A A — ii^= ^ A = = n = ^^^ o CO n ^^ ? ^ == Cl ^= O 9 = J> 9 m m LI 7 = 9 m -> ? ^ == 1 — ^^^ — < 1^"^ -C 2 tJ « Wmm^^M. ARGARET STO^ ►i ?^;-; >>«■:«? *mfi? alifornia ^ional ility iVSJ? 6' Ji4;^^^- THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Part i. HIGH CROSS OF MONASTERBQICr. '^"^ u^o^Oy - EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. BY MARGARET STOKES. w ITH ONE HUNDRED AND SIX WOODCUTS. Jiirt i. Published for the Cojnmittee of Council on Educalion^ BY CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited, II, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDES y//j^. PREFACE. The subject of the following chapters is what has been often mis-named Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, or Runic Art, whereas the style is Irish. The term Celtic belongs to the arts of bronze and gold and enamel practised in Britain before the Roman occupa- tion, and in Ireland before the introduction of Christianity in the fifth century. It also embraces the great stone forts that line the western coasts of the country, such as Dun Aengus and Diin Conor, as well as the chambered tombs of New Grange. The late Celtic style in Great Britain, the bronzes of which are marked by distinct characteristics in decoration, prevailed from about two hundred years before the birth of Christ to the time of the Roman occupation. It lingered to a much later date in Ireland. Early Celtic goes back much farther into a pre- historic region in which we cannot trace similar peculiarities of decorative design. The early Christian Art of Ireland may well be termed Scotic as well as Irish, just as the first missionaries from Ireland to the Continent were termed Scots, Ireland having borne the name of Scotia for many centuries before it was trans- ferred to North Britain ; and foreign chroniclers of the ninth century speak of " Hibernia, island of the Scots," when referring to events in Ireland regarding which corresponding entries are found in the annals of that country.* The fact that Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exist in England with Irish decoration led to the misnomer Anglo-Saxon for this style until Waagen, who had sufficient knowledge of both styles to * See Reeves' "Adnmnan," pp. 433, 437. vni PREFACE. perceive their difference, drew the defining line between them. The mistake, however, led to much confusion in the Continental libraries, where even manuscripts written as well as illuminated by Irish scribes, were frequently named Anglo-Saxon. The term Runic, likewise, is a misnomer as applied to such designs m Irish Art as interlaced patterns, knots, and basket- work, wftich occur on crosses with Runic inscriptions elsewhere. AH comparative study of national and primitive forms of deco- rative Art seems to show that this term, as well as the others men- tioned, has been too ignorantly used. Such designs are found in archaic Art in most parts of the world, and still appear in the native work of Japan and India. They characterise Roman Art _ of a certain period, and all that can be said is that certain varieties were developed in Ireland after their introduction with Christianity, which stamp the objects thus decorated with an Irish character. The peculiarity of Irish Art may be said to be the union of such primitive rhythmical designs as are common to barbarous nations, with a style which accords with the highest laws of the arts of design, the exhibition of a fine architectural feeling in the distribution of parts, and such delicate and perfect execution, whatever the material in which the art was treated, as must command respect for the conscientious artist by whom the work was carried out. The first attempt at a scientific treatment of the subject of Irish Archaeology was made by the late George Petrie, LL.D., of Trinity College, Dublin. His work on " The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland " is still the best authority on the subject of the origin and history of this art. His posthumous work on the Christian Inscriptions of Ireland affords a mass bf evidence as to the date of sculptured stones in Ireland which renders the classification of undated specimens comparatively easy. In Ecclesiology, as in all studies of the arts practised for ecclesias- tical purposes, he and the late Rev. James Todd, D.D., of Dublin PREFACE, ix University, with the Rev. Dr. Reeves, now Bishop of Down and Conor, will always remain our pioneers. For the illustration of her antiquities, Ireland owes much to Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven, who, with indefatigable energy, sought out and photo- graphed all the typical examples of her ancient monuments throughout the country. I have to acknowledge much private assistance from Mr. T. W. Longfield, of the Science and Art Museum, Dublin ; from Mr. Wakeman, himself the author of many valuable works on Irish Antiquities ; and from Mr. MacEniry, the Curator of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, Mr. J. Anderson, of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, has also most kindly allowed me the use of some valuable woodcuts from his work on " Scotland in Early Christian Times." CONTENTS OF PART I. CHAPTER I. PAGET INTRODUCTORY I CHAPTER II. ILLUMINATION . .6 CHAPTER III. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT ....".. 30 CHAPTER IV. TrfETAL-WORK '53 INDEX . . . , . . . . , . . -117 ILLUSTRATIONS TO PART I. Frontispiece — High Cross of Monasterboice. Ornamental Heading Initial IN. «'Book of Kells" Initial T. "Book of Kells" Initial A. "Book of Kells" Portion of Illuminated Monogram. "Book of Kells" Initial N. " Book of Kells " Portion of Illuminated Monogram. " Book of Kells " Initial L. " Book of Kells " Frontispiece of Epistle of Jerome. " Book of Durrow Initial IN. "Book of Hymns," fol. 8 . Initial A. " Book of Kells "...., Initial IN. " Book of Hymns," fol. 8 . Initial R. " Book of Kells " Frontispiece to St. Luke's Gospel. Convent St. Arnoul, Meiz Frontispiece to St. John's Gospel. Convent St. Arnoul, Metz Initial B. " Book of Kells " .... Initial A. " Book of Kells " . Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell .... Shrine of St. Culanus' Bell — Bearnan Cualaun . Shrine of St. Culanus' Bell (Back) . Bell of Cumascach Mac Ailello . Initial S. " Book of Hymns "... 23, 24 Shrine of Maelbrigde's Bell, Portions of . . 25 Tara Brooch • . I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PAGE 6 6 9 12 13 IS 16 17 19 20 30 33 35 44 45 50 53 60 62 63 65 66 67 76 XIV ILLUSTRATIONS TO PART I FIG. 26 Tara Brooch. Reverse 27 Pin found at Clonmacnois 28 Head of Pin. Clonmacnois 29 Roscrea Brooch. Petrie Collection 30 Ardagh Brooch 31 Chalice of Ardagh . 32 Initial B. "Book of Hymns," fol. 10 33 Initial M. " Book of Hymns," fol. 9, vei 34 Clasp of Case of Molaise's Gospels 35 Initial B . 36 Case of Molaise's Gospels 37 Case of -Stowe Missal 38 Case of Dimma's Book 39 Portions of St. Dympna's Crosier 39a Irish Crosier. Edinburgh Museum 40 Initial L, " Irish Tract.," Lib. Trin 41 Portion of Crosier. Petrie Museum 42 Crosier of Bishops of Clonmacnois 43 Figures on the Shrine of St. Mogue 44 Cross of Cong , 45, 46, 47 Book-binding and Clasps 48 Knife- Handle . 49, 50 Portion of Harness and Book-binding 51 Book-binding 52 Knife-Handle . ■so Coll. Dub., H, 2, It PAGB 77 78 79 80 81 83 88 91 92 92 93 95 97 98 99 103 104 105 107 108 no III III 112 112 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. PART I. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. It may be asked why we now offer the public a special handbook of Christian Art in Ireland, and why, when the Christian Antiquities of Scotland and Wales are so closely united, should we confine the subject of this volume to Ireland. The answer is that we believe Ireland may be found to supply the key to many problems that have arisen for labourers in the field of Christian Art in countries where the influence of the Irish Church was felt. Thus, in dealing with the Christian monuments of Scotland, the antiquary will acknowledge that there are in that country singularly few objects which may be regarded as land- marks from which to infer the dates of others of unknown age. This has led Mr. Anderson to say, " Neither the history nor the remains of the early Christian period in Scotland can be studied apart from those of Ireland." In dealing with the monastic ruins on the islands of the west coast of Scotland, he has to refer to the corresponding remains in Ireland to carry out his observations, since, he observes, "we have no such complete or characteristic groups in Scotland," and he continues : " To learn the special features of that earliest style of Christian construction we must look to Ireland, the ancient Scotia, where the genius of the people, their immemorial customs, their PART I. B 2 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. language and institutions were so similar to those of our own country, that when the new faith was finally established by the labours of her missionaries, the converts accepted with it the ecclesiastical customs, constitution, and usages already established there." Referrmg to the round towers, two of which are found in Scotland, he speaks of them as : "Stragglers from a great typical group which has its habitat in Ireland. It follows from this, that all questions as to the origin, purpose, and period of the type must be discussed with reference to the evidence derived from the investigation of the principal group, and that the general conclusions drawn from the extended data furnished by the many in Ireland must also hold good for the few in Scotland." * Again, when dealing with the sculptured stones he accepts the conclusions of the Irish school as to the date of the High Crosses, which range from the beginning of the tenth to the middle of the twelfth century, he concludes that the higher phase of sculpture in relief was developed in Ireland at an earlier period than in Scotland. When we compare the antiquities of Ireland and Scotland, we are struck by the comparatively small number of Christian sepulchral monuments in Scotland, and the rarity of sepulchral inscriptions, as compared with Ireland. Ireland gives upwards of 244 tombstones with inscriptions in the vernacular, Scotland can only boast of seven, five of which are from lona, and of a decidedly Irish type. While Ireland yields already 154 Ogham inscriptions, Scotland only shows four on the main-land and seven on the Orkney and Shetland Islands. In the lengthened discussions carried on by. English and Scottish antiquaries regarding the Burghs or Brochs of Scotland and the Orkney and Shetland Islands, much light might have been thrown upon the controversy by reference to the large class * Joseph Anderson, "Scotland in Early Christian Times," vol. i. pp. 48, 74, 76, 80. See also this writer's observation on Irish Bells, quoted p. 61, infra. INTRODUCTORY. 3 of buildings in Ireland, which evidently belong to a similar con- dition of society and show a similar amount of knowledge in the builder. These are the prehistoric forts or duns on the west coast. Again, the results of the exploration of the earth-houses • of Ireland strongly confirm the conclusions arrived at by the Scottish antiquaries as to the date and origin of these subterranean chambers (the Irish name of which — tech ialman, house of earth — exactly corresponds to the Norse Jard-hus), that they were treasuries in use about the time of the introduction of Christianity into these islands and while the Ogham character was in use. In fourteen instances, at all events, Oghams have been found on the walls of these Irish treasuries. For such reasons the comparative archaeologist will acknow- ledge the special importance of a handbook of Irish antiquities, but he will also learn that a still larger interest attaches to the subject of Irish Archaeology when its true place in relation to that of other countries has been defined. Owing to the fact of Ireland being the furthest western point of Europe from those centres of culture in the East and South whence the current flowed, it was long centuries after the first wave of culture had left its original source, that it broke upon the Irish shore. It is in that country, where they last existed, that we find the largest traces of those elements which are common to all races in the development of their primaeval arts. In the older countries where they first existed, they have been superseded in the vast tracts of time covered by their history. But in this little western island when their appearance was later, their periods of existence were shorter, their transitions more rapid, than in the East, since the older the human race becomes the more rapidly does progress advance, and changes follow in quick succession ; so that it is only in a country situated as Ireland was, that we may expect to find such a series of monuments still existing as will give us tangible evidence of the arts and customs of each period, back to that which is most remote. Such remains really are the only B 2 4 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. tangible and trustworthy authority for information concerning primitive culture periods elsewhere. If this reflex Hght which is cast by Northern European monuments upon the history of prehistoric man be interesting, how much more so is that cast by the early Christian customs and arts of Ireland upon early Christian practices elsewhere ! Our authorities on Christian antiquities quote records of Christian customs among the first converts on the shores of the Mediterranean, all relics of which are lost, such as the rude bell, the wooden crosier, the stone chalice ; but such venerable objects are preserved to the present day in relic-loving Ireland. The custom of offering prayers for the dead has no such testimony to its early prevalence in the Church as that afforded by Ireland, whose every tombstone, almost from the earliest time, is inscribed with a request for intercession for the soul of the departed. In architecture the form of the Irish church points to an original type that has else- where been superseded by the basilica. It is the old traditional form of the Ark — that building in which the Church was rescued from the flood — of the Shrine in early Christian Art, in which were entombed the relics of some form that " once had been the temple of the spirit," and it is the form of the tomb and mortuary chapel which was preserved in Ireland even after the establishment of Romanesque architecture. The vexed question as to the introduction and early use of ecclesiastical towers on the Continent remained long unsettled, because of the want of monuments, showing what were the earliest types in Western Europe. Ireland in her ecclesiastical circular towers shows us in upwards of a hundred instances what were the first and simplest types. Thus from the study of the monuments qf Ireland the historian of Christian Art and Architecture may learn something of the works of a time, the remains of which have been swept away elsewhere ; and it may yet be seen, as in the case of her institutions, customs, faith, and forms in Art, so in Architecture, Ireland points to origins of noble things. The light she throws INTR OD UCTOR Y. $ upon history resembles those reflected lights in nature, so precious to the landscape painter, which blend in prismatic chords of colour, the coldest gray above, with the warmest hues beneath. In the history of Christian thought and Art, the early rays that, penetrating from the South, awoke the cold North to warmer life, are again brought to bear on the source whence they originally sprang. FIG. I. CHAPTER 11. ILLUMINATION. PRESENTING the following Manual of the Archaeology of Ireland, the writer's object is to indicate how far the know- ledge of her native arts in the past may subserve to their higher development in the future. It is only by adherence to a certain system of study and method of treatment, that this result can be looked for. The object is not to pre- sent a guide to the antiquities of Ireland, but rather to indicate how these anti- quities should be approached, so as to draw forth whatever elements of instruc- tion may lie hidden in them for workers in the present day. The arts in which Christian Ireland excelled before the thirteenth century were, the writing and ornamentation of MSS., metal-work, stone-cutting, and building. It is therefore for those who practise these handicrafts in the present day, that we hope to show the advantage of a close study of such of these ancient writings, relics, and monuments as have, through the energy and learning of our antiquaries, been discerned and preserved for our instruction. Two distinct benefits may be drawn from this pursuit, the first being the development among FIG. 2. ILLUMINATION. 7 our illuminators, goldsmiths, and stone-cutters of a higher standard of technical execution, of precision and delicacy of finish, than exists in the present day; the second and larger benefit, that of indicating to a designer or architect where he may find the salient points in works of ancient Irish Art, which distinguish it from that of other countries, which give it a native character, and which, when once fully grasped, he can seize and graft upon his own design. Thus he is enabled to take up the threads of the too early broken web of his country's arts, and weaving them into his own work, he can add the distinction of an individual and native character to the forms of its future development. The first art, that of the scribe, was indeed carried to mar- vellous perfection in Ireland, but since, owing to the invention of printing, this is no longer an honoured handicraft, it may be questioned whether the study of Irish writing can be of use to the worker of the present day. Still the story of the O of Giotto shows how important technical skill was considered in the days of great religious Art.* To draw a perfect circle, unaided by the compasses, is a feat only to be accomplished by an eye and hand in perfect training and obedience to the artist's will. Such circles are to be seen in every page of the " Book of Kells." There is no instance of a letter O, in the large round lettering of this book, in which the slightest sign of a swerving hand is perceptible. "Writing," says Dr. Reeves, "formed a most important part of the monastic occupations." Besides the supply of service- books for the numerous churches that sprang into existence, and which probably were without embellishment, great labour was bestowed upon the ornamentation of some manuscripts, especially • When the messenger of Pope Benedict IX. came to Florence, he re- quested Giotto to give him a drawing to send to his Holiness as a sample of his powers. Giotio, who was very courteous, took a sheet of paper and a i:)encil dipped in a red colour ; then, resting his elbow on his side, with one turn of his hand he drew a circle, so perfect and exact that it was a marvel to behold. — (See Vasari, " Lives of the Artists," Ed. Bohn, vol. i. p. 102.) 8 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the sacred writings ; these are wonderful monuments of the con- ceptions, skill, and patience of the scribes of the seventh century. Codex A of Adamnan's "Life of Columba " is a fine specimen of the ordinary Latin hand (a peculiar heavy hand) of the Scotic scribe, which is of earlier date than the "Book of Armagh." The penmanship of the Irish scribes is known to have exercised a considerable influence on that of the Continent from the time of its first introduction by the Irish missionaries, which continued to prevail till the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Irish monks instructed their disciples in the technicalities of this art, such as the manner of holding the pen, the preparation of ink, and indeed the whole process of writing, the results of which are of exquisite beauty. The writing apparatus consisted of tabulcz or waxen tablets, graphia or styles, calatnt or pens, made of goose-quills or crow-quills, and the ink used was carbonaceous, not mmeral. The parchment, as compared with that made use of in France from the seventh till the tenth century, was for the most part much thicker. It is often finely polished, but more frequently horny and dirty. On the whole, these scribes do not appear to have attained much perfection in the preparation of the skins, with which they were supplied by their goats, sheep, and calves. That they were not very lavish in the use of their parchment is shown by the number of perforated leaves that occur in their books. The thick ink in use is remarkable for its blackness and durability. It often resists the action of chemical tests of iron, and seems not to have been made of the ingredients commonly used for the purpose. The red colour which is so often met with is mixed with a thick varnish or gummy sub- stance, which has preserved it not only from sinking in but also from fading. Several colours, such as the yellows,' are laid on transparent, and very thin and fluid ; others have a thick body, consisting of a triturated earth or some skilfully prepared material, and a strong binding medium. Bede, speaking of the colours prepared in Britain, especially notices the brilliancy and ILLUMINATION. 9 permanence of the red. In the following passage he says ("Eccl. Hist.," Bk. I. c. i.): "It has many kinds of shell-fish, such as mussels, in which are often found excellent pearls of all colours, red, purple, violet, and green, but mostly white. There is also a great abundance of cockles, of which the scarlet colour is made ; a most beautiful colour, which never fades with the heat of the sun or the washing of the rain ; but the older it is, the more beautiful it becomes." He also notes in the following page, that such virtue lay in the books of the Irish missionaries that the mere "scrapings of their leaves that were brought out of Ireland, if put into water and swallowed, were an antidote to the rpoison of serpents." The extraordinary neatness of the hand- writing, and its firm character, have led several English anti- quaries to express opinions as to the writing instruments which were used by the Irish monks. The notion that they employed ■extremely sharp metallic pens is quite untenable. Ferdinand Keller holds that their writing implements were neither reeds nor skilfully formed tools, but the quills of swans, geese, crows, and other birds. This is proved by several pictures in Irish MSS., where the Evangelist, engaged in writing his Gospel, holds in his ■hand a pen, the feather of which can be clearly perceived. The inkstand is also represented as a simple slender conical cup, fastened either to the arm of the chair, or upon a small stick on the ground. HE character in which the Irish scribes wrote resembles that employed in Latin MSS. of the Romance countries of the fifth and sixth centuries. Such letters occur in the oldest Lombardic and Gallic manuscripts. They had two forms of handwriting : the minuscule, or round FIG. 3. hand, and the more angular running hand. The finest MSS. of the Gospels, such as the " Book of Kells," lo EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. approach the round uncial writing; while the small and delicate style of such writing as that of the "Book of Armagh," has moie analogy to the running hand. Ferdinand Keller remarks : ** The character of the uncial writing, from the roundness and graceful curve of the lines, acquires a softness very pleasing to the eye, as contrasted with the Frankish style, which presents more angularity, gradually passing into the stiffness and abruptness of what is called the Gothic style. Moreover, the symmetry of this kind of handwriting is remarkable, as exhibited in the distance of the several letters from each other, and in their well-proportioned height. The shading and tinting of the different letters is also managed with much skill and taste. The running hand, for which a tolerably elastic pen was used, seems, notwithstanding its regularity, to have been written with freedom and ease. ... On the whole," this writer adds, speaking of the excellence of this school of caligraphy, "it attained a high degree of cultivation, which certainly did not result from the genius of single individuals, but from the emula- tion of numerous schools of writing, and the improvements of several generations. There is not a single letter in the entire alphabet which does not give evidence, both in its general form and its minuter parts, of the sound judgment and taste of the penman." Sixty-one remarkable scribes are named in the "Annals of the Four Masters" as having flourished in Ireland before the year goo — forty of whom lived between a.d. 700 and 800. In the year 434 we read that at the request of Patrick " the History and Laws of Ireland were purified and written, the writings and old books of Ireland having been collected and brought to one place." In the "Life of Columba" (b. a.d. 521, d. 597), we learn that diligence in writing was one characteristic of the saint, as well as of his successor, Dorbene, Abbot of lona, and the title of scribe is frequently used to enhance the dignity of a bishop. The belief that the "Book of Kells" was the work of Columba ILL UMINA TION. 1 1 himself cannot be sustained. The tradition seems to have arisen from the fact that, at the date 1006, the book is mentioned in the Irish Annals as the great Gospel of Columb of the church. It probably was so named, not because Columba wrote the book 01 executed its marvellous decorations, but because it was the copy of the four Gospels used in the church of Kells, which church was founded by Columba. In judging of the age of MSS, of the Holy Scripture, various considerations enter into the account ; and the questions we should put to a manuscript of such tradi- tionally great antiquity are : ist, as to the version of the Scrip- ture it contains ; 2nd, the orthography ; 3rd, the style of writing ; 4th, the nature of the vellum ; 5th, the kind of ink used. Against conclusions drawn from these evidences no tradi- tion can stand, and it is the opinion of such antiquaries as Dr. Reeves, who have put these tests to this book, that it cannot be assigned to so early a period as from a.d, 521 to 597. On the other hand, all authorities will agree in the belief that the " Book of Kells " is an older book, and, as it were, the parent of such a work as "St. Cuthbert's Gospels" now in the British Museum (Nero D. IV.), written by Eadfrith a.d. 698-721, and illuminated by Ethelwald his contemporary. It is quite in harmony with other information we possess, as to the skill of Irish writers of the seventh and eighth centuries, to hold that the "Book of Kells" may have been illuminated at the close of the seventh century, and one of the scribes engaged on this work may have been Ethel- wald's teacher. Among the names of Saxon students who visited Ireland before the eighth century we find that of Eadfrith, and there is ground for belief that St. Cuthbert was of Irish birth^ who, after the manner of Irishmen abroad, changed his name of Cudrig to Cuthbert. It is stated by Ware, in his " Life of Matthew O'Heney," a Cistercian monk, and Archbishop of Cashel a.d. 1194, that this ecclesiastic was author of a life of St. Cuthbert, who was born at Kenanus (Kells), and who migrated to Melrose, where he remained under Eata and Boisillus, abbots. 12 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. until he was consecrated Bishop of Lindisfarne in 684. He also quotes an entry in the "Annals of St. Mary," where it is stated that St. Cuthbert was born four miles from Dublin, at Kilmocudrig, on Kilmashogue Mountain. §NOTHER argument against assigning the "Book of Kells" to so early a date as the middle of the sixth century, may be found in the very perfection of the writing and elaborate detail of the art that adorns its pages. It is most improbable that such •. work could have been executed at a period when the Church in Ireland had not had FIG. 4. time to settle down into quiet, indispen- sable for the production of such works ; and it may be said that such a life as that which St. Columba seems to have led, was incompatible with the execution of writings so perfect. He was an active, hard-working missionary, who could not have •led the sedentary life required to form the hand and eye which could carry out this work. Another argument against this book being contemporaneous with Columba, is found in the fact that it is a copy of the Hieronymiau version of the Gospels, which version was not adopted in Ireland at that early date. In Adamnan's " Life of Columba," the quotations from Scripture which occur are not of the same version as the " Book of Kells," but are drawn from an older one in use before St. Jerome's re- vised version had become generally used in these countries. The words, Liber Generationis Christi, at the opening of the Gospel of St. Matthew, form the subject of six pages which are the most wonderful examples of illumination in this MS. At the close of the preface to the Gospel, the first is devoted to the four evan- gelical symbols, framed in a highly ornamented border ; in this page we see a figure probably representing St. Matthew ; in that following, we have the words Liber Ge7ieraitonis, which occupy ILL UMINA TION. ^ an entire folio. Next comes a picture of Christ, His hand raised in benediction ; this is followed by a page of merely ornamental work, and then the whole series is crowned by the name of Christ, xpT. In these six pages there is a gradual increase of FIG, 5. — PORTION OF ILLUMINATED MONOGRAiM. liOUK OF KELLS. splendour, the culminating point of which is reached in this monogram of Christ, and upon it is lavished with all the fervent devotion of the Irish scribe, every variety of design to be found in Celtic Art, so that the name which is the epitome of his faith, is also the epitome of his country's Art. (See Figs. 5 and 8.) €4 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, We shall give a list of these designs, as they will serve to explain the characteristic forms of Art in this school ; they are — 1st— Linear Designs. 2nd — Natural Forms (treated conventionallj'). Divergent spiral or trumpet pattern. i. Foliage. The Triquetra. 2. Fish. Interlaced bands. 3. Reptiles. Knot work. 4. Birds. Eight varieties of gammadion. 5. Man. Chevron and rectilinear patterns. 6. Quadrupeds. In the monogram page of the "Book of Kells" we find a group ■of squirrels watching their young at play with a round cake marked with a cross. The trefoil — called in parts of France and Italy, "Pain du bon Dieu," and " Alleluleia," seems the only vegetable form in use, unless a star-like design, Avhich is a con- stant feature in Celtic decoration, may be held to signify a flower. The other foliate patterns are mere conventional arrangements of leaves for ornamental purposes. The tree of knowledge is constantly seen on the Irish crosses of the tenth century, but its branches and stem are arranged so as to form a border in a series of wreathed and flowing lines resembling borders in the " Book of Kells." One exception, however, may be made to the above remarks in the instances of the flower sceptres, which are occasionally found in the hands of Christ and the angels in the "Book of Kells," and on the crosses. In such scenes as the triumph of Christ, and the glorification of the Virgin, this beautiful idea of the blossoming sceptre occurs. It appears in the hand of Christ on the cross of Clonmacnois, in St. Matthew's hand in the "Book of Kells," as well as with many of the angels represented in that book. Mr. Ruskin remarks that the roots of leaf ornament in Christian architecture are the Greek acanthus and the Egyptian lotus. (See "Stones of Venice," vol. i. p. 227.) ILL UMINA TION. IS trace of the acanthus has ever been found as the basis of any Celtic foliate pattern. Something similar to the buds of the lotus does occur in the "Book of Kells," but never the acanthus. The vine and the trefoil are rather the roots of all Irish leaf ornament, and both these plants have borne a meaning in Chris- tian symbolism. The fish occurs once in the mouth of some strange animal. Serpents, lizards, birds with legs and necks elongated and interlaced, are found in every part of the great monogram page of the " Book of Kells," while the human form is seen in four weird figures, whose bodies are entangled with those of birds, and who are blowing trumpets, which instruments are elongated so as to entwine the musicians in their in- extricable coils. Three angels bearing books, and one holding a sceptre crowned by a trefoil in each hand, are seen to rest with outspread wings upon the main line of the letter X, while in the centre of the P a man's face appears, bearded but not aged, and above all, and, as it were, emerging from a labyrinth of spiral lines, diverging and converging in endless succession, rises the veiled head of a woman. (See Fig. 8.) i6 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. No copy of such a work as this can convey an idea of the perfection of execution shown in the original ; for, as with FIG. 7. — PORTION OF ILLUMINATED MONOGRAM, BOOK OF KELLS. the skeleton of a leaf or with any microscopic work of nature^ the stronger the magnifying power brought to bear upon it, the more is this perfection levealed. IL L UMINA TION. 17 ETTERS from the "Book of Kells" have been used as mitials in various places in this work. These, and the accompanying illustrations, will give a fair idea of the character of the illumi- nated initial letters which appear throughout the manuscript. Among them are two forms of A, and two also of B, one C, one M, one R, one T, and two in- stances of illumi- nated lig- a t u r e s, IM and IS joined. Two por- tions of the great mono- gram FIG. 8. page are given here, but the size of the present volume unfortunately precludes the possibility of giving more than a small extract from each page. The whole design may be seen in full in vol. vi. of "Vetusta Monumenta." From the school in which such work as this was produced, it is natural to suppose many branches sprang. In Ireland we have the " Book of Durrow " in King's Co., a fragment of the Gospels, also said to be in the handwriting of Columba, and in which there are illuminations of the same style of Art, though inferior in beauty of execution.* In this manuscript — at the * The specimen given in Fig. 9 is the page preceding the Epistle of PART I. C 1 8 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. close of the first and apparently the oldest portion, we find the usual request of the Irish scribe for a prayer from the reader which, when translated, runs thus : " I pray thy blessedness, O holy presbyter, Patrick, that who- soever shall take this book into his hands may remember the writer, Columba, who have myself written this Gospel in the space of twelve days by the grace of our Lord." The ancient cumdach or shrine of this book has long been- missing, but a copy of the inscription is preserved, and may be thus translated : " The Prayer and Benediction of St, Columkill be upon Flann the son of Malachi, king of Ireland, who caused this cover to be made." Flann, son of Malachi, was king of Ireland, who reigned a.d, 879-916, so that we see this book was associated with the name of Columba, and venerated accordingly so early as the close of the ninth century. Another curious point connected with the antiquity of the book is the fact that in the miniature of the ecclesiastic at the end of the volume, the Irish tonsure, and not the Roman, is represented. We know that the Roman tonsure was introduced in the year 718, when it was first adopted by the community at lona. The Irish tonsure, across the head " from ear to ear," was derived from St. Patrick, the Roman was in the form of a crown. Nevertheless we can hardly maintain that this book is as old as St. Columba's date, since the version of Scrip- ture contained in it is not the same as that in use in Ireland in the sixth century, portions of which are quoted in the life of the saint, but is St. Jerome's version. There are fewer varieties of design in this book than in the "Book of Kells," but those it does display belong to the most characteristic and archaic style of Irish Christian Art. Such are the patterns of right lines described by Humboldt as " rythmical patterns, which characterise the ornamentation of many nations- Jerome in this volume, and offers a fine example of the Celtic design, called^ trumpet pattern or divergent spiral. ILL UMLNA TION. 19 FIG. 9.-FR0NTISriECE OF EPISTLE OF JEROME. "BOOK OF DURROW." C 2 20 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. in a certain state of civilisation." The divergent spiral or trumpet pattern, and diagonal patterns, along with those of a later style formed of interlaced bands, animals, etc., are the prevailing designs here. There is no sign of any vegetable forms being used. The book was preserved at Durrow, a small town in the barony of Ballycowen, where St. Columba founded an abbey a.d. 546. At the Reformation this book was given to the library of Trinity College, Dublin. N the Annals of Clonmacnois the translator, Connell Mageoghegan, has alluded to the belief in Ireland respecting the peculiar property of St. Columba's MSS. resisting the influence of moisture, in which he refers to the " Book of Durrow": " He, i.e. Columba, wrote 300 books with his own hand. They were all New Testaments ; he left a book to each of his churches in the kingdom, which books have a strange property, which is, that if they, or any of them, had sunk to the bottom of the deepest waters, they would I I -' i not lose one letter, or sign, or character of them, which I have seen tried, partly by myself on that book of them which is at Dorowe (Durrow) in the King's Co., for I saw the ignorant man that had the same in his custodie, when sickness came on cattle, for their remedy, put water on the book and suffer it to rest therein ; and saw also cattle return thereby to their former state ; and the boob receive no loss." However marvellous was the skill of the scribe of the "Book of Kells," or that of the Columba who, in the "Book of Durrow," tells us that he executed his work in the space of twelve days, none surpassed Ferdom- FIG. 10. '^^ ■* ILLUMINATION. 21 nach, the scribe of the " Book of Armagh." His death, in the year 844, is recorded in the "Annals of the Four Masters," and the entry is so worded as to lead to the conclusion that, even at this, the finest period of Irish Art, his powers were remarkable. This entry is as follows : "a.d. 844, Ferdomnach, a sage and choice scribe of the Church of Armagh, died." We may instance as one remarkable specimen of this writer's skill the folio 103, where the central portion of the text is written in semi-cursive letters, in the shape of a diamond. The volume contains four uncoloured drawings of the Evangelical symbols. After folio 104 the capital letters are slightly coloured, yellow, red, green, and black. In design and execution, these ornamental portions equal if they do not in some points surpass the grace and delicate execution of the letters in the " Book of Kells." To these examples of Irish illuminated books of the seventh and eight centuries we may now add certain portions in the Stowe Missal. This book is written in two different hands, and there maybe the space of two centuries between the ages of the writing. The oldest half is written in a large Lombardic handwriting, and the other, which is of later date, in a minuscule in the manner of a palimpsest. This MS. contains a copy of St. John's Gospel ; a Missal ; a tract on the ceremonies of the Mass ; and three Irish spells. At the close of St. John's Gospel is a representation of the Evangelist with his eagle above him. The figure is apparently seated, the back of his seat appearing behind. Another ornamented page shows a zoomorphic lacertine border, and another with zigzag designs which, though much inferior in execution, yet resembles some of the work in the " Book of Armagh." The Gospel closes with the transcriber's name in the following passage (folio 12 a) : " Deo gratias ago. Amen. Finit. Amen. ** Rogo quicumque hunc librum legeris, ut memineris mei peccatoris, scriptoris, i. ' Sonid ' (Dinos) peregrinus. Amen, Sanus qui sciipsit et cui scriptuw est. Amen." 22 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. The name Sonid is here written from left to right in Ogham characters. This name has not been met with elsewhere by Irish scholars. It would seem from the context to mean Sanus. Another name is found in the colophon to the Ordinary and Canon of the Mass. " Moelcaich scripsit." The name of St. Mochonne, who died A.D. 714, occurs in the " Commemoratio pro Defunctis," and that of Mochta, as well as Maelruain, probably the Bishop of Tallaght, are among the bishops and priests invoked at the end of the prayer of St. Ambrose. Two saints named Mochta are known to have lived in Ireland, one who died a.d. 922 at his church of Inis-Mochta, now Inishmot in the county of Meath ; the death of the elder is recorded a.d. 534. St. Mochta of Louth was probably the Maucteus named in the Annals of Ulster at a.d. 471, 511, 527, and St. Maelruain was the Bishop of Tallaght who died a.d. 792. His church within three miles of Dublin was called Tamlacht Maelruain. The mention of this Bishop Maelruain, who lived in the latter half of the eighth century, among the departed saints com- memorated in the earlier part of the Stowe Missal, overthrows the theory of the extreme antiquity of this manuscript put forward by some writers, who would attribute part of the composition and handwriting to the fifth century, and part to the seventh and eighth. It was written after the years 590, or 604, for it contains the clause " diesque nostros numeravi," which was added to the Liturgy by Gregory the Great at that time. It was written after the year 589, when the Nicene Creed which occurs here was introduced. Also it must be later than the year 627, since Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died at that date, is invoked in the " Commemoratio pro Defunctis," and later than 687 since it prescribes the use of the "Agnus Dei," said to have been introduced by Sergius I. between the years 687 and 701. The second list of departed saints contains the names of several persons who lived in the seventh and eighth centuries, such JLLUMINATJON. 23 as the Archbishops of Canterbury, Lawrence, and Mellitus, as well as the Irish Mochonna and Maelruain already mentioned. It appears that certain improvements were made in the Roman Missal in the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century, in the days of Berno, who was Abbot of Cluny in 927, and who died about 1047. These improvements were adopted by the Irish at the Synod of Kells, a.d. 1152, and as they are wanting in the Stowe Missal we may consider it as the one in use before that date. The whole volume, writes Mr. Warren, is replete with such transcendent palaeographical and liturgical interest that every sentence, almost every word in the MS. invites lengthy historical and antiquarian annotation. The same writer, in a letter to the Academy (April 23, 1887, No. 781, p. 291), is of opinion that the older handwriting of this Missal should be attributed to a date subsequent to 792, and is gradually drawn to the conclusion that the Irish portions of the MS. cannot have been written before the tenth century, and were probably transcribed in the eleventh or twelfth. If so, the initial (fol. 12'') is probably copied by an inferior hand from an original perhaps two centuries older, and this would explain the incongruity between the style, which belongs to the finest period of Irish illumination — that of the Book of Armagh — and the execution, which is comparatively careless and defective. The divergent spiral and zigzag patterns of the eighth and ninth centuries had gone out of fashion in the twelfth. The " Book of Dimma " is a copy of the Gospels, formerly said to have been written in the seventh century, as it contains the scribe's autograph at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew : Finit. Oroit do Dimmu rod scrib pro Deo et benedictione. Finit. A prayer for Dimma, who wrote it for God, and a blessing. And again, at the close of the Gospel of St. John, we read : Finit. Amen. ►£< Dimma Mace. Nathi. >J< 24 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. This Dimma was believed to have been the scribe mentioned in the "Life of St. Cronan," who lived a.d. 634, as employed by him to write a copy of the Gospels. The book belonged to the Abbey of Roscrea, founded by Cronan. It was enshrined in the middle of the twelfth century by order of Tatheus O'Carroll, chieftain of Ely O'Carroll. The shrine with its precious enclosure disappeared at the time of the dissolution of monasteries. It was found by boys hunting rabbits in the year 1789, among the rocks of the Devil's Bit Mountain, in the county of Tipperary, carefully pre- served and concealed. The boys who discovered it tore off the silver plate, and picked out some of the lapis-lazuli with which it was studded. They feared to touch the side of the shrine, on which they found the representation of the Passion. It then came into possession of Dr. Harrison of Nenagh, and having passed through the hands of Mr. Monck Mason and Sir William Betham and Dr. Todd, was finally purchased for the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The '• Book of St. Moling " was formerly held to have been written in the seventh century, since it contains the name of a scribe which corresponds with that of the saint, who was Bishop of Ferns, a.d. 600. At the end of the Gospel of St. John the following note occurs : (^init. Amen. (^nit. O tu quicunque scripseris vel scrutatus pueris, vel etiam Videris hoc volumen Deum ora «... . • . per clinosum mondi usque altissimum (nom) en autem scriptoris. Mulling dicitur. Finiunt quatuor evangelia. This volume contains the four Gospels in Latin with a formulary for the "Visitation of the Sick," written in double columns in a neat minuscule character, and Mr. Gilbert has observed that a colophon in semi-Greek characters — somewhat similar to ILLUMINATION. 25. but larger than those in this manuscript, is to be found in the Irish copy of Adamnan's " Life of Columba," transcribed in the eighth century, and now extant at Schafifhausen. Each Gospel commences with the first word, or its first letters of a large size, not coloured, but with double marginal rows of red dots. Figures of the Evangelists precede their respective Gospels, each figure holding a book, and one with a pen and inkstand by his side. They have the circular nimbus, and one has long hair falling on his shoulders. This book, with its ancient case, or cumdach, has been from early ages venerated in Leinster, and has descended to us from the ninth or tenth century in the care of its hereditary keepers, whose representatives in the Kavanagh family of Borris in the county of Carlovv, deposited it in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The " Garland of Howth " is a copy of the four Gospels which had been preserved down to the time of Ussher in the church on Ireland's Eye, near Howth, anciently called Inis mac Nessain. Ussher states that in his time there was a small clasp or tongue ijingula) of silver attached to the book, on which was inscribed the name of St. Talman, but does not state who this Talman was. All traces of this clasp have long since disappeared, the book having unfortunately been rebound about sixty years ago, when it suffered considerably. The art of the decorations in ihis book, is larger and bolder than we usually meet with in Irish MSS. No spirals are introduced or rectangular designs. Nothing but interlaced ornament. The colours are green, red, and yellow. The frontispiece to the Gospel of St. Matthew contains the monogram of the word xTpT Christi auteni Gene(ratio) in large uncial letters — two angels enveloped in wings appear above the figures of the evangelist Matthew and an ecclesiastic, who holds in his right hand what appears to be a sword, and in his left a- book. Both figures are seated, the first having the feet bare and crossed, the second with buskins, the soles of his feet meeting. The angel above the first figure is represented as wearing curls 2% EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. while the angel over the beardless figure has the hair concealed under a sort of cap or cowl : the sword-shaped object, held in the right hand of the second figure, probably represents tablets, such as were brought by the first missionaries into Ireland, If this be so, we have here an explanation of an anecdote in the " Book of Armagh." (See Todd's "St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," p. 509 n.a.) »St. Patrick with eight or nine companions having in their hands " tablets after the manner of Moses " {i.e. like the Tables of the Law), had reached some distant part of Ireland ; the pagan natives of the country mistook these tablets, or pretended to mistake them, for swords, and to turn the people against the missionaries the Druids cried out that Patrick and his company had swords in their hands, swords of iron, not of wood, and were come with murderous intent to shed blood. The tablets must have been long and narrow to render this mis-statement plausible. The figure in the frontispiece to St. Mark's Gospel is probably intended for the Evangelist, whose symbol, the winged lion, is ■seen among the ornaments above. The figure kneels at a lectern, his hands clasped in prayer, and supporting a closed book. The face is beardless , the head is covered with a blue cowl and surrounded by a nimbus. The letters, by which this f.gure is surrounded, are the first words of the Gospel of St. Mark in square uncial letters. INItium. eva(ngelii). The "Psalter of Ricemarch" is a manuscript of the eleventh century written by Ricemarch, Rhyddmarch, or Rhydderch, Bishop of St. David's, who succeeded his father Sulgen in the same See in 1089, and died himself in 1096. Judging from the character of the handwriting, as Dr. Todd observes, he must have received his education in Ireland. The pages are ornamented with initials and borders in red, yellow, and green, birds and serpents, their bodies elongated and interlaced. Some traces of silver appeared in the ornamentation of the word DNE. ILL UMINA TION. 2 7 A. curious later poem at the end of the book closes with the words, " Ithsel, whose name makes learning golden, aided me in writing this book ; I, Ricemarch, am called Sulgenson by my ■family name, and the brother of John. Psalmorum proceres •depinxit rite Johannes," meaning that the initial letters of the Psalms were illuminated by John. The last two lines of this poem have been thus read by Dr. Todd : *' May he be inscribed •on the jewel which is on the breast of the High Priest, may the ■picture of the cherubim of the temple receive him under their wings." This manuscript formerly belonged to Dr. William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore, by whom it was at first lent, and ..afterwards (as it seems) given to Archbishop Ussher. It is now preserved among the Ussher MSS. in Trinity College, Dublin. The "Irish Antiphonary," or Book of Hymns, is a beautiful MS., vwhich has been assigned to the ninth or tenth century, as we learn from Dr. Todd, who states that " it preserves to us a con- -siderable portion of the ritual of the Church of Ireland, as it ■existed before the English conquest, and before the attempt to establish uniformity with the Church of England by the in- troduction of the Salisbury use into Ireland, in the twelfth century." The ornamental initials, with which the various hymns commence, though less delicate in design and execution than those of the Books of Kells and of Armagh, are still of a fine and original character, as may be seen from the accompanying illustrations, examples of the letters A, C, L, M, S, and the two forms of IN conjoined.* From Ireland the practice of this art spread side by side •with religion to lona, thence to Melrose, Lindisfarne; and, clistinct as its character is from the Art of the Teutonic nations, it was henceforward misnamed Anglo-Saxon in England, while on the Continent it was termed either Anglo-Saxon or Scottish. It is only of late that writers on the subject have learned that • The initial L (Fig. 40, p. 103) is copied from the vellum MS. (H. 2. 16, -col. 281) in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. 28 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. North Britain (to the south-western portions of which the names Alba and Pictland were also given) was not termed Scotland till the close of the ninth century ; whereas the island of Ireland had borne the name of Scotia for many centuries before. It was in 503 that a colony from Ulster settled in Pictland or Alba, and there founded a kingdom which, in the ninth century, under Kenneth MacAlpin, enlarged its territories, and the whole kingdom was called Scotia or Scotland, after the name of the race who had migrated into it from Ireland. The confusion of this Scotic or Irish Art with Anglo-Saxon arose from the fact that MSS. written in Anglo-Saxon were often illuminated either by Irish artists or by monks who had learned their art in Ireland. The fame of one of the many Irish scribes who workedi in England in the eighth century, or perhaps even earlier, has been preserved for us in a poem written at the beginning of the ninth century. This scribe was named Ultan, and the fact that his relics were sought for their miraculous efficacy is, at all events, evidence that Ultan must have Uved and died a considerable time before the year when the poem was written ;. for it is there related that, when for a long time the earth had consumed his body, a certain brother in the monastery sent for the bones " of that arm of the father with which he worthily depicted the mystical words of our Lord, that through its power he might be restored." This poem on the miracles of Father Ultan, was addressed by Ethelwolf, monk of Lindisfarne, to Bishop Egbert, then in Ireland, during the reign of Osred, King of Northumbria (a.d. S02-891). "Fame proclaims," says Ethelwolf, " that many live a perfect life, of which number is he who is called by the renowned name of Ultan. This man was a blessed priest of the Scotic nation, who could adorn little books with elegant designs, and so rendered life a pleasant kind of the highest ornaments. In this Art no modern scribe could rival him, nor is it to be wondered at if a worshipper of ILL UMINA TION. 29 the Lord could do such things, since the Holy Spirit, as an inspirer, guides his fingers and raises his devout mind to the stars."* That the Irish school of illumination continued for some centuries to exist in the North of England is abundantly proved by the numerous MSS. preserved in the libraries of the British Museum, Lambeth Palace, the Bodleian, Oxford, Corpus Christi, St. John's College, and the University Library, Cambridge, as well as the cathedral libraries of Lichfield and Durham. These have been so well described and illustrated by the antiquaries of England that it will suffice to give a list of references to their works at the end of the next chapter, * See Mabillon, " Acta SS., Ord. Bened.," iv. par. ii. 317-335. CHAPTER III. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. *=^ S regards the literature of ancient Ireland and* its remains, it has been observed by Dr. Reeves that in this country we have to deplore the merciless rule of barbarism, which swept away all domestic evidences of advanced '/■^ learning, leaving scarcely anything on record at home but legendary lore, and has compelled us to draw from foreign depositaries the materials on which to rest the proof that Ireland of old was really en- titled to that literary eminence which national feeling lays claim to. Our annals generally ignore the existence of those Irish ecclesiastics who went abroad, such as Gall, the founder of a monastery in Switzer- land ; Columbanus, of another at Bobio, in North Italy; Cataldus, of Tarentum, in South Italy; Fiachra and Fridolin, in France ; and Coloman and Kilian, in Germany and Bavaria ; not one of whom are mentioned in our annals. The exceptions to this rule are Fergil or Virgilius, of Salzburg, whose death in 788 is recorded ; Dunchadh, of Cologne, who died A.D. 813; Gilla-na-naemh Laighen, superior of the monastery of Wiirzburg, died a.d. 1085; Ailill, of Muckmore, who, in the year 1042, was head of the Irish monastery in Cologne; and Malachy, who was the friend of Bernard, and who died at Our knowledge of the crowds of Irish Clairvaux, in 1148. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 31. teachers and scribes who migrated to the Continent, and became founders of many monasteries abroad, is derived from foreign chronicles, and their testimony is borne out by the evidence of the numerous Irish MSS. and other relics of the eighth to the tenth century, occurring in libraries throughout Europe. The art by which these ornaments and books are decorated, may be justly termed Irish as distinguished from the style upon which it was engrafted in the great books of the Carlovingian period, such as the Gospels of Charles the Bald. But when the first origin of this art in Ireland itself is discussed, the question should be approached with caution, since the very style we think original when found on the monuments that have outlived written history, may be proved, by subsequent research, to have prevailed elsewhere at a still earlier period, though the examples proving its existence are few and solitary. The inquiry, there- fore, into the history of the origin and development of Irish Art involves the question as to how far this style came on with the advancing tide of European civilisation spreading north-west, till it was stayed upon the Irish shore, and whether this Irish art, when introduced into that of the Carlovingian period on the Continent, was but a return wave of a style already becoming extinct in certain parts of Europe whence it originally came. The designs that prevailed in Ireland at the time of the introduction of Christianity can only be studied on her bronzes, and on the walls of such monuments as her tumuli, like New Grange and Douth. They consist of spirals, zigzags, lozenges, circles, dots, etc., such as are common to all primitive people. In addition to these we have the divergent spiral or trumpet pattern, which design seems peculiar to the late Celtic inhabi- tants of these islands, though traces of it are also to be found belonging to a pre-Christian and very early period on the Continent. Interlacing? (knotted animal and vegetable forms) are always confined to Christian antiquities in Ireland, and were introduced with Christianity. Even though the knowledge of letters may have reached Ireland at some short period before- -32 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the coming of Patrick, it could not have been widely diffused. We know that the saint, on various occasions, is recorded as having taught the alphabet to such of his converts as were destined for holy orders ; and when he and his followers coming from Gaul first appeared in the country, "carrying tablets in their hands written after the manner of Moses," the ignorant natives, as already quoted, mistook them for swords.* We have already seen that the character in which the Irish scribes wrote resembles that employed in the Latin MSS. of the Romance countries of the fifth century. It seems natural to look to these countries then for the origins of Irish Christian Art, but it is difficult to form any idea of what was the prevailing character of Christian Art in Southern Gaul in the fourth and fifth centuries. Certain passages in the writings of Gregory of Tours allude to mural decorations of churches, when Namatius, Bishop of Auvergne (a.d. 423), brought from Ravenna the relics of SS. Vitalis and Agricola ; he erected a church in Auvergne,t afterwards the cathedral of Clermont, in which to enshrine them. It is not improbable that Byzantine Art penetrated even at this • early date through Ravenna to Gaul, and thence to Ireland in the following century. The vaulted roof of this church of Clermont is described as "wonderfully adorned with varieties of colours," and in a note we read of the mosaic work and plastering work, both varied and complicated, with which it •was decorated, while the walls of the church were covered, or rather veneered with marble. Again, it is stated that when • the Bishop found the basilica of St. Perpetuus consumed by * See Todd, " Patrick, Apostle of Ireland." ■f " Hodie ecclesia S. Eutropii Suburbicarii ; in ea sepultus fuit Namatius cum aliis Sanctis, ut indicat libellusde Sanctis Claromont," cap. 13. S. Greg. Turon., "Hist. Franc," ii. 17 (Migne's note). "Sic Regm. Picturas in ecclesiis memorat passim Gregorius," ut lib. vii. cap. 36, lib. x. cap. ult., etc. "Hist. Eccles. Francorum," lib. ii. cap. xvii.; Patrologia Lat., t. Ixxi. -col. 215, cap. 36. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 33 fire, he ordered its walls to be either painted or ornamented by the labour of his workmen, "in that splendour as they had been before." The same writer records how the aged widow of Bishop Namatius sat in the church she had raised over her hus- band's tomb, and read to the painter decorating its walls " stories of the deeds of men of old which he should set forth thereon." TERLACED patterns and knot-work, strongly resembling Irish designs, are commonly met with at Ravenna, in the older churches of Lombardy, and at Sant' Abbondio, at Como, and not unfrequently appear in Byzantine MSS., while in the carvings on the Syrian churches of the second and third cen- turies, as well as the early churches of Georgia, such interlaced ornament is constantly used. As regards the drawing of the human face and re in the pictures contained in the otherwise beau- tiful books of the Irish scribes, nothing more hideous or barbarous can be well conceived. Ferdi- nand Keller imagines they may be drawn from nature, but to us it seems more likely they are degraded forms, reminiscences of some Byzantine prototype, just as the representations of the evangelical symbols in the same books evidently are. These observations would lead us to conclude that in the Carlovingian MSS. of the ninth century we see not merely a mixture of styles, but that, in the introduction of Irish deco- ration, we have examples of the engrafting of an archaic style upon another of later date ; a style that had died out of Italy and Southern Gaul, but lived on in Ireland to return there centuries later. In Ireland its character had been modified by absorbing whatever designs — such as the divergent spiral — PART I. D FIG. 12. 34 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. prevailed in the country at the time of the introduction of Christianity, and thus modified, it was spread throughout Europe again by the Irish scribes, though it never prevailed outside their sphere, and finally died out with them. To the designer of the present day, who strives to adapt the ancient Irish forms to present uses, nothing could be more helpful than the study of these Carlovingian MSS., since he will then see the very same effort he is himself striving to make carried out in much splendour and beauty. He should study for this purpose such works as the Latin Gospels in the National Library of Paris (No. 693), and the Sacramentarium of Pope Gregory the Great, in the Library of Rheims (No. 320). We have some interesting records of the aspect of the Irish monks who carried these books to the Continent. They seldom travelled otherwise than in companies. They wore long flowing hair, and coloured some parts of the body, especially the eyelids. They were provided with Idng walking-sticks, with flasks, and with leathern wallets. They used waxed writing tablets as well as skins. It is also stated that they were expert in catching fish ; and it appears from the biography of St. Gallus that they betook themselves to this pursuit when their sustenance demanded it. A lively picture of an Irish pilgrim of later times is given in the account of Abbot Samson, of St. Edmund's, who about the year 1161 undertook a journey to Rome at the time of the schism between Popes Alexander and Octavian : " I passed through Italy at the time when all clerics bearing letters from Pope Alexander were arrested, some of them imprisoned, some hanged, and others, after having their noses and lips cut off, sent back to the Pope, to his disgrace and confusion. But I pretended to be a Scot, and, having adopted the Scottish dress and behaviour, I shook my staff like the weapon called a 'gaveloc' at those who scoffed at me, crying aloud in a threatening manner, after the manner of the Scots." He then goes on to relate how he was attacked on his way by servants IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT, 35 from a certain castle, who laid hold upon him. He adds : "And whilst they were searching my clothes, my trousers, my hose, and even the old shoes which I carried on my shoulders, after the manner of the Scots, I put my hand into a skin wallet, where I carried the papers of my Lord the Pope, placed under a little cup that I had for drinking out of, and, by the favour of the Lord and St. Edmund, I took them out along with the cup, and, raising my arm aloft, I held them under the cup ; they saw the cup, indeed, but not the papers, so I escaped out of their hand in the name of the Lord." OUGH* as was their exterior, or even wild the outward appearance and manner of these mis- sionaries, we must not suppose that they were deficient in learning and accomplishments. They excelled in music as in painting and carving. Tuotilo, disciple of Moengal, an Irish monk of St. Gall, was, it is said, unsur- passed in all kinds of stringed instruments and pipes, and gave lessons in playing on them in a room apart for him by the Abbot. Besides visiting FIG. 13. monasteries already established, they penetrated to places where Christianity had never before reached, not only to Poland and Bulgaria, but to Russia and Iceland, settling down as duty or inclination prompted them, and then, after their national manner, enclosing a large space, wherein they built their huts, and in the midst of which rose the church, with its round tower or belfry, which also served as a place of refuge in times of need.t The manuscripts which remain in Italy as evidence of the labours of the Irish monks in that country are to be seen in * This initial letter R is taken from " Book of Kells," fol. 92. + " Zeitschrift fur Christliche Archaologie und Kunst." Leip., 1856, j)p. 21-49. D 2 36 EARL V CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the Ambrosian Library in Milan, in the University Library of Turin, and in the Real Biblioteca Borbonica, Naples.* All these manuscripts are said to have been brought originally from Bobio, a monastery in Piedmont, founded by Columbanus in the year 6i3.t The old Irish Codex in the Ambrosian Library, Milan (C. 301), consists of a Latin commentary on the Psalms, formerly attributed to St. Jerome, but by Muratori Vallarsius and Zeuss ascribed to St. Columbanus; it contains notes and glosses in Irish of the eighth or ninth century, inter- lined or written in the margins. A fragment of the Antiphonary of Bangor, a monastery in Ireland where Columbanus lived for some time after he had been raised to the priesthood, is also preserved in this library. It contains a hymn in honour of St. Patrick, and is believed to have been one of the original books of the monastery. At Turin another collection of MSS., also from Bobio, may be seen in the University Library. They are two fragments of a commentary said to have been written by St. Jerome on the Gospel of St. Mark, a Latin sermon on the Assumption, a fragment in a very old Irish hand of St. Augustine's Enarrationes d.m. Psalm XCIIL, a fragment of the Epistles of Cyril of Alexandria, and a fragment of three commentaries on the Psalms, also six leaves containing various hymns, and the works of Lactantius, a teacher of rhetoric in Africa, about a.d. 306. In Rome, till within the last few years, there were about twenty * Real Biblioteca Borbonica of Naples. This latter MS. has been described by Angelo Antonio Scalli ("Memorie delle Regale Academia Ercolanse di Archseologia," vol. ii. p. 119, Naples, 1833) as a parchment codex, square in shape, and in many places defaced, written in double columns in the cursive character in use before the eighth century. Nothing further is known of its history than that it is inscribed " Liber Sancte Columbani" at the place where a fragment "De Metris" begins. This codex is not mentioned either in the Catalogue of the Library of Bobio published by Muratori, or in that compiled in 146 1. It came into the Royal Library of Naples from the collection of Parrasio, who was a Calabrian, and who formed his collection from that of an old monastery in Calabria. t At Bobio the coffin, chalice, and holly-stick or crosier of St. Columbanus are still preserved, according to Moore — " Hist. Ireland," p. 266. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 37 volumes of Gaelic MSS. which at one time formed part of the Louvain Collection,* and in the Vatican Library two MSS. from Mentz (Mayence), so long the residence of Marianus Scotus, may be seen — one from St. Martin's being the copy of his chronicle containing his autograph (Vat. MSS., Palat, 830), the other the Psalter of the same monastery, sent to Rome in 1479. Besides giving his assumed name, Marianus, this entry also contains a memorandum of his native name, Maelbrigde, which has been edited in " Pertz's Monumenta," tom. v., by G. Waitz, from the Vatican MS. This chronicler, the pupil of the first Irish historian, Tighernach, of Moville, County Down, left Ireland in the year 1056, and entered the Scotic monastery at Cologne, after which he lived a long time at Fulda, and at last had himself immured as a recluse at St. Martin's, in Mentz, where in complete seclusion he worked out this chronicle. A miniature representing the Deposition from the Cross, interesting as showing the method in which this subject was treated in Germany in the eleventh century, adorns the pages of this manuscript. Such Irish foundations as that of Columbanus were for many centuries fed from their parent monasteries in Ireland, and in the ninth century and onwards it was not unusual to carry books abroad. Thus Dungal, the Scotic teacher in Pavia, A.D. 823, made donations of books to Bobio, a list of which is published by Muratori ; two of these we have already mentioned as now preserved in the Ambrosian Library, Milan. Again, in 841, we learn that Marcus, an Irish bishop, and his nephew Moengal, returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, visited St. Gall, on Lake Constance, in Switzerland, and remaining there till death, Mark bequeathed his books to the monastery. Gallus, the favourite and most honoured disciple of Columbanus, founded the monastery in the year 612. He was of Leinstei extraction, and died about the year 625. The Latin MSS., with Irish glosses from which Zeuss drew the material for the Irish * Now in the House of the Franciscan Order in Dubliiu 38 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. portion of his " Grammatica Celtica," are many of them adorned with miniatures and illuminated letters. Thus, in Codex No. 51, we have (I.) the figure of St. Matthew, seated, holding in his hand a book. He is beardless, and wears a peculiar cap. The angel, with hands clasped, presses a book to its breast. (II.) St. Mark, seated, holding a book; this has been confused with the representation of St. Luke which follows. St. Mark (if it be St. Mark) has the four evangelical symbols in the illuminated border by which he is surrounded. St. Luke has the winged ox above his head, is beardless, and holds a book ; and St. John^ also beardless and sitting, has the eagle above his head. Plates V. and VI. show the Crucifixion and the Last Judgment, and pages 6 and 7 are beautiful examples of Irish illumination. This Codex, No. 51, is a copy of the Gospels in Latin,, divided into lessons and verses, the commencement of the lessons being marked by illuminated initials, the verses by plainly coloured ones. The evangelist Matthew is again re- presented in Codex 1395. Here he is seated in a chair writing, with long curling hair, pointed beard, his angel with a book in front of him. He holds a penknife resembling that in the picture of Bede writing (Codex 60) in the Ministerial Library at Schaff- hausen. His nimbus is cruciform, " such a mistake as is often made," says Didron, " by the ignorant or neghgent artist or the copyist." An Irish charm, or elixir of life, is given on the back of this page — a sovereign remedy said to have been bequeathed by the physician Diancecht, of the Tuatha de Danaan race, whose name occurs in the early myths of Ireland. The evange- Ust John is again represented in Codex 60, but this is the work of some rude Continental scribe, as may be seen by the form of the lettering. Besides these instances published by Ferdinand Keller, we do not know whether the other twelve MSS. in this collection have miniatures or not ; some fine examples of Irish caligraphy are collected in two plates, but no reference given to the MSS. from which they are taken. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 39 The quadrangular bell of St. Gallus is preserved in the monastery of St. Gall ; but it is perverted from its original design by being attached to a wall, for all the ancient Irish bells are hand-bells. There is also a silver book-shrine in the museum of Irish workmanship. At Schafifhausen, in the Ministerial Library, there is a manu- script in perfect preservation of Adamnan's " Life of St. Columba," circa a.d. 700 — this is the oldest and most complete biography of the Irish saint now existing. It was brought there from Reichenau (Augia Dives), in which monastery was also preserved an Irish Codex of the Epistles of St. Paul. The bowl of St. Fintan is preserved in the sacristy of this church. Fintan was a native of Leinster, born circa 798; and though he was not the founder of Reichenau, so great was his sanctity that the monks chose him for their patron. In the Town Library of Berne is a well-preserved Irish MS. numbered 363. This volume contains six different tracts, it is not stated whether they exhibit any Irish illumination. In the Library of the Antiquarian Society at Zurich, are four fragments of Irish books: I. "An old Irish Ritual;" II. "Fragment of an ancient Sacramentarium ; " III. "Frag- ment of the Writings of the Prophet Ezekiel;" IV. "Fragment of a Grammar." The Abbey of Lure was founded by St. Gall's elder brother, Dicuil (Deicola), d. 625. Mabillon describes the situation : " Tribus ab Anagratibus Leucis ; Vicus Le Saucy, una tantum Leuca distat a Leubrse Abbatia." * Near the church, when Mabillon visited it, were two tumuli of large dimensions, one being the tomb of Dicuil, the other of his successor Columbinus, both disciples of the great Columba. At Basle, or Basel, there are three manuscripts in the town library, a beautiful Irish Psalter (A. VII. 3), with a hymn in praise of Bridget and Patrick, two works of St. Isidore of Spain, * Mabillon, " Annal. Benedict." 1. i. p. 211. 40 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. "De Natura Rerum" (F. F. III. 15. a), and " Differentiis Spirita- libus"(F. F. III. 15. e). At Coire, or Chur, in the Canton of the Orisons, was a monastery founded by St. Fridolin, and dedicated to Hilary of Aries, circa 500. In the rich treasury of the cathedral, an Irisli reliquary and some stones sculptured with designs belonging to the same school may be seen. Passing from Switzerland into Bavaria, we find at Eichstadt the original MS. of Cogitosus' " Life of St. Brigid " in the Domi- nican convent on the north bank of the Altmuhl, a tributary of the Danube. At Ingolstadt, Adamnan's tract, "De Locis Sanctis," was discovered. In fact, as Dr. Reeves observes : " The literary offerings of this part of Bavaria were a small instalment in discharge of the old debt Franconia owed to Ireland for her missionary services." At Wiirzburg we find a remarkable monument of early Irish occupation in the copy of the Pauline Epistles, with the inter- linear glosses. Here also is preserved the Latin Bible written in semi-uncial letters which, according to credible tradition, was found in St. Kilian's tomb in the year 743, Kilian having been interred in 687. This book is still exposed upon the altar of the cathedral church, on St. Kilian's festival day. A curious repre- sentation of the Crucifixion appears in this manuscript where cherubim are ministering to the penitent thief, whilst ill-omened birds are pecking at the impenitent sinner. A monastery in Tegernsee, in Bavaria, is also said to possess a " Vita Columbae Confessoris." This town lies between the Isar and the Inn, and the lakes of Schlier and Tegern. Another life of Columba was found by Canisius in the monastery of Wind- berg, in Bavaria, where it goes by the name of " Codex Rebdor- fensis," and it is said to have come from Rebdorf in the south- east' of Franconia. But the most important Irish settlement in Bavaria was at Ratisbon ; a monastery founded there dedicated to St. James was the parent of many Scotic monasteries. The IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 41 "Life of the Holy Marianus Scotus of Donegal, circa 1067," is preserved here, also his " Commentary on the Psalms of David." The doorway of the old church of St. Peter's strongly resembles those of the decorated Irish Romanesque buildings of the twelfth century, and a silver shrine appears to be the work of the same school, which was brought from the monastery of St. Emerau in Ratisbon to Munich, in the Royal Library of which town it is now deposited. In the monastery of St. Magnus, in Ratisbon, we find Ultan's " Life of St. Bridget," and the " Life of Erhard." Marianus Scotus, of Ratisbon, left Donegal in Ireland eleven years after the chronicler who bore the same adopted name. He brought with him two companions, John and Candidus, intend- ing to travel to Rome. When they reached Bamberg in Bavaria they were admitted to the Order of St. Benedict, in the monas- tery of St. Michelsberg, but, preferring retirement, they had a small cell at the foot of the hill assigned to their use. After a short stay they obtained permission to travel further, and arriving at Ratisbon, they were received into the convent of Obermiinster, where Marianus was employed by the Abbess Emma in the transcription of books. He wrote some missals and a number of other religious books, his companions preparing the membranes for his use. After some time he was minded to continue his original journey ; but a brother Irishman, called Murtagh, who was then living as a recluse at the Obermiinster, urged him to let it be determined by Divine guidance whether he should proceed ■on his way or settle for life at Ratisbon. He passed the night in Murtagh's cell, and in the hours of darkness it was intimated to him that wherever on the next day he should first behold the rising sun he should remain and fix his abode. Starting before day he entered St. Peter's Church, outside the walls, to implore the Divine blessing on his journey. But scarcely had he come forth, when he beheld the sun stealing above the horizon. "Here, then," said he, " I shall rest, and here shall be my resurrection." His determination was hailed with joy by the whole population. 42 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. The Abbess granted him this church of St. Peter, commonly known as Weigh Sanct Peter, with an adjacent plot, where in 1076 a citizen, called Bethselinus, built for the Irish at his own cost a little monastery, which the Emperor Henry IV. soon after took under his protection at the request of the Abbess Hezecha. From Weigh St. Peter another Irish monastery, called St. James of Ratisbon, took its rise in 1090. Domnus, a native of the South of Ireland, was its first Abbot. It is further recorded of Marianus that "this holy man wrote from beginning to end, with his own hand, the Old and New Testament, with explanatory comments on the same books, and that not once or twice, but over and over again, with a view to the eternal reward, all the while clad in sorry garb, living on slender diet, attended and aided by his brethren both in the upper and lower monasteries, who prepared the parchments for his use ; besides, he also wrote many smaller books and manuals, psalters for distressed widows and poor clerics of the same city, towards the health of his soul, without any prospect of earthly gain. Furthermore, through the grace of God, many congregations of the monastic order, which in faith and charity and imitation of the blessed Marianus, are derived from the aforesaid Ireland, and inhabit Bavaria and Franconia, are sustained by the writings of the blessed Marianus." * He died on the 9th of February, 1088. Aventinus, the Bavarian Annalist,, styles him, " Poeta et Theologus insignis, nullique suo seculo secundus." A copy of the Epistles of St. Paul, written by Marianus " for his pilgrim brethren," is preserved now in the Imperial Library of Vienna. At the end of the MS. are these words: "In honore Individuse Trinitatis, Marianus Scotus scripsit hunc librum suis fratribus peregrinis. Anima ejus requiescat in pace, propter Deum devote dicite Amen." Further information as to the history of the Irish monastery of St. James at Ratisbon has been drawn from the " Chronicon Ratisbonense," transcribed by Stephen White when Professor at * "Acta Sanctorum," Febr. t. ii. pp. 365-372. IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 43 Wurzburg about the year 1650. It is there stated that the money- was supplied from Ireland to Dionysius, the Irish Abbot of St. Peter's, at Ratisbon, with which he purchased a site for the monastery of St, James, to the western side of Ratisbon, and the old Bavarian chronicler continues : " Now be it known, that neither before nor since was there a more noble monastery, such magnificent towers, walls, pillars, and roofs, so rapidly erected, so perfectly finished, as in this monastery, because of the wealth and money sent by the king and princess of Ireland." The king alluded to here was Conor O'Brien, king of Munster, to whom the emissaries of the Abbot of St. Peter's at Ratisbon had applied for aid. This Conor began his reign in the year 11 27. His contributions being exhausted, a second embassy was sent, and Gregorius, after having been consecrated Abbot of St. James, came to Ireland, and visited Murtogh O'Brien, who gave him a large sum of money, that had been deposited some time before in the hands of the Archbishop of Cashel for the church at Ratisbon. With this money the Abbot bought many farms, villages, plots of ground, houses, and sumptuous buildings in the city of Ratisbon, and it is further stated " that the old building at Ratisbon was thrown down, and rebuilt anew from top to bottom with square blocks of stone ; it was roofed with lead, the pavement was of polished stones, diamond-shaped." — (Bolland, Feb. 9th, p. 372.) Wattenbach states that conflagrations consumed all that was destructible by fire, but Gregory's square tower, and the richly decorated portal of the church stood out firmly against every assault. Not many years ago, this author found an illuminated copy of the Gospels in the German Museum of Nuremberg. It belongs to the library of the Prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein, but came originally from the Benedictine convent of Saint Arnoul in Metz (Latin Metis), on the Moselle, in France. Mr. Wattenbach say^ : " This magnificent copy of the Gospels, belonging to the 44 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Library of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein at Mottingen, which has been for some time deposited in the German Museum x)f Nuremberg, where I met with it, may now be added to the Cpjidan mtrlticowcai sx^x^ FJG.. 14. — FRONTISPIECE TO ST. LUICE's GOSPEL. CONVENT ST. ARNOUL, METZ. number of remarkably illuminated manuscripts of Irish origin, which have already been described. '^The peculiar characteristics of Irish illumination are im- mediately recognisable in the initial letters, Q and I, which form IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 45; the headings of the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John in this manuscript, and which are here reproduced, such as the spirals,. ocpudt>m ^da aruicru a\tam ^Oc QvaxriMpivmcipio FIG. 15. — FRONTISPIECE TO 3T. JOHN's GOSPEL. CONVENT ST. ARNOUL, METZ. birds' heads, and framework of red dots. The text exhibits that beautiful round character, which, in some measure, resembles the uncial writing, but is distinguishable from it by the letters being smaller and more connected in some places, so much so even as 46 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. to spoil their clearness, although the eye may be gratified by the •uniformity of writing throughout the MS. The deciphering of them is rendered difficult, especially by the extreme resemblance of the letters N and R. The parchment is fine and strong, without being too white, and the ink brilliantly black. The initials present the ordinary colours — violet, green, yellow, and red, which in some places have preserved their primitive freshness. One detail, however, does not agree with the other characters of the writing, that is, the employment of gold and silver in the favourite ornamented capitals, which, though common in the writing of the Carlovingian period, was foreign to Irish illuminative Art of the ninth century. But this enigma is solved on closer examination. Between the closing lines at the end of ;the Gospel of St. Luke : ' Expl. evang. secundum Lucam Deo grat. felic.,' some fresh hand has intercalated the words in letters of silver : ' Explicit liber Sci Evangelii secundum Lucam Deo gratias' The title, in golden letters, ^ Evangelium secundum Lucam^ may also be the addition of a later period ; and we may conclude that the gold ornament in the initials is a factitious embellishment of the Carlovingian period. Hence the manuscript may be attributed to a pre-Carlovingian epoch, say to the seventh, if not to the sixth, century. "Whence comes this manuscript? A leaf pasted on to one of the pages refers us to the convent of St. Arnoul of Metz. The entry is as follows : " ' The writing of the codex contained in this jewelled case is Merovingian work of the end of the sixth century in uncial characters. Another Anglo-Saxon MS. of about the same time ot uncial characters also. Each MS. would, if for sale, be of great pecuniary value. This value should be upwards of 125 louis d'or for each. Dom Maugerard, Librarian in the Monastery of St. Arnoul, Great Almoner of France, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Metz, Commissary in the Episcopal Chamber of Regulars.' " The author of this note has, through a common enough error, IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 47 called the Irish writing of the MS., Anglo-Saxon, but he has correctly stated its age. The case of the book was doubtless of great value, even if it had not been, as in the instance of the other manuscript, ornamented with precious stones. However that may be, it has disappeared, and the rare manuscript is now covered in simple half binding. The inscription, ^ Ex libris A {or H) Gaertier a. 1809,' points to a more recent possessor of the manuscript. The copyist of the manuscript has given his name. On the last page, we see a lion rudely painted, above which is written, in characters probably more recent, '■ Ecce leo stat super euangelium.^ Below the lion in a framework of green lines, some verses appear, the second Hne of which certainly is an hexameter, and the others are meant to be such. t( < Zux mundi leeta Deus, hjec tibi celeri curs U .<41ine potens scribsi soli famulatus et un / UX. te vita fruar teque casto inveniam cult U ^ectaque per te, ad te ducente te gradiar ui A ^xcelse cernis Deus quae me plurima cingun T A'bta et ignota tuis male nata zezania sati 6" 7u sed mihi certa salus spesque unica uita ..E ymmeritum licet lucis facias adtingere lime N ferba nam tua ualida imis me tollat avern / .Sola hsec misero mihi te vitam dabunt seruul O •' • All-nourishing powerful God, joyful Light of the World, To Thee One and alone have I Thy servant written with rapid pen, That in my life I might enjoy Thee and find Thee in pure worship, And through Thee, by Thy guidance, I may walk in the straight path which leads to Thee. God on high Thou seest how many things enchain me. The ill-sprung tares, known and unknown, mixed with Thy seed, But to me Thou art my certain salvation and only hope of life. Thou canst make me, unworthy as I am, to reach the threshold of light. For Thy words of power shall lift me from the depths of hell. These alone give Thee, the true Life, to me Thy wretched servant.'^ "The first and last letters of the lines, written in red in the manuscript, form the words '■ Laurentius vivat senio.* This is probably the name of the scribe, a name which is not Irish, and may, perhaps, be one adopted on entering the cloister. 48 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. "I leave to theologians the task of critical examination of this text of the Gospels, and will continue the description of its exterior. On the back of the first leaf, under the title, Kanon Euangelioriwi^ some verses on this canon are found commencing thus : *' Quam in primo speciosa quadriga, Homo leo vitulus et aquila, LXX. unum per capitula, De domino conloquntur paria, In secundo subsequente protinus, etc " On the following page, two marvellous birds are represented on a plate, or space, which contains the letters, Evangelia veritatis in an arrangement full of art. The reverse contains the words— 'Prologus quattuor evangeliorum bono led. /elicit,'' in large characters of pure uncial writing. The lines are alternately red and black, here and there ornamented with yellow ; all the title pages are likewise written in this ancient manner. The prologue commences by a line {plures fuisse), ornamented in a perfectly Irish style. The text is written in two columns; the book is large quarto; each paragraph is headed with an ornamented initial. First comes a letter from St. Jerome to St. Damasus; then the Canones evangeliorum, in columns as usual ; and lastly, the Gospels, preceded by their summary. The Gospels them- selves commence with richly ornamented initials. Before the Gospels is a page filled with geometrical designs and ornamental patterns, such as are often met with in Irish manuscripts; but the latter are not remarkable for beauty. The text is written 'per cola et commata,' that is to say, that, instead of punctuation, each phrase is complete in a line. If an empty space is anywhere left, it is filled up by means of red points, arranged in groups of three. ' The quoted passages have before each of their lines, a sort of flourish, with a dot in the middle, all in red. At the close of the Fourth Gospel are the words : ' Expl Evang. Sec. Johann. Uiue etfruere.' And with this wish I, too, conclude, "W. Wattenbach." miSIf SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 49 At Vienna there is also another copy of the " Life of St. Cv)lumba," a manuscript of Seduhus written in double columns, with red initial letters, and a copy of Eutychus with old Irish Glosses.* In Germany we find traces of Irish missionaries in various monasteries. Thus at Fulda, the Gospels of St. Boniface pre- served in the cathedral exhibit art of the Irish school. In the crypt, which is all that remains of the old building, the shrine of St. Boniface and his ivory crosier are kept with a portion of his skull, and the dagger with which he was murdered. The chronicler, Marian, expressly states that this Boniface was a Scot. He also speaks of a St. Anmchadh, who, coming from Iniscaltra (Holy Island in Lough Derg, Ireland), travelled to Germany, and became a recluse at Fulda. At Treves, or Trier, two MSS. may be seen — ist, a Codex of the ninth century is kept in the house of Canon von Wilmousky, near the Cathedral of Treves ; and 2nd, the Gospels of Thomas, who was Abbot of Honau in the eighth century. In the second plate of this book the interweaving of the Evangelical symbols is Irish in character. The monastery of Honau was founded on an island in the Rhine, near Strasburg, by Tuban an Irish bishop, in 720, and was patronised by Pepin and Charlemagne. A Confirmation grant of a.d. 810 states that it was founded, "Ad pauperes et peregrinos gentis Scotorum," and it is attested by the signatures of the abbot, seven bishops, and one presbyter, all of them bearing Irish names. * The MS. of Sedulius, or Siedhuil, contains a complete copy of the Commentary of St. Aileran on the Genealogy of our Lord, according to St. Matthew. It consists of 157 foKa, large quarto, written in two columns, with red initial letters. The author, Aileran the Wise, was head of the School of Clonard in the seventh century, and his death is recorded in the " Annals of Ulster," Dec. 29, a.d. 664. The tract is entitled " Tipicus ac Tropologicus Jesu Christi GenealogiK Intellectus quem Sanctus Aileranus Scottorum Sapientissimus exposuit. Cod. Memb. Theol. CIX. nunc VI. CI." PART I. E 50 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. At Gheel, near Malines in Belgium, is the old church of St. Dympna, a king's daughter who fled from Slieve Betha in Monaghan in the seventh century, and who founded the church at Ghent, where she has always been honoured as the patron saint of the insane. Her crosier, portions of which are illustrated in this volume, is preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. The church in which her relics are de- posited is a spacious old building just outside the village of Gheel. At Cambray, there is a Codex (a.d. 763) finely ornamented in the Irish style, No. 684, which contains canons of the Irish Council held a.d. 684. A "Life of St. Bridget," that came from Longford, may also be found in the monastery of St. Autbert in Cambray. In the public library of Leyden, a Priscian, written by Dub- thach, circa 838, may be seen ; a fragment of the New Testament in the University Library of Utrecht, while in the Burgundian Library of Brussels is preserved the large collection of Irish manuscripts brought from Louvain. .^^ BOOK SATCHELS. EFORE we pass on from the subject of the Illu- minated Books of Ancient Ireland, it will be necessary to mention the leathern satchels called polaires, in which these books were carried or were hung upon the walls of the chamber in the monastery or tower where they were preserved, such as that called the Satchel ^S^' of the Book of Armagh, the Satchel of FIG. 16. ^.j^g jj.jgj^ Missal at Corpus Christi, Cam- bridge, and the Satchel of St. Moedoc's Reliquary; Mr. West- wood has described the Satchel in Cambridge as of black IRISH SCRIBES ON THE CONTINENT. 51 leather, the front being ornamented witli diagonally impressed lines and circles, now nearly obliterated by constant use. At the upper angles are affixed strong leathern straps fastened with leather ties to a broader central strap, which passed over the shoulders, and by which the volume was suspended round the neck.* It is a remarkable fact that all the books in the Library of the Abyssinian monastery of Sourians, on the Natron Lakes in Egypt, were recently found by an English traveller in a condition singularly resembling that of the "Book of Armagh," and adding an interesting illustration of a practice probably derived from that school. The books of Abyssinia are bound in the usual way, sometimes in red leather, and sometimes in wooden boards, which are occasionally elaborately carved in rude and coarse devices ; they are then enclosed in a case, tied up with leathern thongs ; to this case is attached a strap for the convenience of carrying the volume over the shoulders ; and by these straps the books are hung to the w^ooden pegs, three or four on a peg, or more, if the books were small ; their usual size was that of a small, very thick quarto (Curzon's " Monasteries of the Levant," p. 93). From the many instances in which such objects are mentioned in our ancient histories, it would appear that they were as common in Ireland as the sacred relics they were intended to preserve. St. Columba is said to have blessed " One hundred polaires, noble, one coloured" ("Leabhar Breac," fol. 16-60). And again in the same " Life " it is said, " for it was a practice with him to make crosses, and book satchels, and ecclesiastical implements " ; Patrick also is described as appearing followed by the boy Benen, with his satchel on his back, and this was an article necessary to the episcopal character, as it would seem, and it is enumerated amongst the presents given by Patrick to Fiacc, Bishop of Sletty : " Patrick gave a cuvitach to Fiacc containing, to wit, a bell, and reliquary, and a crozier, and a book satchel." * See Gilbert's "Facsimiles of the National MSS. of Ireland," Part II. App. ii. Fig. 2, where a photograph of this Satchel is given. E 2 52 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. REFERENCES TO WORKS ON ILLUMINATION. The subject of Irish Illumination has been treated of in the following works : Ferdinand Keller, " On the MSS. of St. Gall," published in Zurich Society's "Transactions." Rev. Dr. Reeves, "Ancient Irish Calligraphy" {Ulster Journal of Archceology). Westwood, " Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS." Westwood, " Palasographia Sacra Pictoria." Waagen, German Art Journal, No. II. O'Conor, " Rer. Hib. Script.," Lib. I. cxliii. H. Noel Humphreys, "Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages." H. Shaw, "Illuminated Ornaments from MSS. of Middle Ages." H. Shaw, '' Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages." "Essay on Illumination," appended to "Cromlech on Howth,"" with Illuminations in facsimile from the Books of Kells and Durrow. Purton Cooper, Report App. A, Record Commission Report. Purton Cooper, Report on " Foedera." M. D. Wyatt, "The Art of Illuminating." Illustrations by W. R. Tymms. " On the Colouring Matters employed in the Illuminations of the Book of Kells," by W. N. Hartley, F.R.S., Royal College of Science, Dublin. M. Wattenbach, " Zeitschrift fiir Christliche Archaologie und Kunst," Leip. 1856, pp. 21-49. J. L. Gilbert, " Facsimiles of the National MSS. of Ireland," Public Record Ofifice of Ireland, Dublin, 1874. • •■■ CHAPTER IV. METAL-WORK. S the character of the arts introduced W •iht ^^^o Ireland with Christianity was grafted 'WAYzl upon and modified by the arts of Pagan .\./A\AV" Ireland, it will be well to learn what degree of excellence in this art of metal-work had been attained before the fourth and fifth centuries of our era. This knowledge will FIG. 17. better be acquired by the accurate obser- vation of one particular example than by a more comprehensive treatment of the bronze and gold antiquities of this early date. There are two fragments of a bronze ornament in the Petrie Museum which, as stated by Mr. Kemble, " for beauty of design and execution may challenge comparison with any specimen of cast bronze work that it has ever been my fortune to see." These fragments, if examined with care, may teach much of what lay at the foundation of the success of the Irish metal-workers in succeeding generations. Commencing with the more perfect of these two fragments, we find it to consist of five separate pieces, fitted with delicate precision and joined together by small rivets. First, a band or fillet of thin bronze plate ; then, 2nd, a circular plate ; 3rd, a 54 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. cone or tongue springing upwards from the band. Besides these three principal portions there are two accessory objects — a stud and a shoe — which help to keep the whole together. In both cases the bands are broken at either end, from which we may conclude that they formed part of a longer object. They measure i^ in. in height, and are slightly curved, as if they had formed portions of a circular or oval ring ; they are pierced at the upper and lower edges with small needle-holes, showing that some fine fabric was stitched to them by a delicate thread. The round plates are furnished with two little pegs or feet at the back, by which they were fixed into the hollow at the base of the cone into which the shoe is inserted, which supports the circular plate in an upright position. The cone rests partly on the top- most edge of the band or fillet, and partly in the hollow of the stud fixed on the band. This cone, which measures ^)^ in. in height by 3^ in. in circumference at its base, is somewhat like a horn or tongue, and the denticulated edge at its summit shows signs of wearing, as if some hard object had rested there, such as a small crystal ball. The three principal parts, i.e. the band, the circular plates, and the cone, are decorated by the spiral lines in relief to which Mr. Kemble drew our attention ; but, instead of being as he declared " casting," it would appear as if the result were partly obtained by stamping, as a coin is stamped, and that then the lines were finished by hand. On examining the reverse of the plates we find that, although the delicate lines of the curves and spirals are not seen in intaglio, as they would be if the work were repousse, yet the minute bosses on the surface are all clearly repousse, being seen pressed out, or concave, on the back. Would this have been the case if the bronze plate were cast? Again, there are four parts of apparently the same ornament which might have all been cast from one mould, if casting were the method adopted ; but it is clear that, if cast at all, there must have been four separate moulds, for in following each line of the curves and spirals a certain irregularity METAL-WORK. 55 and difference is perceivable in every instance. This might occur if the less mechanical process of stamping and handwork were adopted, since the stamp, being possibly formed of a less durable material than a mould, might require to be changed each time. If not, then, the finest pieces of casting ever seen, yet, as specimens of design and workmanship, they are, perhaps, unsur- passed. The surface is here overspread with no vague lawlessness, but the ornament is treated with fine reserve, and the design carried out with the precision and delicacy of a master's touch. The ornament on the cone flows round and upwards in lines gradual and harmonious as the curves in ocean surf, meeting and parting only to meet again in lovelier forms of flowing motion. In the centre of the circular plate below — just at the point or hollow, whence all these lines flow round and upwards, at the very heart as it might seem of the whole work — a crimson drop of clear enamel may be seen. It has been suggested that these fragments are portions of two such horns as are seen on an ancient British helmet in our National Museum in London. The extreme delicacy and fragile nature of these objects seem, however, to refute this theory — a theory most valuable at the same time as bearing out the idea of the true origin of such things — the horn or tongue of flame pro- jecting from the head being one of the most ancient symbols of divine power in man which we possess. The horns on the British helmet are strong and massive, such as might be worn in battle, but it is possible that the fragments now under consideration may be the remains of an Irish radiated crown, formed of seven horns or tongues, so arranged as to rise from a band or fillet intended to encircle the head — it may be of an image or of a king — during some sacred festival. The question as to the probable date of this ornament is not an easy one to solve. We should v^onsider the working of the material very clearly, comparing ii with examples in other countries before arriving at any conclusions. A late writer on 56 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the antiquities of the bronze age referring to the inhabitants of Europe north of the Alps says : "The ari of metal-working, as proved by the remains associated together in the various places of manufacture, was carried to a high pitch of perfection. Most of the bronzes were cast and the moulds carefully designed ; the metal was abo tempered by hammering, or engraved with various elaborate patterns, or adorned with repousse work. " Stamps were also employed for impressing thin plates of metal. In all probability the art of casting preceded the tempering, stamping, and engraving ; but on the evidence before us there is nothing to show that the first was derived from a different source to, or known in Gaul, before the others." In these fragments under our consideration we find : ist. A complete mastery over the arts of tempering, stamping, and engraving. 2nd. Exquisite skill in design and execution. 3rd. The design is a variety of a certain design found in three stages of development on the monuments of Ireland. This, belonging to the second and most perfect stage, corre- sponds with that upon the bronze discs found at Monastereven, and the spoon-shaped relics found in a bog in Ireland, which correspond to those described by Mr. Albert Way {Arch. Jour., xxvi. 52 ; Arch. Camb., 4th series, i. 199), a variety coming between the primitive form seen on the stone and bone rehcs above mentioned, and the more complex form occurring on Christian monuments. 4th. These fragments are presumed to have been portions of a radiated crown — a form of crown which is first represented on the coins minted in Gaul and Britain, in the years a.d. 260, 287, and 293, i.e. a century before the introduction ol Christianity into Ireland.* We may safely conclude that even at so early a date as the time of St. Patrick's mission, new varieties of design were intro- duced into Irish Art from the Continent. In the fifth century, and at about the time when Patrick came from Gaul to Ireland, • See " Archaiologia, " vol. xlvii. p. 473, METAL-WORK. 57 the goldsmith's art was cultivated, especially in the southern Gaulish piovinces. Statuettes, bas-reliefs, vessels, shrines, reli- quaries, and domestic utensils were manufactured. The first churches built in Gaul were soon enriched with gold and silver, as is proved by the will of Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours («>az 477): "To thee, most dear Euphronius, brother and bishop, I give and bequeath my silver reliquary. I mean that which I have been accustomed to carry upon my person, for the reliquary of gold, which is in my treasury, another two golden chalices, and cross of gold, made by Mabuinus, do I give and bequeath to my church." When Patrick came into Ireland {circa 440-46), he was, as we learn from Tirechan, attended by some Gauls, along with .a multitude of holy bishops. It is not improbable that some of these foreigners were artists. We read that bells were distributed ■throughout the many oratories founded by St. Patrick, These appear to have been of the very rudest character, if we may judge .from the iron bell of St. Patrick, now preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Three smiths, " expert at shaping," MacCecht, Laebhan, and Fortchern, are named as belonging to St. Patrick's family, that is, to his religious associates, and mention is also made of three artificers of great skill, Aesbuite, Tairill, and Tassach ; and in the Tripartite Life it is still more • explicitly stated, that the smiths should make the bells, and that the braziers should make the patens, and the menisters, and the altar chalices. The works of these artists were executed at about the same time as that in which the silver reliquary was made by Mabuinus, in Gaul, for the relics of Perpetuus ; and we may form some conception of the condition of Christian Art in northern Italy, when we remember that this was about the period in which the throne of Dagobert, the ivory chair of Maximian, at Ravenna, and certain of the relics of the Cathedral of Monza were executed. W^e have an indication of the influx of foreign articles into Ire- land with the first Christian teachers, in the mention of the 58 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. transmarine and foreign vestments of Bishop Conla, which Bridget granted to the poor after the bishop's death, and which are said to have come from Leatha, i.e. Italy. This Bishop Conla was also Bridget's principal artist in gold, silver, and other metals. In the life of the artificer, St. Dageus, who lived in the sixth century, his works are enumerated ; namely, cam- panas, cymbals, baculos, cruces, scrinia, capsas, pyxides, discos, altariola, chrysmalia, librorumque cooptoria, qusedam vero alia auro atque argento, gemmesque pretiosis, circumtecta. (''Aet. SS. Aug.," tome iii. p. 659 «.) " It would appear," says Dr. Petrie, " from the number of references to shrines in the Irish annals, that previously to the irruptions of the Northmen in the eighth and ninth centuries, there were few, if any, of the distinguished churches in Ireland which had not costly shrines." But such objects became the prey of the pagan invader, and thus we may account for the fact that no fine specimen of Christian Art in metal-work is to be seen in our museums to which we can assign a date earlier than, the tenth century. Although we find the Irish annalists lauding "the great skill" of those artificers who made St. Patrick's bells, patens, etc., yet the only example of their work extant is of the rudest possible character. The iron Bell of St. Patrick is at once the most authentic and the oldest Irish relic of Christian metal-work that has descended to us. It possesses the singular merit of having an unbroken history through fourteen hundred years. This bell is quadrilateral, and is formed of two plates of sheet iron, which are bent over so as to meet, and are fastened together by large-headed iron rivets. The cornevs are rounded by a gentle inclination of the parts which join. One of the plates constitutes the face, the crown, and upper third of the back, as well as the adjacent portion of each side, being doubled over at the top, and descending to meet the smaller plate, which overlaps it at the junction. Subsequently to the securing the METAL- WORK. 59 joints by rivets, the iron frame was consolidated by the fusion of bronze into the joints and over the surface, giving to the whole a metallic solidity, which very much enhanced its reso- nance, as well as contributed to its preservation. The inside also was coated with bronze, though more irregularly than the outside, owing to the unevenness of the surface ; and the coating seems to have been effected by the dipping of the iron shell into a vessel of the fused metallic compound, a process which has been employed to a recent date in the manufacture of the Wiltshire sheep-bells. The handle is of iron, let in by projecting spikes to perforations on the ridge of the bell, and further secured on the outside by bronze attachments of its straps.* One remarkable fact in connection with the reliquary in which this bell was enshrined is, that, since it was made about the year 1091, it has never been lost sight of From the beginning it had a special keeper; in succeeding generations its custody was continued in the same family, and proved to them a source of considerable emolument; and in after ages, when its profits ceased to accrue, long associations so bound it up with the affections of the keeper's family that they almost held their existence upon the tenure of its safe custody, and thus handed it down from generation to generation, till the stock at last became extinct, and the object of their former care passed into a keeping established by friendship instead of blood. It was one proof of the fact that these little iron hand-bells of the first teachers of Christianity were among the relics held in highest estimation among the Irish. These, when worn and useless, as in the case of this bell of the great apostle of Ireland, were enshrined in cases made in the form of the bell, and adorned with gold and precious stones; and, as in the case of the book-shrines, also probably executed about 400 or 500 years after the death of tlie saint to whom the bell belonged. * Trans. Roy. Irish Acadimy, March, 1877; "On the Bell of Patrick," by Wm. Reeves, D. D. •6o EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. FIG. 1 8. — SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. (P. 66.) METAL-WORK. 61 This rude iron bell is a fair example of the type which seems to have also prevailed in Wales and Scotland during the first centuries after the introduction of Christianity. Mr. Ellacombe has described and illustrated six such hand-bells of the Early Welsh Church, and refers to fifty-three examples in Irish museums of native work, besides one still preserved in Switzer- land to which we have already alluded, the Bell of St. Gall ; one in France, that of St. Godeberte in Noyon ; and one at Stival, in Brittany. Didron describes a similar bell preserved at the Museum of Cologne, said to have belonged to Cumbert, the first bishop of that town. Dr. Anderson describes four of such bells in Scotland, and notes that there are but two of the same type in England, and adds: "As all those in Scotland whose associations have been preserved are attributed to Irish saints, we naturally turn to Ireland in search of the parent group. There we find the type is well known, and examples both in iron and bronze are abundant. The exact number of those that are still extant in Ireland is not easily ascertained, but they can be enumerated up to between fifty and sixty." The antiquary may further find in Ireland that a large number of these primitive iron bells can be said to possess an authentic history. As we have shown in the case of St. Patrick's Bell, the fate of many of these curious relics has been bound up with that of the family in the present century descended from the hereditary keeper of the bell in the old monastery. Thus, the MacBeolans in Gal way remained, till a few years ago, custodians of the Black Bell of St. Patrick, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy; the MacGuirks of Tyrone were hereditary keepers of the Bell of Termon MacGuirk, now in the Dungannon Museum, which descended from Columba, the founder of the church ; the McEnhills kept the iron bell of Drumragh, near Omagh; the Magoverans that of St. Mogue in Templeport, County Cavan ; the O'Rorkes were keepers of the Bell of Fenagh, afterwards transported to Mohill ; the BresHns, that of 62 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Conell of Iniscail, now in the British Museum; and the Keanes of the county of Clare were hereditary keepers of St. Senan's .Bell in Scattery Island, called the Clogh Oir, or Golden Bell. FIG. 19. — SHRINE OF ST. CULANUS' BELL. It may seem like exaggeration to suggest that these relics are twelve or thirteen hundred years old, and may be indeed the very bells used by the founders in those monasteries by whose servants and successors they were preserved to the present METAL-WORK. 63 century ; and yet there is much evidence assertion. The custom of enshrining these rude iron bells m cases, adorned with gold, silver, and enamel to support this de iron bells in s, and gems, which FIG. 20.— SHRINE OF ST. CULANUS' BELL (BACK). prevailed from the tenth to the twelfth century, shows the reverence with which the relics of the patron saint of the monastery were regarded. Thus we have the shrine of the original Bell of Culanus, which is apparently the work of the 64 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. eleventh century;* the shrine of St. Mura's Bell, who was patron of Fahan, in Londonderry, and was venerated on March 12th; the shrine of the Bell of St. Mogue, who was bom a.d. 555, died 625 ; the shrine of St. Senan's Bell, the patron of the church on Scattery Island, who lived circa 540, whose festival day was March 8th ; and the shrine of the Bell of Conall Caol, patron of the church of Inishkeel, County Donegal, which, in the year 1835, was sold by Connell MacMichael O'Breslen, a poor man but the oldest representative of the O'Breslen, who, as appears from an Inquisition 7 Jac. I., was one of the Erenaghs of Inishkeel. This bell-shrine has an inscription in black letter, greatly defaced, in which the names of Mahon, O'Meehan, and . . . O'Breslen are still legible. t The Bearnan Ciaran and Bearnan Ailbe, surnamed the " Broken or Gapped Bells," are mentioned by the Four Masters at pp. 843 and 1097, and the Bell of St. Kevin and St. Fechin in the twelfth century (p. 1072). Many of the iron bells of the first Christian period were distinguished by the epithet " Bearnan," meaning " broken," or " gapped," by the Annalists of the tenth and eleventh century ; thus we read of the Bearnan Ciarain, and Bearnan Ailbe, and Bearnan Brigde, and Bearnan Cualaun. But in the tenth century bells of bronze, cast and moulded in a finer form, were in use. To this class belongs the second Bell of Columb of Ros Glandse in Roscommon, now in the Petrie Museum; the Bell of Gartan in Donegal, in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy ; that of Kilshanny, County Clare, in the same Museum ; and two fine examples which show that these bells were occasionally ornamented, the Bell of Cashel, now in the Museum of the Earl of Dunraven, and that of Bangor, in the county of Down, on the face of which a cross is incised, and round the base a band of Irish ornament runs, which is very * See Archaological Journal, vol. xx. p. 76. + See note, " Ann. Four Mast.," a.d. 1616, p. 2373. METAL- WORK, 65 similar in both cases. These fine bronze bells vary in size from 14 in. high by 9 in. wide at base to 5 in. high by 3 in. at base, while the old iron bells measure on an average from 6 in. high by 4^ in. wide to 1 1 in. by 8 in. wide. Fortunately, the date of one of these fine bronze bells of Ireland can be ascertained by the inscription which it bears, and thus we have a clue to the date of others of the same class. This is the Bronze Bell of Cumascach, son of Ailill, who was steward in the monastery of Armagh, and whose death in the year 908 is recorded in the Annals of Ulster. This bell is of cast bronze, without rivets; its handle and clapper are of iron, and it measures 11^ in. high bv 8 in across at the ^^^' ^^* — ^^^^ ^"^ cumascach mac ailello. base. (Fig. 21.) The bell-shrine of Maelbrigde, son of Redan, Bishop of Connor and Abbot of Muckamore and Ahoghill, who died in 954, comes next in order of date. Only a fragment of the top of this shrine remains, but it contains the inscription : " Pray for Maelbrigde, through whom it was made, and for the . . . who made it." The material is bronze, overlaid with ornaments and gold and silver interspersed with enamels. It measures 3^ in. in breadth by 2 in. in height. (See Figs. 23, 24.) The shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick's Will, or Bell of Armagh, was made to enclose the rude iron bell of the apostle PART r. B. 66 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. of Ireland. This fine example of goldsmith's work must have been executed between the years 1091 and 1105, when Donell MacAulay, whose name is given in the inscription, filled the See of Armagh. The shrine is made of brass, on which the ornamented parts are fastened down with rivets. The front is adorned with silver-gilt plates and knot-work in golden filigree. The silver work is partly covered with scrolls, some in alto- relievo, and some in bas-relief. It is also decorated with gems and crystal, and on the sides are animal forms elongated and twisted into interlaced scrolls. (See Fig. 18.) UCH covers or shrines for bells seem to be unknown in any other branch of the Christian Church. Six examples of these beautiful reli- quaries are still in existence. Besides that from the county of Antrim, already men- tioned, we have the shrine of St. Patrick's Bell in Armagh; the Barnaan Cualawn, or shrine of the Bell of St. Culanus, in Tip- perary (Figs. 19, 20); that of St. Mura's Bell at Fahan in Donegal, that of the Bell of Conell Gael in Glencolumbkill, County Donegal, that of the St. Mogue or Moedoc from Templeport in the county of Cavan, the Clogh Oir or Golden Bell of Senanus in Scattery Island at the mouth of the Shannon. We know of no other reliquaries of this exact nature outside of Ireland except the two in Scotland, described by Dr. Anderson in his work entitled " Scotland in Early Christian Times ;" the bell-shrine found near Kilmichael Glassary which he believes may date about the twelfth century, and may have belonged to St. Molua of Lismore in Ireland ; and the bell-shrine of Guthrie in Forfarshire. FIG. 22. METAL- WORK. 67 The earliest dated example of decorative metal-work of the Irish style that we know of is perhaps the work of an Irish visitor to the monastery in Austria to which it belongs, or, as some have supposed, is of an early style which prevailed on the Continent and spread into Ireland. If of foreign workmanship we cannot but wonder at its exceptional character, when compared with other FIGS. 23, 24. — SHRINE OF MAELBRIGDE'S BELL (PORTIONS OF). examples of early metal-work on the Continent, while its similarity to those of the Irish school is very striking. The relic to which we allude is the silver chalice of Kremsmiinster in Lower Austria, eighteen miles south of Wels near the Danube. There is a distinctly Irish character in the traceries upon this cup, and the monastery in which it is found is in a country long frequented F 2 68 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. by Irish missionaries from the eighth century to the eleventh. It is not far from Gottweich, where Joannes — who travelled from Ulster with Marianus — lived as a recluse. In the old " Life of St. Altmann," founder of Gottweich, we read : " In this venerable bishop's time there came a priest to Mount Kotweich, by natiori a Scot, in profession a monk, in conversation religious. The name he bore, which was John, signifying ' God's Grace,' was in accordance with his disposition. Bishop Altmann loved this grace which was in him ; and that he might the more readily abide with him, a narrow cell was assigned him beside the church of the blessed Mary, in which, agreeable to his wish and solicitation, he was immured," The date of the chalice of Kremsmiinster can be approximately fixed since it bears an inscription : Tassilo Dux fortis Luitpirc virga regalis. This Tassilo was the last Duke in Bavaria of the race of the Argilosinger. He fought during his minority under Pepin the Little, afterwards King of the Franks, and in the year 757 he undertook the government of his own duchy. He afterwards married Luitberga the daughter of Desiderius, the last king of the Lombards. The time at which this chalice was presented was somewhere between the year 757 when he became duke, and shortly after which he married Luitberga, and 781 when he was reduced to submission by Charlemagne and afterwards deprived of his dukedom. The chahce does not appear to have been so essential a portion of the furniture of the primitive Irish church as the bell, the crosier, and the book, so often enumerated as the gifts or bequests of the founder. One of the few notices we have met with of chalices is that legend in the " Life of St. Patrick " which states that, when Ailill, his servant, required of him sacred vessels for the service of his church, then, " the holy prelate, divinely instructed, pointed out to the presbyter, in a certain stone cave of METAL- WORK. 69 wonderful workmanship, an altar underground, having on its four corners four chalices of glass." These chalices were probably foreign and imported by some missionary who preceded Patrick.* Chalices of glass were in use on the Continent down to the tenth century. The rudest, and possibly the oldest form of chalice of native workmanship in Ireland, was of stone. One example now preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is as rude and archaic as the primitive cell in the monastery on the Blasket Islands, from which it was taken. Another chalice, also of stone, is preserved in the same Museum, and this is gracefully decorated.t The earliest notices of metal chalices in Ireland appear to be those referred to in Keating's " History of Ireland," where it is stated that in the reign of Flann Sinna (a.d. 877 to 914), Cormac MacCuUinain King, Bishop of Cashel, bestowed a gold and silver chalice on Lismore, and bequeathed a gold and silver chalice to Cashel. However, bronze chalices seem to have been in use in the seventh century in the Irish Church. St. Gall assigned as his reason for declining to use silver vessels in the service of the altar that his master, St. Columbanus, was accustomed to use vessels of bronze. No chalice of the early Church exists in Scotland ; but it is said that a chalice of bronze and a glass bowl were dug up in the churchyard of Kingoldrum, in Forfarshire, in 1843, which have unfortunately disappeared. It is much to be regretted that the date of the two finest examples of the goldsmith's work of Christian Ireland cannot be fixed by reference to such inscriptions as are found on the ■other relics we have described. The Tara brooch, and the chalice of Ardagh, give us no name •of king or ecclesiastic for whom they were wrought — ask no prayer for the artist by whom they were designed. They have no later history coming down through generations of hereditary custodians. * An example of a chalice of glass may be seen in the church of Sta. .Anastasia in Rome, said to have belonged to St. Jerome. + See "Handbook of Irish Antiquities." W. F. Wakeman, p. 161. 70 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, Both of these exquisite works were discovered accidentally by peasants. The Tara brooch was found on the 24th of August, 1850, by the child of a poor woman, who picked it up near the sea-shore ; she afterwards sold it to a watchmaker in Drogheda, and it is now preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The chalice was found by a boy digging potatoes, near the old Rath of Ardagh, We are therefore obliged to turn to other forms of evidence before we can offer any theory as to the date of these objects and their place in the history of Irish metal-work. The further the study of archaeology advances, the more possible it becomes to trace the existence and history of certain laws, which may be applied with more or less confidence to the formation of chronological classification of the objects they are dealing with. The first step in this direction should be to place in regular order the series of objects whose date has been already ascertained, so that they may serve afterwards as landmarks, starting-points for the future classification of undated ones. In each of the various classes of antiquities of Christian Ireland, some examples may be found, the date of which is fixed by the inscriptions that they bear ; certain variations take place in the style and decoration, by which these variously dated examples are characterised — variations in the compositions of the metals, in the methods of working the metals in the enamels, and in the designing of the patterns and scrolls with which the surface was adorned. It is found, on a comparative study of the relics whose date is more or less fixed, that such designs as are held to be peculiarly characteristic of Irish Art are not common to every period in the history of its development, but are con- fined to a more limited space of time than has been hitherto believed. The reader should refer to the close of this work, where he will find a table with a chronological arrangement of those examples of Irish illuminated manuscripts, metal-work, METAL-WORK. 71 sculptured crosses, tombstones, and architecture, the dates of which have been approximately fixed. This table is seen to cover a period extending from the fifth to the twelfth century, and commences with the rudest example of metal-work we can see — the iron Bell of St. Patrick, It is remarkable that the primitive Christian metal-work should have been of so barbarous a character, since we know that the Irish had already attained to great skill in the art of design and the working of metals, as well as in various processes of enamelling before the coming of Patrick. The bronzes of the late Celtic period have never been surpassed in the metal-work of the Christian period in Ireland, and many of their processes appear to have been totally different from those introduced with Christianity. After this new system had had time to settle and bear fruit, we find the arts of filigree, damascening, mosaic, glass- work, and enamelling are brought to much excellence. Interlaced designs are introduced which never appear in the pre-Christian Art of Ireland, and it would seem to be the case that they came into Ireland with the first missionaries, since similar patterns characterise the early Christian Art of the north of Italy, and were probably Roman in origin. Indeed, designs formed of knots and plaited bands are common in the primitive Art of many and various races. Mr. Franks observes : "The art of enamelling on metal does not equal in antiquity that of glass-making ; we are, in fact, scarcely able to show that it existed previous to the Christian era. either by documents or the still more satisfactory evidence of the objects themselves." The Greeks appear to have had some slight knowledge of enamelling, for the exquisite gold necklaces, which have been principally found in tombs in the island of Melos, are orna- mented with minute flowers, the petals of which contain a vitreous substance. It was probably fused with a blowpipe, and at a low temperature. It is not till the third century after Christ 72 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. that we obtain any direct mention of the art of enamelling. Philostratus, a Greek sophist, who had been attracted to Rome by the court of Julia Domna, wife of Severus, has left a curious work entitled " The Icones." in which he describes a series of paintings ; one of them is a boar hunt ; and, after mentioning the variegated trappings of the horses, he adds : " They say that the barbarians who live in (or by) the ocean, pour these colours on to heated brass, and that they adhere, become as hard as stone, and preserve the designs which are made in them." — (Icones, I. ch. xxviii.) A very elegant vessel, once enamelled, was found in 1838 in the sea, at Ambleteuse, off the coast of Normandy, in company with newly-struck coins of Tacitus ; which would fix its date to about A.D. 276. " The ancient processes," continues Mr. Franks, " appear to have lingered in Ireland, as we find some of the details of these earlier shrines executed in enamel." The advance of any decorative Christian Art in Ireland was but gradual. As we have already shown in one instance, nothing can exceed the rudeness of those relics of the early teachers of religion that have been preserved for us through the care of their relic-loving successors in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The iron and bronze Bells of St. Patrick or of St. Columba of the fifth and sixth centuries are as inferior to the bronze Bell of Cumascach Mac Ailello, a.d. 904, as the uncemented stone oratory is to the Romanesque church of the twelfth ; and we read of crosiers, but find them to have been the oaken staff of the itinerant bishop which is still visible through the chinks and openings of the metal case in which it was afterwards enshrined. But perhaps nothing helps the mind more vividly to realise the simple practices of these early Christians than the sight and touch of the rude stone chalices, such as have been preserved to the present date in a few of our most remote churches. Decora- METAL-WORK. 73 tive Christian Art grew to gradual perfection from the ninth to the tenth centuries, and it is interesting to see that it had been grafted on the pagan Art of pre-Christian Ireland, and that certain designs (besides those interlaced patterns which we hold to have been of foreign importation), common in the native Art and in the bronzes of the late Celtic period, were used by workers in metal of the Christian period, and carried to great perfection in the illuminations of manuscripts. These native designs, however, are not seen at so late a date as the interlaced patterns, and rarely, if ever, appear in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which period was distinguished by the finest interlaced work. In the ornament which enriched the surface of such examples of architecture, sculpture, and metal-work as bear evidence of having been executed before the year 1020, we in- variably find one distinguishing design which fell into disuse after the date 1050. This has been termed the divergent spiral, or trumpet pattern. This design consists of two lines wound in a spiral, on leaving which the two lines diverge, and at the end of the space is a curve, formed by the parting of the lines, like the mouth of a trumpet. Then the lines converge again, whirling to a centre where they turn, and, winding back again, diverge and converge as before, thus forming a design the lines of which may be carried on in an infinite series of circles and curves, the opening spaces of which are filled with colour by the illuminator or with enamel by the goldsmith. This design is found on the late Celtic and pre- Roman works of Britain, i.e. between B.C. 200 and a.d. 200. During the Roman occupation of Britain it seems to have be- come extinct in that country ; but it lived on in Ireland, and works in metal, marked by it, may belong to the third century. It must be remembered also that in Ireland there are two distinct modifications of this design, one appearing on the bronze and gold ornaments of apparently pre-Christian Art, the other on decidedly Christian monuments down to the 74 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. eleventh and twelfth centuries, and there are stone monu- ments in Ireland where the transition from one to the other may be clearly traced^ In the oldest variety the large curves of the diverging lines formed the essential element favoured by the artist; in the second, and later variety, the curved spaces were treated as secondary to the spiral, and instead of one whirl round the centre, you have twelve or more. After the tenth, and perhaps the beginning of the eleventh century, this- design disappears from Irish Art, and its decay and death may be traced in monuments whose dates have been satisfactorily ascertained. Thus there is no trace of the divergent spiral upon the shrine of St, Manchan, circ^ 1166. Neither is there on the case or shrine of Dimma's book, a.d. 1150, on the Cross of Cong, A.D. 1 1 23, on the stone cross of Tuam, a.d. 1123, on the crosier of Lismore, a.d. iioi, nor on the shrine of St. Lachtin's arm, a.d. 1106. In works of the eleventh century it scarcely ever appears. It is not to be found on the shrine of St. Patrick's Bell, a.d. 109 i, nor does it appear on the Cathach of the O'Donnells. The design is found, very sparsely used and as if in its- decay, upon the shiine of the Stowe Missal, a.d. 1023. It occurs in a more excellent form on the shrine of Molaise's book from Devenish, and on the crosier of Maelfinnia, of Kells, a.d. 967, as well as the top of the bell-shrine of Maelbrigde, of Ahoghill. Thirty sculptured and inscribed crosses and tomb- stones in Ireland have been assigned with tolerable certainty to dates varying from the years 810 to 1123; of these three belong to the ninth century, which are ornamented with this peculiar spiral ; seven to the tenth century, and it rarely, if ever, appears in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The trumpet pattern, or divergent spiral, is not used upon the high cross of Tuam, erected by Abbot O'Hoisin in memory of King Turlough O'Conor. It seems to have fallen into disuse before this date. The testimony of the illuminated MSS. as to the decay of METAL-WORK. 75 this design in the tenth century is very remarkable. There is no trace of it in the MSS. of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when interlaced patterns are still in use. It does not occur in the oldest copies extant of "Leabhar Breac,"the "Book of Ballyraote," the " Book of Lecan," the " Psalter na Rann," the " Leabhar na Huidre," the "Book of Leinster," the "Irish Missal," in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in the " Irish Psalter," British Museum, or the "Book of Hymns, "circa 1150, Trinity College, Dublin. Neither is it to be found in the " Psalter of Ricemarch," in the same library, or in the " Chronicle of Marianus Scotus," now in the Vatican Library, Rome. It is seen in its most perfect development in the illuminated books of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, but seems to die out after the year 900, It appears in the greatest redundance in the oldest part of the " Book of Kells," the date of which I begin to believe must have been about the year 690. It also appears in the "Book of Durrow," the "Gospels of Willibrord," a.d. 739; the "Book of Armagh," a.d. 750 to 808; the "Gospels of MacRegol," a.d. 820; the "Golden Gospels of St. Germanus," a.d. 871, now at Stockholm. The Tara brooch and the Ardagh chalice offer the most perfect examples of the use of this peculiar spiral that have been found in the metal-work of Irish Christian Art; and we are strongly reminded of the decoration of Irish manuscripts from the " Book of Kells," circa 690, when we study them. That these two relics are contemporaneous one with another there can be little doubt. They show not only perfectly similar develop- ments of this spiral design, but many other points of agreement besides. The same filigree wire-work ; the same Trichinopoli chain-work ; the same circles of amber and translucent glass ; the same enamels, both "cloisonnes" and " champleves." (See Figs. 25, 26.) The native character which distinguishes the art of these works has very much disappeared from the metal-work of the 76 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. eleventh and twelfth centuries. The shrine of St, Patrick's Bell and the Cross of Cong belong to a time when the trumpet pattern has fallen into disuse, just as it disappears from the illuminated manuscripts after the year looo. FIG. 25. — TARA BROOCH. " The Tara brooch," says Dr. Petrie, " is superior to any hitherto found in the variety of its ornaments and in the METAL- WORK. 77 exquisite delicacy and perfection of its execution." It is com-- posed of a metal harder than silver, formed by a combination of. FIG. 26.— TARA BROOCH (REVERSE). copper and tin called white bronze. A silver chain is attached to it, which was intended to keep the pin tight and in its proper 7S EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND position. This chain is of that peculiar construction known as Trichinopoli work. The face of the ornament is overlaid with various ornamented pat- terns, of the same class as those found in Irish illumi- nated MSS., designed with beautiful taste, and which are not confined to the front but also enrich the reverse. A lens of no moderate power is necessary if we would appreciate the perfect execution of these ornaments. There are no less than seventy-six varieties of these designs, all of which exhibit an admirable sense of ornamented beauty and happy fitness for their relative situations ; in the fastening vli used to keep these delicate traceries in their places only a delicate bar, scarcely perceptible to the naked eye, is found. In other places, however, and particularly in the circular insertions of amber, the gold rosettes placed upon them are fastened by pins, which pass through the brooch, and are riveted also on the opposite side. It should be observed that insertions of amber and variegated glass are frequently found in the jewellery of early Christian Ireland. Niello-work, of exquisite beauty, is also to be met with ; but of this and the carving and casting of glass into the forms of human faces, such as is here seen, we have no other example among the personal ornaments hitherto found in Ireland. One special process in common use among Roman glass-makers deserves to be mentioned separately, as affording a useful hint to modern manufacturers. A certain number of rods of glass, of different colours 'PiN^FoijND AT ^^^ sizes, were so placed together, as that a clean cLONMACNois. cross-cut through the whole should exhibit, on the face of the section, a set pattern. When the bundle of rods were METAL- WORK. 79 accurately placed according to design, and fixed, they were sub- jected to precisely that degree of heat which would soften them without absolutely melting, and so cement them together. The mass, when cold, was rapidly cut by some means into thin sHces, each of which formed a perfect slab or tile, exhibiting on its surface the same pattern.* Mr. Longfield, of the Science and Art Museum in Dublin, has drawn my attention to a pin in the Petrie Collection in the Royal Irish Academy, which was found at Clonmacnois, and which is a very perfect example of glass-work. The pin is of bronze, inlaid with ornaments of glass (aa) ; a rose pattern, white on blue ground, i-8th inch diameter, is set at either side of a diamond- shaped ornament (b), consisting of a centre of translucent crimson glass on a diaper pattern of yellow and white ; at c is a star of crimson and blue, which ornament is repeated six times along the side of the pin. Here it would seem that these pieces of coloured glass were put together so as to form a mosaic-work of canes of different head of pin. colours ; that they were fused together and drawn clonmacnois. outj and the pieces used in the ornament are sections of the canes when drawn out. Fig. 30 represents one of four brooches found at Ardagh, along with the chalice next to be noticed.f The workmanship upon these Ardagh brooches is larger and less delicate in execution than in the Tara brooch, or the chalice near which they were found. They do not exhibit many of the archaic designs found in such variety upon the older specimens, such as the double and divergent spirals, and the fine wire-work resembling Trichinopoli chain-work. This leads to the belief that the brooches found at Ardagh are of a later date than the other antiquities discovered with them. * Noel Humphrey's "Ten Centuries of Art," p. 98. t Trans. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxiv. p. 453. 8o EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. The chalice found at Ardagh belongs to that early class of two-handled cups, described in the old " Ordines Romani " as calices ministrales, a form in use before the tenth century, and meant for communion of the minor clergy and people, so long as communion under both kinds was given to the laity. (See Fig. 31.) FIG. 29. — ROSCREA BROOCH (PETRIE COLLECTION). This Irish chalice, which combines classic beauty of form with the most exquisite examples of almost every variety of Celtic ornamentation, is composed of an alloy of silver, which may be stated generally as about three parts of silver to one of copper. It is 7 in. in height, and 9^ in. in diameter; the foot is 6^ in. in diameter; the depth of the bowl is 4 in. METAL-WORK. 8i FIG. 30. — ARDAGH BROOCH. This cup IS composed of the following metals : gold, silver, bronze, brass, copper, and lead. The upper rim is of brass, much PART I. G 82 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. decayed, and split, from some local action on that particular alloy of metal. The bowl is of silver, the standard value of which is four shillings per ounce. The ornaments cut on the silver bowl consist of an inscription, interlaced patterns terminating in dogs' heads, and at the bottom a circular band of the Greek pattern. The mode of ornamentation is peculiar to this cup, being done with a chisel and hammer, as indicated by the lines being raised at each side, which could only be produced in the manner described. Round the cup runs a band composed of two semi- cylindrical rings of silver, ornamented with small annular dots punched out with a hollow punch. The space between the rings is filled by twelve plaques of gold repousse work, with a very beautiful ornamentation of fine filigree wire-work, wrought on the front of the repousse ground, and carrying out, in its most delicate execution, the interlaced pattern associated with the art of this country. Between the plaques are twelve round enamelled beads. The peculiarities of some of the enamels found on this cup are so interesting, that they have been specially analysed and described by Professor Sullivan, whose remarks we here quote : "The enamels of the chalice are of three kinds : •• 1st. Round or bead, tabular or arched enamels (the latter are simply the tabular bent to suit the handle), of one colour, with a pattern of metal. " 2nd. Similar enamels of two colours, with a pattern of metal. " 3rd. Similar enamels of two colours, without any pattern of metal. " The first class is formed of a bead or tabular piece of coloured transparent glass, into the upper surface of which was pressed, while in a soft state, a chambered or cloisonne pattern, cut out of a piece of solid silver — the spherical or flat surface was afterwards polished. This kind may be considered to be a peculiar variety of the emaux cloisonnes^ the 'cloisons' not being, however, formed by soldering together slips of metal, and soldering the pattern on a plate of metal, or ground, but being cut out of a single piece of metal, which is then pressed into the softened surface of the enamel, which rises up into and fills the open framework of the pattern. " The second kind was made by taking a piece of silver of the proper size, and cutting out the pattern ; one part entirely, and the other not quite through, so as to form in the first case, an open frame-work, and in the second little hollows or chambers ; this pattern was then pressed into the softened METAL- WORK, ^l surface of a bead, a flat tabular piece, or arched piece of translucent blue- coloured glass ; this glass up the open ' cloisons,' as in the first kind above described. The little hollows or chambers, formed by not cutting the metal quite through, were then filled by a more fusible opaque enamel, which did not come into contact with the translucent or basic enamel. This variety may be considered as a union of the peculiar variety of emaux cloisonnis represented by No. l, and of the emaux en taille d'epergne or hnaux en (hampleves, the base or translucent glass being much less fusible than the second, or ' champleve ' enamel, which, as has been observed above, is opaque. " The third kind consists of flat, tabular, or arched pieces of translucent glass (coloured blue), on the surface of which was engraved (Mr. Johnson says FIG. 31,— CHALICE OF ARDAGH. 'impressed'), in 'intaglio,' a design or pattern, which was afterwards filled up with another coloured and opaque enamel. This is an interesting variety of the Smaux cha7nplevh in which glass is substituted for metal as the base in which the pattern is incised. In this case the translucent glass and opaque enamel are brought into direct contact, and show a considerable amount ol fikill in producing glasses of diff"erent degrees of fusibility. "There appear to be no specimens of pseudo cloisonne enamel on the chalice, that is^ enamels in which the glasses are cemented into the ' cloisons,' and not fused into them ; they are rather mosaics than enamels. This variety ■is essentially Oriental, and appears not to have been at all practised in Gaul, where, undoubtedly, true enamels were made anterior to the Roman domina- tion, and when they were not used apparently in Rome or Greece. "It is generally very difficult to distinguish between true enamels and c. 84 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. pseudo-enamels, or mosaics, which have been long exposed to the action of the damp, etc., as the very fusible enamels are easily decomposed by water containing carbonic acid, leaving along the points of contact of the metal with the glass a residue, often so like cement as to deceive the most skilled antiquaries." The handles of this chalice are composed of enamels (similar to those in the borders) and plaques of gold filigree work of the same style, but different in design. Each handle has four circular pieces of blue glass, underneath which the rivets are secured which fasten the handles to the bowl. Round the enamels was a circle of amber, divided into eight spaces by pieces of bronze,, which has been eaten away. One of the enamels has a circle of gold grains at the top, which has been pressed in while the glass was in fusion. The two circular ornaments on the side of the bowl are of gold filigree work of the very finest kind, with an enamelled boss in the centre ; the frames which hold them are of silver. There are four settings at equal distances, which are receivers of the rivets that secure it to the bowl. In the settings were two pieces of blue glass (the same as in the handles), and two pieces of amber, which have fallen out. The stem and supports of the bowl are of bronze metal, gilt, beautifully carved in interlaced and knotted patterns. They are attached to the bowl by a bronze gilt ball, with a strong square tang, and most ingeniously fastened by an iron bolt, which secures all together. The foot is of silver, circular, with a framework on the outer rim, having eight spaces, which are filled alternately with gold and bronze gilt plaques of open work ; behind them pieces of mica are inserted, which throw out more clearly the very beautiful pierced designs with which these plaques are ornamented. The intermediate spaces contain enamels (inferior to those in the upper part of the bowl), set in bronze. In the inside of the foot of the bowl is a circular crystal, round which there has been a circle of amber, divided into twelve tablets, with a bronze division between each tablet;. METAL-WORK. 85 •surrounding this is a circle in gold filigree of the same style and workmanship as those already described. The next circle had tablets of amber, but they have all fallen out. In the space between this and the silver is a circular bronze plate, highly carved and gilt, in which are fine enamels in green. The extreme outer edge, like the reverse side, is divided into eight spaces, in which are pieces somewhat similar to the gold plaques on the opposite side, with this difference, that six are in silver, and two in copper; two of the silver pieces are of the most beautiful plated wire-work I have ever met with. Between those spaces are square pieces of blue glass, underneath which are ornamented pieces of wrought silver, which give them a brilliant appearance when in strong light. Between the circles which form the upper and under surfaces of the rim of the foot are plates of lead to secure and give weight to the whole. The enamels on the foot of the cup are of a coarse kind, the pattern being impressed in the glass, and the enamel melted into it. The number of pieces of which the cup is composed amounts to 354, including 20 rivets. oz. dwt. Weight of gold --••12 Silver - - - « - 20 13 Bronze ..,.-90 The analysis of the different metals gives as follows : Gold, between 18 and 19 carat fine, value per oz. £}) 4^. Silver, bad quality, averaging from 35. 3^/. to 5^. 3|^^. per oz. Lead has 12 grams of silver in the lb. troy. Bronze has 2 grams of silver in the lb. troy, a small portion of tin, and the balance in copper. Gold assay — Fine gold in the lb. Fine silver Copper - -: oz, 8 dwt. 16 2 16 8 12 86 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, or in each oz. there is, dwt. RT- 14 16 4 16 16 20 Fine gold - . . . Fine silver ... Copper .... Silver assay — Of the rivets at the handles, 4 oz. 9 dwt. worse in the lb. troy, standard value, 3^. 3^. per oz. Of the setting round the borders, 6 dwt. better in lb. troy, standard value, 5j. TfYid. per oz. Of the piece of the border that encircles the bowl, 3 oz. worse, standard value, 4^. od. per oz. Of the small setting on the handle, 4 oz. worse, standard value,. Underneath the boss which fastens the bowl to the stand there was a very slight trace of oil in the bottom of the bowl. The ornamental designs upon this cup belong to the Celtic school of Art, which, according to Dr. Petrie, reached its highest perfection as regards metal-work in this country in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Of these designs there are about forty different varieties, all showing a freedom of inventive power and play of fancy only to be equalled by the work upon the so-called Tara brooch. These designs may be classified under three heads : I. — Rectilinear. The Greek fret pattern. The step pattern, characteristic of Etruscan Art; eight varieties. The triangular pattern or the Celtic modification of the Greek fret, in diagonal lines ; three varieties. 2. — Curvilinear. Single line spiral. Divergent spiral, or trumpet pattern ; two varieties. Interlaced bands and knots ; eleven varieties, some of which are found in filigree wire on gold plates. METAL-WORK, 87 Triquetra; four of them interlaced so as to form a cross. This was a favourite design in Art of the tenth century on the Continent, as well as in this country ; it appears in a French manuscript written about the year 900, preserved at Rheims. It is also found at Clonmacnois, on the cross of Maelfinnia, who died in the year 992, and on other tombstones, dating from the years 860 to 900. 3. — Arabesque patterns in filigree. Of designs taken from natural forms nothing is more remark- able than the absence of foliate patterns in the Irish metal-work before the thirteenth century, although they occur in the great illuminated manuscripts of the Celtic school, and on some of the stone crosses. Animal forms, however, are used, though sparingly, in the designs which are chased upon the silver bowl of this cup. There are two varieties of birds, with heads, necks, and legs elongated, and interlaced; and also animal forms interlaced. There are four dragons' heads, with sharp teeth which bear a strong resemblance to drawings of similar objects in the " Book of Armagh " : also dogs, whose long protruding tongues form a knot above their heads. Besides these ornamental designs there are two pieces of plaited silver wire, bearing a strong resemblance to Trichinopoli work. There are two other examples of this kind of Art, in the form of chains ; one attached to the so-called Tara brooch, the other in the Petrie Collection. The most interesting, as well as remarkable feature of the cup, is the inscription already referred to. The letters are rather more than half an inch in length and are beautifully preserved, though the lines are very delicate and the outline faint. Their shape is clearly marked out by the stippling, which forms a shaded background to them. The inscription runs thus : — Petri, Pauli, Andri, Jacobi, Johannis, Piliphi, Bartholomei, Thomse, Mathei, Jacobi, Tatheus, Simon. 88 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. This list of the Twelve Apostles is found in the commemoration in the Canon of the Mass ; but in the Roman Missal the names are placed differently, thus : — Petri, Pauli, Andrse, Jacobi, Joannis, Philippi, Bartholomsei, Thomas, Matthaei, Jacobi, Thaddaei, Simonis. It is also in the Litany of the Saints as given in an old Irish MS. at St. Gall, but there is a slight difference in the order of the names. It is also found in the Bobio Missal printed by Mabillon, "Museum Italicum" (t. i. 279), the only difference being that the order of names at the end slightly varies. No example has hitherto been found in Great Britain of the same class as this exquisite chalice. Indeed, with a i^^ excep- tions, such as the chalice in the Abbey of Witten in the Tyrol, this is a unique example of the two-handled chalices used in the earliest Christian times. For illustrations and further particulars of this chalice, see Paper by Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven — " Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," vol. xxiv. p. 433 (1869). BOOK-SHRINES. OOK-SHRINES appear to be of rare occur- rence save in Ireland. Elsewhere we find that the sacred writings had splendid bind- ings ; one side at least being often of silver or gold, studded with jewels, so that the book thus covered added to the general splendour of the altars on which they were placed. But a different sentiment seemed at work in Ireland, where the book was held as a sacred heirloom by the successors of the Patron Saint, whose memory they had cherished for perhaps five hundred years. Here the old book was left untouched, as something whose value METAL- WORK. 89 ■could not be increased by gold or precious stones; but a box was made on which was lavished all the artist's skill, and in this the sacred relic was preserved. One case, that called the Cathach, was fastened so that the book was hermeti- cally sealed from view ; and into the minds of its possessors, the chieftains of Tirconnell, a superstitious fear was instilled that some great calamity would befall them were the case once opened. Such precautions may be accounted for by the worn condition of the manuscript, and by the fact that its keepers were not eccle- siastics who could read the book, but chieftains who had the shrine carried before them in battle by one who wore it as a ■breastplate. The first cumdach we read of, the date of which can be fixed by any historical authority, was made for the " Book of Durrow," by the king of Ireland, Flann Sinna, son of Malachy, who reigned between the years 877 and 916. This is now lost, but it was seen by Roderic O'Flaherty in 1677, who wrote the following memorandum on the fly-leaf of the Gospel it was made to en- shrine, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin : Inscriptio Hibernicis literis incisa cruci argentese in operimento hujus Libri in transversa crucis parte nomen artificis indicat ; et in longitudine tribus lineis a sinistra et totidem dextra, ut sequitur : — Oroit acus Bendacht choluinib chille do Flaund mace Maelsechnaill do rig Herenn lasandernad acumdachso, (Columb Cille's prayer and blessing for Fland, son of Maelsechnaill, for the King of Ireland, by whom this case was made.) The next cumdach recorded is that which was made in the "beginning of the tenth century, for the manuscript now known as the " Book of Armagh," and which contains several ecclesiastical writings, as well as the whole of the New Testament. It was •called the " Canon of Patrick j " and in the " Annals of Four Masters " we read : "A.D. 937. Canoin Phadraig was covered by Donchadh, son of Flann, ■King of Ireland." 90 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. The same authorities also allude to the cumdach of the " Book of Kells," in the following passage : "A.D. 1006. The Great Gospel of Columb Cille was stolen at night from the western erdomh of the Great Church of Ceannanus. This was the principal relic of the western world, on account of its singular cover ; and it was found after twenty nights and two months, its gold having been stolen oft it, and a sod over it. " The following is a list of the Irish cumdachs of which any- thing is known, from which we may conclude that the custom of making these cumdachs prevailed in Ireland from the ninth to the sixteenth century. The three first and oldest have un- fortunately disappeared : 1. The Cumdach of the " Book of Durrow." a.d. 877 to 914. 2. The Cumdach of the "Book of Armagh." A.D. 938. 3. The Cumdach of the " Book of Kells." a.d. 1007. 4. The Cumdach of " Molaise's Gospels." a.d. iooi to 1025. 5. The Cumdach of the " Stowe Missal." a.d. 1023. 6. The Cumdach of "Columba's Psalter" (called the Cathach). A.D. 1084. 7. The Cumdach of •' Dimma's Book." A.D. 11 50. 8. The Cumdach of "St. Patrick's Gospels" (called Domnach Airgid). 9. The Cumdach of " Cairnech's Calendar " (called Miosach). a.d. 1534, 10. The Cumdach of Caillen. The boxes vary from nine and a half to five and a half inches in length. They are of various materials : that of Durrow is described as having been of plated silver ; that of Kells seems to have been plated with gold. In those examples which we still possess, that of Molaise is of bronze, plated with silver ; those of the Cathach and Dimma's book, brass plated with silver; the foundation is generally of bronze or brass, but in one instance, that of the Domnach Airgid, it is of yew wood. These cases were sometimes hung round the neck and worn as breastplates, as we know was the practice with the Cathach of the O'Donnells. Such portable reliquaries then belong to the class styled Ejicolpia. The use of such dates back to a very early period, as we learnr from the Abbe Martigny, who refers to the Encolpia mentioned by Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in his refutation of the METAL-WORK. 9i Iconoclasts. And that there may have also existed some custom of enshrining sacred books in the early Church at the time of the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, which lived on here while it died out on the Continent, is borne out by the instance of one such book-shrine of the Gospels now preserved in the Basilica of Monza, which was given by Theodolinde, Queen of the Lombards, in the year 6i6 ; a shrine for a prayer-book may also be seen in the museum of this church. These relics are distinctly Byzantine, and there is no resemblance to Irish Art in their decoration. There are instances of Irish cumdachs on the Continent, probably imported from Ireland, or the work of Irish clerics from the ninth to the eleventh century, who in this, as in other instances, appear to have brought back to the Continent primitive customs that had become extinct there some centuries before. Such is the shrine of the Gospels in the Royal Library of Munich, which formerly belonged to the Abbey of St. Emerau, of Ratisbon of the year 870, and another shrine of the Gospels which belonged to the Emperor Henry II. OLAISE of Devenish gives his name ta the oldest of these cumdachs, or shrines. This case was executed during the abbacy of Cennfailad, which lasted from the year looi to 1025, as we learn from the inscription which runs round the bottom of the box : " Pray for Cenn(failad) for the successor of Molaise, for whom this case (was made) and for FIG. 33. Gillabaithin, the artisan who made the . . ." The case is formed of plates of bronze ; it is oblong in shape, and the ornamental portions consist of plates of silver, with gilt patterns, riveted to the bronze foundation. On the face of the box the four evangelical symbols were represented with a cross surrounded by a circle in the centre. The names of the symbol."^* -92 EARL V CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Leo, Aquila, Homo, can still be deciphered with those of the -evangelists, Mark, Johan, Math. The order in which the symbols are arranged differs from that which we are now accustomed to, as :;^c^\f; I FIG. 34.— CLASP OF CASE OF MOLAISE'S GOSPELS. IS often the case in early Christian monuments; thus in the basilica of S. Sabina, a.d. 424, the eagle occupies the first place, the lion the second, then the angel, and lastly the ox.* (See Fig. 36.) OOK-SHRINE of Stowe Missal. Next in date we have the case made to enshrine the Stowe Missal, the older part of which appears to have been executed between the years 1023 and 1052. In the inscription which runs round the face of the box we read : " A blessing of God on every soul according to its merit. " Pray for Donchadh, son of Brian, for the King of Ireland. " And for Mace Raith, descendant of Donn- yiG - ■; i.'-'v chad, for the King of Cashel. ■* This cumdach has been in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy since the year 1859, when it was obtained through the intervention of the Lord Bishop of Kilmore. It has been described and illustrated in "Arch^ologia," vol. xliii. METAL- WORK. 9y " Pray for Dunchad, descendant of Taccan, of the family of Cluain, who made this. ""^■•s^*, FIG. 36. — CASE OF MOLAISE's GOSI'ELS. ** Pray for . . . nain descendant of Cat ... for whom it was made and for . . . (and for the descendants of T . . . lach)." Here a prayer is asked for Donagh, son of Brian Boruraha, who was originally king of Munster, in conjunction with his -94 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. .brother Tadhg, whom he delivered to the men of Ely O'Carroll, ''who accordingly killed him, as was desired of them by his brother Donagh." — Ann. of Four Mast.^ a.d. 1023. After procuring this murder he became king of Ireland, and held the throne till the year 1064, when we read that "he was deposed, and he afterwards went to Rome, where he died, under ^the victory of penance, in the monastery of Stephen the Martyr. The second name mentioned is that of MacRaith O'Donoghoe, Lord of Eoghanacht of Cashel, and crown prince of Munster, whose death is recorded by the Four Masters at the year 1052. "This fact," says Dr. Todd, "still further limits the date of this •side of the box to the twenty-nine years between 1023 to 1052. Of Dunchad O'Tagain, the next name mentioned, we know nothing more than that he was a monk of Clonmacnois and the silversmith by whom the box was made. This cumdach is held to have belonged originally to the iTionastery of Lorrha, in the county of Tipperary, whence it may have been carried at a subsequent period to the Irish monastery of Ratisbon. It was found in Austria by Mr. John Grace, officer in the Austrian service in the year 1784, who died without leaving any memorandum respecting the monastery or library where he discovered it. Dr. O'Conor obtained it from the family of Mr. John Grace for the library of the Duke of Buckingham, whence it passed into the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham, and it has now been deposited in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.* This case, or cumdach, is made of oak, covered with plates of silver. The lower and more ancient side is divided into four compartments by cross bands, leaving the inscriptions above mentioned. These have been mutilated at their intersection to make way for a crystal set in an oval frame, of the same work- manship and evidently of the same date as the top of the box. • See Petrie's "Christian Inscriptions of Ireland." Edited by M. Stokes. Vol. ii. p. 93. METAL- WORK. 95 The upper side of the box is also divided into four companraents, covered with engraved silver plates, but is evidently much later in date. The Crucifixion, and the Virgin Mary, crowned and holding a globe in her right hand, are here represented along with a FIG. 37. — CASE OF STOWE MISSAL. ■figure of a saint holding a book and a bishop raising his right hand in the act of benediction, while in his left he holds a staff. Next in date to this cumdach is another and a larger case, made to contain the Cathach of the O'Donnells, a copy of the Psalter, so called because it was carried into battle by the army 96 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. of Cenel Conaill, "hung on the breast of a hereditary lay- successor of a priest without mortal sin (so far as he could help),"^ as we read in O'Donnell's " Life of St. Columba." The inscription on this box asks "a prayer for Cathbarr Ua-Domnaill, for whom this case was made ; for Sitric, son of Mac-Aeda, who made it ;. for Domnall, son of Robartach; for the successor of Kells, for whom it was made." Domnall, the successor of Columba at Kells, is also named in the second charter entered in the " Book of Kells," where the grant of land to the Church of Kells is recorded. This charter cannot be of a later date than 1084, to which period this reliquary may safely be assigned. No example of a cumdach has yet been found in Scotland,, although the custom of thus enshrining their sacred books must have extended to that country, since we find two notices of such in the ancient records. Thus, in the " Aberdeen Martyrology," the "Gospel of St. Matthew belonging to St. Ternan"is described as enclosed in a metal case, covered with silver and gold ; and it is said in Bower's continuation of Fordun, that the Gospels of St. Andrew's were covered by Bishop Fothad before 960. With these exceptions the type seems peculiar to Ireland , CROSIERS. The history and authenticity of the old Irish crosiers generally rests on the same foundation as that of the ecclesiastical bells. Certain privileges, grants of land and others, appertained to the custodianship of the relic committed in the beginning to some servant of the monastery in whose family the office and its emoluments descended, through successive generations, down to the present century. In Scotland the title of this office was dewar, a word derived from deorad, a stranger, pilgrim, exile* The crosier of St. Fillan, of StrathfiUan, in Perthshire, and of FertuUagh, Westmeath, in Ireland, was itself called quigrich,. METAL-WORK. 97 signifying the stranger, and was in the keeping of the Dewars, a family whose name was derived from the ofifice of custodian held by their ancestors. The word deoradh — dewar — first applied to the representatives of those who took the pilgrim's staff, and FIG. 3S. — CASE OF DIMMA's BOOK. died upon their pilgrimage, reminds us that the crosier entrusted to them was, not the pastoral crook of other churches, but the Irish pilgrim's staff. The crosier of Dympna of Te Davnet, in the county of Monaghan, was thus an heirloom in the family of O'Luan, the hereditary keepers of the relic, till the last repre- sentative, whose name was changed to Lamb, sold it to Dr. PART I. H 98 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. FIG. 39. — PORTIONS OF ST. DYMPNA'S CROSIER. METAL-WORK. 99 Petrie ; so also vrith the crosiers of St. Tola, founder of Diserl O'Dea, whose hereditary keeper was of the family of O'Quinn \ the crosier of Columba of Durrow, obtained from the custodian in the MacGeoghegan family. The crosier of Colman Mac- Duach, founder of the churcli of Kilmacduach, in Galway, was obtained from the O'Heynys who succeeded the O'Shaugh- nessys in the custodianship. The Bachall Gearr Berach, or short crosier of St. Berach, of Termonbarry,in the county of Roscommon, is one of the most interesting examples in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, since it has been not only handed down through the hereditary custodians, the O'Hanlys, of Slieve Ban, suc- cessors or erenachs of St. Berach, but is mentioned in the ancient life of the saint given by Colgan, "Act. SS.," p. 345, February 15th. The artificer, Dagaeus, at whose school Berach was trained, when sending his pupil to Kevin of Glendalough for further instruction, is de- scribed as giving him this "short crosier," along with a bell, ■called Berach's bell. " After some time," says the legend, " he was directed by an angel, in a vision, to follow a certain deer whom he would find at the entrance of the monastery. This deer led him to a certain spot in the county of Roscommon, since called Termon Berach, and then disappeared." The ruins of H 2 FIG. 393. — IRISH CROSIER OF BRONZB. EDINBURGH MUSEUM. loo EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. some small churches are still to be seen there ; and there was a round tower standing within the memory of some of the inhabi- tants, in the year 1S37. This crosier is a staff of yew wood, covered with brass ; there is very little sign of decoration, and the crest of the handle is missing ; it measures twenty-one inches in length. The history of St. Grellan's crosier, of Ahascra, in the county of Galway, is another instance proving that in Ireland, as well as Scotland, these objects were regarded as sacred vexilla, or battle-ensigns. As the Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant into battle in the belief that victory would be secured to them by its presence, so the Christians of the early Celtic Church used to carry before them in their conflicts certain relics of their saints, which, on that account, received the suggestive title of cathachs, or battlers. Thus, the shrine of St. Columba's psalter was carried before the O'Donnells so lately as 1497. Hanging on the breast of its hereditary keeper, it was sent thrice rightwise round the army of Columba's clan of the Cinel Conall. The crosier of St, Fillan is said to have been borne before the Scots on the field of Bannockburn ; and the sacred cross of St. Margaret was borne with the Scottish Army, when King David II. invaded England in 1346. When St. Grellan, a contemporary of Patrick, estabUshed Maine Mor, the ancestor of the Hy Maine and his people in the territory of the Firbolg race, the old life of the saint relates how he said that, on condition that they would protect and frequent his sacred church, his blessing would rest on their " agile race, the sons of Maine of the chessboards," adding : " That race shall not be subdued, so as they carry my crosier. "Let the battle-standard of the race be my crosier of true value. "And battles will not overwhelm them^ their successes shall be very great." In the " Customs of Hy Many," from the " Book of Lecan," compiled for MacFirbis {circa 1468), we read: "The race of METAL-WORK. loi Maine . . ^^t, Grellan presides over their battles," i.e. the crosier of St. Grellan is borne in the standard of the kings of Hy Many. Dr. Lynch, writing about the year 1660, mentions that this pastoral staff was held in veneration in his day, and that the image was stamped upon the standard of the O'Kellys. The staff itself remained with the family of the hereditary keepers, O'Crongaile {anglke, Cronelly), till 1836, near Ahascra, in the east of the county of Galway, but it has disappeared. The next example of Irish ornamental metal-work, the date of which may be surmised from the inscription which it bears, is the •crosier of Kells, in the County Meath. Before describing this relic, we may say a few words on the peculiarities of the Irish crosier in general. This staff was not designed to represent the shepherd's crook, only to be carried as an emblem of episcopal functions, but it was the covering made to protect the old oak staff ur walking-stick of the founder of the church in which it had been preserved. Thus the form differs from that of the ordinary mediaeval crosier, the top of which, imitating the shepherd's crook, takes the curve of an S reversed, a double curve, not the mere crook-handle of the Irish staff. No example of a crosier in the form adopted in the East — not crooked, but shaped like a letter T — has been found in Ireland ; and the probability is that the "crook-like" staff of the first Christian missionary is alluded to in an ancient prophecy preserved by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn (see Todd's "Life of St. Patrick"), and the oldest representations of crosiers preserve the same form — representations, such as may be seen on the box or cumdach of the Stowe Missal, on the tympanum of the priest's house at Glendalough, and on the ancient doorway of Maghera. The foreign type, as we have it in the crosiers of Cashel and Glendalough,* was probably introduced in the time of St. Malachy the friend of Bernard of Clairvaux.t Although no metal crosier, except perhaps that of St. Berach, * Now in Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. t See Petrie, "Essay on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland." I02 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. has been found, the date of which is beUeved to be older than the close of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century, yet it would appear from a passage in St. Bernard's " Life of Malachy," referring to the Staff of Jesus, taken in conjunction with another passage in an old Irish poem, copied before the year 844, that this staff also was of metal. St. Bernard speaks oi it as one of the insignia of the See of Armagh in the following words: " Porro Nigellus, videns sibi imminere fugam, tulit secum insignia qusedam aedis illius, textum, scilicet Evangeliorum qui fuit beati Patricii, baculumque auro tectum, et gemmis pretiosissimis adornatum: quem nominant baculum Jesu, eo quod ipse Dominus (ut fert opinio) eum suis manibus tenuerit, atque formaverit." In the poem of St. Fiacc, which was annotated in the ninth century, it is stated that St. Tassach, said to have lived in the fifth century, was skilled in the goldsmith's art, and that it was he who first adorned it with a precious covering. From this passage, it may with safety be concluded, that such a crosier of metal was in existence, about the year 844, when Ferdomnach, scribe of the " Book of Armagh," in which this poem occurs, died. According to Doctor Anderson, Scotland can only boast of two crosiers, that of St. Fillan, found at Killin, at the head of Loch Tay, and a fragment now preserved in the Edinburgh Museum. He illustrates another, which he says is of Irish origin, but which in any case is of extraordinary interest as exhibiting three periods in the history of Christian Art in these islands. First, the wooden staff; secondly, the covering of delicate and beautiful design of the best period of Irish Art ; thirdly, the outer case of fourteenth century work, into the panels of which the exquisite filigree golden traceries, taken from the older cover beneath, are fitted. The earliest of these in date appears to be that which is now preserved in the British Museum^ inscribed with the names Maelfinnia, and Condulig. There was a Bishop of Kells, successor of Ultan and Carnech, named Maelfinnia, whose death is recorded in the Annals of Ulster, as METAL-WORK. 103 having occurred in the year 967. This crosier is an old oak stick cased in silver, with an open work formed of interlaced birds terminating at the upper end in a male head, and in the lower in that of an animal. Below this there is a knob decorated with trumpet pattern designs and interlacings inlaid with silver and niello. The lower end appears to be a solid piece of brass with bands of inlaid silver. It terminates with three little feet. The crosier would seem to have been carried over the shoulder, consequently the central knob, and not the upper one, is rubbed and worn by handling. The relic known as the crosier of Lismore, the date of which may be inferred from the inscription which it bears, was the crosier of Bishop Niall of Lismore. The inscription runs thus : " Pray for Niall, son of Mac Aeducain, for whom this work of art was made. Pray for Nectan, the artisan, who made this work of art." Mac Mic Aeducain, who appears to have held the Bishopric of Lismore for twenty-three years, succeeded Maelduin, who died in 1090, and he himself died in 1113. It may be concluded that the crosier which bears this inscription was made during the period of his bishopric. IKE the Cross of Cong, this relic, which is one of the finest examples of the goldsmith's art that has been found in Ireland, is divided into compartments which would seem to have been filled in with interlaced filigree work, the little pins with which these portions were secured being still left. The crosier measures 3 ft. 4 in. in length, and consists of a case of pale-coloured bronze which enshrines an old oak stick, FIG. 40 probably the original staff of the founder of Lismore, St. Carthach, otherwise Mochuda. Most of the 104 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. i ml ml ornaments are richly gilt, interspersed with others of silver and niello, and bosses of coloured enamels. The crook of the staff is bordered with a row of grotesque animals, like lizards or dragons, one of which has eyes of lapis-lazuli. Mr. Longfield remarks, on the glass heads in the Lismore crosier, that they seem to be made in quite another way from that seen in the bronze pin inlaid with glass found at Clonmacnois; they are glass inlaid into glass on the same principle as the Henri Deux, or Oiron faience in pottery. One of the finest as well as the best preserved Irish crosiers in existence is that of the Abbots of Clonmacnois, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The shrine of the so-called Arm of St. Lachtin is another fine example of the metal-work of about the same date which was preserved in St. Lachtin's church of Donaghmore, in the county of Cork, and is now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. It is described in vol. vi. of the "Vetusta Monumenta" in the follow- ing words : " It is of brass or bronze ; the hand, which is riveted to the arm at the wrist, being inlaid, in the nails, the palm, and at the back, and round the wrist with silver. The upper end of the arm is also ornamented with the same metal, and with a row of bluish-grey stones resem- bhng the chalcedony, and there appears to have been a second row of stones above the other. Riveted across the centre of the r^T? gte'-; t ^1^/- m FIG. 41. PORTION OF CROSIER. PETRIE MUSEUM. METAL-WORK. 105 arm is a broad band with knots in relief; and down the arm are four flat, narrow fillets, at equal distances, riveted, having inscriptions in the Irish characters upon them. Nearly the whole of the arm, the silver parts as well as those of bronze, are ornamented with various engraved figures, mostly knots and scroll-work ; and at the upper end, between the rows of stones, are animal forms. The root of the arm was fastened by a circular cap, the face of which is inlaid with silver, the centre having mosaic work surrounded by silver filigree. The in- scriptions have been thus read : " Pray for Maelsechnail, descendant of Cellachan, for the high king, and for Corniac, son of MacCarthaig : namely, for the Crown prince of Munster for Tadg, son of ... , for the king . . . , for Diarmait, son of MacDenisc : for the successor of . . .' One of the most remarkable of the FIG. 42. — CROSIER. BISHOPS OF CLONMACNO.S. io6 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Irish reliquaries is the shrine of St, Mogue or Breac Moedoc,, which was a case made, so says the legend, for preserving certain relics, brought by St. Molaise from Rome to his friend Moedoc, then Abbot of Ferns. This shrine was preserved for centuries in Drumlane, and was stolen in the present century from the Roman Catholic priest of that parish. In form, the shrine closely resembles that of the old church of Drumlane, now in ruins, being indeed the usual form of the shrines or Ch&sses of Limoges work of later date. The height of this reliquary is 7^ in., length 8^^ in., breadth of the base 3^^ in. The front was covered with figures, twenty-one in number, arranged in three rows. Those on the lowest line are of pale bronze, while the two upper ones, though of the same metal, are much redder in colour from the deficiency of tin in the alloy. The back was covered by a pattern, consisting of parallelograms of pierced rectangular crosses. The same design is found at the bottom of the shrine. The pierced work is of bronze, the border of the base has a ground of red enamel, the margins, knots, and squares being of bronze gilt; while the pattern within the squares is formed by four smaller squares of blue glass, apparently cast in a mould and disposed alternately with five others of red and white enamel. The "fylfot" in the base, which still remains in the centre of the border on one side, is enamelled in blue on a gold ground, surrounded by alternate lines of the same colour. The third group represents three female saints, in uniform costume; their hair hangs in long curls, and as Mr. O'Hanlon in the "Life of St. Dympna" observes : "We find nothing about the cutting of hair, which was not practised in the profession of holy virgins as early, or at least as generally, as the regulation of their wearing a particular habit." One of the most interesting of the historical notices in the "Chronicon Scotorum" refers to this custom: "a.d. 888, change of cutting of hair by the Virgins of Erin." The very long faces and broad low foreheads of these figures remind one forcibly of the type of female face which we find in the " Book of METAL- WORK. 107 FIG. 43.- FIGURES ON THE SHRINK OF ST. MOGUE. Kells." Fig. 43 is probably intended for St, John the Beloved Apostle, or " John of the Bosom," as he is termed in the old Irish poem, " On the personal appearance of Christ and His Apostles." The attitude cor- responds with the directions given in the Byzantine " Painters' Guide," where it is directed that " St. John Theologos stands in sorrow, his cheek resting upon his hand." At the close of these notices of Irish metal-work, the dates of which may be inferred from their inscription, we should place the Cross of Cong. This beautiful processional cross was originally made for the church of Tuam, seat of the Archbishopric of Connaught, and for Muiredach O'Duffy, who died in the year 1 150. It was made to enshrine a portion of the true Cross by order of King Turlough O'Conor as we learn from an entry in the " Annals of Inisfallen,"A.D. 1 123, the year in which the first General Council of Lateran was held, during the pontificate of Pope Calixtus. The Annalist states : " A portion of the true Cross came into Ireland, and was enshrined at Roscommon, by Turlough O'Conor." This statement is supported by in- scriptions along the sides of the cross which may be thus translated : In this cross is preserved the cross on which the founder of the world suffered. Pray for Muredach U Dubthaig, the Senior of Erin. Pray for Terdelbach O'Chonchobair, for the King of Erin, for whom this shrine was made. Pray for Domnall MacPlannacan U Dubthaig, Bishop of io8 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. -CROSS OF CONG. FIG. 44. Connacht and comarb of Comman and Ciaran, under whose superintendence the shrine was made. METAL- WORK. log- Pray for Maeljesu MacBratdan O'Echan, who made this shrine. The shaft of this cross measures 2 ft. 6 in. high ; breadth or span of arms, i ft. 6^ in.; thickness of shaft and arms, i^in. It is formed of oak, covered with plates of copper outside, which are placed five on the front and three on the back, with a portion of a fourth plate of brass, all adorned with a richly interwoven tracery. On the central plate on the face, at the junction of the arms, is a boss surmounted by a convex crystal. Thirteen jewels remain of the eighteen which were disposed at regular intervals along the edges and on the face of the shaft and arms, and spaces are visible for nine others, which were placed at intervals down the centre. Two beads remain of four settings which surrounded the central boss. The shaft terminates below in the grotesque head of an animal, beneath which it is attached to a spherical elaborately ornamented ball, surmounting the socket in which was inserted the pole or shaft for carrying the cross. This relic was carried from Tuam to Cong, either by the Archbishop O'Duffy, who died in the Augustinian Abbey there in 1 150, or by King Roderic O'Conor, the last monarch of Ireland, who himself founded and endowed the Abbey of Cong. It was concealed at the time of the Reformation and found early in the present century by the parish priest, the Rev. Mr. Prendergast, in an oaken chest in a cottage in the village. It was purchased from the successor to Mr. Prendergast by Professor MacCullagh, who presented it to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in 1S39. xio EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. FIG. 45. — BOOK-CLASP. FIG. 46. — I500K-BIND1NG. FIG. 47. — BOOK-CLASP. METAL-WORK. IIX Space does not permit us to illustrate the numerous miscel- laneous articles in the Irish museums which give evidence of early civilisation, and show the taste with which the simplest domestic utensils of the Irish were adorned. Such instances may be seen in the situlse or wooden vessels bound with richly- chased bronze hoops, such as were found at Clonfree in Ros- common, at Clonard, or knife- handles, two of which we en- fig. 49. FIG. 48. grave, the second being one of the few examples known of coloured enamel on iron (Figs. 48, 52), book-bindings such as (Fig. 50) found at Clonmacnois, and (Fig. 51) in the British Museum, and book-clasps, the designs of which might be copied with advantage in the present day. (Figs. 45, 47.) I now proceed to describe some examples of Irish metal-work of the Christian period, in the British Museum, Crosier No. i. — Oaken stem encased in silver and brass, with bands inlaid with silver, circd 950 to 1050. Upper portion cased in silver, with an open work formed of interlaced birds, terminating at the upper end in a male head, and at the lower in that of an animal. Below this there is a knop decorated with trumpet pattern designs and FIG. 50. 112 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. interiacings, inlaid with silver and niello. The lower part ot the crosier consists of an oaken stem encased in brass, and ^^ ^:^: f>7 divided into three sections by polygonal ^^xN "^^ ^Z^ knops of interlaced work. The junctions of the brass plates, which are lapped over the oaken staff within, were concealed by a row of crosses in relief, three of which remain. These formed a band along the back of the crosier. The lower end appears to be a solid piece of brass with bands of inlaid silver. It terminates with three little feet, pig^ ji_ An Irish inscription runs under the crest : Or (ait) do conduiltg ocus do Melfiniein, which may be translated, " Pray for Cudulig and for Melfinnen." An ecclesiastic of Kells, who died in the year 967, bore the name Melfinnen, and another ecclesiastic, belonging to the same monastery, Cudulig, died in the year 1047, It is supposed that this crosier belonged to the church of Kells, and may have been the work of the hereditary mechanics of the monastery, represented by Sitric Mac Aeda in the eleventh century. Crosier No. 2. — Fragment of head, bronze, with interiacings. Crosier No. 3. — Fragment of bronze, with interlaced ornament Crosier No. 4. — Portion of crest, bronze. Crosier No. 5. — Knop of bronze inlaid with silver. Cross. — Top of processional cross, bronze, inlaid with bands, decoration in compartments filled with interlaced bands, and lozenge in borders. Brooches. — These ornaments — twenty-two in number — are of riG. 52.- KNIFE-HANDLE. PETRIE COLLECTION. METAL-WORK. 113 bronze, with three exceptions, which are of silver. One remarkable bronze specimen was found in the County Roscommon. Ihe diameter of the rings is 4^ in., length of the acus, 7^ in. Pins. — A large number of these examples were found in the Counties Westnieath and Galway. Also bronze harp- shaped pins, one of which was found in the Shannon, near Athlone, County Westmeath. One of the bronze pins was found in 1849 in opening a tumulus in the parish of Skryne, near Tara, County Meath. About 7 ft. below the surface a large deposit of ashes was discovered, and under this was a layer of flints with calcined bones ; near them the fibula was found. The deep cavities of the flower-like ornaments are chased with interlaced patterns, now indistinctly seen ; these were probably filled up with coloured paste, or inlaid metal. This would seem to belong to the Christian period, though, by some accident, found near a pagan interment. — A7ch. Journal, ix. and xviii., p. 164. Figure from Shrine. — This figure was found buried near St. John's Abbey, in Thomas Street, Dublin. It bears some resemblance to those of the ecclesiastics on the face of the shrine of St. Manchan ; but it is of much finer workmanship and evidently earlier date. The trumpet pattern, spiral and rectilinear patterns are beautifully executed in the borders of the robe with gilding in parts. The figure holds a book. (See Arch. Journal, ix. and xviii., p. 164.) Bronze Buckle. — This buckle was dug up in a rath near Navan. Book-binding. — This portion of book-binding was found in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. (See Fig. 51.) Bells. — Of St. Cummin of Kilcommon, King's Co., Ireland. Of St. Molua of Clonfert Molua — now Kyle— Queen's Co. Of Ruadan of Lorrha, Co. Tipperary (Bronze). Of Caimin of Kilcamin, King's Co. (a fragment). Bronze Bell. — -This bell was found in a bog in the county of Leitrim, at Ross Inver^the handle and clapper are missing. PART I. I 114 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. It measures 9^ in. in height ; there are punctured dots on each side of one angle of the rim, and there is a gap on one side over which a plate has once been fastened with rivets. The Mayer Museum, in Liverpool, possesses a decorated cross of Irish workmanship. There are still some remarkable antiquities in various parts of Ireland which we should be glad to see under safe protection in our museums, such as the Shrine of St. Manchan — supposed to contain the relics of St. Manchan, Abbot of Leth, in King's Co., Ireland, who died a.d, 664, and whose bones were enshrined A.D. 1 166. The shrine is formed of wood, and in form resembles the roof of a house or chapel, oblong in plan ; the sides meet in a ridge, and the ends are gables. It measures 24 in. long by 15 in. broad, and 19 in. high. On each side is a cross 17 in. by 16 in., composed of five bosses or hemispheres elaborately ornamented, and united by arms, each of which contains four plates of enamel ; the ground of the enamels is yellow, and a pattern is formed on each side by lines of red. The patterns are chiefly composed of straight lines, and several of them bear much resemblance to Chinese or ancient Mexican decoration. In texture aid colour these enamels closely resemble those which ornament the fine bronze armlets in the British Museum, found at Castle Drummond in Perthshire. Above and below the crosses were figures of men, about 6 in. in length. Originally it would seem there were nearly fifty of those figures, but now only ten remain. These present many remarkable peculiarities in dress, arrangement of the hair, etc. One carries a small axe, two a short hooked stick, and one a book. Below these figures, and in the corresponding position at the ends of the shrine, are rows of enamels of the same character as those that decorate the crosses, and strips of bronze elaborately pierced and engraved are placed at each angle ; the ends are covered by triangular plates, ornamented in the same style. METAL-WORK. 115 The ornamentation of these plates and strips, as well as of the hemispheres of the crosses, is formed by interlaced figures of animals, sometimes quadruped, sometimes biped, but never winged. The metal-work throughout was richly gilt. The whole rests upon four bronze feet, and rings are fixed at the corners through which poles might be passed for the purpose of carrying the shrine in procession. When the shrine was opened, it was found to contain some bones, some pieces of yew (apparently parts of the earlier wooden frame of the shrine), and some thin pieces of silver, which it was evident from their outline were fragments of the original plating of the sides of the shrine, preserved by the figures which had been placed over them. {Anh /ournal,vo\. x. p. 157.) The Bimgor Bell is in the possession of Colonel McCance, Knocknagony House, Holywood, Co. Down. The Bell of Solar (Co. Antrim) is now in the Museum of Belfast along with a second bell formed of iron and coated with brass, very rude. St. Patricks Bell. — Five chromo lithographic drawings, with historical and illustrative description by the Rev. VV. Reeves. Belfast, 1850. Fol. An Irish crosier head is also preserved in the Belfast Museum. (See " Proc. R. Irish Acad.," vol. i. ser. ii. p. 261.) Mr. Benifs collcdion is also in the Belfast Museum. This mcludes the small bronze altar vessel belonging to the church founded by St. Patrick at Island Magee, Co. Antrim. This vessel is inscribed : "Or do Mac Etain au Brolchain" (Pray for MacEtan, descendant of Brolchan). — See " Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language." G. Petrie. Vol. ii. p. 119. Enamels. —At a meeting of the Archaeological Institute, June 6th, 1862, Lord Talbot exhibited two specimens of enamelled work found in Ireland ; one is a curious relic of unknown use of mixed metal, the incrustations upon which appear to be in part of the nature of enamel, and partly fine mosaics of blue ii6 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. and white vitreous pastes, affixed by fusion in cavities chased out of the surface of the metal. It was found in the remarkable depository at Lagore, Co. Meath. (See Arch. Journal, vol. vi. P- I05-) A remarkable specimen of early Irish enamel, preserved in the Museum of St. Columba's College, near Dublin, is figured in Mr. Franks' Treatise, "Art Examples from the Manchester Exhibition, Glass and Enamels," p. 6. Mr. Franks in his remarks on "Enamelling among the Ancients," observes: "The ancient processes appear to have lingered in Ireland, as we find some of the details of the earlier shrines executed in enamel. A fragment of one of them belongs to the College of St. Columba. In other parts of the West all traces of their existence were swept away by the Teutonic invasions. The jewellery of the conquerors does not appear to have been enriched with enamel." The metal-work of Ancient Ireland has been illustrated in the following works : Kemble, " Horse Ferales," ed. by A. W. Franks. Wilde, " Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in Museum of Royal Irish Academy." Albert Way, Arch. Jour., xxvi. 52 ; Arch. Camb., 4th series, i. 199. Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven, "On Ancient Chalice and Brooches" {Trans. R. I. Acade7ny), vol. xxiv. Ellacombe, " Church Bells of Devon," contains section on ecclesiastical bells of Ireland with numerous illustrations. "Vetusta Monumenta," vol. vi., on Arm of St. Lachtin. " Archseologia," vol. xliii., description of the shrines of St. Moedog and St. Molaise. Bronze sheaths from Crannog at Lisnacroghera, Co. Antrim, described and illustrated by W. F. Wakeman, Jour?ial of the R.H.A.A., vol. vi. p. 377. 1883. O'Neill (H.), "The Fine Arts and Civilisation of Ancient Ireland." 1863. INDEX. PAGE PAGS Abbondio, St., church of . • 3i Bannockburn . . 100 Aberdeen Martyrology • 96 Basilica of Monza • 91 Abyssinia, books of . • 51 Basle • • • . 39 Adamnan's Life of Columba 8,25 Bavaria . . 40 „ tract, De Locis Bearnan Ailbe . . 64 Sanctis . 40 >> Brigde . 64 Aesbuite, artisan . 57 )) Ciaran . . . 64 Ahascra .... . lOI )> Cualaun . . 64 Ahoghill .... • 74 Bede . . . . 38 Aileran, St. , Commentary of, note 49 Bell of Bangor . . 64, 115 AiliU .... 30,68 ?» Berach . . 99 Altmann, St. . . 68 , ) Cashel . . . 64 Altmuhl .... . 40 )> Columb of Ro 3 Glandae . 64 Ambleteuse . 72 ,) Conell Gael • . 66 Anastasia, St. . . 69 , » Conell of Inisc ail . . 62 Anderson, Dr., quoted . i, 61,66 » , Cumascach, son of Ailill 65 Anglo-Saxon iirt 28,46 J, Drumragh . 61 Anmchadh, St. • 49 ,* Fenagh . . 61 Annalists, Bavarian, quoted . 42 , » Gall, St. . 39, 61 „ ignore Irish missionaries ») Gartan . . . 64 abroad . • 30 , J Godeberte, in Noyon . 61 ,, on Book of Kells . 11 , ) Kilshanny ' . .64 ,, on Irish scribes . 10, 20 , ) Mogue, St. . 61, 64, 66 Annals of Four Masters . 89 >' Mura, St. 64, 66 Archicologia . 116 5 ) Fauick ■57, 58,. 71 Ardagh, chalice of 69, 75, 79, 80, 81 )) Patrick's Will . . 65 Armagh, Book of . 10,21, 75,89 )' Ross Inver . 113 Armlets, bronze . 114 )' Senan, St. . 62 Arnoul, St., at Metz • 43 )» Solar . 115 Art, primitive . • 71 51 Stlval, in Brit lany . .61 Athlone .... • "3 , , Termon MacG uirk . .61 Aubert, St., in Cambray . . 50 Bell s hrine of Guthrie shire , in Forfar- . 66 Bamberg . . • • . 41 1 Maelbr gde . 65, 74 PART I. K ii8 INDEX. PAGE 1 PAGS Bells .... 57 Caimin of Kilcamin . . • "3 ,, in Scotland 61 Callxtus, Pope . . 107 Benen, St. ... 51 Cambray .... • 5» Benn, Mr., collection "5 Cambridge, Irish MSS. in . 29 Bernard of Clairvaux 30, lOI Candidas, missionary to Ratisbon 41 „ Life of Malachy, by 102 Canon of Patrick . 89 Berne .... 39 Canton of the Grisons . 4a Bethselinus 42 Carlovingian MSS. . . 31. 33 Black Bell of St. Patrick . 61 „ writing . . 4& Bobio, in North Italy 30 Carthach, crosier of . . 103 ,, Missal . 88 Cashel ... 43 69, 94 Boniface, St., crosier of . 49 Cataldus, St. . • 30 ,, relics of 49 Cathach of the O'Donnells „ shrine of 49 74, 90, 95, 100 Book of Armagh 51 Celtic (late) style • 31 „ Ballymote 75 Cennfailad, abbacy of . 91 ,, Hymns, initials from Chalice of bronze . 69 20, 33 , 8S .91 glass . 69 Book of Kells . . 96 ,, gold and silver . . 69 „ „ date of II 12 ,, Kremsmiinster . . 67 ,, ,, illuminated mono gram 13 ,, metal . 69 Book-binding . . .110, "3 ,, stone 69, 72 „ clasp . 113 ,, St. Jerome (note) . 69 ,, satchel of Fiacc . 51 Chalices .... • 57 ,, shrine of St. Gall . 39 Charlemagne 49,68 ,, shrines 88 ,91 Chronicle of Marianus Scolus • 75 Bowl of St. Fintan . . 39 Chronicon Ratisbonense . . 42 Breastplates . 90 ,, Scotorum . . io6 Bridgid, Life of . 40 .58 Chronological table . . 70 Britain, Roman occupation of . 73 Clairvaux .... • 31 British helmet . . 55 Clermont, in Auvergne • 32 „ Museum . 29, 62, 102, III, Clonard (note) . 49, I 'I 114 Clonfree .... . Ill Bronze buckle . • "3 Clonmacnois . . • 79 „ ornaments, fragments Cogitosus . 40 of . . . • 53 Coins minted in Gaul and Biitain 56 Bronzes, late Celtic . 71 . 73 1 Coire .... . 40 ,, pre-Christian art upon . 31 j Cologne .... . 61 Brooches .... • 112 i Coloman .... • 30 Bulgaria .... . 35 j Columba ... 39 , 40, 5' Byzantine artists in Italy and ,, ascribe lo, 20 France . , • 33 ,, college of . . 116 „ relics . • 91 „ Life of 39,49 INDEX. 119 Columbanus . 30, 36, 37, 39, 69 Como . . . . -33 Cong, abbey of. . . . 109 Conla . .... 5^ Constance, Lake . . • VJ Conor O'Brien, king of Munster 43 Cormac MacCarthy . . . 105 Cronellys, hereditary custodians of St. Grellan's crosier . . lOi Crosier, Irish, in Edinburgh Museum . . 99 ,, of Belfast . . .116 ,, Berach . . • 99 ,, Clonmacnois . 104, 105 ,, Colman MacDuach . 99 ,, Durrow . . -99 Dympna . . 97, 98 ,, Fertullagh • . 96 ,, Fiacc . . '51 ,, Kells 74, loi, 102, 112 ,, Lismore . . 74, 103 ,, Maelfinnia . . 74 ,, St. Fillan, borne in battle as a vexilluiu 100 ,, St. Grellan, borne in battle as a vexillum 100 Cross of Cong . . 74^ lOj. 107 ,, ofTuam. . . -74 ,, processional . . .112 Cudulig 112 Cumbert . . . • .61 Cummin, St., of Kilcommon . 113 Cumdach . . . 51, 89, 90, 91 ,, of Molaise's Gospels . 93 ,, of Stowe Missal . . 94 Culhbert, St II Dageus, artisan . . . 58,99 Dagobert, thrune ot . • 57 Damascening . 71 Damasus, St. . . 48 Danube ... . 40 Deposition from the cross . . 37 Desiderius, king of the Lombards 68 Devenish, book from . . 74 Dewar,name of family of hereditary keepers of St. Fillan's crosier . 97 Dicuil 39 Didron, quoted . . . 38,61 Dimma Mace. Nathi, scribe . 23 Dimma, Book of . . • 23 ,, ,, shrine of. . 74 Dionysius 43 Disert O'Dea, founder of church of 99 Divergent spiral . . -73 Domnus . . . . .42 Donell MacAulay . . .66 Dorbene, a scribe . . .10 Douth 31 Diogheda ..... 7° Drumlane, church of . . . 106 Drummond Castle, Perthshire . 114 Dubthach 50 Dunchad O'Tagain . . .94 Dungal 37 Dunraven, Edwin, third Earl of 64, 88, 116 Durham ..... 29 Durrow, Book of . . .17 ,, autograph of scribe . 18 ,, cumdach of. 18, 52, 75, 89 Dympna, St., church of, in Belgium . 50 ,, crosier of . 97 ,, Life of . . 106 Earth-houses .... 3 Egbert, Bishop, in Ireland . 28 Eichstadt ..... 40 Ellacombe, Mr., quoted . 61, 116 Emerau, St., in Ralisbon . . 41 Ennna, abbess . . . .41 Enamel . . . » .82 ,, champleve . • •83 ,, cloisonne . • 82, 83 „ Oriental . • • ' 83 I20 INDEX. Enamelling, various processes . 71 Enamels . . . . .116 Encolpia ..... 90 Erhard, Life of. . . .41 Euphronius . . . .57 Eutychus . . . . '49 Fahan Ferdomnach, scribe . Fiacc, bishop of Sletty Fiachra, St. Filigree . . 66 20, 102 • 51 . 30 71, 82 96, 102 Schaff- • 39 • 15 69. 89 • 15 Irish Fillan, St. Fintan, St., bowl of, at hausen . Fish .... Flann Sinna Foliate designs . Foreign testimony to early writers . . . . -31 Fortchern, artisan of Patrick . 57 Forts, prehistoric • . • 3 Fothad, bishop . . .96 Franconia. . . . .40 Franks, A. W., quoted . 72, 116 Fridolin, St. . . . 30, 40 Fukla . . . . 37, 49 Gall, St. . Garland of Howth Gaul . . , Georgia, churches of . Gheel Gilbert, J. L., referred to Gillabaithin . Glass beads, two varieties Glass-work Glencolumbkill , Gold necklaces, found in Golden bell Golden Gospels of St, manus . Gospels of MacRegol 30, 35. 69 • 25 32, 56 il 50 52 91 104 71 66 71 62 of Mel OS Ger 75 75 PAGE Gospels of Willibrord . 75 Gottweich . . 68 Grace, Mr. John • 94 Greeks, knowledge of enamel among . . .71 Gregorius of Eatisbon • 43 Gregory of Tours . 32 Gregory's square tower , • 43 Handwriting 9, 21 Henri Deux ware . 104 Henry IV., Emperor . 42 ,, II., shrine of . . 91 Hereditary custodians 59. C'l, 96 ,, mechanics . 112 Hezecha, abbess . 42 High crosses 2 Hilary of Aries . . 40 Ilonau • 49 Horae Ferales, Kemble . 116 Horns on British helmet • 55 Howth, Garland of . • 25 Humboldt, quoted . 18 Humphreys, H. Noel • 52 Hy Many, Customs of, quo ted . 1 00 Hymns, Book of, Trinity College, Dublin • 75 Iceland • 35 Illumination . 6 ,, colours u>ed . 8 Ingolstadt . 40 Iniscaltra • 49 Innisfallen, Annals of . 107 lona .... 10, 27 Ireland, Christian Art in, gives a key to the history of early Christian an- tiquities elsewhere . I „ preservation of primi- tive types in Art of . 3, 4 ,, the ancient Scotia i, 28 Irish radiated crown . . '55 „ scribes on the Continent . 30 INDEX. 121 Irish style, engrafted on Car- loviiigian . , . 31, 33 Joannes, missionary to Gottweich 68 John, missionary to Ratisbon . 41 John, St. , of the Bosom . . 107 ,, styled Beloved Apostle 107 ,, Theologus. , . 107 Keating, quoted . , .69 Keller, Ferdinand, quoted 10, 33. 38, 52 Kells . . . . .112 , , crosier of ... 74 Kells, Book of . 7, 10, 11, 52, 90 ,, ,, • Initials from 6, 9, 12, 16, 17, 30, 35, 50, 53 Kemble, Mr., quoted . • 53 Kilian, St. • 3o> 40 Killin, Loch Tay , . 102 Kilmichael, Glassary • . 66 Kingoklrum, in Forfarshire . 69 Knife-handles . • . Ill Lachtin, St. . . • . 104 ,, shrine of arm . • 74 Laebhan, artisan of Patri ck 57 Lagore . 116 Lambeth Palace . 29 I.atf-ran Council . 107 Laurenlius . 47 Leabhar Breac . • 75 Leabhar na HuiJre • 75 Leatha, i.e., Italy • 58 Lecan, Book of • 75 Leinster, Hook of . 75 Leth, shrine of abbot , 114 Leyden • 50 Lichfield . • 29 Limoges . . 106 Lindisfarne . 27 Linear designs . • 14 Lismore . . 69 Lismore, crosier Liverpool . LDml)ardy Longfield, Mr. Longford . Lorrha Lou vain . Luitberga . Lure Lynch, Dr. PAGE . 103 . 114 79. 104 • 50 94. "3 • 37 . 68 • 39 . loi Mabillon 39 Mabuinus ..... 57 MacCccht 57 MacCuilagh Professor . . 109 MacGeoghr-gins, hereditary cus- todians of crosier of Dun ow . 99 MacRaith O'Donoghoe . . 94 Maelbrigde, bell shrine . . 74 Maelfinnia, crosier . . .74 Mselsechiiail, descendant of Cel- lachan ..... 105 Magee, island . . . .116 Magnus, St., in Ratisbon . . 41 Malachy, St 30 ,, king . . . .89 Malfinnen . . . .112 Malines, in Belgium . . .50 jManthan, St., shrine of 74, 113, 114 Marcus 37 Margaret, cross of St., borne in battle ..... 100 Marianus Scotus, of Mentz . 37 „ Rati.sl)on 41, 68 Martigny, Abbe, quotul . . 90 Maximian's ivory cha r . -57 Mayence ..... 37 Mayer Museum. . . .114 Meath, county . . , .116 Melos, island . . . .71 Melrose . . , . .27 Menisters ..... 57 Merovingian writing . , .46 122 INDEX, Metal -work . . Metz Milan, Irish MSS. in Missal, Irish, Oxford . 6, 53, 71 . 43 . 36 • 75 Missionaries from Ireland 8, 31, 35, 37 their aspect 34 in Germany 49 Moedoc, St 106 Moelcaich, scribe . . .22 Moengal 37 Molai.ie, of Devenish . . 91, 106 ,, book of . . -74 ,, clasp of Gospels of . 91 Moling, St., Book of . .24 Molua, St., of Clonfert Molua . 113 ,, Lismore . . 67 Monaghan . . . .50 Monastereven . . . -SO Monogram XPI, in " Book of Kells" 15 Monza 57 Mosaic . . . . .71 Mottingen . . . .44 Muiiedach O'Duffy . . . 107 Munich . . . . .41 ,, Royal Library . .9' Murtagh at Obermiinster , . 41 Murtogh O'Brien . . -43 Muratori 37 Music, knowledge of . . . 35 Namatius . Naples, Irish MSS. in Natron lakes Navan . . . Nectan, artisan. . New Grange Niall, bishop of Lismore Nicephorus, Patriarch c stantinople . Niello-work . Northmen in Ireland. Nuremberg • Con- 36 51 "3 103 31 103 90 78 58 43 PAGE Obermiinster . . . .4' O'Conor, Dr 94 O'Conor 52 Oettingen-Wallerstein . . 43 Ogham inscriptions . . 2, 3, 22 O Hanlon, Mr., quoted . . 106 O'Hanlys, hereditary custodians of crosier of Termonbarry . 99 O'Heynys, custodians of crosier of Kilmacduach . . .99 Oiron faience .... 104 O'Luan, hereditary keepers of St. Dympna's crosier . . .97 O'Quinns, hereditary keepers of crosier of St. Tola . . 99 Origins of Irish Art . . 31. 33 Orkney Islands ... 2 Osred, king of X.irthumbria . 28 Oxford, Irish illumination in Corpus Christi College . . 29 Pagan arts of Ireland . 53 I . .34 . 57 51, 56, 57, 68 . 115 Paris, Latin Gospels Patens . . Patrick, St. . ,, bell of „ shrine of . . .74 Pauline Epistles . . .40 Pavia . • . . -37 Pepin 49 ,, the Little . . .68 Perpetuus, bishop of Tours . 57 Peter's, St., Ratisbon . . 41 Petrie, George, referred to 58, 76, 99 ,, Museum . . 53, 79 Philostratus . . . -72 Pin, head of . . . 79. "3 Poland 35 Prendergast, Rev. Mr. . . 109 Primitive Christian metal-work, rude character . . • T^ Psalter, Irish, British Museum . 75 INDEX, 123 Psalter na Rann Purton Cooper . 75 Ratisbon ... 40, 43, 94 Ravf nna . . . • 32, 33 Rebdorf, in Franconia . . 40 Reeves, Dr., quoted 30, 40, 52, 59 Reichenau . . . -39 Reliquary at Coire . . .40 „ of Fiacc . . .51 Rheims 34 Ricemarch, Psalter of . 26, 75 Roderic O'Flaherty . . .89 Roman occupation of Britain . 73 Romanesque churches . . 72 Rome . . . . 37, 41 Roscf)mmon, portion of the true cross .... 107, III Roscrea, brooch . . .80 Round towers in Scotland . . 2 Ruadan 113 Ruskin, quoted . . . .14 Samson, abbot of St. Edmund's . 34 Satchel called " polaire" . . 50 ,, Irish, Corpus Christi, Cambridge . . .50 „ of St. Moedoc's Reliquary 50 ,, of the Book of Armagh . 50 Scattery Island . , . 62, 66 Schaffhausen . . 25, 38, 39 Scotland, Burghs in . . .2 ,, Christian monuments in i „ hereditary keepers in . 96 , , Ogham inscriptions in . 2 Scribe, technical skill . 7, 10 Sculptured stones ... 2 Sedulius 49 Sepulchral inscriptions in Ireland, number of 2 „ „ rare in Scot- land . 2 Shaw, H. , ... 52 PAGE Shetland Islands ... 2 Shrine of bell of Conall Caol . 64 ,, Molaise's book . . 74 ,, St. Culanus' bell , 62 „ St. Lachtin's arm . 104 ,, St. Moedoc . . ic6 ,, Stowe Missal . . 74 ,, St. Patrick's bell . 60 ,, St. Senan's bell . . 64 Sitric Mac Aeda, artisan . .112 Situlae 11 1 Sourians, Abyssinian monastery 51 St. Andrew's . , . .96 St Emerau, abbey of . .91 St. Gall 37 St. Michelsberg . . .41 St. Sabina . . . .92 Staff of Jesus . . . .102 Stockholm . . . .75 Stone-cutting .... 6 Stowe Missal . . . .21 ,, book shrine 74, 92, loi Strasburg 49 Strathfillan, Perthshire . . 96 Sullivan, Professor, quoted _ 82 Switzerland, Irish missionaries in .... Symbols .... Syrian churches . 30, n . 91 Tairill, artisan of Patrick , -57 Talbot, Lord . . . .116 Talman, St 25 Tara brooch . . . 69, 75 Tassach, artisan of Patrick 57, 102 Tassilo, duke of Bavaria . . 68 Te Davnet, Co. Monaghan . 97 Tegernsee. . . . .40 Templeport . . . .66 Ternan, St. . . . -96 Theodolinde, queen of iho Lombards . . . .91 Thomas, St., Gospels of . , 49 124 INDEX. Tipperary . . , . .94 Tirconnel, ch'eftains of . -89 Tirechan, quoted . . -57 Todd, Dr., quoted . 26, 27, 32, 94 Tola, St 99 Tonsure, Irish and Roman . 18 Treves 49 Trichinopoli work . . -78 Trier 49 Trumpet pattern . . -73 Tuam . . . .74, 107 Tuban 49 Tuotilo, monk of St. Gall . . 35 Turlough O'Conor, king . . 107 Turin, Irish MSS. in . . 36 Ultan, a scribe . . . .28 ,, his Life of St. Bridget . 41 Utrecht 5° Vatican Library, Rome . 37, 75 TAGK Vetusta Monumenta, referred to 104, 116 Vienna . . . • 42, 49 Waagen .... 52 Ware, quoted . II Warren, Mr., quoted 23 Wattenbach 43 52 Way, Albert . 56 Weigh Sanct Peter . 42 Westwood, referred to 52 White, Stephen 42 Wilde, Sir William . 116 Wilmousky, canon . 49 Wind berg 40 Witten, abbey of 88 Writing apparatus 8,9 WUrzburg . - 30> 40 ,43 Wyatt, M. Digby, referred to 52 Zeuss , • . • 37 Zurich . . • • 39 END OF PflR'f I, SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. BY MARGARET STOKES. WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SIX WOODCUTS. f art i£ Published for the Committee of Council on Education, BY CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited, II, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. CONTENTS OF PART 11. CHAPTER T. ••AGE fiCULPTURE i, , I CHAPTER ir. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE 2S CHRONOLOGICAI, TABLE OF EXAMPLES OF IRISH ART, THE DATE OF WHICH CAN BE APPROXIMATELY FIXED . . . Jocing 82 «NDEX .83 ILLUSTRATIONS TO PART 11. FIG. 53 Two Alphabets. 54 Interlaced Pattern . . . 55 Irish Cross .... 56 Trumpet Pattern 57, 58 Inscriptions on Clonmacnois Cross 59 Initial C. "Book of Hymns," fol. 6 60 The Temptation and Noah in the Ark. Velletri 61 Noah and the Ark, on Cross of Kells 62 High Cross of Durrow 63 High Cross of Muredach, Monasterboice 64 Base of the High Cross, Tuam 65 Head of Tuam Cross 66 Initial T. " Book of Kells " . 67 Doorway of Dun Aengus . 68 Ground Plan of Monastery, Inismurray 69 Oratory, Gallarus .... 70 Doorway of Oratory, Senach's Island 71 Doorway of Oratory, St. Finan 72 Ground Plan, Monastery of Senach . 73 Way of the Cross, Skellig Michael . 74 Ground Plan of Monastery, Skellig Michael 75 Monastic Cell, Skellig Michael 76 Doorway of Kilcrony Church . 77 Window in St. Caimin's Church 78 Doorway of Temple Martin, Kerry 79 Doorway of Maghera Church, Londonderry o 5 5 5 8 li 12 12 19 20 21 22 28 35 39 39 40 41 41 43 45 45 46 47 47 49 VI u ILLUSTRATIONS TO PART II. FIG, So Bell-house of Kells . 8 1 Bell-house of Desert Aengus 82 Bell-house of Ardmore 83 Belfiy of San Giovanni, Ravenna 84 Belfry of St. Maurice, Epinal , 85 Belfry of St. Genevieve 86 Church and Bell-house, Iniscaltra 87 Doorway of Kilmalkedar (Interior) 88 Doorway of White Island Church 89 Doorway of St. Farannan's Church 90 Moulding on Doorway, St. Farannan 91 Capital, Rahen Church 92, 93 Mouldings, Clonaltin 94 Moulding, Clonmacnois 95, 96 Mouldings on Doorways, Killeshin 97 Arcade, Ardmore 98 Mouldings, Aghadoe 99 Cormac's Chapel, Chancel (Interior) 100 Cormac's Chapel (Exterior) . 10 1 Cormac's Chapel, Interior (Nave and 102 Doorway, Cormac's Chapel 103 Doorway, Freshford . 104 Moulding, Tuaim Greine . 105 Roscrea (West End) s Church Chancel) 50 52 53 55 55 57 64 65 66 67 68 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 79 80 81 %• Of these Illustrations, the Frontispiece and Nos. 5 to 9, 18, 25 to 31, and 41 to 52, have been engraved for this work by Mr. J. D. Cooper. Nos. 19 to 21, 39, 60, 61, 68, 69, 72, 74, and 75, are taken, by the author's permission, from Anderson's "Scotland in Early Christian Times." The remainder are chiefly from blocks originally engraved for "Notes on Irish Architecture," and since presented to the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. A few are taken from "Early Christian Architecture in Ireland." EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. PART 11. CHAPTER I. SCULPTURE. The sculptured and inscribed stones of Christian Ireland, as yet described, may be thus divided : 200 Ogham stones, 250 tombstones, 7 pillar stones, 4 altar stones, i Mass stone, i quern stone, and 45 High Crosses. The fact that the sepulchral inscriptions of Ireland are mostly in the vernacular idioms of the country, and not, as in other countries, in the Latin languages, gives them a peculiar interest. It may arise from the fact that Ireland never formed part of the Roman empire, and the ignorance of Latin which consequently prevailed; but it also bears testimony to the dignity which the native tongue had already attained at a very early period ; and Mr. Rhys* has noted that the circumstance that genuine Ogham inscriptions exist both in Ireland and Wales which present grammatical forms agreeing with those of the Gaulish linguistic monuments, is enough to show that some of the Celts of these islands wrote their language before the fifth century, the time at which Christianity is supposed to have been introduced into Ireland. Starting from the fifth century and passing on to the sixth and seventh, we have a class of biliteral and bilingual inscribed stones in Ogham characters with their equivalent in Roman letters, such as the stone of Finten, of Juvene Druides, of Colman, and of Curoi • See " Lecture on Welsh Philology," p. 272, by John Rhys. - PART II. E 2 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. on Caher Conri. When we enter on the eighth century we find, especially at Clonmacnois, names are occasionally to be met with in the sepulchral inscriptions which can be identified with those of certain personages, the dates of whose deaths are recorded in the Annals of the country. These identifications are rendered more or less certain by bringing various forms of evidence to bear on each example : such as the occurrence of the name in the Annals, which corresponds to that on the stone ; the ap- pearance of the same name in one or more of the old Irish poems which record the interments in the royal cemetery of Clonmacnois and in the registry of Clonmacnois, then the study of the Art on the monuments, the philological and palseographical peculiarities, all revealing a gradual growth and development which will be found to correspond to the periods assigned to the inscriptions when taken in sequence. For instance, the stone of Cellach at Clonmacnois is adorned with a plain Irish cross incised upon the surface, without ornament ; the letters are of a comparatively early character, and differ from those of the eleventh and twelfth century. The poem on interments at Clonmacnois, in a MS. preserved in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, states that Ragallach with his three sons, Cathal, Cellach, and Donnell, are among the chieftains buried in the city of Ciaran {i.e. Clonmacnois) " the prayerful, the pious, the wise"; and in the Annals of the Four Masters as well as those of Clonmacnois, we find it recorded that, in the year 704, Ceallach, son of Ragallach, after having entered the priesthood, died. Another poem on this cemetery — that of Conaing Mulconry — in a MS. H.I. 77, in Trinity College, Dublin, states the father of Cellach — Ragallach — lies " buried under the green sod " under the " stone and bed " of Guaire, king of Connaught — this Ragallach himself being of the same royal family. The Clann Cellach we find in the poem of Enoch O'Gillan are *' sleeping under the stones of Cluain," and the Registry of Clonmacnois has a similar entry as to the burial-place of the SCULPTURE. tribe of Cellach, kings of Hy Many. Thus seven branches of evidence converge on this one inscription and identify the name as that of a chieftain who died in the beginning of the eighth century. The same system may be applied to ten out of 179 in- scribed tombstones of Clonmacnois whose dates are thus fixed by collateral evidence; we may place these ten stones in regular sequence, so that, arguing from the known to the unknown, they may serve as starting-points for the future classification of un- dated ones. In addition to these names for which we have the help of these old poems on the cemeteries, are twenty-four more, the identifications of which are supported by the Annals, and the character of the art — the letters — the formulae, etc. To begin with the letters, we observe that with the exception of the letters F, G, S, and N, the Irish character is but a localised Roman minuscule. Roman capitals are rarely found in Irish lapidary inscriptions. The changes which took place in the minuscule forms from about the seventh to the twelfth century, will be seen by comparing the two alphabets here given — •^%t rqYj^^ FIG, 53. — TWO ALPHABETS. 4 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, The first is drawn from the Abecedarium stone at Kilmalchedar, Co.Kerry, and is held to date from the period of the foundation of the church to which it belongs, in the seventh century, while the second is drawn from inscribed stones of the eleventh and twelfth century. Roman capitals are the exception in Ireland, while they are the rule in Wales, where the minuscule is the exception. It is about Penally and IMerthyr Tydvil that we find lettering of the Irish type. In Gaul, also, the cursive, derived from the Roman minuscule letters, is very uncommon, though, in the Museum at Marseilles, a curious marble fragment, brought from Carthage, with a portion of the " Gloria in excelsis " inscribed upon it, is a striking example of the use of the minuscule which at once recalls the lettering on the Irish stones.* In Gaul we find forty inscrip- tions showing the peculiar alphabetical forms in use before the year 700, which, though dying out in Gaul, and always the excep- tional forms there, as well as in Wales, yet, after that period, become the rule in Ireland. These observations lead us to suggest that the early stones on which we occasionally find the Roman lettering, were the work of a period before the Irish stone-cutters had time to form a style of their own. They seem rather the occasional and tenta- tive efforts of men who derived their knowledge of letters from various sources abroad. Ireland, owing to its isolated position on the outskirts of Europe, offered at certain periods in the civil history of Europe a temporary refuge for scholars and pilgrims of various nationalities, who fled from the disorders and lawlessness still prevailing on the Continent, and the mixed elements thus introduced into the country may account for much that is enigmatical in the history of Irish Art. It is possible that traces of foreign design, imported by the Roman pilgrims whose coming to Ireland in fifty currachs is recorded in the Litany of Aengus, may * " Inscriptions Chretiennes de la Gaule anterieures au VIII« Siecle, r^unies et annotees par Edmond le Blant. Paris, 1856." SCULPTURE. be found in the interlaced ornaments on our crosses and tomb- stones which correspond with fragments from the basilica of Julia in the Roman Forum, or the remains of the church on the Via Appia Nova in the Campagna first founded by Demetria, a member of the Anician family in the fourth century. In the fifth century, and during the pontificate of St. Leo, this church was replaced by a basilica dedicated to St. Stephen. Demetria was a contemporary of St. Augustine, and the frag- ments of sculptured stones lying about which are covered with FIG. 54. — INTERLACED PATTERN. FIG. 55 -IRISH CROSS. FIG. 56. — TRUMPET PATTERN. interlaced patterns strongly resembling those on the stones in Clonmacnois, may have belonged to the time of the restora- tion. They also strongly resemble the sculptures in Sant' Abbondio in Como. Corresponding to the development in the forms of the alphabet from the seventh to the twelfth century, was that of the forms of the cross \ and at first a great variety of patterns seem to have existed, many of which resemble designs we have found on stones at Ravenna, Torcello, near Venice, and in the churches of Sant' Ambrogio and Sant' Eustorgio at Milan ; then, after the ninth and tenth century, the form now known as the Irish cross. 6 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the Greek cross with elongated shaft or pattern, the Latin cross with circle at intersection, prevailed over the others. This type having been fixed, and prevailing for the three centuries following, it is interesting to observe that the trumpet pattern or divergent spiral, which characterised the native bronzes of the pre-Christian Art of Ireland, reappears on the crosses of Irish type, while it is absent from those which are but rude copies of foreign work. The two distinct modifications of this spiral, to which we have already alluded, as well as instances of its transition, from its pagan to its Christian variety, are found upon these stones. The most perfect example of its transition are found on two pillar-stones in Kerry, one of which belongs to the first Christian period in Ireland and bears a, bilingual inscription, the other from the same district, inscribed Diie. The final modifications of this design appear on the High Crosses, and on the sculptured stones after the ninth century, but are manifest in their fullest vigour in the illuminated MSS. of the Irish scribes. When we come to study the formulae of the Irish epitaphs, we are again struck by the variety that prevails among the oldest and rudest examples and the gradual settling down, as it were, on one stereotyped form, after the tenth century. This was " Oroit do," — oroit representing Oratio, the Latin substantive. Before this period we find the following varieties of formula : The cross of . . "crux" . . . " The stone of . . . . " — or the simple name of the person interred — or " Hie dormit ; " such a formula as " Lie Colum mec Mel " may be classed with the simple one which consists of the name of the person interred in the genitive case, " Dominus," "DNT"— "AP," "Psjit." The parallel to the first formula in the Roman Catacombs, is " Locus Marcellus." The parallel to " Hie dormit," which occurs in the island of Inismurray, is found in Gaul in the fifth century, and in Rome about the year 359, along with "Hie jacet," "Hie pausat." A parallel to " DiTs," is found in Vaenor parish in Wales, "In nomine domine Sumilius," while in Rome and SCULPTURE. 7 Gaul "In nomine dei" was a dedicatory form in the fifth century. Thus these formulae on the earliest stones of Ireland are evidently foreign importations of a style which never took root in the country, whereas the prayer Oroit do — the dead who asked for the prayers of the living, which is rarely met with in the early Christian period abroad, is the formula universally used in Ireland after the ninth century. There is only one epitaph known among the catacomb inscriptions with the prayer, "Ora pro nobis," and once, in Gaul, we meet with " Ora pro me Rustico vestro," on the tomb of St. Rusticus, Bishop of Narbonne, in 427, and " Ora pro eis," on the tomb of Hermer and Friule, found at Lieusaint, in the department of La Manche. The Irish formula therefore was a foreign importation which was gradually adopted as a formula for epitaphs after the ninth century. The form of the Irish Christian tombstone was in most cases a flat slab laid upon the ground, inscribed with the above prayer and a cross. It is true that, at a very early time, upright stones with crosses carved on them were arranged so as to form a fence or enclosure for a burial-ground, but this was at a primitive stage, when such an arrangement may be taken as a reminiscence of the pagan stone circle. The next form of stone monument to the Christian tomb slab, is the pillar-stone, and the High Cross. They were not sepulchral monuments, but dedicatory or com- memorative. The inscription on the pillar-stone of Kill-na-saggart states that Ternoc, son of Ciaran, bequeathed a place under the pro- tection of St. Peter, which was marked by this pillar-stone. The inscriptions on one of the High Crosses of Clonmacnois, and on that of Tuam, as well as one of the crosses at Kells dedicated to the memory of Patrick and Columba for instance, show that these monuments were commemorative; in others they were terminal crosses, marking the bounds of the sanctuary, and were stationed to north, south, east, and west. This is very clearly 8 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. indicated by the inscription on the Ruthwell Cross, verses taken from the " Dream of the Holy Rood," in which the cross is made, as it were, to tell the purpose for which it was erected, that is, that men seeing it from afar, might behold it as a sign. The High Crosses still remaining in Ireland are forty-five in number, thirty-two of which are richly ornamented, and eight of which bear inscriptions, wherein the names of the following per- sonages have been identified : King Flann, son of Malachy, d. 904 ; Colman, Abbot of Clonmacnois, d. 904; Muireadach, Abbot of Monasterboice, d. 924; King Turlough O'Conor, d. 1106; Aed Oissen, Abbot of Cong, 1 161 ; GillachristO'Tua- hail, 1 161; O'Duffy, d. 1 150. There is no evidence whatever to prove that such sculpture as we find upon these High Crosses in Ireland was executed here before the tenth century. The ornament upon the sepulchral slabs we have been con- sidering which date from the seventh to the tenth century is incised — that upon the High Crosses is in relief — such work as can only be executed by a metal chisel and fine-edged and pointed metal tools, and which shows a knowledge of the art of modelling the human figure, and acquaintance with the early Christian Art of the Byzantine and Roman schools, and their systems of iconography. The dates of these fine monuments in Ireland may be limited to a period ranging from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. The evidence for the age of the Irish inscribed crosses being such as we have stated, they may be considered as giving a key lolTTicr ntsoRno "■■f FIGS. 57, 58. INSCRIPTIONS ON CLONMACNOIS CROSS. SCULPTURE. 9 to that of monuments in Scotland and the North of England which exhibit sculpture of a similar character, and we are there- fore inclined to question the very early dates that have been assigned to such examples as the stone crosses at Alnmouth, Lancaster, CoUingham, York, Hartlepool, Bewcastle, Ruthwell, which have been attributed by Stephens to the years 600, 651, 670, 680, some of which have Runic inscriptions. The Scandinavian occupation of Scotland from the years 895 to 1064 sensibly affected the Art of that country, and also of the Isle of Man and the North of England, and as eleventh century monuments these crosses of Ruthwell and Bewcastle would fall naturally into their place in the development of the arts of sculpture and design during this period, while as seventh century monuments they are abnormal and exceptional. The reader has only to compare the beautiful art and good drawing of the scrolls and figures on the Ruthwell cross with the rude outHnes and letters on the coffin of St. Cuthbert — a work which all authorities allow to be of the seventh century — to realise how unlikely it is that they could be contemporaneous. And when we consider the history of Christian iconography, whether Byzantine or Latin, throughout Europe, we have an additional argument for believing that the treatment of the subjects carved in the panels of these crosses belongs to the eleventh rather than to the seventh century. In the scrolls of wreathed vine through whose branches birds and squirrels play, ■we are at once reminded of Lombard ic sculpture, while the figures recall those in the sculptured panels of the Irish High Crosses. The subjects which appear on the Ruthwell cross are The Annunciation ; The Salutation ; The Flight into Egypt ; John the Baptist with the Lamb ; The Crucifixion, with Sun and Moon at either side ; Christ as the True Vine ; Christ as the Lord of Nature ; " Beasts and Dragons know in the Desert the Saviour of the World ; " and the legend, as given in the Byzantine *' Painters' Guide," of the meeting of Anthony and Paul the lo EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Theban in the desert.* The guide is showing how the miracles of St. Anthony should be treated in Art, and says : "The saint is led by a lion into the grotto of St. Paul." — The desert ; the saint walks behind a lion ; at a distance before them the grotto of St. Paul appears across the trees and mountains. " St. Anthony having found St. Paul, embraces him." — A grotto ; Paul the Theban wearing a mat which covers him from the shoulders to the knee ; he and St. Anthony embrace ; a raven perched on the top of a tree holds bread in his beak. "The entombment of St. Paul by St. Anthony." — St. Paul stretched dead upon the ground ; St. Anthony covering him with a winding-sheet ; close by two lions tear up the earth with their fore-paws. The sculptor of the Ruthwell cross has clearly followed the Byzantine guide in his work ; we see the raven perched on the tree in one panel, giving Paul the bread in another, and in a third, the meeting and embrace of the two saints in the desert.f This Byzantine " Guide " was compiled in Greece, at Mount Athos, from the works of Panselinos, a painter of the eleventh century, and became the text-book of Byzantine Art. % The scenes on the panels of all our crosses, whether Irish, Scotch, or Enghsh, belong to a hieratic cycle of subjects into which the Christian scheme was condensed, but it is not likely that such symbols were subjects of the sculptor's art in the North of England, in the seventh century, or that their execution would be more perfect there than the carving of similar subjects in. Ravenna or in Milan at the same date. * A favourite subject in later mediaeval Art, treated by Spagnoletto (Turin), Pinturicchio (the Vatican), Lucas van Leyden, Velasquez, Guido, etc. t See "Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England," by George Stephens, F.S.A. Vol. i. p. 413. X See Appendix to Didron's "Christian Iconography," vol. ii., p. 262 (Bohn's series). SCULPTURE. II I HRISTIAN iconography in Great Britain and Ireland has yet to be treated in a systematic manner, and Mr. Anderson, in his work on early Christian Art in Scotland, has pointed out the true method of investigating the subject. We have yet to trace the sources and origins of Christian symbols on the Con- tinent before we can read those carved on our own stones. In Ireland we seem to see two currents meeting, one Byzantine, the other Latin. The iconographical scheme of the Byzan- tine painters is laid down in the "Painters' Guide" already mentioned; that of Latin or of Western Art, in the " Biblia Pauperum," "Speculum Humanae Salvationis," " Speculum FIG. 59. Sancte Maria Virginis," as well as such minor works as the middle age Bestiaries. In these works the events recorded in the Bible were treated not only as historic, but as prophetic of Christ when selected from the Old Testament, and as symbolic when taken from the New. The events recorded were turned to symbols. A system of such symbols was developed expressive of the salient points in religion. A hieratic cycle of subjects came into use, not necessarily for doctrinal purposes, but as expressive of religious faith. By adhering to the plan laid down in such works as those we speak of, the walls and cupolas as well as pavements of the churches, were intended to picture forth the Divine plan for man's salvation, to be the mirror of God's work in Creation. A very fragmentary impression indeed could be formed of these manuals (which give us the plot of the Christian drama, or the framework of the Christian Epos), if we were only to study the iconography of these islands, yet such study is of para- mount interest as bearing evidence to the gradual entrance S2 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. of the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland into the current of European thought and culture, and their ultimate assimilation with the larger, fuller life of Continental Europe. In the ancient Hterature of Ireland we come across fragments that seem to be translations from certain versions of the above-mentioned works, manuals, and poems. Thus in the "Book of Ballymote " a passage occurs, giving directions which the artist should follow in the representation of Christ and the Apostles, which corresponds in FIGS. 60, 61. — THE FALL AND NOAH AND THE ARK, VELLETRI, AND ON CROSS OF KELLS. many points with similar instructions in the Byzantine " Painters Guide." It runs thus : Christ — dark brown his hair, long and curled ; he wears a forked beard. Peter — quite gray, with a brownish black beard. Paul — dark and rather bald. Andrew — dark, with bushy hair and a long beard. Jacob — son of Zebedee, dark hair and long beard. John — dark hair and bushy, and without any beard. Philip — red (haired) with long beard. Bartholomew — dark hair in ringlets, and with long beard. Thomas — very dark hair with long beard. Matthew — dark hair in tresses, and with no beard. James, son of Alpheus — dark hair with long beard. John the Baptist — dark hair in curls with long beard. In the early Christian Art of France, St. Paul is always represented as bald with a tuft of hair on his brow ; James, who in the Irish and Byzantine MSS. is represented as young and SCULPTURE. 13 dark-bearded, is in the Art of the Latin Church ahvays old and white-haired ; and while in Western Continental Art St. John is young, fair, and beardless, in Byzantine and Irish Art he is shown as an aged man with a long white beard. In another place, the Byzantine " Guide"* directs that in the pictures of the Crucifixion, near the Virgin Mother stands St. John Theologos, " in sorrow, his cheek resting on his hand " — just as he appears in the doorway of the cathedral of Freiburg in Breisgau, which figure exactly resembles that on the silver shrine of St. Moedoc, and also on the sculptured panels of the doorway of the old church at Freshford, Co. Kilkenny Dr. Reeves has drawn attention to an Irish poem on the personal appearance, and the manner of death, of Christ and His ApostleSjt which he says seems to be framed according to certain rules that guided the ancient scribes in the illuminations of their Biblical manuscripts, and may possibly find a partial illustration in the figures which appear in the " Book of Kells," and other MSS. of that class. The order in which the Apostles are here named varies from that of the Roman Missal, but resembles that of the names in the inscription on the Apostles' chalice found at Ardagh, county of Limerick (see p. 88, supra), as well as in the Litany in the MS. at St. Gall and in the Bobio Missal. In the Byzantine " Painters'" Guide " found on Mount Athos the instructions are as follows : THE CHARACTER OF THE FACES OF THE TWELVE HOLY APOSTLES. St. Peter — an old man with a round beard. St. Paul — bald, beard gray and rushlike. St. Andrew — an old man, frizzled hair, forked beard. St. James — -young, beard beginning. St. John Theologos — an old man, bald, large, not very thick beard. St. Philip — young, beardless. St. Bariholomew — young, beard beginning. St. Thomas — young, beardless. St. Matthew, evangelist — old man, long beard. St. Luke, evangelist — young man, curled hair, small beard. St. Simon Zelotes — old man, bald, round beard. * See Didron, " Christian Iconography," vol. ii. App. pp. 317, 356. t "Codex Maelbrighte," Fol. 9^ Brit. Mus. Harl. No. 1802. 14 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. The correspondence in the order of this Byzantine passage with that of the poem referred to by Dr. Reeves in the " Codex Maelbrighte " is most interesting. In the old Irish poem, we jead : ON THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. Petty are (all) the forms save God's form. Not a form which served one complexion. Auburn hair of three locks had He, And a beard red, very long : The form of Peter the apostle, the great champion, His pure hair was bright gray. Fair (and) discreet (?) the happy man : Rough, very short his beard. Paul the apostle, delightful his visage, With hair very beautiful, fawn-coloured. Until his comrades cut it short Paul's beard was truly long. James (and) Andrew the comrades, Fair their hairs, long their beard. Dear, great deacons were the pair. Both James and Andrew. John of the bosom, dear God's fosterling, Brown was his hair indeed. The . . . was calm, loveable. He was a young beardless. . . Philip, a long beard on him. And a red visage with excellence. Red hair above a short beard On Bartholomew the sweet-prayered. SCULPTURE. IS (^urly black hair on Matthew's head. Without ... of a tyrant's beard. Curly hair on Thaddeus without disgracp- A beard equally long, equally full. James the kneed, with a pure voice, Son of Alpheus, who was not merciless. Gray hair on James all, And a light-yellow beard. Thomas, choice of form (was) his form, Brown-curly his hair, not uncertain. There was no blemish to my comrade ; Rough, short (was) his pure beard. Fair hair on Simon noble, slender, And a skin all white, very tight, And a beard jet-black, ciirly, A ruddy face, a very blue eye. John of the Baptism was not poor : Brown his beard, brown his hair. The forms of the men slender, tall. Meseems they are not very petty.* The date of this second old Irish poem is said to be about A.D. 1 130, and we see that there is a variation from the Byzantine to the Latin type in many instances ; thus John is no longer to be represented as an aged man, but as we are accustomed to see him in Art of a later date, young and fair and gentle. Another instance may be brought forward of the light shed upon obscure and incomprehensible forms in our early Art by passages in our ancient literature. We find the Irish version of the lion cub legend, so often illustrated on our monuments in the Speckled Book (" Lebor Brecc "), p. 167b, lines 63-68. It is as follows : " Jacob, son of Isaac, was the first who prophesied when he * See " Revue Celtique," torn. viii. p. 351. 1 6 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. was foretelling of his son, to wit of Judah, and said: 'This is what I deem Judah like,' saith Jacob, ' to wit, a lion's whelp, what, who shall rouse him up?' For this is the peculiarity of that whelp, that it is three days in death immediately after its birth. And the male lion comes to it, and puts his breath round it, and roars over it with a great voice, and then raises up the whelp to life. Thus then arose Christ from the dead, through the might of the Heavenly Father." In this passage we find the explanation of a hitherto incompre- hensible group on a panel of one of the crosses in the churchyard of Kells, Co. Meath ; it also occurs on a stone at Dunfallandy in Perthshire, and in the space above the arm of the cross at Shand- wick in Ross-shire, Scotland. How greatly the interest of this incident is increased when we recognise the same symbol taken by Giotto from the " Physiologus," and used by him to signify the raising of man from the dead ! The Irish passage in the MS. of the " Speckled Book " is evidently an extract from some such work as " Physiologus " or a Bestiaire, and in the writings of Isidore we find the following explanation of it : "When the lioness has brought forth the cub she is said to sleep during three days, until by the sound of the father's roar, which causes her sleeping place as it were to tremble, she rouses the sleeping cub : so Christ when he has given us birth upon the cross, slept during three days until the great movement of the earth was made, and he was roused in the blessed Resurrection, so when the three days were ended — from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Moses, from Moses to the Maccabees — at that time came the father of all, Christ, who breathes by his sacred teaching into their faces and brings them to life." In the history of the origin and development of our icono- graphy, it seems clear that we must follow the clue given us by Mr. John Evans in the first chapter of his description of the early British coins. In the early coinages of Gaul and Britain we find that the successive copyists of some fine Greek or Roman SCULPTURE. 17 original, departing farther and farther from the spirit and form of the prototypes, at last developed typical forms which are intelligible only when the series of steps by which the degraded form was reached have been demonstrated. So it was with the stone-cutters in the East of Scotland, and in Ireland with the miniature-painters also. Their work, where they attempt the human figure, is the degenerate form whose prototype may be traced back to the first Christian sarcophagi, or the earliest Byzan- tine painting. Rude as are these Irish and Scottish versions of the old stereotyped subjects of early Christian Art, they are not half so wide a departure from their prototypes as is the British coin found at Pickering, in Yorkshire, in 1853, from the coin of Philip the Second of Macedon to which Mr. Evans has traced its origin. " It is diiiicult," he observes, " to imagine more bar- barous art than is found on this coin ; nor can we well conceive a type in which the noble laureate head and biga, on the Macedonian prototype, are more completely degenerated, and indeed entirely forgotten, than in this with which the series I have attempted to describe concludes." The usual variations from the prototype in the series of British and Gaulish coins alluded to are as follows : The face has been to some measure preserved, but vulgarised ; the outline of the head has been destroyed, the hair convention- alised, reduced to a formal system of lines, the front locks appear as three open crescents, the curls and laurel-wreath are reduced to a meaningless symmetrical pattern, while a hook stands for the beautiful curve of the ear. On the reverse, the biga has entirely disappeared, while the four horses have melted into one. The original was probably seen by the Gauls when Brennus plundered Greece, b.c. 279. And for four centuries after, copies more and more degraded were multiplied as the type travelled northward, till all resemblance to the original disappeared. As the prototypes of Christian subjects on the Scottish stones, PART. II. c 1 8 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Mr. Anderson has brought forward examples drawn from the Vatican Codex, from sarcophagi at Aries, at Ravenna, and at Velletri, of such purely Christian subjects as Daniel in the lions' den, the raising of Lazarus, the destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, the ascension of Elijah ; and we see them in his pages and illustrations brought, as it were, face to face with their rude and, hitherto, incomprehensible copies on the High Crosses at Kells and Moone Abbey in Ireland, and at lona, and on the stone at S. Vigean's, or on that brought to Abbotsford from Woodwray, on a sculptured stone at St, Andrew's, and others at Dunkeld and Meigle. The Ark of Noah is seen occasionally grouped with the representation of the Temptation, as it appears on a sarcophagus at Velletri (Fig. 60), and Mr. Anderson compares this with the Ark on the High Cross of Kells and adds: " The sculptor of the Irish cross, while adhering to the traditional elements of the conventional group — a box, a man, and a dove — departed from the earlier mode of expression by making the box in the form of a galley, with a high-curved prow and stern, and with windows in its sides (Fig. 61). The vessel is shown riding on the waves, the head of Noah only is visible, and the dove appears resting on the side. The variation in the form of expression is great, but the essential elements of the group are present, and recognisable." * The iconography, so far as it has as yet been deciphered, of the High Crosses of Ireland, embraces a variety of subjects carved in the panels of the following crosses : Monasterboice (South-East Cross).t The Fall of Man ; Expulsion from Eden ; Adam delves and Eve spins ; Cain kills Abel; The Worship of the Magi, with its type, the Three Warriors before David; Michael and Satan at the Weighing of Souls ; The Crucifixion and Last Judgment. These sub- jects occupy nine out of twenty-two panels, the subjects of the remaining thirteen being yet unexplained. • See "Scotland in Early Christian Times," 2nd Series, J. Anderson. t See Frontispiece. SCULPTURE. 19 Monasterboice (West Cross). Crucifixion, with its type, the Sacrifice of Isaac ; The Empty Tomb guarded by sleeping Soldiers, with the types of the Descent into Hell, Samson with Lion and Bear, David with Goliath ; Christ in Glory. These six subjects are the only ones that have been ex- plained out of the twenty -four panels on this monument. Clomnacnois (North Cross). Twenty-four subjects in panels, twelve of which have been deciphered. Facing west : Betrayal and Seizure of Christ; Crucifixion, and Tomb guarded by Soldiers. East face: The Resurrection, or Christ in Glory; Musicians; Last Judgment ; Trum- peters to right, con. demned to the left; The Mission to the FIG. 62.— HIGH CROSS OF DDRROW. 20 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. FIG. 63.— HIGH CROSS OP MUREDACH, MONASTERBOICE. Ap OS ties. On sides: Christ spear- ing Satan; David; The Hand of the Father ap- pearing from Clouds. Clonmacnois- (South Cross). On west face, the Cruci- fixion, with Lance and Sponge. Tuam Cross.. Crucifixion on one side; figure of a Bishop on the other; a funeral pro- cession, ap- parently, on the reverse. Killa niery. Crucifixion, on west side ; in panel, a chariot wheel (that of Elijah), type of the Resur- rection. SCULPTURE. Dunnamaggan. Crucifixion on west side ; Sun, Moon, and Stars on the east side ; figure of a Bishop with long crosier at each side. KilkUspem. Six Bishops with crosier getting their mission from an ecclesiastic. On side of base, a chariot. Ullard. I St Cross. Crucifixion in centre, and its type, the Sacrifice of Isaac, on right arm of the Cross, with David and his Harp on the left ; Peter and Paul above ; Demons oiibo m'D.elbucK-ucnoNchubiJm-DOHcuj FIG. 64— UASE OF THE HIGH CROSS, TUAM. below. On the 2nd Cross, the Crucifixion, and panels filled with interlacings ; and on the 3rd Cross of Ullard we find the Fall of Man, and the Crucifixion, with its type, the Sacrifice of Isaac. Tcrmon Fechin. Crucifixion, with Lance and Sponge, on the east side, and Christ in Glory on the west. Moone Abbey. Twenty subjects in panels, seven of which have been explained : The Fall of Man ; The Crucifixion, and its type, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Twelve Apostles below ; The Flight into Egypt, and idols ; the types 22 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. of Christ's Temptation and Descent into Hell; Daniel among Lions, and the Three Holy Children. A fish like a dolphin is over the head of Christ. Kells. I St Cross. On this Cross, which is dedicated to the memory of Patrick and Columba, there are eleven panels. FIG. 65. — HEAD OK TITAM CROSS. seven subjects in which have been identified : The Fall of Man ; Cain and Abel ; and the four types of the Tempta- tion of Christ and the Descent into Hell, viz., David and Lion ; Samson and Lion ; David among Lions, and Three Holy Children. Kells. 2nd Cross. Ten subjects in panels, four of which have SCULPTURE. 23 Kells. been explained as Noah in the Ark, and the Baptism of Christ ; Adam and Eve ; The Fall of Man, and the Cruci- fixion. (This Cross is unfinished, see O'Neil, pp. 10, 11.) 3rd Cross. Twenty subjects in panels, eight of which have been explained : on east side, the Fall of Man ; Cain and Abel ; The Crucifixion, with its type, Sacrifice of Isaac. On the west side, the central figure is doubtful. It may be Daniel, or it may be that the animals are the Evangelical symbols in the midst of which Christ stands in glory ; The Death of St. Peter ; David with Lion and Bear ; Jacob wrestling with an Angel \ on the side, David and Goliath. addition to those crosses, whose iconography has been thus far deciphered, there still remain twenty-two crosses upon our list, the subjects in the panels of which have not yet been described or illustrated. A list of these monuments may be here given : Kilkieran Arboe ... Armagh Kilcullen... Banagher Dromore ... Newtownards Drumcliff In Delgany ... Cong Castledermot TuUagh ... St. Kieran's Cross Blessington Donaghmore Lisnock ... Killeany ... Roscrea ... King's Court Drumgoolan Cashel Durrow Co. Kilkenny. Co. Tyrone. Co. Armagh. Co. Kildare, Co. Kilkenny. Co. Down. Co. Down. Co. Sligo. Co. Wicklow. Co. Galway. Co. Kildare. Co. Dublin. Aran Island, Co. Galway Co. Wicklow. Monaghan. Meath. Aran, Co. Galway. Co. Tipperary. Wicklow. Co. Down. Co. Tipperary. King's County. The subjects most commonly met with in Scotland on sculptured crosses of the same type as the Irish, are St. Michael 24 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. spearing the Dragon ; St. Michael weighing Souls, with Satan putting his hand in the scale ; the Fall of Man, the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, the Miracle of Healing the Blind, the Betrayal, Crucifixion, Ascension of our Lord, the Last Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Death, and the Trinity, which last is symbolised by three globes or circles, or else by the figure of God the Father holding the crucified Son, above whose head the dove is restmg. It is strange to find a scene from the " Dance of Death," upon a carved stone in the churchyard of Soroby in the island of Tiree, or to see, upon a cross in the island in Harris, angels carrying souls through the air, and poor sinners torn to pieces in hell after the manner of the resurrection angels and death demons of the Campo Santo at Pisa. Of course, when we bring these rude images, found among our islands, face to face, even in thought, with the finest examples of the treatment of the same subjects in Italian Art of the best style, it is difficult to realise that there can be any connection between them, although the resemblance is most striking when we compare them with the rude carvings on such old buildings as San Michele in Pavia, or the cathedral of Freiburg in Breisgau. It seems strange that, upon these Christian monuments of Great Britain and Ireland, we should find associated with the symbols of Crucifixion and of Judgment, scenes from royal pro- cessions, chariots, horsemen, hunting scenes, stags at bay, and other such mundane delights as to us seem out of place beside the sacred form of the dying or the risen Saviour. Can it be that such scenes are meant to represent heaven and the joys of the life to come, as they were pictured in the fancy of the Irish or Scottish Christian artist ? These eyes will find The men I knew, and watch the chariot whit; About the goal again, and hunters race The shadowy lion, and the warrior kings, In height and prowess more than human, stiive Again for glory, while the golden lyre Is ever sounding in heroic ears. SCULPTURE. 25 We know that, in other instances, pagan forms and ideas lived on in the Christian Art of these islands long after they had died out elsewhere ; and it seems quite possible that these groups of huntsmen, animals, trumpeters, and harpers found on Irish and Scottish monuments may belong to visions of a future state re- sembling that of Tennyson's seer. Before we leave the subject of the sculptured and inscribed stones of Ireland, it may be well to compare the Art of the Irish schools with that of the Scotch, the so-called Anglo-Saxon, the Manx, and the Welsh sculptured stones. In all, we do indeed find the same ornamental material used, interlacings, trumpet patterns, diagonal patterns, serpents, etc.; but this similarity in detail proves nothing further than intercommunication. So total a dissimilarity of spirit and feeling for Art exists in the works of these different countries, that it becomes impossible to conceive their productions as belonging to the same school. It would be difficult to iind two works of art more different in character than the simple form of the Cross of Ualla in Clonmacnois, and the barbarous extravagance of the Scotch slab at Halkirk in Caithness. Something more than archaeology is required to perceive this. To the mere archaeologist, antiquity is everything, and Art nothing ; but the mind of the great man who founded the Irish school of archceology, George Petrie, was one of wider grasp, and such a mind as his is required to perceive the qualities which form the essential elements of the individuality of Irish Art. It is not in the quantity, it is not even in the nature of ornamental detail, that true merit lies ; it is in its use, and in that indefinable quality which, for want of a better word, we term feeling. It is unreasonable to call sculpture, however perfect, which is merely encrusted on an object, ornament. Decoration is beautiful only when found in its right place, when adding to the effect of the fundamental form to be adorned ; and when held in subordina- tion and subjection to the primary idea, a noble reserve of power is felt to exist, which comes forth at the right time, and in the 26 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. right place, to aid in the expression of the essential elements of the subject, emphasizing its important points, and adding clearness to the beauty of its outline. To take an illustration from another art, we find that a great musician may lead the simplest theme through labyrinths of delightful sound, and the thread of melody is never lost ; while the inferior artist loses it irt torrents of notes. Redundance without self-restraint in all things leads to failure, and there is no delight in beauty which will not lose its freshness unless wisely governed. In the practice of all Art, Shakespeare's words should be our guide: "But use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness." It is in such qualities that the Manx, Welsh, and some of the Scottish stones are so deficient, as compared with the work upon the sepulchral slabs of Clonmacnois, and Durrow, and other Christian cemeteries in Ireland ; and the conclusion our experience would point to is that such Art out of Ireland belongs to much the same date as that seen in this country, but is in no essential element Irish, and merely belongs to a style which overspread the three countries in the ninth and tenth centuries, and which attained a more beautiful result in Ireland, because in the hand's of a people possessed of a fine artistic instinct. REFERENCES TO SCULPTURE. The sculptured crosses and inscribed tombstones of Ireland have been described and illustrated in the following works : Petrie, "Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language."" Dublin, 1872. For Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. O'Neil, "Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland." London^ 1857- SCULPTURE. 27 Samuel Ferguson, " Photographs from Ogham Casts " {Transactions, Royal Irish Academy), Vol. xxvii. George Du Noyer, '* Sketches for Ordnance Survey." Memoir 24, D. 27. Library, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. Sir Samuel Ferguson, "Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland and Wales." Edinburgh: Douglas, 18S7. CHAPTER 11. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE, FIG. 00. HE rise and development of Christian architecture in Ireland cannot be understood without some knowledge of the buildings erected by her inhabitants before the introduction of Christianity. It is evident from still existing remains, that the first monks merely adopted the method of building then practised among the natives, and these early traditions give an archaic character to the architecture of the country down to a comparatively late date. The first builders of Ireland whose monuments still bear witness to their labours were the dolmen or cromlech builders. These primitive people appear to have advanced so far as to erect megalithic monuments built with stones of great weight ; to shape, polish, and sharpen tools of flint and stone. The fact that they celebrated funereal rites in tombs of imposing grandeur, with cremation and sometimes even urn-burial, bears witness to a comparatively advanced religious condition. They formed axes, chisels, gouges, daggers, knives, and spearheads in flint, and hammers, discs, and axes of stone, while deposits of such objects, along with strings of shells and amber, were laid in their tombs, perhaps as propitiatory offerings. Besides this first industry, the manufacture of tools, there is evidence of the use of fire for BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 29 boiling and baking food and for shaping and burning pottery, as well as the rearing of domestic animals and culture of cereals. It cannot be proved that any sculpture, however rude, or any ornament whatever, was attempted by the dolmen builders of Ireland. There is a marked difference in the general aspect of the dolmens of Ireland as we advance from the east to the west. Those in the east are of much greater size than those in the west. Thus, in Leinster, the roofing stones of the cromlech vary in length from 18 to 29 ft., and their weight is on an average no tons; in Ulster, the average length of the roofing stone is- 25 ft., while in Connaught the average length is 8 to 10 ft., and in Munster from 7 to 14 ft This gradual degeneration of the type in Ireland as we travel westward across the island, would lead us to surmise that the dolmen builders, who have left still finer monuments in Britain and on the Continent, reached the Irish' shores from the east, the stream of emigration pressing westward till its final arrest on the Atlantic coast. We have records more or less complete of the excavations made in twenty-three of the dolmens of Ireland, fourteen kistvaens, and twelve tumuli. Bones have been discovered beneath each of these dolmens examined, but urns have only been found in four instances ; flint arrow-heads, stone hatchets, sling-stones, rings of shale and jet, had been buried with these bones. Where urns have been found, as at Cloughmore, in Down, they are enclosed in a chamber, sometimes 8 ft. long by 3 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide. Traces of urn-burial have been found in every tumulus that has been as yet excavated in Ireland. From a hundred and fifty to two hundred urns were disinterred in the tombs on Rath-hill, near Drogheda, all filled with burnt bones ; a flint arrow-head and bone pin was found near one. Occasionally, as at Loughanmore, the urns are upside down, the ashes lying beneath ; a large urn in the centre and sttialler ones disposed around. In many instances 30 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. these urns are very beautiful in form and delicately ornamented. They were sometimes placed upon the lap of the deceased ; thus in a tomb within a tumulus at TuUy-druid a human skeleton sitting and holding an urn was discovered. Again, at Dysart in Westmeath, another seated figure facing N.E., with an urn in its lap, was found in a tomb with a paved floor strewn with burned human bones and fragments of baked clay. The skeleton was well preserved ; his skull showed that he belonged to a long- headed race. These dolmens are sometimes surrounded by circles of upright stones, which circles measure from 150 ft. in diameter to 160 ft. The tumuli or dome-roofed sepulchres of Ireland are many degrees in advance of the dolmens. They are built without cement, and betray the same ignorance of the principle of the arch as is common to the primitive builders in all countries. The urns found in them are of great size, and often of stone ; but that which marks these monuments as wholly distinct from the dolmens, is the decoration carved upon their walls. The tumuli in which we find such carvings are the royal cemeteries of Newgrange, Dowth, Teltoun, and Rathkenny. Both walls and roof are covered with incised patterns ; these are cups, and circles, groups of concentric circles, spirals, half-moons, zig-zags, tenons, semicircles, lozenges, rhomboids, dots, stars, and leaves with stem and veinings. These cuttings are executed with chisel and scraper, or often with a punch or pick. These tumuli are mentioned in the Annals of Ireland as regal cemeteries, whereas there is no historic legend connected with the dolmens. It would be well, however, to gather all the superstitions and fairy tales connected with such monuments throughout Europe, since it is quite possible that comparative mythology might cast some light upon their origin. In Ireland the following traditions exist in connection with such monuments : 1, That they are the tombs of men killed on the field of battle. 2. That the isolated dolmens are the tombs of heroes. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 31 3. That they are giants' graves. 4. That they mark the grave or bed of a mythical cow, Glas Gavlin. 5. That the dolmen is the tomb of a wild huntsman. 6. That the dolmen is the grave of a famous hound. 7. Circles of stones are a group of fairy pipers turned to stone.* The most common tradition in Ireland, and particularly in the county of Galway, is that the dolmen or cromlech sheltered the lovers Dermod and Grania, who, flying before the Avenger's face, rested in caves and grottoes, on beds of fern and moss, or within the chambers beneath the roofing stone of the cromlech. Among the drawings of dolmens in the Petrie Collection, we find one which looks like a transition from a primitive type. It is the dolmen of Gleneask, at Tyreragh, in the county of Sligo. In this instance the roofing stone does not rest simply on its three upright pillars ; relieving stones have been inserted, one of which measures 8 ft. in length. This is a remarkable indication of an early effort at building proper, a link between the tomb formed of one greaf' roofing stone raised on pillars and the domed roof of the cave tomb ; such a link as we might expect to find if the dolmens of Ireland are of a later date than elsewhere in Europe, since it is because of the more recent date of consecutive styles in this country that such links are discoverable, indications of transition that have been lost in the vaster tracts of time covered by the archeology of other races. Among the various designs which compose the decoration of the walls of these tumuli, sucn as New Grange, are many which, though inferior in execution, ruder in design, yet seem but repetitions of similar decorations in the cave tombs of Malta and other islands in the Mediterranean. It is worthy of note that the one design by which the bronzes of the late Celtic period are * See Transactions of the Ossi-anic Society, vol. iii. p. 185. Joyce, "Old Celtic Romances," p. 25. Sir T. Ferguson, " Lays of the Western Gael," p. 57. 32 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. characterised in the British Islands is never found in the tumuli. We refer to the double divergent spiral, or trumpet pattern — already described at page 73, Part I. It yet remains to decide the date of this design in Ireland. In Britain it seems to have flourished from two centuries before the Christian era to the time of the Roman occupation, but whether it is later in Ireland may still be questioned. It certainly lingered much longer in this country than elsewhere, and works in metal marked by it may belong to a period bordering on that of the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, i.e. the third century. As we have observed, there is no connection between such decorative Art as that which is characterised by this design, and that of the tumuli builders, yet we do see this design in an early and tentative form on carved bones found at Slieve-na-Calliaghe, as well as upon the sides of a stone cist at Clover Hill, in the county of Sligo. Again, there are two distinct modifications of this design found on- the monuments of Ireland, one appearing on the bronze and gold ornaments of apparently pre-Christian Art, the other on decidedly Christian monuments down to the eleventh and twelfth centuries ; and there are two pillar-stones in Kerry whence we may trace a transition from the one to the other — from the pre-Christian form to that found in the Christian MSS., shrines, etc. These stones belong to the first Christian period in Ireland ; one bears a bilingual inscription — half in Ogham, half in Roman letters. There seems little reason to doubt that the Ogham character prevailed in Ireland about the transition period, from paganism to the introduction of Christianity in the third and fourth centuries^ and remained in use for some time after the introduction of the Roman letter.* * The formation of Ogham letters consists in groups of incised lines and dots along a stem line. The consonants are formed by incised lines from three BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 33 Stones thus inscribed are found in burial-places unconnected with churches, old pagan cemeteries which continued to be used in Christian times and by a Christian people. But in Ireland they are also found in a class of building which seems certainly to have been of pagan origin, and that is the Earth-house or subterranean treasure-house. In fourteen instances with which we are acquainted, Ogham mscriptions are found on the walls of these earth-houses. No signs of interments appear to have been found in any of the buildings to which these inscriptions belong ; no human remains, charcoal, or pottery were discovered in them. It appears to be the case with the earth-houses of Ireland as with those of Scotland, that there is no indication of Christianity in connection with them ; and, in Scotland, the discovery of wheel-made pottery of Roman type, and fragments of red lustrous ware called Samian, with querns, and implements of iron, bronze armlets decorated with the trumpet pattern, all indicate a period between that of the Roman occupation of Britain and the establishment of Christianity. It is to this late Celtic period that we would assign the erec- tion of the first great non-sepulchral buildings of Ireland. This period extended from two hundred years before the birth of Christ, to the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. Ireland is remarkable for the number and variety of Celtic bronzes, looped spear-heads, ferules, socketed celts, trumpets, horns, etc. A people who brought these industries to such perfection, may well have been the builders of such vast fortresses as those of Diin Aengus, Diin Conor, and Murvey Mil in Aran Mdr. These stone forts or Diins are found on the western shores of the counties of Kerry, Clare, Galway, Sligo, while occasional to five inches in length when above and below the stem line, and from four to seven inches when across the same ; these last are sometimes vertical to the stem line, sometimes oblique. The vowels are formed by strong, oval, and sometimes round dots, on the angle or stem. PART H. D 34 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. examples of them also occur in Mayo, Donegal, and Antrim. Twenty-four such buildings were examined by Lord Dunraven on the west coast of Ireland, seven of which were in the islands of Aran. These forts are amphitheatres, encircled by outer walls, rather than towers. They are either oval or circular buildings, enclosing an area of from 227 to 142 ft., with external lines of walls protecting this inner keep, enclosing a space in some cases 1,174 ft. in diameter. For a period so primitive, and at a time when cemented and tool-dressed masonry was unknown, the construction of these walls is marvellously fine. Without mortar of any kind, they are raised in such compact and close-fitting masses, that they have been enabled to endure the wind and rain of many centuries. Built of stones, varying in magnitude according to the districts in which they are found, but often of great size, each wall consists of a central core of rough rubble, faced on both sides by stones, carefully chosen and laid so as to produce an even surface. Three such structures, thus composed of a rubble centre and faced in dry walling, form a triple, compact mass, usually 18 ft. in thickness and 20 ft. in height. In many cases vertical jointings are observable in these walls, a circumstance that suggests the idea of the work having been portioned out in lots to the labourers. It seems as if the wall had been built in short lengths, each completed independently of the other, and such a method would resemble that which the French term building in pares. TheK^; the stones which are fixed as headers are tilted downwards towards the face of the wall, so as to draw off the moisture from the joints. These details, along with the existence of regular doorways, at once raise these forts to the rank of "buildings," and place them far above the ordinary camps and strongholds of the Britons, the entrances to which are but gaps in the bank. In these door- ways, which are all formed with inclined sides and horizontal BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 35 lintels, we see, as at Staigue Fort and Diin Aengus, that the weight of the superstructure is thrown off the lintel by means of a still D 2 36 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. wider stone placed a layer or two above it ; and at Diin Aengus a vertical line, formed by a projection of the portion of the wall around the doorway, seems to have been intended to follow and mark out its outline, as did the architrave in apertures of a later date. These doorways vary in depth from i6 to 27 ft., and are roofed by a series of stone slabs from 6 to 8 ft. in length. In some cases, a reveal in the centre of the passage shows that it was occasionally furnished with double doors, which were also fastened with bolts, or rather bars of wood, the holes for the reception of which may still be seen. The door is sometimes approached by a passage between two walls formed of long stones set upright. And the approach to the outworks is defended by stones set on end, so as to form a kind of chevaux-de-frise, or labyrinth, in the effort to penetrate which, any body of men must become scattered and their lines broken. Platforms, offsets, or banquettes ran along the inner sides of the walls, to which four, and sometimes even ten, independent flights of steps gave access. Passages and dome-roofed chambers occur in the thickness of the walls, and in the inner area of the fortress little round huts with conical roofs, or long ones like upturned boats, are found constructed in clusters. These huts with conical roofs or domes are formed in a manner universally adopted by early races in all periods of the history of man and in various portions of the globe, where stone was available, before the knowledge of the principle of the arch had reached them. The dome is formed by the projection of one stone beyond another till the walls meet in one flag at the apex. This system, along with certain resemblances in masonry, has caused our antiquaries to apply the terms Cyclopean and Pelasgic to such structures, while the resemblance is purely accidental, arising from the condition of the builders' knowledge, and a certain similarity in the geological formation of the districts where such buildings were found. Among the earliest architectural remains found at Hissarlik by Schliemann, the walls, though of BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 37 massive construction, so far as their thickness and solidity are concerned, have no resemblance to Cyclopean structures ; but are composed of stones of moderate size, with the interstices filled with clay. This difference may be accounted for by the fact that the soft tertiary limestone of the hill of Hissarlik is totally unsuited to such massive work, and so in Ireland it may be questioned whether the art of stone building in certain districts throughout the country did not occasionally arise from the abundance of stone and scarcity of earth, while in other places, where stones were not available without quarrying, we find earthen forts, raths, and embankments. These duns or forts are held to belong to the culminating epoch of the heroic legendary period immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity, and are associated with the adventures of Aengus and Conor and Muirbhech Mil, of Fergus and Cuchulain, heroes of the Firbolg '■ace. They may have been in existence two centuries or more before the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, but at all events they appear to have continued in use after the introduction of Christianity ; and many instances are recorded in the Lives of the Saints, of a king or chieftain, on his conversion to Christianity, offering to God his diin or fortress, so that the missionary and his followers might erect their little cells and oratory within the area of the amphitheatre. The house of Conall, brother of the king of Meath, was given up to St. Patrick upon the occasion of its master's conversion, and the church of Donaghpatrick at Tailtenn was built upon that site. The fortress of Dun Lughaidh was also given up to St. Patrick when the lord of the country and his four brothers and father were baptized, and the church of Kilbennan was founded within its walls.* The Cathair or stone fortress of Aodh Finn, the son of Feargna, chieftain of Breifny, was given up to St. Caillen that he might erect his monastic buildings within it, and the interior of the fortress of Muirbheach Mil, the Firbolg chief, in * See the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick." 38 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the island of Aran, is now occupied by the remains of the primitive cells of the first Christian converts.* With these facts before us it is easy to see how the first Christian architecture in Ireland was developed from the pagan. It would appear that the monks adopted the method of building then practised by the natives before the introduction of Chris- tianity, gradually making such modifications in form as their difference of purpose and some traditional usage required. Within the stone fort, now become Christian, or the Cashel, built in imitation of it, the first Christians found shelter for their little oratories, their round beehive huts, their wells, gardens, and leachta, or burial-grounds — or leaba-jia-fnarabhan, beds of the dead, as they are called, where the practice of the primitive Irish Church was a transition from the primitive pagan practice of raising a circle of upright stones, for they enclosed a green oblong space with pillar-stones set close together, each stone of the enclosure being marked with a cross. The oratories of this period, and within these cashels, are angular, oblong structures^ with walls either sloping in a curve towards the roof, or built irn steps, and often formed like upturned boats. They measure on an average 14 ft. long by 9 ft. wide^ and 12 ft. high. It seems probable that in these rude buildings we find the germs of what in after times developed into characteristic features of churches belonging to a more advanced age and style. Thus, it is possible that the plinth, from which both tower and church are seen to rise, may have originated in the retention of the first step which forms the base of the rude oratory ; also the projec- tions in front of the door at each side, evidently meant for shelter, may have given rise to the deep pilasters at the corners of the east and west walls of the later churches. The projecting stones in the corners and roofs of these monastic cells — like brackets — originally meant as supports for scaffolding, were after- wards retained as ornamental features like gargoyles at the corners of the buildings. • See " Trias Thaum.," p. 204. " Life of St. Benen," Colgan. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 39 FIG. 68.— GROUND l-LAN UF MONASTERY, INISMURRAY, ^s'^fS^fej: rife, ; f FIG. 69. — ORATORY, GALLARUS. There is, besides, one feature in these oratories which marks the beginning of Christian architectural decoration. Over the 40 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. doorway five or seven quartz stones, rounded and waterworn, whose whiteness tells in strong contrast to the dark slate of which the walls are often built, are set in the form of a cross. As time went on the rude form of the oratory, resembling an upturned boat, was changed to that of an ark. In a representation of the Temple of Jerusalem, as it was conceived by the scribe of the "Book of Kells" in the seventh century, we have an image of this early type as it appeared externally — an oblong, rectangular building with a high-pitched FIG. 70. — DOORWAY OF ORATORY, SENACH'S ISLAND. roof and finials on the gables, such as still are found in parts of Ireland, near the buildings, from the roofs of which they have fallen. It is not only the old traditional form of the ark, in which the Church was rescued from the flood, but also of the shrine in early Christian Art, in which the relics of the dead were entombed. It has always remained the form of the mor- tuary chapel and often of the tomb itself in Ireland. Indeed, in such places as Clonmacnois, most of the small churches grouped together within the cemetery were mortuary chapels, such as Temple Kelly, Temple McLaughlin, and others belonging to the kings of Hy Many, Moylurg, and North and South Munster. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 41 FIG. 71. — DOORWAY OF ORATORY, ST. FINAN. FIG. 72. — GROUND I'l.AN, MONASTERY OF SENACH. 42 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, Mr. Fergusson has shown us, it will be remembered, how the circular churches of Romanesque architecture are also derived: from the tomb, such as that of Cecilia Metella, or Sta. Helena,* Rome. A mistaken idea has long prevailed as to the situation of these early monastic establishments in Ireland. It has been thought that their traces are only to be found on the smaller uninhabited and inaccessible islands off the west coast, whereas the mountain tops, and the islands in the mountain tarns of Ireland, offer just as striking examples of anchorite establishments as do her western islands. Slieve Donard, Slieve GuUion, Slieve Liag, Brandon Mountain in Kerry, are still crowned by the beehive cells and cashels of SS. Domangart, Aed, Brendan, while m Lough Lee in Kerry, and in Gougane Barra in Cork, the hermitages of St. Finan and St. Finbar may still be seen. St. Finan is supposed to have also been the founder of the monastery on the Skelligs, the " St. Michael's Rock " of Ireland. This rock rises perpendicularly out of the sea to a great height. It stands twelve miles from the nearest land out in the Atlantic Ocean, and on a ledge or platform of the summit of one shoulder, the monastery was erected. It is approached from a landing- place on the north-east side. There are still remaining six hundred steps cut by the monks in the cliff, which rises to 720 ft. above the level of the sea, the lower part of this ascent being now broken away. The island has been the scene of annual pilgrimages for many centuries, and the service of the Way of the Cross is still remembered here ; different points and turnings in the cliffs being named after the different stations, such as the Garden of the Passion, Christ's Saddle, the Stone of Pain, the Rock of Woman's Wailing, etc. The plateau occupied by the monastic buildings is about I So ft. in length, and from 80 ft. to 100 ft. in width. These buildings consist of the church of St. Michael, two smaller • " Hist. Architecture," vol. i. pp. 319, 321, 3S1. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 43 I [fig. 73. — WAY UK lllK CROSS, SKELLIG MlCHrtEl., 44 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. oratories, and six cells or beehive dwelling-houses, two holy welk and five ieachta, or burial-grounds, with many rude stone crosses. They are all enclosed by a cashel or wall running along the edge of the precipice, which in its whole character strongly resembles the wall of Staigue Fort on the mainland. " It is astonishing," writes Lord Dunraven, " to conceive the courage and skill of the builders of this fine wall, placed as it is on the very edge of the precipice, at a vast height above the sea, with no possible standing ground outside the wall from which the builders could have worked ; yet the face is as perfect as that of Staigue Fort, the interstices of the greater stones filled in with smaller ones, all fitted as compactly, and with as marvellous firmness and skill." * STONE CHURCHES WITH CEMENT. The transition from the dry wall and undressed masonry, to the cemented walls and dressed stones of the later buildings, in which picked and chiselled work is visible, took place in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. The cement first used, especially in buildings on the sea-coast, was largely composed of shells and sea-sand, while, inland, a compound of mud and gravel was used. The walls were first dry built, the composition poured in a liquid state upon the top of the walls and allowed to filtrate downwards ; later on, the wall was well built with two faces and a rubble core grouted in a similar manner ; while, in the time of Cormac O'Cillen, circa. 950, we have the stones well bedded in good mortar. The archaic and massive character of this masonry, especially in the limestone districts, is very striking. The great stones, varying from 10 and even 17 ft, to 8 or 6 ft. in length, are often found dove-tailed and fitted into one another, and polygonal masonry often appears in cornpany with ashlar, while ashlar is * See " Notes on Irish Architecture," vol i. p. 30. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 4!f FIG. 74.— GROCND PLAN OF MONASTERY, SKELLIG MICHAEL. 75.— MONASTIC CELL, SKELLIG MICHAEL. 46 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. seen occasionally superimposed by rubble, and wide-jointed, irregular courses of stone. The fact that masonry so archaic in character is seen in •company with sectional and surface mouldings, as in Temple Martin, Temple Cronan, and St. Dervila's Church, Banagher and Maghera in the Co. Londonderry, is a phenomenon which could ^ > iV FIG. 76. — DOORWAY OF KILCRONY CHURCH. -only occur in a country where the chisel had been long in use, and the progress of sculpture, with still ruder tools, from its beginnings in the works of the primitive tomb builders, had been uninterrupted. The features by which these churches are characterised are the doorways with a great horizontal lintel stone and inclined jambs, a round-headed east window, the arch being scooped out of the stone, or pointed, the top being formed of two stones laid so as to m.ake two sides of an equilateral triangle. They have BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE, 47 PtG. 77, — WINDOW IN ST. CAIMIN S CHURCH. FIG. 78. — DOORWAY OF TEMPLE MARTIN, KERRY. 48 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. pilasters running up the east and west wall, brackets, a projection at the junction of the roof and wall, and are raised upon a plinth. At first these churches consisted of but one chamber, and the chancels, where they now occur, are not bonded into the nave, but are evidently additions of a later period. The earliest form of the chancel arch is without imposts. The arch consists of a single sweep or soffit only, no subarch and no moulding or even chamfer, but the voussoirs are dressed and fitted with skill. A projecting unsquared block of stone, inserted between the top of the shaft and the spring of the arch in the rude church of Kilmacduach in Aran, is the first indication we have met of an impost being thought desirable ; then we have, a little later on, imposts with chamfered edges, about 6 in. high, but only pro- jecting 2 in., and in some cases the arch is set back from the jambs from which it springs, a peculiarity which is represented in an arch in the " Book of Kells," and such as may be seen in the church of Weir on the island in the Orkneys. The transition from the false to the true arch is marked by such buildings as the church on Friar's Island near Killaloe, and St. Columba's at Kells, and St. Kevin's at Glendalough. These, which all appear to be about the same date, were erected about 807, when we read, in the " Chronicum Scotorum," that the new establishment of Columcille at Kells was in process of erection. These buildings were sometimes roofed with shingles, but solid stone roofs were not uncommon, and in the case of St. Kevin's Church, Glendalough, to which we have already alluded, a small round tower springs from the roof. ECCLESIASTICAL ROUND TOWERS, In the beginning of this century it was found that 118 of these circular ecclesiastical towers of Ireland were still in existence. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. FIG. 79.— DOORWAY OF MAGHERA CHDRCH, LONDONDERRY. 50 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. The type was not peculiar to this country before the eleventh century, and even now twenty-two foreign examples of similar towers may be added. It becomes evident when we compare the towers now remaining, one with another, that a certain develop- ment of knowledge with skill in the art of building may be FIG. 80. — BELL-HOUSE OF KELLS. traced in these various examples, and that these signs of change are analogous to those which took place in the church architecture of Ireland after the eighth century. A classification is given in the following table, showing the gradation in masonry and the corresponding change in the character of the apertures in these towers : BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 51 First Style. Second Style. Third Style. Fourth Style. Rough field-stones un- touched by hammer or chisel, not rounded, but fitted by their length to the curve of the wall, roughly coursed, wide- jointed, with spalds or small stones fitted into the interstices. Mortar, of coarse, unsifted sand or gravel. Stones roughly ham- mer-dressed, rounded to the curve of the wal 1, decide d ly though somewhat ir- regularly coursed. Spalds, but often badly bonded to- gether. Mortar freely used. Stones laid in hori- zontal courses, well- dressed and carefully worked to the round and batter, the whole cemented in strong; plain mortar of lime and s.-.nd. Strong, rough but ex- cellent ashlar masonry, rather open-jointed, and therefore closely analo- gous to the English- Norman masonry of the first half of the twelfth century ; or, in some in- stances, finest possible examples of well-dressed ashlar. Sandstone in squared courses. BROAD CLASSIFICATION OF THE TOWERS ACCORDING TO THE AVERAGE STYLES OF THEIR MASONRY AND APERTURES. Names of Towers. N.B. — Exceptional towers marked in italics, perfect towers in small capitals. Masonry. Dimensions of perfect Towers. Doorways. Windows. LusK, Clondalkin, Teachdoe, Drumboe, Swords, Drumcliff, Castledermot, Scat- tery, Antrim, Oran, Tur lough, Trtitn- fttery, Drumcleeve, Rathmichael, Fertagh. First Style of masonry. Iniscaltra, Clones, Meelick, Aghavuller, Donoughmore, Ros- crea, Kildare, Kilree, Kilmacduach, Kilcul- len, Aughagower, Kil- bennan, C A s H E L, MONASTERBOICE, Aranmor, Tullaherin. Second Style. Devenish, Glenda- lough, KiLLALA, Kin- neth, Cloyne, Armoy, Rattoo.Ballagh, Disert- Aengus, Lfroiniskin, Kilkenny, Drumlane. Third Style. Tim A HOE, Anna- down, Aghadoe, Temple Finan, Kells, O'Rorke's Tower, Ard- MORB, Disert O'Dea. Fourth Style. Lusk, 100 ft. high by 43 ft. circum. ; Clon- dalkin, 85 ft. by 43 ft. ; Scatter^', 125 ft. by 52 ft.; Antrim, 92 ft. by 50 ft. ; Tur- lough, 70 ft. by 57 ft. Of same material as the rest of the build- ing, sometimes stones roughly dressed ; square - headed with inclined sides 5 ft. 6 in. high by 2 ft. wide. 8 ft. to 13 ft. above ground. Meelick, 70 ft. high by 42 ft. circum. Cashel, 80 ft. by 42 ft. Monaster- boice, no ft. by 51 ft. First idea of arch, curve scooped out of three or five stones. Architrave occasion- ally occurs : stones of same material as tower, hut roughly worked to the round. Devenish, 76 ft. high by 43 ft. circum. Killala,84ft. high by 51 ft. circum. Tima hoe, 96 ft. by 60 ft. Temple Fi- nan, 56 ft. by 49 ft- ArdmoretQSft. by 52 ft. First idea of arch, curve scooped out of three stones : stones of some finer material than the wall of the tower, generally sand- stones or some free- working stone ; pellet and roll mouldings oc- casionally introduced. Regular radiating round arch of si.x or more stones, with architrave, or fine ex- amples of the deco- rated Irish Roman- esque of the twelfth century. Same material as the rest of the building ; narrow apertures,squa re- headed or trian- gular, with in- clined sides, near level of floors within tower. Same material as rest of build- ing ; sometimes roughly cut and squared. Same form and size as before. Same form as before, but of finer material than the rest of the tower, and the windows generally better proportioned than the earlier ones. Same form as before, of sand- stone cut and squared. E 2 52 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. All the references to these Bell-houses which we have been able to discover in the seven books of Irish Annals are appended to Lord Dunraven's " Notes on Irish Architecture." The earUest FIG. 8 1. — BELL-HOUSE OF DESERT AENGUS. occurs at the year 950 ; it is merely a reference to the tower of Slane as existing at that day, but how long it may have stood before this date is uncertain.* * An alphabetical list of all the high and slender round church towers of vhich Dr. Petrie and Lord Dunraven collected the particulars, whether in BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 53 The conclusions to be drawn from the above table are : I. That these towers were built after the Irish became acquainted with the use of cement and the hammer. II. That the towers were built at or about the period of transi- FIG. 82. — BELL-HOUSE OF ARDMORE. tion from the entablature style of the early Irish period to the round-arched decorated Irish Romanesque style. Ireland or abroad, is also appended to " Notes on Irish Architecture. To the list of Irish round towers 1 have been enabled to add, with the assistance of the Rev. Francis Shearman, the names of the founders of the churches to which they belonged ; a precaution only necessary in a country where many still hold these ecclesiastical towers to be of pagan origin. 54 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. III. That the largest number of these towers were built before this transition had been established, and while the Irish builders were feeling their way to the arch. IV. That as this transition took place between the time of Cormac O'Killen and Brian Boruma, i.e, between 900 and 1000, the first groups of towers now standing belong to the first date. The average thickness of wall at the basement in the whole seventy-two towers is from 3 ft. 6 in. to 4 ft, there being forty towers out of the seventy-two which have walls of this thickness, and the others only vary a few inches more or less. The average diameter at the level of the doorway is from 7 to 9 ft. internally. Some are unusually broad, as Oran, which is 11 ft. across, Dysert O'Dea 10 ft. 2 in. and Kildare 9 ft. 3 in. These towers taper and the walls diminish in thickness towards the top. All their apertures have inclined sides, being on an average 2 in. wider at the base than at the top. The doorways always face the entrances of the church to which they belong, unless in those instances where the church is evidently much later in date than the tower. The position of the towers was almost invariably about 20 ft. to the north-west end of the church. This was probably from respect to the wish which is even now generally entertained by the Irish, to be buried to the east or south. A number of towers which bear more or less resemblance to those of this country, still exist, or are known to have existed, in other places besides Ireland. They are high, slender, and circular, with pointed roofs, and occasionally built of brick. Such, for instance, were the eleven round towers of Ravenna, of which six still remain ; the towers of San Nicolo at Pisa, San Paternian at Venice, Scheness in Switzerland, St. Thomas in Strasburg, Gernrode in the Hartz, two at Nivelles in Belgium, one at St. Maurice, Epinal, one at St. Germain des Pres, one at Worms in Hesse Darmstadt, and two at Notre Dame de Maes- tricht in Belgium. In Scotland such round belfries occur at / FIG. 83.— BELFRY OF SAN GIOVANNI, RAVENNA. FIG. 84.— BELFRY OF ST. MAURICE, tPINAL. 56 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Brechin; at St. Brigid's Church, Abernethy ; St. Magnus in Egilsha ; and till a late period two such towers were standing at Deerness in the Orkneys, and three in the Shetland Isles — St. Lawrence's Church in West Burra, St. Magnus's at Tingwall, and another at Ireland Head — while one has been described in Stremoe, one of the Faroe Islands, and the tower near St. Patrick's Church in the Isle of Man is another. That this type of tower was in use at an early date upon the Continent is apparent from the following passage in the life of St. Tenenan of Brittany, by Albert Legrand. After describing the erection of the churches of La Foret and Ploabennec, and the settlement in the forest, as well as the ravages and burning of churches in the Leonnais by the barbarians, his biographer pro- ceeds : " He exhorted the people to penitence and amendment of life, and providing for their defence and preservation, he appointed a chief man of their troop as their captain, recommending him to erect a little round tower near the church of Ploabennec, wherein. to deposit the silver-plate and treasure of the same church, and pro- tect them against the sacrilegious hands of the barbarians, should they wish to pillage the same church. This he accordingly did. Meanwhile the barbarians approached, and St. Tenenan hastily carried the sacred vessels into the tower wherein the captain entered, and resolved to defend it at the cost of his blood." This passage is an important one, as bearing both on the origin and use of these towers, suggesting that the type reached Ireland through Brittany, and showing that these buildings were the keeps of the monasteries. Here we find in the seventh century in Brittany this additional building added to a church for its protection from the attacks of barbarians, as the round towers were raised in the ninth century for a similar purpose in all the principal monasteries of Ireland. Till the invasion of the Northmen, the Irish ecclesiastic possessed his church in comparative peace, and the wall that encircled the groups of cells and oratories that formed his- BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 57 monastery was deemed security enough for him as was that of the Egyptian monk in his Laura; but in the year 800 all was changed; the attempted colonisation of Ireland by a pagan invader, resolved to extir- pate the Christianity that he found there, and to establish the national heathenism of his own country, com- pelled the monks to protect their little churches and cells by means of the lofty tower. Its great height, its iso- lated position and small doorway about fourteen feet from the ground, made it fit to resist the attacks of an enemy, chiefly armed with bows and arrows. The signal once made announcing the approach of a foe by those who kept watch on the top, the alarm would spread instantaneously. The Annalists of Ireland do not refer to such buildings till the year 950 ; and in the entries regarding the attacks of the Northmen from 789 to 845 it is recorded that the clergy fled for safety into the woods, where they celebrated the divine mysteries and spent their days in prayer and fasting ; but in the year 950 and for two cen- turies later, we read of the "cloicc- thech," house of a bell, as a special object of attack to the Northmen. In the map at the close of Lord Dunraven's volume an efi'ort has been made to mark out the course of the Norse invasions in Ireland before the tenth FIG. S5. BELFRY OF ST. GENEVlfeVE. 38 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. century; the red lines mark the course taken by the invaders, and the crosses the churches attacked — many of them per- sistently and repeatedly — by these heathen warriors. The black circle stands for the round tower, and it would appear that the churches protected by such buildings were those situated in places that had in the first instance proved most liable to attack. They are along the coast and in the valleys of the rivers most infested by the enemy. Before the year 900 the Norsemen had first ravaged the coast and the outlying islands, and then their boats repeatedly were seen on the Boyne, the Liffey, and the Shannon, while the principal lakes in which their fleets were stationed were Loch Foyle, Loch Neagh, Loch Ree, and Loch Derg. In the valleys of these rivers distinct groups of these towers and churches are to be seen which had been for the first seventy years of this war attacked and desecrated with such unparalleled fury. They were also raised in regular lines along the coast from Galway to the Shannon, and from Cape Clear to Waterford. If we take all those towers which appear to have fallen at an early date, and place them beside those we have classified as ap- parently first built, it will be found that they belong to the churches first and most persistently attacked by the Northmen in the ninth century. The towers of Ardbrackan, Armagh, Louth, and Slane, were the first to fall, and are the first alluded to in the Annals. Erected possibly by men inexperienced in raising such lofty buildings, their fall was probably due to some imperfection in their construction or insecurity in their foundation. The three last are situated exactly in those places which the Kings Malachy or Flann would have been most likely to fortify in the first instance. AVe have already alluded to the position held by Armagh as the principal ecclesiastical city of Ireland, and it was probably on this account that it was so persistently ravaged. The church was attacked three times in one month in the year S3 2 by the Northmen, and the same invaders repeated their acts of desecra- BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 59 tion in the years 839, 850, 873, 876, 890, 893, 895, 89S, 914, 919, 926, 931, 943, 995, 1012, 1016. • During the peace which ensued between the years 875 and 916, the same vigorous efforts were made to restore the churches and monasteries of Ireland that we again read of in the beginning of the eleventh century; and the communication with France, which had existed in the reign of Charlemagne, was continued in the reign of Charles the Bald, at whose court Johannes Scotus Erigena remained for some time. It is stated by Ware that in the year 848 Malachy obtained a signal victory over the Danes, "whereupon he sent ambassadors to Charles the Bald, king of France, with presents, desiring liberty of passage to Rome." And it would seem from the following passage in the Norman Chronicle that the Franks were fully cognisant of the successful resistance made by the Irish to their common enemy : " In the year 848, the Northmen lay waste and burnt Burdegala {i.e. Bordeaux) in Aquitania, captured through the treachery of the Jews. After- wards MetuUus, which hamlet they lay waste and give over to the flames. The Scots breaking in upon the Northmen, by God's help victorious, drive them forth from their borders. Whereupon the King of the Scots sends, for the sake of peace and friendship, legates to Charles, with gifts." Another proof of the existence of such friendly relations between Ireland and France, may be found in the epistle of Alcuin to Colchu, lector of Clonmacnois, when the former was resident at the court of Charlemagne. It was also in the reign of this great king that two learned Irishmen, Clemens and Albinus, were placed at the head of schools, the one in France, the other in Italy. In the ground plan of the Irish monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, said to have been drawn by Eginhard, secretary to Charlemagne, we find the detached cir- cular belfries introduced, and standing opposite the west door, which we hold were afterwards copied in Ireland. When we investigate the history of Art in France during the eighth and ninth centuries, we find that little now remains save 6o EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. the mere debris of monuments belonging to this period, and that such fragments are examples of a very rude art, being a sort of compromise between Roman traditions and influences spreading from the East through Ravenna. In the eighth century, Leo the Third is said to have caused a great influx of artists into Italy and France. Painters, sculptors, took refuge on the coast of Italy and spread through the whole country. It was among these emigrants that Charlemagne found the artists who were to assist him in developing the renaissance he projected. The round towers of San Giovanni Battista and Sant' ApoUinare in Classe,, with others of the same character in Ravenna, as well as the tower of St. Maurice at Epinal, St. Genevieve, St. Germain des Pres, Aix-la-Chapelle, may all derive their origin from this influx of Byzantine workmen into the north of Italy, and to the court of Charlemagne, and the circular tower may be a reminiscence of the Eastern cylindrical pillar. However this may be, we find that it was immediately after this accession of Eastern influence in France, as well as in consequence of certain impulses or necessi- ties not springing from the religious sentiment, that the first ecclesiastical towers were raised. M. Viollet-le-Duc has shown what was this external cause. He attributes it entirely to the necessity felt by the Franks of that time to protect their churches from the attacks of the heathen Northmen in the valleys of the Loire and Seine, and on the north and west coasts of France ; re- marking that they defended their churches with towers, which were naturally built above the door of the church, as being the point most liable to attack ; and he adds, that it is indeed in those countries which were particularly ravaged by the periodical incur- sions of the Northmen that we see abbatial, and even parochial churches, preceded by massive towers, "of which, unfortunately," he says, " nothing but the lower stories are now left to us." Ozanam, speaking of the Irish ecclesiastics of this period, observes : " Une sorte de piete filiale les poussait de preference vers ces Eglises des Gaules d'ou ils avaient re^u I'Evangile." BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 6i This being so, strengthens the probabiUty that the two Churches — simultaneously attacked by the armies of a common foe — should adopt a similar method of protection and defence. But it may be argued, if the type was originally imported from France, why are such detached church towers not to be seen there still, when they are so common in Ireland? The answer to that is, that the Continental church towers of the Carlovingian age have been almost wholly destroyed, and generally replaced by towers of a later and more beautiful type, while they have been left to stand in Ireland. However, we may learn from the few examples of this date remaining in France and Italy, that the first ecclesiastical towers may be divided into two types : one developed from the cupola, the other tall, slender, pointed. The first is never seen in Ireland ; the second, when round, generally stands alone. On the Continent, the tall church tower, whether round or square, is also occasionally detached, as at Sant' ApoUinaris in Classe, and Pisa, but is generally at the corner of a lofty church, such as St. Maurice and St. Genevieve. Only the oldest and simplest type of such belfries ever reached Ireland and Scotland, and their singu- larity does not consist in their form, but in their isolation. The round tower with conical top was a common form in the earliest periods of Christian architecture, and is often represented in early bas-reliefs, illuminated MSS., and frescoes, and such is the form of the watch-tower of the feudal abbey as well as castle. The circular form seems to be the first chosen in all primitive buildings, and the conical roof is the simplest covering for such that can be erected. The churches of Ireland, being but the size of an ordinary cottage of the present day, never could have supported the weight of a tower of loo ft. in height, and would always seem out of proportion to it ; but when a watch-tower and keep for the monastery became necessary, when war and rapine called forth the symbol of pride and power in Irish Christian architecture, the lofty stronghold, bearing its cross on high, was erected in the cemetery, and opposite the doorway of the church. 62 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. These Irish round towers may be assigned to three distinct periods : first, from a.d. 890 to 927 ; secondly, from 973 to 1013 ; thirdly, from 11 70 to 123S; and of these three periods the first two were marked by a cessation of hostilities with the Northmen, while the Irish made energetic efforts to repair the mischief caused by the invasions of the heathen. It is clear that these three divisions are distinctly marked by three steps in the progressive ascent of architecture from the primitive form of the entablature to that of the Decorated Romanesque arch. The churches built by Cormac O'Cillen are characterised by the horizontal lintel ; the church of King Brian at Iniscaltra, which exhibits a partially developed Romanesque doorway and chancel arch, while retain- ing the rude form in its minor apertures, marks a period of transition from the horizontal to the round-arched style ; and the buildings of Queen Dervorgilla and Turlough O'Conor, with the doorway of Clonfert, show what the latter style became in the life- time of Donough O'Carroll. If Lusk, Glendalough, Timahoe, and Ardmore are taken as types of this gradation in the towers, we see such signs of progress as lead to the belief that a certain interval of time had intervened between the first and last-mentioned of these erections. There is another point which should not be passed unnoticed : that in the towers belonging to the Romanesque period, such a& Ardmore, the apertures at the top are either larger or more numerous than those of the earlier bell-houses, and the walls are decorated with bands and mouldings. Such features may suggest that when the attacks of the heathen on our sanctuaries were at an end, although the tower was established as a feature in Irish ecclesiastical architecture, the type had begun to undergo such modifications as, in course of time, might develop into a work of greater beauty. The campanile of Ireland was passing through such transitions as seem to foretell the advent of a type that would have added to its strength the charm of finely executed ornament, and have lightened its blind walls in storied arches, and BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE, 65. opened its bell-chamber so that its music, no longer imprisoned, might sound forth, and the reserved, self-centred, and resistant tower have broken its hard outline into forms of varying beauty under the influence of peace. " There is perhaps no question of early Christian archaeology," writes Mr. Fergusson, " involved in so much obscurity as that of the introduction and early use of towers." The difficulty of clearing away such obscurities has arisen chiefly from the want of monuments remaining on the Continent to show what were the earliest types in Western Europe. The light that Ireland might cast upon the subject has not yet made itself felt, because of the uncertainty that has too long lingered about the history of her towers. Dr. Petrie^ by his investigations, brought their date down from a pre-Christian time to a period ranging from the sixth to the thirteenth century, and firmly established their ecclesiastical character. Lord Dunraven traced the type from Ireland through France to Ravenna, thereby proving it analogous to that of buildings belonging to an historic period elsewhere. But he felt the area was far too wide over which Dr. Petrie had extended the practice of erecting these structures, and was gradually arriving at the conclusion that such masonry as they exhibit was not to be found in Ireland before the ninth or tenth centuries, and that her Decorated Romanesque churches belong to the eleventh and twelfth. Starting from the standpoint of these two archaeologists, we have arrived at conclusions which it is hoped may give to these towers their true place in history. IRISH ROMANESQUE. The introduction of Romanesque architecture into England is marked by the erection of Westminster Abbey by Edward the Confessor, in 1066, portions of which original building may still be seen in the Canons' Garden of the Abbey. Fifty years before this date, the little church of St. Caimin of Iniscaltra was built 64 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. by King Brian Boruma, and this building marks the transition to the enriched round-arch style of Ireland. It appears that at I 3 'this period in England a primitive Romanesque style already prevailed, which, though it has been termed Anglo-Saxon, was BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 65 of purely Italian origin. This early style modified the character of that which in the reign of Edward the Confessor came as a fresh importation from Normandy, and to this source may be traced whatever distinctive features separate English Norman from that of Normandy itself. In Ireland, as we learn from such build- FIG. 87. — DOORWAY OF KILMALKEDAR (INTERIOR). ings as the churches of Maghera, Banagher, and Temple Martin, a distinct style also prevailed at the time in which the Romanesque of Normandy was introduced there. Rude as many of its examples are, this primitive architecture still had sufficient character and vitality to modify the incoming Romanesque, and to live on, manifesting itself, notwithstanding the fresh forms engrafted uj on PART 11. I,' 66 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. it. The style in Ireland of the eleventh and twelfth centuries is an Irish Romanesque style, and the peculiarities by which it is distinguished are "native traditions handed down from earlier native buildings," such as the primitive erections of the fort- builders and of the early Christian missionaries, characterised by FIG. . — DOORWAY OF WHITE ISLAND CHURCH. the horizontal lintel or the entablature, a style to be seen in the first buildings of all countries, and which may be classed as belonging to the architecture of necessity. The Romanesque churches of Ireland are remarkable for their diminutive size and simple ground plan. They are characterised by the lingering of horizontal forms, and incorporation of such in the round-arch style; the retention of the inclined jambs of the primitive BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. <57 doorways ; their rich and delicate decoration, and the constant tise of certain ornamental designs, characteristic of the late Celtic FIG. 89.— DOORWAY OF ST. FARANNAN'S CHURCH. period, which had been common to Britain and Ireland before the Roman occupation of Britain. F 2 CS EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, The arches or orders of the Irish doorways spring more directly than do the Norman, from the sides or jambs, which in- cline towards them from the base, the sides of these doorways seeming to be a transition from the jambs and actual shafts of the older square-headed doorway. The angular sides of the three or four orders are rounded off and channelled into groups of bowtels, with merely slight projections at the feet, scarcely to be. FIG. 90. MOULDING ON DOORWAY, ST. farannan's CHUKCH. FIG. 91. CAPITAL, RAHEN CHURCH. termed bases; and, instead of separate capitals to each, a single entablature unites the whole, often terminating at the angles with heads of a strikingly archaic character. This archaic character is shown in the accompanying drawings of capitals from churches of Clonaltin and Inchagoile on Lough Corrib. The capitals of the early Irish Romanesque period are generally cushion or bell- shaped, and their rounded surfaces are often decorated, as in the BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 69 example from Banagher Church, with the divergent spiral design or trumpet pattern ; and sometimes assume the more complex forms resulting from the division of the bell by recesses into separate lobes or leaves, like those of a rose or tulip. The bases are remark ably shallow, and, indeed, ^ scarcely deserving of the ■name, where, in some in- stances, they only serve as a termination for the groups of bowtels which form the jambs. They often consistof tworounds and an intermediate square or hollow, but -seldom stand forward on :a square projecting pe- destal or plinth. Where such do ■occur, as at Kille- shin, Clonmacnois, and Rahen, they ■show that beautiful feature of leaves connecting the bulbous portions with the square plinths at the ■angles. Thus the round- fig. 93.— clonaltin, arch doorways of this style are stamped with a distinctly native character. It would seem as if the inclined sides of Maghera •doorway (Fig. 79), encrusted with ornament, so as to resemble a ,page in one of the illuminated MSS. of the Celtic school, carved FIG. 92. — CLONALTIN. 70 EARL Y CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. and wrought in stone, had been developed into the jambs of a doorway of the later churches, and these jambs are either angular, or channelled into bowtels with their angles rounded off. Along the tops of these semi-columns, the entablature, from which the arches spring, is continued so as to form a kind of horizontal band connecting them in place of the rows of distinct capitals in the Norman style. The expression of horizontal extension is still the idea lingering in the mind of the Irish architect, and stamping it with sufficient individuality to give it a place as a distinct variety of primitive Romanesque. These points are well illustrated in the doorways of White Island, and St. Farannan's Church, Donaghmore. The twelfth century churches of Ireland are often enriched both inter- nally and externally by arcades, such as are seen in Kilmalchedar, King Cor- mac's Chapel at Cashel,. Ardmore, and Ardfert. la the arcade upon the face of the west wall of Ard- more, the arches spring from very slender shafts, with capitals- and bases, the panels being filled in with sculptured figures, either one or two in each panel, carved in low relief. Here,, among other subjects introduced, are a warrior with his shouldered lance, in the act of kneeling for the blessing of a bishop who stands above him, the Judgment of Solomon, the Dedication of the Temple, and the Temptation. Pilaster buttresses are often seen at the corners of the east and west ends of these churches, but in the most beautifully finished examples, such as the small church at Ardfert, Mona. FIG. 94. — CLONMACNOIS. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 71 FIGS. 95, 56.— MOULDINGS ON DCORWAYS, KILLESIUN, 72 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. Incha, and the chancel of Tomgraney, these give place to beauti fully proportioned columns, on which, in the first case mentioned, an enriched cornice, which crowns the side walls of the church, is seen to rest. These quoin shafts are three-quarter columns, with moulded bases and carved capitals, and give a classic character to the building. FIG. 97. — ARCADE, ARDMORE. The love of incised mouldings, such as we find on the door- way of Killeshin, which give the face of the stone an effect of beautiful and delicate engraving, is another striking characteristic of Irish architectural decoration, and such ornament is very common throughout the country, in the borders and crosses of the sepulchral slabs of the ninth and tenth centuries. Then, as in the windows of Annadown and Rahen, borders of chevron, bead, and even foliate patterns are carved in very low relief. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 73 ^TT as exquisitely felt in their treatment as they are gracefully con- ■ceived. The pages of Ireland's sacred writings in the early days when illumination of MSS. was practised with success in this ■country, are, as it were, the precursors of her decorated churches, and all the designs of Celtic Art given by the pencil in them, are carved by the chisel on her stone monuments. We must now draw this sketch of the Arts of Christian Ireland before the thirteenth century :;::::"? ««i to a conclusion. As we look back upon the history and ^gradual development of the four branches of ecclesiastical Art, which we have dealt with, it appears that the art of illu- mination was first in date and most perfect in result. It seems to have been carried to its greatest excellence at the close of the seventh and beginning of the eighth cen- tury. The character of the ornament is not wholly of native origin, but the use of ornament, the fine judgment displayed in its application, •the exhibition of taste, the knowledge of architectural design, distinguish the Irish school from the Celtic work elsewhere. The origin of the interlaced patterns may be sought in the early remains of decoration, probably of the second and third centuries, in the North of Italy and Southern Gaul. The spirals, zigzags, and other designs belong to the primitive, pre-Christian Art of the country, and were gradually grafted on that style introduced from abroad with Christianity. As regards the age of the first examples of metal-work in FIG. 98.— MOULDINGS, AGHADOE. 74 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. ecclesiastical Art, we have no evidence except what may be gathered from the records of the Irish Annalists and the lives of the saints, to prove that the goldsmith's art kept pace with that of the illuminator. Such objects as shrines adorned with gold and. FJG. 99. — COKMAC'S CHAPtL, CHANCEL (INTERIOR). silver, costly chalices and reliquaries, were more likely to have- become the prey of the pagan invader than the books of the monastery. Enough remains from the ninth century down to the twelfth to show that a distinctly Irish school of arts in metal existed, whose designs, while resembling those of the illuminator, are quite separate in character from such examples of the.- BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE, 75- jeweller's art as were dearly imported from the Continent, though found in Ireland. For example, the chalice of Ardagh is completely Irish, while the phial found at Church-walls in the county of Down is foreign.* Such crosiers as that of Clonmacnois are essentially Irish, both in form and design, while those ot Glendalough and of Cashel are Limoges work, FIG. lOO. — CORMAC'S CHAl'EL (EXIKKIOK). When we consider the remains of sculpture in Ireland, we find' even less evidence of any remarkable skill in this art among the Irish before the ninth century, than in that of metal-work. The Annalists do not refer to the High Crosses till the beginning of the tenth century, and these are the first monuments on which we find sculpture in relief, with undercutting. It would seem that • See Ulster Journal nf A nluTology, vol. ii. p. 192. >-3 a < X -< pi <: ft o O o BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 77 ■^— ij \i • FIG. I02, — rOORWAY, COB mac's CHAPEL. 78 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. until the ninth century the designs upon the sepulchral slabs of Ireland were incised upon the surface of the stone. The form of the Irish cross being that of a Greek cross with arms projecting outside the circle, and shaft elongated, is a -curious combination of the Greek and Latin cross, and seems symbolic of the whole subject of Irish ecclesiastical Art, which from its very beginning shows Byzantine and Latin elements commingled. So also in the iconography of Irish sculptured monuments, we have seen how in the system of representation of Biblical scenes, types and anti-types were drawn alternately from the Byzantine and Latin guides, text-books, and Bibles of the Poor. Finally, as regards the history of the builder's art in Ireland, of which we have only been enabled to offer a mere outline in this work, we can only repeat that which we have stated else- where, that the special interest of its study lies, not in that it possessed any singular antiquity or beauty as compared with works of ancient Art in other countries, but rather that owing to many circumstances in the history of the country, the remains of a great number of monuments belonging to the period between the fifth and the twelfth centuries of the Christian era, have survived, untouched by the hand either of the restorer or of the destroyer; and that in them, when arranged in consecutive series, we can trace the development from an early and rude beginning to a very beautiful result, and watch the dovetailing, as it were, of one style into another, till an Irish form of Romanesque archi- tecture grew into perfection. The form of the Irish church points to an original type that has almost disappeared elsewhere — that of the Shrine or Ark, not of the Basilica. It has been the writer's object throughout this book, while tracing the foreign influences by which the arts were modified in this country, to accentuate its native peculiarities, and indicate such qualities in the work as, if studied in reverence, might sub- -serve to a further development in the same lines. The revival of BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 79 a native school in architecture, sculpture, metal-work, and painting is a matter of pure aspiration for any people who can FIG. 103. — UOOKWAY, FKESHFOKU. claim possession of such in the past. An Irish church, of the future as it may be foreseen, is a lofty, ark-shaped building with a singularly steep roof; the style is Irish Romanesque, a round- 8o EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND. arched western doorway of five orders sunnounted by a canopy- enriched with sculpture, round-headed windows set in frames of delicately incised mouldings. Pillars, plain or twisted, rise at the corners of the building, and support a cornice running round the summit of the walls from which gargoyles and sculptured heads project. Within, the repose of the solemn round-arched style is rather enhanced than interfered with, by the modestly applied and delicately felt ornaments that enrich the orders of the arches or the surface of the walls. The mural painter may repeat the arcades and follow the architectural compositions of the grand pages of the Eusebian canons in the " Book of Kells," and fill the spaces between their columns with scriptural subjects such as are found in the panels of the High Crosses, while the furniture of the church, the books, the book-bindings, bells, shrines, and crosiers might well repeat the delicate work of the Irish goldsmith of antiquity, and the two-handled chalice on the altar be none the less sacred because it preserved the chaste and lovely form that has come down to us from the Irish church of the ninth century.. »IG. 104. — MOULDING, TUAIM GRELNii. BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. 8 1 ^■Kr^.ti, FIG. 105. — ROSCREA (WEST END.) PART II. §2 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND, REFERENCES TO WORKS ON IRISH ARCHITECTURE. Petrie, " Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland." Wilkinson, " Practical Geology and Ancient Architecture of Ireland." Dunraven, " Notes on Irish Architecture, with Photographs." Rev. James Graves and J. G. A. Prim, " History, Architecture, and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of St. Canice, Kilkenny." "Early Christian Architecture in Ireland." Bell & Son. London. Edward Freeman, " History of Architecture," contains an important chapter on Irish Romanesque. Parker, Ge?itleman!s Magazine, " Notes on Architecture of Ireland," No. III. James Fergusson, "History of Architecture." Rev. Dr. Russell, Quarterly Review, vol. Ixxvi. 1845. J. H. Parker, in conjunction with O. Jewitt, " Notes on the Architecture of Ireland" {Gentleman's Magazine). Vol. xvii. of anew series, London, 1864, pp. 11, 140^ 276, 411, 418; pp. 134, 267, 403. 539> vol. ii. "Die runden Thurme in Irland," von Prof. Dr. W. von Zehender, in Rostock, 1885. Wakeman (William F.), "Handbook of Irish Antiquities, Pagan and Christian." Dublin, 1848. Keller, " Mittheilungen." See "Antiq. Gesellschaft in Ziirich," vii. 61-94. 1850. Waagen, in " Deutschen Kunstblatt," i. 83. Schnaase, "Geschichte der bildenden Kiinste," iv., abth. 2, ~s. 456. Bucher, "Geschichte der technischen Kiinste," i. 184. " Inismurray and its Antiquities," by W. F. \Vakein.in. Journal .R.H.A.A. of Ireland, vol. vii. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THOSE EXi J\.D. circa. Manuscript. Name of Scribe. 460 Go<;peI of Patrick Unknown. R. L Academy. 521-563 Psalter of Columba Unknown. R. I. Academy. fi3 Commentary on Psalms .. Columbanus, Ambn. Lib., Milan. 650-690 BookofKells^ Unknown. Lib., Trin. Coll., Dublin. 650-700 Gospels of St. Chad * Unknown. Lichfield. 700 Life of Columba Dorbene — Schafihausen. 698-721 St. Cuthbert's Book of Durham * Kadfrith and /Ethilwald. British Museum. 690 Book of Moling* Unknown. Trin. Coll., Dublin. 739 Gospels of Willibrord Biblioth. Nat., in Paris, No. 693. 807 Book of Armagh* .. Ferdomnach. Trin. Coll., Dublin. 750-80S Gospels of Honau * Thomas, Abbot of HoBau. 75o-?oo Latin Gospels* Unknown. St. Gall, Codex 51. 750-800 Gospel of St. John * Unknown. .St. Gall, Codex 60. 750-S00 Book of Fragments * Unknown. St. Gall, No. 1,395. 838 Priscian (copy of) . . . . _ . . Thomas, Abbot— at Leyden. 800-850 Gospels, St. Germain des Pres .. Unknown— at St. Petersburgh. 800-820 Gospels* Mac Regol Nepos Magleni, Scriba. 871 Golden Gospels * . . . . — at Stockholm. 885 Gospels* Maelbrith Mac Durnan. 919 Oath-book of Anglo-Saxon Kings Unknown. British Museum. 931 Gospels* Dubinse of Bangor. Corp. Xt'., Oxford. 1056 Chronicle of the World .. Marianus Scotus. Now in Rome. 1067 Epistles of St. Paul Marianus Scotus. Vienna. 1090 Psnl'er of Ricemarch Ithael,Ricemarch, & Joannes. Trin. Coll. Du 1 100 Leabhar na h-Uidre i\Laelmuiri MacCeilechair. R. I. Acad., Du 1138 Gospels and Commentaries Maelbrigte Hua IVLaeluanaigh. 1 1 50 Gospels Unknown. Brit. Mus., Harl. No. 1,023. 1150 Book of Hymns Unknown. Trin. Coll., Dublin. 1150 Psalter British Museum. Viiellius, F. XI. 1150 Missal Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 1160 Book of Leinster Unknown, Trin. Coll., Dublin. 1150 Psalter na Rann Unknown. Bodleian Library. 1300 Book of I,pcan Donogh and Gilla Isa Mac Firbis. T.C.D. 1300 Book of Ballymote.. Manus O'Duigenan. Lib., R. L Acad. '390 1 Leabhar Braec Mac Eoan. Lib., R. I, Acad. UIPLES OF "IRISH ARCHITECTURE," "SCULPTURE," " METAL-Wj 1 The asterisk (') indicates examples ornamsnted with Trumpet A.n. circa. 406 757 904 Metal-Wobk. Patrick's Iron Bell. Name of Anisan. Tass'.lo Chalice, Kremsmiinster. Bronze Bell, Cumascach mac Allello. 954 907 lOOI 1023 1084 1091 T106 IIOI II23 II50 1 166 Bell Shrine, Maelbrigde.* CrOiier of Maelfinnia of Kells.* Cumdach of Book of St. Molaise, Devenish.* . . . . Cumdach Stowe Missal.* Cathach of O'Donnells. Shrine, Patrick's Bell, Armagh. Shrine of Lachten, Armagh. Crosier, Lismore. Cross of Cong. Cumdach of DImma's Book. Shrine of St. Manchan. Gillabaithin. Dunchad O'Taccain. Gillaruadan, son of JMacan. Sitric Mac Aeda. Cudulig O'Inmainin and his sons. Nectan, son of Mac Aeducain. Maeljesu Mac Bratdan O'Echan. Thomas, Ceard. A.D. circa^ 806 INDEX. Abbondio, St., chi;rch of . Abbotsford Abecedarium stone . Abernethy, round tower at Aed, Oissen, high cross of Aengus, Litany of Aghadoe, mouldings in Albinus Alnmoulh Andeison, Dr., quoted Annadown church, window of Annalists .... FAGR 5 i8 4 56 -8 4 73 59 9 II 72 30, 57 Anthony and Paul the Theban, legend of . . . .10 Aranmore . . . 33, 38 Ardfert , arcades in . . • 70 Ardmoi e, arcades in . • 70 >» bell-house of • 53 )i scriptural subjec tsin • 72 Aries . . . 18 Athos, Mount . . 10, 13 Augustine, St. . • • 5 Banagb er . , 46, 65 >> capita's in . . . 69 Basilica of Julia , 4 Beehive houses . . . -3^ Bell-house of Desert Aengus . 52 Bestiaries. . . . i!, 16 Bewcastle ..... 9 Biblia Pauperuns . . .11 Bobio Missal . •. . -13 Book of Ballymote . .12 Book of Hymns, initials from . II PAGE' 56- 17 64 62 16 34 Brechin, round '.o-.vrr at Brennus .... Brian Boruma ^ ,, churches built by British coins Britons, camps of Building and architecture in Ireland . . . . .28 Burgundian library at Brussels . 2 Burial grounds ... Byzantine artists in Italy and France . . .60 ,, icono<3;raphy . . 8 ,, influence in Ireland . IF ,, Painters' Gnide,quoted 10, 12 Caher Conri . . . . Z Caimin's church . .46 Capitals, archaic character o! . 09 ,, in Clonaliin . . 69 Carthage ..... 4 Cashels ..... 38 Cecilia Metella, tomb of . . 42 Cellach, stone of . . .2 Chalice of Ardagh „ . 13,75 Charlemagne . , , -59 Charles the Bald . ., .^59 ,, Irish embassy to 59 Christian Art in Ireland, conclusion 73 ,, drama . . .it „ iconography, stereotyped subjects of . .17 Church, early type of, in Ireland 40 .84 INDEX, PAGE PACK Classification of round towers 51 Divergent spiral 32 Clemens .... 59 Dolmens .... 2 8,31 Cloghmore, in Down 29 Donaghpatrick, church of . 37 Clonaltin church 69 Donough O'Carroll, church of 62 Clonmacnois . . - 2, 5. 60 Doorways, native character of 69 Clover Hill 32 Douth .... 30 Codex Maelbrighte . 14 Dun Aengus 33 CoUingham . . . . 9 ,, Conor • 33 Colman I ,, Lughaidh . • 37 ,, abbot of Clonmacnois, ,, Murvey Mil . 37 high cross of . 8 ,, of Aodh Finn . . 37 Columba, church of, at Kells 48 ,, of Conall . . 37 Commemorative crosses . 7 ,, of Cuchulain . 37 Comparative mythology 30 ,, of Fergus . 37 Conaing Mulconry, poem of 2 Dunfallandy, Perthshire . 16 Cormac's chapel, arcades in Dunkeld . . 18 60, 7 6,77 Du Noyer, George . . 27 ,, interior . 7 4, 76 Dunraven, Edwin, third Earl f, 34, ,, doorway of 77 44, 52, 57, 63 ■Cormac O'Cillen 44 Dysart, Westmeath . . 30 ,, churches built b y 62 Corner shafts 70 Earth-houses . 33 ■Crosier of Cashel 75 Edward the Confessor . t 3,65 ,, Clonmacnois 75 Egilsha, round tower at • 56 ,, Glendalough 75 Eginhard .... • 59 Cross, first instance of, on build England, inscribed crosses of • 9 ings . 40 Enoch O'Gillan, poem of . 2 ,, Greek and Latin 78 Epinal, round tower at . 54, 60 ,, Irish, form of . 78 Evans, Mr. John, quoted . . 17 •Cuchulain. 37 Curoi stone I Farannan's church, St. 67 Cuthbert, St. . 9 ,, ,, doorways of 70 Cyclopean masonry . 36 ,, ,, mouldings of 68 Faroe Islands, round tower in 56 Dance of death . 24 Ferguson, Samuel , 27 Decorated Romanesque 62 Fergusson, James, quoted . 42, 63 Demetria .... 5 Finan, St., founder of Skellig Dervila's church 46 monastery . 42 Dervorgilla, buildings of . 62 ,, oratory . 41 ^Development of arch, links in 48 Finten's stone . I ,, ,, traces of, ir 1 Flann Sinna 8 masonr} ' 48 Formulae in Irish epitaphs. 6 Disert O'Dea „ 54 Forts, prehistoric -^ 3, 38 INDEX. 85 p AGE PAGE France and Ireland, friendly re- Isidore . . t . 16 lations between 59 Isle of Man . . 9 Freiburg, in Breisgau 13. 25 ,, round tower in 56 Fresh ford .... 13 Friar's Island, Killaloe 48 Joannes Scotus Erigena 59 John, St., representations of 15 Gallarus .... 39 ,, Theologus 13 Gall, St 13 Juvene Druides I „ bell-houses at 59 Gaul 4>f ', 7 Kells, high crosses of. 18 Gaulish coins . 16 ,, Book of . 13 Gaulish monuments . I Kerry pillar stones . 32 Gauls .... 17 Kevin's, St., Glendalough 48 Gernrode, round tower in . 54 Kilbennan 37 Gillachrist O'Tuahail 8 Kilcrony church 46 Giotto .... 16 Killeshin, bases of 69 Gleneask, Tyreragh, Co. Sligo . 31 „ incised moulding 72 Greece .... • 17 Killnasaggart . Kilmalchedar, arcades in . 7 70 Harris, island of • 24 ,, church of . 4 Hartlepool . 9 Kistvasns .... 29 Hermer and Friule, tomb of . 7 Hermitages on mountain lakes . 42 Lancaster .... 9 High crosses .8,9 Latin influence in Ireland . II .„ iconography of 9, 18 Leabhar Breac . IS ,, list of . . 23 Leo HI 60 ,, of Clonmacnois . 7 Lieusaint .... 7 llissarlilc .... • 36 Lion cub legend Lombardic sculpture . 16 9 Iconography, systems of . .8,9 Loughanmore , . i 29 Iniscaltra, church of. 63, 64 J.nnismurray, ground plan of Maeslricht, round tower of . 54 monastery . 39 Maghera .... 49 65 „ island of . 6 ,, church doorway . 49 69 Irish Art, compared with Scottish, Malachy, king . 59 Anglo-Saxon . . 25 Malta, cave tombs of 31 ,j Romanesque, characteristics Marseilles, museum of 4 of . . 70 Meigle .... iS ,, ,, churches 63, 66 Merthyr Tydvil 4 ,, ,, not derived from Michael, monastery on Skellig 42 -44 basilica . 40 ,, ,, founder of 42 .^, ,, development of Milan .... 5. 10 style . 66, 78 Moedoc, St. . 13 S6 INDEX. Mona Incha, corner shafts in Moone abbey . Mortuary chapels Muireadach, abbot of Monaster boice, high cross of PAGE 72 18 40 8 New Grange . Nivelles, round tower in . Noah and the ark ,, on cross of Kells Norman Chronicle, quoted Normandy Norse invasions, map v^f . Northmen in France ,, Ireland . 30> 31 54 18 12 59 65 57 60 56-59 O'Duffy, high cross cf . . 8 Ogham character , . -32 ,, stones, date of . . i Oissen, abbot of Cong, high cross of . . , . .8 O'Neil ..... 26 Oran, bell-house of . , -54 Oratories . . . .38 Origins of Irish Art . . , 17 Orkney Islands, roimd towers in 56 Ozanam, quoted . . .60 Pagan forts occupied by first Christian missionaries . . 37 Panselinos, painter, of Mount Athos . . » . . 10 Patrick, St 37 Pavia, San Michele, in . .24 Penally 4 Petrie, George, referred to 25, 26, 6t, Phial found at Church-walls Philip II., of Macedon Pickering, Yorkshire Pillar-stone Pisa, Campo Santo . ,, towers of . Ploabennec, Brittany, round tower at. .... 75 17 17 7 24 54 So PAGra Rahen churcn . . 68, 69, 72- Rath-hill, near Drogheda . . 29 Rathkenny . . . .30 Ravenna . $, 10, 18, 54, 55, 60 Reeves, Dr., quoted . . 13, 14 Representations of Christ and the apostles, directions for . . 14 Rhys, Mr., quoted ... 1 Roman catacombs, formula . 6 ,, iconography . . .8 ,, pilgrims to Ireland . 4 Romanesque, primitive, in Eng- land . .. ,64 Rome 59 Round towers . . . 4S-63 ,, localities of . • S8 ,, of Ireland belong to three periods . 62 ,, represented in bas- reliefs, illumina- ted manuscripts, and frescoes . 6i ,. type not peculiar to Ireland . . 54 Rusticus, St., bishop of Narbonne 7 Ruthwell cross . . . 8, la Saa Giovanni Battista, Ravenna Sant' Ambrogio Sant' Apollinare in Classe . Sant' Eustorgio Santa Helena, church of , Scandinavian influence Scheness, tower at, in Switzer- land . . . . . Schliemann . . . . Scotland . ,, pillar-stones in, icono- graphy of ,, round towers in . Sculptured stones Saxon , Man X, and Welsh 55>6o • 5 60 S 42 54 36 54 1 25 INDEX. 87 PAGE Senach, St., ground plan of monastery . . . .41 Shandwick, Ross-shire . .16 Shetland Islands, round towers in 56 Slane, tower of. . . • 5^ Slieve-na-Calliaghe . . -32 Speculum HumanaeSalvationis . Ii Speculum SancteMariaVirginis . 11 Spiral, divergent ... 6 Soroby ..... 24 "St. Andrew's . . . .18 St. Germain des Pres . 54, 60 Staigue Fort . . . -35 Stephens, Runic inscriptions . 9 Stone churches with cement . 44 ,, circles . . . -30 „ cist .... 32 Strasburg, round towers in . 54 Telltoun . . , , .30 Temple Cronan . . . .46 Temple Martin . . . 46, 65 Tenenan, St. . . . -56 Tennyson, quoted . . .24 Terminal crosses ... 7 Ternoc, son of Ciaran . . 7 Tiree, island of. . . .24 Tombstone, form of . . .7 Tomgraney, corner shafts . . 72 Torcello . . . , . 5 Towers, alphabetical list of . 52 ,, earliest types in Europe 63 gradation of type . . 62 investigations cf Dr. Petrie . . .63 of Romanesque period . 62 Towers, two types of • Transition church ,, from dry wall ma- sonry to cemented walls, date of ,, from false to true arch ,, from Pagan practices to Christian, in- stances of ,, in forms of tower ,, sign of, in Irish door- ways . PAGE 61 64 44 3!i 62 68 Trumpet pattern TuUy-druid .... Tumuli . . o . 29, Turlough O'Conor, high cross of ,, buildings of Urn burial , . • Vaenor, in Wales . . Velletri .... Venice, tower at Via Appia Nova, church of Vigean, St. . . VioUet-le-Duc, quoted Wales ... Ware, quoted . Way of the Cross Westminster Abbey . White Island church ,, ,, doorway of Worms, round tower at Yo;k « • • k 6, 32 30 30 8 62 29 6 18 54 5 iS 60 4 59 42 63 66 70 54 THE END. F. II. EVANS AND CO., LIMITED, CRYSTAL PALACE, S.IS. university of C»«'°'['i' p.cii ITY SOUTHERN REGIONALUBRABYFAC^ITV^ trom which It wasborrowed^ UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY ^ kk 000 299 792 2 S 77 y I' n 9^