Murdoch O’Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, died in A.D. 1150, and it is recorded in the Annals of Innisfallen that in the year 1123 a bit of the true cross came into Ireland and was enshrined by Turlogh O’Connor, thus fixing the date of the Cross of Cong some time in the first half of the twelfth century. The cross was removed from Tuam to Cong either by Archbishop O’Duffy or King Roderic O’Conor, and was found there in 1839, when it was purchased by Prof. Mac Cullach and presented by him to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.

Chalices of earlier date than the Norman Conquest are of extreme rarity either in Great Britain or on the Continent. Perhaps the three most ancient specimens abroad are (1) the chalice, found with gold coins of Justinian (A.D. 508 to 527), at Gourdon,[408] Chalons-sur-Saône, and now in the National Library at Paris; (2) the chalice of Tassilo,[409] Duke of Bavaria (A.D. 757 to 781), at Kremsmünster in Lower Austria; and (3) the chalice of St. Gozlin[410] of Toul (A.D. 922 to 962), now in the treasury of the Cathedral of Nancy. The first and last of these have two handles. The chalice of Tassilo, however, has no handles. It is profusely decorated with interlaced-work, zoömorphic designs, and figure subjects, and has round the foot the following inscription in capital letters, not unlike those used in the Hiberno-Saxon MSS:—

“ + TASSILO DVX FORTIS LVITPIRC VIRGA REGALIS.”

The lady referred to was Luitberga, wife of Duke Tassilo, and daughter of Desiderius, the last king of the Lombards. The chalice is 10 inches high and is made of copper ornamented with gold, silver, and niello. The figures are placed in oval medallions round the bowl and the base. The principal figure is that of Christ giving the benediction, and the remainder appear to be those of saints. The style of the decoration resembles that of the Irish metalwork to a certain extent, and the chalice of Tassilo may very possibly have been made abroad under the direction of some Irish monk.

Only one metal chalice of undoubted Irish work has been preserved until the present time, namely, the Ardagh Chalice[411] in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin. It was found in 1868 in a rath in the townland of Reerasta, in the parish of Ardagh, Co. Limerick. The chalice belongs to the two-handled type, and has a hemispherical bowl, a very short cylindrical stem, and a conical base with a flat rim round the bottom. It is 7 inches high by 9½ inches in diameter at the top, and 6½ inches in diameter at the bottom, the bowl being 4 inches deep and of sufficient capacity to hold three pints of liquid. The chalice is composed of gold (1 oz. 2 dwts.), silver (20 ozs. 13 dwts.), bronze (9 ozs.), lead, enamel, glass, amber, and mica. No less than 354 different pieces, including 20 rivets, are used in the construction of the vessel.

The exterior of the bowl of the Ardagh chalice is inscribed with the names of the Twelve Apostles in Hiberno-Saxon capitals, finely engraved on the silver. The forms of the letters correspond with those used in the Books of Kells, Dimma, St. Chad, Durham, and MacRegol.

The raised decoration of the chalice, which is made in separate pieces and fixed on with rivets, is concentrated on the following parts:—

• (1) A horizontal band just below the rim and running through
• the handles.
• (2) The two handles.
• (3) Two circular medallions on the lower side of the bowl
• midway between the handles.
• (4) The stem.
• (5) The flat rim at the bottom of the base.
• (6) The under side of the flat rim round the base.
• (7) The circular medallion in the centre of the under side
• of the conical base.

The ornament consists of interlaced-work, step-patterns, key-patterns, spiralwork, zoömorphic designs, and scrollwork, arranged in panels after the usual Celtic fashion. The step-patterns are confined to the plaques and bosses of enamel, and the other patterns are executed in delicate gold filigree-work on a repoussé background of gold. On the under side of the flat rim round the base panels of most beautifully plaited silver wire are introduced. Amber is used on the handles for the borders round the raised bosses of enamel, and there is a narrow ring of the same material between the concentric rings of ornament in the middle of the under side of the base. The heads of the rivets by which the circular medallions on the sides of the bowl are fixed are concealed by two small bosses of blue glass and two of amber. The heads of the rivets for securing the two handles in place are disguised in a similar manner. The stem and supports of the chalice are of bronze gilt, highly ornamented. 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. A plate of lead is inserted between the upper and under sides of the flat rim round the base to give weight and stability. The flat rim round the base is ornamented with gold and bronze-gilt plaques of open work on a background of mica, in order to show up the beauty of the patterns. The flat rim round the base has on its under side, between the panels of ornament, rectangular tablets of blue glass, underneath which are decorated pieces of wrought-silver, which give a brilliant appearance in a strong light. In the centre of the under side of the base is a circular setting of rock-crystal. The rim of the bowl of the chalice is of brass.

Enough has been said of the elaborate nature of the construction and ornamentation of the Ardagh Chalice to show that it is a masterpiece of Celtic art metalwork of the best period. The style of the lettering of the inscription upon it and the general character of the decorative features indicate that it belongs to the same school as the Book of Kells, the Durham Book, St. Chad’s Gospels, and the Tara Brooch, and cannot consequently be of much later date than the eighth century. It will be noticed that in the decoration of the Ardagh Chalice spiral patterns of the best quality are present, and that the zoömorphs are kept under proper restraint so as not to swamp the whole design. Both these points are an indication of early date.

There are at least three examples known of bronze plaques with representations upon them of the Crucifixion treated in the archaic Irish fashion. The most interesting of these was found at Athlone,[412] and is now in the Museum of the Irish Academy in Dublin. The Saviour is shown wearing a tunic, the surface of which is almost entirely covered with spirals, key-patterns, and interlaced-work. Another smaller and less ornamental plaque with the Crucifixion may be seen in the same museum;[413] and a third, belonging to Mr. M. J. Arketell, has been illustrated by Prof. J. O. Westwood in his Miniatures and Ornaments of the Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS.[414]

Leaving Celtic ecclesiastical metalwork, we come to personal ornaments, which, although exhibiting the same style of decoration, were not necessarily intended to be worn by persons taking part in the ceremonies of the Church. These personal ornaments consist of pins, brooches, and buckles. We have previously given a list of the hammer-headed pins, which may either be Pagan or Christian. Another peculiarly Celtic type of pin consisted of three parts, namely, (1) a long pin; (2) a kite-shaped pendant; and (3) a short bar hinged at one end to the top of the pin, and at the other to the rounded top of the pendant. A remarkably fine pin of this description was found about 1883 at Clonmacnois,[415] King’s Co., and is now in the possession of the Rev. Timothy Lee, of Limerick. The pin is 7½ inches long, the coupling-bar ¾ inch long, and the kite-shaped pendant 2½ inches long by 1⅛ inches wide by ⅙ inch thick. The whole is of silver, decorated with gold filigree, enamel, niello, and settings of claret-coloured glass or precious stone. The coupling-bar has on one side a lozenge-shaped panel of filigree-work, and on the other an interlaced pattern in niello. The front of the pendant is ornamented with a cross having a large rectangular setting of glass in the centre, three smaller rectangular settings at the ends of the top and two side arms, and a small triangular setting at the bottom of the shaft. The background of the cross consists of four panels of interlaced filigree-work, three of which are missing. The point of the kite-shaped pendant terminates in a beast’s head. On the back of the pendant there is a cross of similar shape to that on the front, but with an ornamental border of spiralwork round it, and the whole design executed in niello. At the pointed end at the bottom is fixed a small ring through which passes a silver plaited chain of Trichinopoly-work, like the one attached to the Tara Brooch. There is another pin of similar shape ornamented with zoömorphic designs in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,[416] in Dublin.

Dr. Hans Hildebrand, in his excellent South Kensington handbook of The Industrial Arts of Scandinavia (p. 21), remarks that “every work of human art, higher as well as lower, has its shape determined by two agents: the end which it is to serve, and the taste of the people and the time of which it is a fruit.” In other words, there is a utilitarian as well as an ornamental side to almost every object fashioned by man to satisfy his wants. The form of an object must depend primarily upon the practical use to which it is intended to be put, and the decorative features generally follow afterwards in due course. The function of the decorative features, however, should be to add grace and beauty to the original form of the object, but not to attempt to disguise the utilitarian purpose it fulfils.

No relics of antiquity are more deserving of study than personal ornaments, and of all personal ornaments perhaps the brooch is the most important as affording an insight into the character of the people by whom it was worn. Their ingenuity can be measured by the perfection of the mechanism of the working parts, their culture by the refinement of the ornament, and their skill as craftsmen by the finish of the workmanship. Much, again, is to be learnt of the habits of the people by investigating the different methods of wearing the brooch. Thus it is that almost every age and every country possesses its typical form of brooch.

Looked at from its practical side, a brooch is a contrivance for fastening together temporarily any two points on a garment. It is obviously a higher development of the pin. Going back to first principles, the pin may have been suggested by the natural spikes, or thorns, found in the vegetable world. It would not require much intelligence to see that a small knob added to the blunt end of the pin would facilitate its removal from the fabric when it was required to be withdrawn, and would also prevent the pin going further than was desirable through the fabric. The problem which was solved by the invention of the brooch, however, was one of much greater complexity, namely, how to secure the pin in position so as to prevent it from slipping out of the fabric in the direction of the head. This might have been effected either by fixing a removable knob, or stop of some kind, on the pointed end after it had been inserted in the fabric, or by connecting the head with the point temporarily, so as to form a complete ring for the time being. In the brooch the latter alternative is chosen. The pin must necessarily be straight, so as to pierce the fabric with the least amount of resistance, and the temporary connection between the head and the point has to be approximately semicircular, the whole forming a ring shaped like a bow, the pin corresponding to the string and the body of the brooch to the bow.

In order to be able to remove the brooch from the fabric at pleasure, some contrivance must be hit upon by which a gap, or break, can be made in the ring, and be closed up again whenever it is desired to do so. The opening is attained by placing a hinge where the head of a pin joins the body of the brooch, and the closing by having a groove-shaped catch at the opposite extremity. A spring is also required to prevent the pin coming unfastened accidentally from the catch. These different contrivances constitute the essential parts of a brooch, which, divested of its ornamental appendages, is represented by the ordinary “safety-pin” of the present day.

If the rigid bow-like connection between the head and point of the pin be doubled we get an annular brooch, and if the central portion of the ring be filled in we get the discoidal brooch. In these cases the ring or disc is placed parallel to the plane of the fabric instead of at right angles to it.

The somewhat dry disquisition just inflicted upon the unsuspecting reader is necessary in order to place him in a position to fully understand the mechanism of the typical Celtic brooch, the leading characteristics of which are that the ring has a break in its continuity (whence the name “penannular”), and that the length of the pin considerably exceeds the diameter of the ring. The object of the break in the continuity of the ring is that it enables the spring-catch to be dispensed with, the method of fixing the brooch in the dress being as follows: First, the long pin is inserted in the fabric at two points close together, in such a manner that the apex goes right through it and appears again above the surface; the pin is then forced through the break, and the ring is given a turn through a right angle in the plane of the fabric, thus fixing the brooch by the friction produced by the drag of the weight of the garment on the pin.

We are now brought face to face with the question as to how the Celtic penannular brooch was worn. This can not only be conjecturally determined by an examination of the specimens to be found in museums, but fortunately can be settled beyond a shadow of a doubt in two ways, each of which confirms the other. First, there are at least two contemporary representations of persons actually wearing a penannular brooch (one on a cross at Monasterboice, Co. Louth, and the other on a cross at Kells, Co. Meath, in Ireland); and this ancient form of fibula has survived, and is in use at the present time in Algeria and elsewhere.

The example at Monasterboice[417] is on the bottom panel of the side of the shaft of the cross of Muiredach (or Murdoch), which was erected in A.D. 924. The scene represented on the panel has been conjectured by the late Prof. J. O. Westwood, from its similarity to a miniature in the Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin, to be intended for Christ seized by the Jews. If this be so, the central figure is our Lord, and on each side is a soldier armed with a drawn sword. The sculpture is in good preservation, considering its great age, and the details of the costume, which are very elaborate, can be made out fairly well. Our Lord wears a sort of cloak with a penannular brooch fixed on His right shoulder. The split in the ring of the brooch faces downwards, and the pin is inclined upwards at an angle of about 30 degrees to the horizontal, the point being outwards. Probably the heavy head of the pin is placed downwards because its weight would always tend to bring it to this position, as the one of most stable equilibrium, but it may also have been to avoid injury from the point of the long pin.

The second example is on the bottom panel of the side of the broken cross-shaft in Kells[418] churchyard. The exact date of this monument is unknown, but it is probably of the ninth or tenth century. The subject on the panel is the Baptism of Christ, with the sources of the two imaginary rivers, Jor and Dan, which, when united, were supposed to contribute their waters to the Jordan, indicated conventionally in a most remarkable manner. John the Baptist pours the water over the head of Christ with a sort of ladle. Above is the Holy Dove, and on the left are two figures wearing penannular brooches exactly in the same manner as on the Monasterboice cross, with the pin pointing upwards. In the case of the figure furthest to the left, the end of the long pin is inserted a second time into the fabric of the dress, beyond the ring.

The method of wearing the penannular brooch at the present day in Algeria is clearly indicated on the reproduction of a photograph[419] here given. The only difference in the way of wearing the brooch in Algeria and in ancient Ireland is, that in the former case they are worn in pairs instead of singly, and there is a connecting chain with a small pendant scent-box hung from the middle. The size of the box is exaggerated out of all proportion by being placed nearer the camera than the rest of the figure.

In Great Britain the penannular brooches appear to have been worn singly, as they are never found in pairs; thus offering a contrast to the Scandinavian bowl-shaped brooches, which are always found in pairs, and were connected by a chain, as in the case of the Algerian brooches.

It would be interesting to know how the penannular form of brooch was first introduced into this country, for its seems hardly conceivable that it could have been invented here, or else it would not be found in Algeria, which never had any connection with Great Britain, it being extremely unlikely that so peculiar a type of brooch was evolved independently in the two countries.

The most probable suggestion is that the Algerians and the ancient Irish got it from a common source, namely, the East, and that its introduction into our own islands dates from the time when the traffic in silver bullion from the East commenced. The existence of a trade route which was made use of by the dealers in silver bullion is made clear by the number of finds of Mahomedan silver coins associated with ingots, rings, and ornaments of silver, made both in Scandinavia and in Great Britain. Dr. Hans Hildebrand, in his Industrial Arts of Scandinavia (p. 81), informs us that “considerable stores of such coins, most of them of the Samanid dynasty, have been found in Sweden. It is satisfactorily proved by Russian finds, that these coins were brought from states near the Caspian Sea, through Russia to the shores of the Baltic Sea, and thence to the commerce established by the inhabitants of Gotland over to that island. From Gotland, and probably also by direct intercourse with Russia, the Mahomedan coins were spread over Scandinavia, being of course more common in the eastern provinces of Sweden than in the western and in Norway.” No less than 20,000 Mahomedan silver coins have already been discovered in Sweden, mostly dating between A.D. 880 and 955, the latest belonging to the year A.D. 1010.

Penannular brooches have been found in association with Mahomedan coins of the ninth and tenth centuries, at Skaill, in Orkney; at Storr, in Skye; and at Cuerdale, near Preston, in Lancashire.

Although the general form of the penannular brooch is probably of Eastern origin, the decorative features vary according to the race of people who adopted it. Thus the examples from Algeria have Mahomedan ornament; those from Gotland, Scandinavian patterns; whilst those from Ireland and Scotland are thoroughly Celtic in design. With the decoration of the foreign specimens we are not now concerned, but a few words with regard to the various types found in Great Britain will form a fitting conclusion to this article.

The finest collections of penannular brooches are to be seen in the British Museum, the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, in Edinburgh, and in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. A few good specimens are in private hands, and there is a splendid one from Orton Scar,[420] in Westmoreland, in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House.

The portions of the brooch, the forms of which are altered so as to adapt them better to the reception of ornament, are the head of the pin and the two terminations of the ring, where the break occurs. The two chief ways of altering the shapes of these parts are (1) by making them spherical, and (2) by expanding into a wide flat surface; the object in both cases being to increase the area available for decoration. Sometimes, also, the ring and the long end of the pin are flattened and widened for a similar purpose.

As an example of a penannular brooch with bulbous terminations to the ring and head of the pin, we have one from Co. Kildare in Ireland (R.I.A. photo, B 172). The knobs are covered with a prickly ornament produced by incised lines drawn diagonally in two directions, crossing each other, giving the whole the appearance of the head of a thistle. Several brooches of this kind have been obtained from different localities in Ireland, and there was one along with the three brooches of the type with flattened and expanded ends found with the Ardagh Chalice—a hoard of objects of purely Irish types—but their ornamentation appears to be more Scandinavian than Celtic. One of the best specimens from Skaill, in Orkney, now in the Edinburgh Museum, has a pin 1 foot 3 inches long, and the bulbous ends covered with zoömorphic designs similar to those on the Manx crosses, and on an iron axe-head inlaid with silver from the Mammen How,[421] Denmark.

We next come to brooches with discoidal terminations, of a date not later than the beginning of the ninth century, as the simplest example of which may be taken one from Croy, in Inverness-shire (Scotland in Early Christian Times, 2nd ser., p. 23). Another, found near Perth (ibid., p. 21), has three raised heads on each disc; whilst one from Rogart, in Sutherlandshire (ibid., p. 7), has four raised heads outside the circumference of the disc, so that the terminations are altered into the shape of a quatrefoil.

Lastly, we have brooches with flat expanded ends to the ring, of which kind three specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin are illustrated, in order to show the way of ornamenting the expansions with one, four, and five raised bosses, having zoömorphic designs on the background (R.I.A. photos, B 163 and B 164). The area of the head of the pin available for decoration is increased by making it into a cylindrical tube.

In the final stage of the development of the penannular brooch in Ireland it ceased to be penannular, if we may be permitted to use such an Irish expression. The break in the ring was entirely filled up, although its position can still be traced by the method of arranging the pattern, which survived in its old form long after the split had disappeared. The celebrated Tara Brooch, in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy (R.I.A. photo, A 161), affords a striking example of this. The doing away of the break in the ring must have entirely defeated the original purpose the brooch was intended to serve, and it would, therefore, appear that these highly decorated brooches were made rather for ceremonial use, than to be of any practical value as dress-fasteners.

It may be pointed out that all the characteristic modifications of the form of the penannular brooch made by the Celtic artist arose from his desire to provide more space for the ornamental patterns, which were the very salt of his existence.

Dr. Joseph Anderson contributes the following note apropos of the long pin:—

“In the Brehon Laws, vol. iii., p. 291, men are exempted from liability to fine for injury from the pin of their brooch (in a crush? or at a fair?) if they have the brooch on their shoulder so as not to project beyond it. Women also are exempt if they have their brooch similarly on their bosom.” Vol. iv., p. 323, “a precious brooch worth an ounce [of silver?] is enumerated among the customary insignia of a chief.”

The Tara Brooch[422] was found in 1850 by some children whilst playing on the strand near Drogheda, Co. Meath. It was offered by the mother of the children to a dealer in metals in Drogheda, but he refused to purchase it, after which she took it to a watchmaker in the town, who gave her a trifle for it. The watchmaker cleaned it up, and subsequently sold it to Messrs. Waterhouse, of Dame Street, Dublin. The Tara Brooch is now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The body of the brooch is made of an alloy of copper and tin called white bronze, and the decorations with which it is encrusted consist of gold filigree in small recessed panels, niello, enamel, and settings of amber and glass. The ornament includes interlaced-work, spirals, step-patterns, scrollwork, zoömorphs, and anthropomorphs. The spiralwork is of the best kind, such as is only found in MSS. like the Book of Kells. The designs on the back of the brooch appear to be chased or cut into the solid metal of the body, and not composed of plaques fixed on with rivets. Attention should be particularly directed to the rows of birds, each biting the leg of the one in front of it, on the back of the brooch. Similar designs occur in the Lindisfarne Gospels[423] and on a cross-shaft from Aberlady,[424] now at Carlowrie Castle, near Kirkliston, Linlithgowshire, clearly showing Northumbrian influence, as bird-motived ornament of this kind is in no way characteristic of pure Irish work.

There are several beautiful penannular brooches in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, at Edinburgh, most of which are described and illustrated in Dr. J. Anderson’s Scotland in Early Christian Times series. The finest of these is the Hunterston Brooch,[425] which has a Runic inscription upon it and is decorated with interlaced-work, zoömorphs, and spiralwork almost equal to that on the Tara Brooch. The Cadboll Brooch[426] from Rogart, Sutherlandshire, and a brooch from Perth[427] are also very beautiful examples.

The best examples of early Irish ornamental leatherwork are the satchel of the Book of Armagh[428] in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and the satchel of St. Moedog’s reliquary[429] in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The patterns on the former consist of interlaced-work and zoömorphs, and those on the latter of interlaced-work only. There are also specimens of leather shoes in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy with Celtic ornament upon them.[430]

There are very few objects of wood or bone now in existence which exhibit Celtic ornament of the Christian period.