Tag Archives: Art Mac Murchadha

Metalwork, Patronage, Provenance, Reliquary

The Book of Mulling and the Kings of Leinster

The earliest extant Latin Life of Saint Moling was probably compiled in the late twelfth century by the Augustinian canons at Ferns, then seat of the MacMurrough kings of Leinster. Together with recounting the various miracles enacted by the saint, and the places with which he was associated, they also emphasise that Moling had a shared ancestry with the kings of Leinster, and was their patron. The ecclesiastical site at Saint Mullin’s, lying on the border of Leinster (Uí Cheinnselaig; see previous post) and the kingdom of Ossory, was one of the favoured places for royal burial.

Fig. 1 Detail: Meeting of Gloucester and MacMurrough, in La Prinse et mort du roy Richart (Book of the Capture and Death of King Richard II), Paris, c. 1401-1405. London, BL, Harl. MS 1319, f. 9. Creative Commons: this image is free of known copyright restrictions. Source.
Fig. 1 Detail: Meeting of Gloucester and MacMurrough, in La Prinse et mort du roy Richart (Book of the Capture and Death of King Richard II), Paris, c. 1401-1405. London, BL, Harl. MS 1319, f. 9. Creative Commons: this image is free of known copyright restrictions. Source.

As Anglo-Norman control of Ireland began to wane in the fourteenth century, Art McMurrough emerged as a powerful force. Continue reading The Book of Mulling and the Kings of Leinster →

Book-shrine, Metalwork, Provenance, Reliquary

The Book-Shrine of Saint Moling

This box now at the National Museum of Ireland once housed the small 8th-century Book of Mulling (TCD MS 60). It is made of copper alloy sheets partly covered with silver and, unlike the shrine of the Book of Dimma, it is only decorated on the front, with a disparate collection eight settings made at different times in the history of the object (fig. 1).

Shrine-of-St-Molings-Gospels
Fig. 1 Front of the Book-Shrine of St Moling, 1402 with later additions, Dublin, National Museum of Ireland. From C. Vallancey, Collectanea de rebus hibernicus (Dublin, 1786), pl. II. Out of Copyright.

Although it seems at first sight to yield little information as to when and by whom it was commissioned, a closer examination reveals an inscription in Gothic script on a plate of silver foil simultaneously hidden and magnified by the large oval rock crystal forming the centre piece of the box (fig. 2).  Continue reading The Book-Shrine of Saint Moling →