98-529: The Kells crozier or British Museum Crozier is an early medieval Irish Insular crozier . It is often known as the "Kells Crozier", indicating an associating with the Abbey of Kells , although no evidence of this exists, and most historians accept that it is of uncertain providence. The crozier is fully intact, although some of the ornamentation is in poor condition. Its origin before it appeared for sale in London in 1850
196-489: A 4.2 cm (1.7 in) crest which has been trimmed to hold the base of the crook. The crest below the upper knop is made of copper alloy and contains two pairs of large cat-like animals facing or confronting each other. The animals are rendered in relief and decorated with niello and inlaid silver. They have lion-like manes , upright ears, long necks and taloned tails. Their intertwined legs begin from spirals which develop or knot into triquetra arcs before merging with
294-419: A ferrule and the crook. The drop is lined with decorations of glass and champlevé enamel. The drop contains a modern inscription, probably 18th or 19th century, recording that it was once owned by St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin , although there is no archival evidence to support this claim. The crest is decorated with profiles of birds at the top, and a human head at its lower end, just above the drop plate. It
392-523: A fire. In the aftermath, over 200 recovered objects, including stained glass windows by Harry Clarke and St. Mel's Crozier, were taken to the National Museum of Ireland for assessment and restoration, although such was the extent of devastation that many were "beyond help". Although somewhat corroded in parts, the River Laune Crozier (or Innisfallen ) is fully intact and considered one of
490-496: A large walking stick. Most have an inner wooden core onto which tubular copper alloy ( bronze ) plates were attached. The crooks tend to be highly decorated with elements such as openwork and animal designs. As of 2014, fewer than 20 surviving fully intact examples were known, in addition to 60 fragments in various states of completeness. The major extant examples include the Clonmacnoise Crozier (thought to be amongst
588-473: A number of examples retain their precious metal jewels, in general most of the Insular crozier have lost their drops, presumably through plunder. This led to theories in the 19th century that the drops acted as containers for smaller relics of saints while the metal casing held the saint's original wooden staffs. However, these claims have been in doubt since the mid-20th century, and there is no evidence to support
686-435: A plain metal strip. At its top is a looming, grotesque human head in champlevé enamel . Set into the cavity below is a figure added in the 14th or 15th century, who appears to be a bishop or cleric wearing a mitre (a type of bishop's headgear). He has one hand raised in blessing while the other holds a long crozier with a spiral crook, which he uses to impale an animal, probably a dragon, at his feet. De Paor describes
784-527: A possible origination in Dublin. The shaft has three richly decorated knopes, the largest of which contains a crest and measures 7.5 cm. The collar below the upper knope is made of copper alloy and contains relief designs of two large cat-like animals facing each other. The central knope is less decorated compared to the other two but has inlay bands and silver lining. The lower knope contains decorations, including blue glass studs. The monastery at Clonmacnoise
882-464: A talisman in a 918 battle between native picts and Viking invaders. In addition fragments have been found in Galloway , Loch Shiel and in a bishop's grave at Whithorn . Clonmacnoise Crozier The Clonmacnoise Crozier is a late-11th-century Insular crozier that would have been used as a ceremonial staff for bishops and mitred abbots . Its origins and medieval provenance are unknown. It
980-495: Is "physical evidence for at least thirty-one Insular-type crosiers from Ireland", and around 20 other fragments composed of shafts, knops and base (ferrule). In addition there are fragments of four eighth-century Insular crosiers in Scandinavia. This late 9th or early 10 century crozier was found fully intact by turf cutters in 1831 near Prosperous, County Kildare , but did not receive attention from antiquarians until 1851. It
1078-513: Is 13.5 cm (5.3 in) high, 15.5 cm (6.1 in) wide and has a maximum circumference of 3.7 cm (1.5 in). It is composed of a single piece of wood, encased in copper alloy, with an inner binding and plates for the crest and drop. Each side of the crook is decorated with four or five silver cast zoomorphic snake-like animals in rows of tightly bound figure-eight knots and ribbon-shaped pale coloured bodies that intertwine and loop over each other. Designed in an Irish adaption of
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#17328513099501176-550: Is also the location where the 8th century Stowe Missal and 10th or 11th century Clonmacnoise Crucifixion Plaque were discovered. While a number of Scottish Insular croziers ("quigrichs") survive, there are only six extant early Christian examples (the Bachul Mor fragment, the crosier of St Fillan, two drops found at Hoddom , Dumfriesshire , and two unidentified drops now in the British Museum. Their likeness to Irish examples
1274-513: Is based in part on its stylistic resemblance to the Bell Shrine of St. Cuileáin and the early 12th-century Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm , as well as the Romanesque elements sometimes found on Insular art of the period. Lucas places it shortly after 1125. Some historians suggest that the crozier was produced in Dublin, based on the so-called " Dublin school " Hiberno- Ringerike patterns on
1372-450: Is built from 14 separate metallic parts, with the wooden core lined with silver, gilding, glass and coral . Today, the wooden core can be divided into three parts now lined with nail holes. The collar knope is designed to hold eight decorative stones, of which three survive: two red coral and one blue glass stone. The staff contains a number of secondary nail holes, indicating that it may have been "dismantled and repaired several times in
1470-524: Is dated to 1100 AD and was rediscovered, along with the 15th century Book of Lismore , in a blocked doorway in Lismore castle in 1814. It is 115 cm high and built from wood, silver, gold, niello and glass. It is almost fully intact and in good condition with little modern reworking. Its crest contains a procession of animals that continues to a head at the end of the crook. The crook has three small, probably secondary (i.e. added later) reliquaries located in
1568-635: Is described as an "ancient" and ornamental crozier, which once belonged to the Abbots of Clonmacnoise, in an 1841 catalogue for an exhibition of Sirr's collection at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, held shortly after his death. It was acquired at that exhibition by the Royal Irish Academy , and transferred to the National Museum of Ireland , Kildare Street , Dublin, on its founding in 1890. Today it
1666-533: Is designed in the Insular style, and contains animal ornament , interlace and Celtic art patterns. Several of the decorations are influenced by the late 10th-century Ringerike and 11th-century Urnes styles of Viking art , both of which are characterised by band-shaped animals (often snakes, dogs and birds), acanthus-leaf foliage, crosses and spirals, and was adapted in Ireland via direct contact and contemporary Anglo-Saxon art from Southern England. Moss describes
1764-411: Is fitted with an inner binding strip, crest and drop-plate, each of which was independently made and, having no structural function, are purely decorative. It was built in two phases: the early 11th-century structure was added to and refurbished in the 14th century, the later additions including the bishop and dragon in the drop-plate, and some of the ornamentation on the upper knop. The first phase
1862-456: Is indicative of the close contact between Scottish and Irish craftsmen, and it is known that a number of Irish metalworkers settled in Scotland. The similarities include methods of construction and their style and decoration. The Scottish croziers are characterised by their angular crook shape with separate (attached) drops, with most dated to before the mid-11th century. The designs and patterns on
1960-414: Is known of its origin or rediscovery. It was built in two phases: the original 11th-century structure received an addition sometime around the early 15th century. The staff is made from a wooden core wrapped in copper-alloy ( bronze ) tubes, fixed in place by binding strips, and three barrel-shaped knops (protruding decorative metal fittings). The hook was concurrently but separately constructed before it
2058-464: Is known to have been in operation at Clonmacnoise in the 11th century, and the crozier contains design elements and motifs unique to contemporary objects found on or near the monastery's grounds. These include the confronted lions with intertwined legs on the collar below the top-most knop, which are also present on a high cross in Temple Ciarán. The crozier is 97 cm (38 in) long (about
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#17328513099502156-468: Is lost, and it has been part of the British Museum 's collection since 1859. The Kells Crozier was made by various craftsmen over three different phases between the late 9th and 11th century AD. While the core of the crozier is wooden, the crook is made of silver and the staff is covered in a copper alloy sheet which was later covered with silver mounts or knobs filled with animal interlace typical of
2254-406: Is made from copper, zinc , and tin alloy and contains traces of inscriptions, but they are too worn to read. The crozier is in relatively good condition but was split in half during the late Middle Ages and recombined in the nineteenth century. It is the longest intact example at a height of 1.34m. Its wooden core is supported by three tubular copper-alloy shaft casings, which hold four shaft knops,
2352-558: Is not cast into the lower knop but is a separate piece. The location and year of the crozier's rediscovery is uncertain. Writing in 1821 in his Notes on the history of Clonmacnoise , Petrie said that it had been found "some 30 years ago [...] [in] the tomb of St. Ciaran", placing its finding c. 1790 . He continued that other objects discovered in the tomb included a chalice and wine vessel which, according to Petrie "fell into ignorant hands, and were probably deemed unworthy of preservation", indicating that their precious metal
2450-496: Is of especially fine workmanship and unusual in that its metalwork is mostly of silver rather than the more typical copper alloy. Four panels contain elaborate gilded filigree. It is 111.5 cm in length, while the hook is 17 cm wide. The crook is from a single casting, onto which the drop-plate and openwork crest were attached. The crest panels contain both zoomorphic and abstract patterns and are bordered by bands of niello with inlaid with gilt wire. The Lismore crozier
2548-462: Is one of the earliest known European croziers and was extensively cleaned and refurbished in the late 20th century. The remains of the badly damaged and incomplete St. Columba ’s (also known as St. Colmcille (d. 597)) Crozier consist of highly decorated four-foot wooden shaft, now broken in two, that is covered with sheet bronze tubes decorated with a bronze knope lined with silver and gilt. Its foot and crook are both missing. The staff originates from
2646-515: The Archiepiscopal Museum, Ravenna . The distinctive shape of Irish croziers evokes the function of shepherds' crooks in restraining wayward sheep, and according to the art historian Rachel Moss is similar to the crook-headed sticks used by cherubs to grasp vine branches in Bacchic iconography. Croziers became symbols of status for bishops and abbots when Pope Celestine I linked them to
2744-587: The British Museum . It is unknown exactly what their function in Irish medieval society was, but they were probably of ceremonial use, and some may have held relics in their drops. As the art historian Anthony T. Lucas points out, at the time the "most prestigious of all Irish relics and the one most frequently mentioned down the years was ... the Bachall Iosa or Staff of Jesus ... [said ] to have been received directly from Heaven by St. Patrick ." Although
2842-504: The River Shannon . This strategic location helped it become a thriving centre of religion, learning, craftsmanship and trade by the 9th century, and many of the high kings of Tara ( Ard Rí ) and of Connacht were buried here. Clonmacnoise was largely abandoned by the end of the 13th century. Today the site includes nine ruined churches, a castle, two round towers and many carved stone crosses. The crozier's late 11th-century dating
2940-451: The episcopal office in a 431 letter to bishops in Gaul . By tradition, the first Irish example (lost since 1538) was the " Bachal Isu " (Staff of Jesus) given by God to Saint Patrick . According to the archaeologist A. T. Lucas , the croziers thus acted as "the principal vehicle of [Patrick's] power, a kind of spiritual electrode through which he conveyed the holy energy by which he wrought
3038-437: The 10th or 11th centuries. The shaft is 84 cm long. The crook is made from oak , while the drop has a willow core. The drop's metal casting is secondary and has an inset (or cavity) to hold a reliquary box, which is now filled with a small block of wood. However the reliquary box is slightly too small for the drop, and was probably also a later addition, likely to replace a similar, slightly larger fitting. The crozier
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3136-413: The 11th century. The Kells Crozier, at 133 cm, is unusually long, however some of this is due to later additions. The art historian Rachel Moss suggests that because so many parts were replaced, the crozier may "have suffered 'profanation' ( sárugud ), which is sometimes reported of insignia." Rediscovered in London in 1851, it is associated with Kells, County Meath based on inscriptions under
3234-463: The 19th century that the drops acted as containers for smaller relics of saints, while the metal casing held the saint's original wooden staffs; these claims have been in doubt since the mid-20th century, and there is no evidence to support the theories. An exception is the Lismore Crozier , where two small relics and a linen cloth were found inside the crook during a 1966 refurbishment. The crook
3332-609: The 9th and 10th centuries during periods of political and religious upheaval in Ireland, when authority was often seen as needing to be made explicit, including during the Viking invasions. A number of examples, such as the Cath Bhuaidh, found in Iona , are known to have been carried into battle against the Vikings as talismans . Insular croziers tend to be around 1.2 meters in length, the same size as
3430-473: The 9th century, with a number further embellished between the 11th and 13th centuries. Croziers were symbols of office for bishops or abbots. Their form is based on the idea of the shepherd as pastor of his flock and was popular from the early days of Christianity. The first known mention of the attribute in relation to Ireland is from 431 CE, and in the context of the conversion of the Irish population to Christianity. The first Insular staffs were produced in
3528-678: The Clonmacnoise crozier is in the shape of an open shepherd's crook , a symbol of Jesus as the Good Shepherd leading his flock. Psalm 23 mentions a "rod" and a "staff", and from the 3rd century onwards Christian art often shows the shepherd holding a staff, including the 4th-century Sarcophagus of the Three Shepherds in the Vatican Museums in Rome, and the 6th-century Throne of Maximian at
3626-631: The Coigreach are in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh , where they are displayed in the Kingdom of the Scots gallery and described as an "object-pair". The Bachul Mor (English: "Great Staff", sometimes known as "The Crozier of St Moluagh ") dates from c. 730 and is in very poor condition having lost most of its metal casing and suffered damage to both its crook and ferrule. It remains in
3724-611: The Ringerike style, they are outlined with thin strips of niello that appear as decorative flaps that, according to the archaeologist and art historian Griffin Murray , "spring from their heads and bodies forming knotted vegetal-like designs around them" before terminating in spiral patterns. The crest is attached to the top of the crook by rivets and nails. Around half of it has broken away, but what remains consists of an openwork row of five crouching dog-like animals that extends from above
3822-583: The South Kensington Museum) in 1869, on loan from Dr John Coffey , Bishop of Kerry . It is dated to the late 11th century and is not thought to have been reworked. Its origin is uncertain; it is likely to have been made at Aghadoe Cathedral (e. 939 AD by Finian Lobhar ( St. Finian the Leper )), but was held on the nearby abbey on Innisfallen ("Faithlinn's island"). The art historian Griffin Murray describes it as "probably broadly contemporary with
3920-570: The animal heads and in the drop. The crook is further decorated on both sides with blue glass studs set in set in gold collars, and holding white and red millefiori glass insets. It is now in the collection of the NMI. Inscriptions on the metalwork record that it was produced by "Nechtain the craftsman" and commissioned by Niall mac Meic Aeducain, a bishop of Lismore who died in 1113. The inscription read "OR DON IAL MC MEICC AEDUCAIN LASAN[D]ERNAD I GRESA" ("Pray for Nial Mc Meicc Aeducain for whom this
4018-486: The art historian Máire de Paor , as "grasping with [their] jaws the buttocks of the preceding animal". Similarly, the Frazer Crozier-head contains dog-tooth patterns on the upper part of the crook, but these are thought to be 16th-century additions. The shaft is formed from a wooden core plated with two copper alloy tubes and narrows after the lowest knop. The tubing was originally sealed by two binding strips on
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4116-646: The back) copper-alloy plates, a feature only otherwise found on the Prosperous Crozier. The largest and uppermost knop is 7.5 cm (3.0 in) high and has a diameter of 4.8 cm (1.9 in). It is centred by a horizontal band of interlace and champlevé enamelling containing geometric and foliage patterns. It is lined with inserted triangular and rectangular plaques (some of which are missing) between which are blue glass studs. The plaques are in copper and decorated with interlace and have borders lined with strips of twisted copper and silver wire. It contains
4214-500: The chalice. The objects would have been deposited individually at the burial site during the centuries after Ciarán's death. However there is no surviving documentary evidence to support Petrie's account of the find spot. The claim seems based on accounts from 1684 and 1739 which mention that a relic of Ciarán's hand had been found there, while the crozier's style and production technique closely resembles two other contemporary fragmentary croziers sometimes associated with Clonmacnoise;
4312-504: The cleric as a generic late-period Insular figure, with " pierced eyes , small ears, a large nose, and [a] heavy mustache and beard". The positioning of the human figures is similar to the late 9th-century Prosperous Crozier. The only other surviving example of such a figure is in the drop of the River Laune Crozier ; presumably other croziers once held similar figures but the components were damaged or removed. It seems likely that
4410-533: The cleric is intended to represent the commemorated saint, thus "making the body of the founder saint visible and active", and conferring the saint's authority to the crozier's current bearer. The copper plate underneath the drop contain enamel double-spiral designs rendered in blue, green and yellows. As the most visible portion of the crozier, the drops were the obvious focus point for figure art , an element that is, apart from zoomorphism, otherwise almost entirely absent in Insular metalwork. This led to theories in
4508-514: The corresponding animal on the opposite side. Although usually identified as lions, the figures also bear a resemblance to griffins in an 8th-century Insular knop from Setnes in Norway. The central knop is 8.8 cm (3.5 in) in height and less decorated than the other two, but has bands of open Ringerike-style interlace made of inlaid silver that form series of knotted patterns. The lower knop measures 6.8 cm (2.7 in) in height and, like
4606-403: The crest at its top. Apart from a shortening to the staff length and the loss of some inserted gems, it is largely intact and is one of the best-preserved surviving pieces of Insular metalwork . The crozier may have been associated with Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (died c. 549 CE), and was perhaps commissioned by Tigernach Ua Braín (died 1088), Abbot of Clonmacnoise , but little
4704-488: The crest contains a series of "gripping dogs". The Lismore Crozier contains three open-mouthed animals "connected in an Urnes-style mesh." The majority of Insular crozier's crooks terminate with a flat drop, typically formed from an inserted and functional metal plaque, and a highly ornate openwork drop plate, studded with jewels, as with the Lismore Crook. The plaques often have an animal (or, less often human) head at
4802-531: The crest on the crook ( ordo conduilis ocius do mel finnen ), which, roughly translated, asks for prayers for Cúduilig (or Cū Duilig) and Maelfinnén (or Máel Finnén). However, as neither have been conclusively associated with historical figures, there is some doubt as to the location of origin. It is in the collection of the British Museum . Found in the mid-19th century on the grounds of an early medieval church in Ardagh, County Longford , Saint Mel's Crozier dates from
4900-628: The crook, knop and ferrule being the most decorated elements. Only five croziers have inscriptions. Of these, only the Kells and Lismore Croziers have the lettering that is still legible. The Lismore Crozier contains both the name of the smith (Nechtan), and the name of the Bishop of Lismore who commissioned it, while the Kells Crozier names the smith as Conduilig, and its commissioner as Malfinnen, Archbishop of Leinster. The crooks are positioned on top of
4998-510: The crook. The Clonmacnoise Crozieris is often described as the finest of the surviving examples in both craftmanship and design. Thought to be associated with Saint Ciarán , it is dated to the late 11th century. It is 97 cm long, and is formed from wood, copper-alloy, silver, niello, glass and enamel . The crozier is 13.5 cm high and 15.5 cm wide, and decorated with round blue glass studs and white and red millefiori insets. Snake-like animals are arranged in interlocked rows along
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#17328513099505096-536: The crook. It also has zoomorphic designs similar those on the Dublin-manufactured Prosperous Crozier , on the shrine of the Cathach of Saint Columba , which also contains stylistic resemblances to Dublin metalwork, in particular with those found during excavations at High Street, Dublin , during 1962 and 1963. None of these links are definitive nor widely accepted. A significant metal workshop
5194-524: The crooks are typical of the Irish or West Highland type. St. Fillan's Crozier dates from the 8th century, with additions in the Romanesque period. It is s traditionally associated with the Irish monk St. Fillan (Gaelic: Fáelán or "little wolf"), who lived in the eighth century at Glendochart in Perthshire , central Scotland. Only the crook survives; the staff was lost at an unknown date. Sometime around
5292-579: The crozier as among the finest of the Irish Ringerike-influenced objects, along with the Shrine of Miosach and the Cathach (both 11th-century cumdaigh ). Although it has suffered some losses, damage and detrimental repair work, it is in excellent condition overall. The original drop-plate was replaced in the late medieval period. The wood at the end of the crest is decayed, likely due to one of
5390-452: The crozier until his collection was acquired by the Royal Irish Academy on his death in 1841. It was transferred to the archaeology branch of the National Museum of Ireland on Kildare Street on the branch's foundation in 1890. The archaeologist Griffin Murray has described the crozier as "one of [the] finest examples of early medieval metalwork from Ireland". Like all Insular croziers produced between c. 800 and 1200 CE,
5488-407: The croziers (Irish: Baculus) were built in single phases, while others were first built in the 9th century and added to or reworked across the 10th and 11th centuries. Many of the croziers were held over the centuries by hereditary keepers, usually generations of a local family, until re-discovered by antiquarians in the early 19th century. The art historian Griffith Murray estimates that there
5586-643: The croziers are often associated with early Christian Irish saints from the 600-800 era, it is not thought that the wooden cores of the staffs date from that period, although some (but not all) historians think that the drops may have been constructed as containers for relics . As undoubted symbols of wealth and power, the croziers may have at times been used for solemnising treaties, swearing oaths, or even as battle talismans . The antiquarian George Petrie noted how, in Ireland, relics of saints "used to be carried to distant places on solemn occasions, in order that rival chieftains might be sworn upon them, so much that
5684-694: The drop as a separate attachment. The shaft gets progressively narrower after the lowest knope before tapering to spike or ferrule. The shafts of the extant croziers are lined with between three and five decorative knops; that is separately cast, protruding barrel-shaped metal fittings. They all cast in bronze and are either cylindrical or biconical and fully wrap around the shaft. Typical decorative elements include inserted triangular and rectangular plaques ornamented with inlaid silver, interlace, glass studs, and enamel. The individual knopes are usually placed equally distant from each other and separated by lengths of open, plain copper-alloy. Four seems to have been
5782-425: The earliest stone church on the island and obviously relates a period of wealth and investment in the monastery at the time. It was of great significance to the community, as...the staff of office of the abbot and handed on from one abbot to the next. It symbolised the power of the founding saint of the monastery, St Finian, and by association the power of the abbot and the monastery itself," The River Laune Crozier
5880-423: The early 11th and early 12th centuries. The first phase is represented by the wooden core, and copper lined tubing, four closing strips, three copper alloy knopes, the crook, openwork crest and zoomorphic ornamentation. Later embellishments include the silver plates lining the crook, the drop (10th century), and the semi-precious stones (since lost) and niello-inlaid spirals influenced by the Ringerike style added in
5978-543: The family of its hereditary keepers" (a local family who would have looked after and protected the object over centuries), but there is no documentary evidence for this. In 1826, a lithograph representation appeared in Picturesque Views of the Antiquities of Ireland , compiled in 1830 by the architect and draughtsman Robert O'Callaghan Newenham, where it was described as having been "dug up 100 years ago". The crozier
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#17328513099506076-528: The finest croziers, and a relic of one of Ireland's patron saints , it did not receive extensive scholarly examination until its inclusion in Column Burke's 1997 "Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba". The barrel shaped knope on the upper shaft is decorated with knotted interlace, and holds now empty settings that once contained studs, most likely of amber. Although this section is the earliest metalwork component, it
6174-659: The finest surviving Irish examples, alongside those found at Clonmacnoise and Lismore. It was discovered in 1867 deposited in the bed of the Launein the River Laune , one of the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry by a fisherman who initially mistook it as either a salmon or a gun, before establishing it as a "curious handstick." It was first exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum (then
6272-529: The first examples of Irish metalwork of the medieval period), the Kells Crozier (9th to 11th centuries), St Mel 's Crozier (10th and 12th century), the River Laune Crozier (late 10th century), the Lismore Crozier (c. 1100), and the Scottish Coigreach and St Fillan’s Crozier . The majority of surviving Insular croziers are held in the National Museum of Ireland , National Museum of Scotland and
6370-461: The front which were probably of leather but are now lost, although a portion of a leather membrane between the wood and metal still exists. The shaft contains three large and ornately decorated barrel-shaped and individually cast knops, each of which fully wraps around the staff. They are positioned equally distant on the staff, separated by lengths of bare tubing. Each contains openwork patterns and chased or repoussé (i.e. relief hammered from
6468-475: The grounds of Clonmacnoise monastery , County Offaly . The oratory is said to contain the tomb of the monastery's founder Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise ( d. c. 549 ), and he is recorded as having appeared centuries after his death "to smite a would-be raider with his crozier". Petrie recorded that it was found alongside a hoard including a silver chalice dated to 1647, a wine vessel and an arm-shrine or relic of Ciarán's hand, all now lost except for
6566-467: The hollow box-like extension at the end of the crook). By the end of the 12th century, production of Irish croziers had largely ended, but examples continued to be reworked and added to throughout the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Although many of the croziers are associated with 5th- and 6th-century saints, the objects were not made until long after the saints had died. A majority originate from around
6664-472: The innumerable miracles attributed to him". In a 2004 survey, the Clonmacnoise Crozier was one of an estimated twenty (or fewer) largely intact Insular croziers in addition to some sixty fragments. The Irish antiquarian George Petrie ( d. 1866) was the first to write about the crozier's discovery, and based on his sources placed the find-spot as in the "Temple Ciarán", a now ruined oratory on
6762-464: The joining with the staff to just before the top of the crook – presumably the row once extended to the top of the drop, especially since the lead animal is the most badly damaged and missing its head, while those nearest are also damaged and have missing parts. The animals are forward-looking and positioned end-to-end, and rendered in the Oseberg Style of Viking art. They each appear, in the words of
6860-452: The late 13th century the crook was encased in the Coigreach (or Quigrich), a crosier-shrine of similar size and form built as a protective case for the crook, and made from silver, gold and rock crystal and dates from the late 13th century, with additions from the 14th or 15th centuries. The Coigreach was rediscovered in the mid-19th century by the archaeologist Daniel Wilson , who opened it and found St. Fillan’s Crozier inside. The crozier
6958-447: The later examples bear influence from both the Ringerike and later Urnes styles of Viking art . Some of the Ringerike style animals bear close resemblance to figures on the margins of ninth-century Insular brooches . The designs on the crook of the Clonmacnoise Crozier are in the Ringerike style and include snake-like animals with ribbon-shaped bodies arranged, according to art historian Patrick Wallace, "in tightly woven knots", while
7056-416: The length of a walking stick) and the crook 13.5 cm (5.3 in) wide. It was probably once 20 cm longer and had four knops, as with most other intact examples; the losses seem to result from its having been broken apart to make it easier to fold and thus hide from Viking and later Norman invaders . The staff is formed from a wooden core overlaid by metal tubes, and comprises two main sections:
7154-418: The long shaft and the crook. The crook ends in a vertical section called the drop , with a drop-plate on the outward-facing side. The casing on the shaft is attached by binding strips connected to each other by three knops, while a protective copper alloy ferrule comprises the tip of the shaft's base. The shaft and crook cores are made from separate pieces of timber but date from the same period. The crook
7252-403: The master craftsman behind the Clonmacnoise Crozier may also be responsible for two other extant examples. The croziers vary in size, material, and amount and quality of decoration. A typical length is 1.2 meters, with the Prosperous Crozier from County Kildare being both the oldest and 1.33 meters the longest. The major components are the shaft or staff and attached base, crook, and knop, with
7350-560: The ninth century and a number of (often poor and crude) refurbishments date from the 12th century onwards. It is associated with Durrow Abbey in County Meath , founded by Columba in the 6th century, and following the dissolution of the abbey, was kept by its hereditary keepers, the Mac Geoghegan family, until the mid-19th century, and was in the ownership of the Royal Irish Academy before 1850. Although considered to have once been one of
7448-405: The old Irish language : ordo conduilis ocius do mel finnen , which, roughly translated, asks supplicants to pray for Cúduilig and Maelfinnén who were involved in its refurbishment. Scholars have identified these names with individuals who were connected with the important Irish monastic settlement at Kells, County Meath . However, recent research has cast doubts about this connection. The crozier
7546-403: The past". St. Mel's Crozier is dated based on the style of the zoomorphic designs, which are similar to those on the Kells Crozier. While well preserved (a number of the plates were damaged, and its last major cleaning and refurbishment was carried out between 1971 and 1972) and studied to that point, the crozier was "almost entirely destroyed" in 2009 when St Mel's Cathedral was decimated in
7644-415: The period. The curved crest of the crook is elaborately decorated with interlinking birds; while a human head is placed on the drop at the end of the crook. This is where the crozier would have once held some holy relics. The drop-plate once held semi-precious stones that are now lost. Its full length measures about 133 cm. Underneath the crest of the crook is engraved an inscription in mixed Latin and
7742-610: The possession of the Duke of Argyll, its hereditary keeper, on the Isle of Lismore , and is thus understudied. Other well-preserved Scottish Insular croziers include the St. Donnan's crozier ( Eigg ), and the Kilvarie Bar-a-Goan ( Kilmore, Skye ). The Cath Bhuaidh ("Yellow Battler" or "battle victory") found in Iona , is traditionally associated with St. Colmcille and thought to have been used as
7840-417: The rivets being exposed, which in turn led to further damage to the structure. The original drop was presumably as highly decorated as the knops, but is lost and was replaced sometime during the 14th or 15th centuries. The current plate, like the original, forms a hollow box-like extension that was fixed to the end of the crook. It is cast from copper alloy and consists of a cast figurative insert attached to
7938-477: The shaft and are typically highly decorated with silver, gold, glass, and niello -style inlay and openwork crests, while the crook of the Aghadoe crozier is crafted from walrus ivory . They ornamented may include interlace designs, geometric patterns and zoomorphic (portraying humans as non-human animals) figures. The animal designs in the earliest example are depicted in a naturalistic manner, while many of
8036-540: The sides, and there are large animal heads in high relief at either side of the base of the crook. The openwork crest was cast and contains a row of five crouched dog-like animals. The zoomorphic and interlace patterns are in the Irish Ringerike style and bear a strong resemblance to late 11th century additions to the Bearnan Chulain bell shrine, and the early 12th century Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm , suggesting
8134-432: The theories. An exception is the Lismore Crozier , where two small relics and a linen cloth were found inside the crook during a 1966 refurbishment. The shaft is generally formed from a wooden core, usually of yew wood , sheeted with metal tubing, and often millefiori discs and inlaid glass bosses. This core was used to support the weight of the hook, given that the metal casing is usually comparatively thin. The tubing
8232-505: The top, below which a separate structure (known as the drop-plate) was attached. Based on carvings on a number of high crosses, including that at Ahenny, County Tipperary , it can be assumed that the clerics held the staffs with both hands at chest height, with the drop facing outward. As thus the most visible portion of the crozier, the drops were the obvious focus point for figurative art , an element that is, apart from zoomorphism, otherwise almost entirely absent in Insular metalwork. While
8330-616: The upper and middle knopes are separately cast, while (excepting the Clonmacnoise Crosier) the lower knope is fused with the ferrule. The designs on the upper knop of the Clonmacnoise and River Laune croziers are similar to those at the lower portion of their crooks. Both the Clonmacnoise and St. Columba’s croziers have decorative collars below their upper knopes. Knops are not unique to Insular croziers and can be found in many contemporary and later European examples. Like many Irish medieval religious objects, particularly shrines, some of
8428-447: The upper knop, is biconical (i.e. of two parts) and contains copper plaques separated by glass studs. After the lower knop the shaft passes through a free ring and tapers (narrows) into the spiked ferrule (a protective metal-cast foot, here of copper alloy) that forms the crozier's basal point. Unlike the other two Insular examples with surviving ferrules (Lismore and River Laune, both of which have more elaborate and complex endings), it
8526-495: The usual number, while those, such as the Clonmacnoise crozier, that have three are usually shorter overall and may have lost some of their length at some stage (probably when they were broken apart to make them easier to fold and thus hide from Viking and later Norman invaders). Knops were some times reused and attached to other croziers, the usual case for those that have five. Examples containing re-used knops include St. Dympna’s and St. Columba’s croziers. In all Insular examples,
8624-521: The very similar and so-called Frazer Crozier -head (catalogue number NMI 1899:28) and a crozier- knop in the British Museum . The antiquarian William Frazer wrote in 1891 that the Clonmacnoise Crozier was probably revered as holding a relic of Saint Ciarán. Clonmacnoise monastery was founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán in the territory of Uí Maine where an ancient major east–west land route and early medieval political division (the Slighe Mhor) met at
8722-693: The word mionna , which means enshrined relics, came to denote both a relic and an oath." The annuals recounting the life of St. Finnchu of Brigown , County Cork , mentions a battle against a king of Ulaid where the saint approaches the field with a crozier as a talisman. The earliest known Irish crozier, dating to 596 AD and entirely made of wood, was found in a bog at Lemanaghan , County Offaly . Representations of croziers appear in multiple other Insular art formats, including manuscripts, high crosses and stone carvings. Insular croziers were probably made in workshops specialising in metal inlay techniques. The art historian Griffin Murray speculates that
8820-529: Was an important feature of religious life in early medieval Ireland. Other reliquaries common to Ireland in this period were the bell shrines, such as St Patrick 's Bell in the National Museum of Ireland and St Conall Cael's Bell in the British Museum. Insular crozier An Insular crozier is a type of processional bishop 's staff ( crozier ) produced in Ireland and Scotland between 800 and 1200. Such items can be distinguished from mainland European types by their curved and open crooks, and drop (that is,
8918-546: Was at first used for blessings and as a talisman or battle standard: it is recorded as having been brought onto the field at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Later it was thought to be able to heal people and animals, and under the ownership of its hereditary keepers the Dewars of Glendochart, acted as a ceremonial object for oaths of loyalty and dispute settlement, mostly related to the recovery of stolen cattle. Both St. Fillan’s and
9016-435: Was found without explanation in the cupboard of a London solicitor's office in the middle of the nineteenth century. It belonged to several owners, including Cardinal Wiseman (1802–1865), before being purchased by the British Museum. A key role of the Kells Crozier was to act as a repository for holy relics. Enshrining items that had once belonged to saints or church leaders, such as their bones or fragments of their clothing,
9114-432: Was later filed down to accommodate both later embellishments and repair work. Later additions include the remnants of downwards farcing animal head on the crest positioned as a protruding wing from the main shaft. Formed from copper-alloy, silver, gilding and niello, the Kells Crozier was built in three phases. The earliest metalwork occurred during the late 9th or early 10 century, with further adornment occurring during
9212-502: Was likely discovered in the late 18th or early 19th century in the monastery of Clonmacnoise in County Offaly , Ireland. The crozier has two main parts: a long shaft and a curved crook . Its style reflects elements of Viking art , especially the snake-like animals in figure-of-eight patterns running on the sides of the body of the crook, and the ribbon of dog-like animals in openwork (ornamentation with openings or holes) that form
9310-429: Was made"), and OR DO NECTAICERD DO RIGNE I GRESA" ("Pray for Nechtain, craftsman, who made this object"). Nechtain placed the inscriptions in a very narrow space and so had to use abbreviations, and in some instances omitted a letter (for example "Niall" is spelled with only one "l", and the central "d" is missing from "Lasandernad"). During a 1966 refurbishment, two small relics and a linen cloth were found inside
9408-519: Was melted and sold for its intrinsic value. The "St Ciaran's tomb" referred to by Petrie is most likely Clonmacnoise's Temple Ciarán, a shrine-chapel on the site. The crozier was for a period in the collection of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and collector Henry Charles Sirr (1764–1841), although the circumstances of his purchase are unknown. In 1970, the archaeologist Françoise Henry speculated that Sirr "might have obtained it directly or indirectly from
9506-434: Was placed on top of the staff. The crozier's decorative attachments include the crest and terminal (or " drop ") on the crook, and the knops and ferrule on the staff; these components are made from silver, niello , glass and enamel . The hook is further embellished with round blue glass studs and white and red millefiori (glassware) insets. The antiquarian and collector Henry Charles Sirr , Lord Mayor of Dublin , held
9604-408: Was typically fitted with metal plating, usually of copper - alloy or silver, and attached by nails and rivets . In earlier examples, the hook was formed from two separate plates fastened by a crest ( coat of arms ) and a binding strip, while the drop (the plate at the front end of the hook) was attached separately. In some Romanesque crosiers, the crest is on the same plate as the crook, with only
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