembling, covered with blood.]1 Critical discussion of this poem, which appears to have been inscribed during the eleventh century, has been largely concerned with its relationship to The Dream of the Rood and the crucifixion poem inscribed on the Ruthwell Cross.2 Assessing the connections between the poems, Bruce Dickins and Alan S. C. Ross conclude: ‘It is impossible to decide the relation of the inscription on the Brussels Cross to the other two versions; it seems to contain no more than a reminiscence of the poem.’3 John Hines, on the other hand, perceives a more definite relationship, as he judges the verses inscribed on the Brussels Cross to be ‘paraphrasing a series of phrases’ in The Dream of the Rood.4 Mary Clayton takes a rather different position: in her view, the Brussels Cross inscription is ‘not a quotation’ from The Dream of the Rood, ‘but a new piece evidently inspired by the earlier poem’.5 She thus concurs with Éamonn Ó Carragáin, who remarks: ‘The author of the Brussels poem composed a new and original epitome of the Old English crucifixion narrative.’6 Whether seen as a reminiscence, a paraphrase, or an allusive independent poem, the Brussels Cross inscription is undoubtedly indebted to the tradition of crucifixion poetry reflected in The Dream of the Rood. Beyond the thematic connection, there are close verbal ties between the texts. All three of the alliterating elements in the first line of the inscription are found in line 44 of The Dream of the Rood:
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