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. As Anglo-Norman control of Ireland began to wane in the fourteenth century, Art McMurrough emerged as a powerful force. On his personal seal, Art styled himself ‘by the Grace of God, King of Leinster’ and according to the French chronicler, Jean Creton, swore that he would not submit to Richard II ‘for all the treasure of the sea’. Art strengthened his claim to regal authority by taking particular pride in his family’s long and illustrious past. This even extended to the wearing of what he perceived to be his ‘national’ costume- a knee-length tunic, hood, bare legs and bare feet – and like other regional Gaelic kings maintained the traditional high honour given to poets and musicians.It was also Art who was responsible for the making, or repair, of the shrine that held the Book of Mulling (TCD MS 60) and now at the National Museum of Ireland. Located under the large crystal that dominates the front of the shrine is an inscribed foil that records the name of ‘Art rex, Dominus Lagenie ’ (king Art, Lord of Leinster) and the date, 1402.Traditionally, crystals on reliquary shrines provided a ‘window’ through which to view the relic itself. So in this case one might argue that together with preserving the loose leaves of manuscripts associated with Art’s illustrious saintly ancestor, the aim was to enshrine Art’s status, in the years immediately following the English king Richard’s attempts to force the Leinster king into submission.Relics (and their shrines) were one of the insignia used in ancient Gaelic inauguration ceremonies, and although there is no direct evidence of the Moling shrine being used in this way, it is not improbable.Around the same time as the making/ refurbishment of the shrine either Art, or one of his immediate successors, refurbished an ivory horn-shaped goblet for use in their inauguration ceremony, reviving the Old Irish tradition that ‘only those who drank from the buffalo horn of Cualu could succeed the kingship of Leinster’.2 The preservation of the Book of Moling in the fourteenth century then, may have as much to do with using the family saint to assert political power, as it had to do with piety.Rachel Moss, Assistant Professor, Department of History of Art and Architecture. Trinity College Dublin
The Famous Mulling Drawing
One of the most intriguing features of the Book of Mulling is the well-known circular device drawn on its last page (TCD MS 60, f. 94v; ). Approximately contemporary with the rest of the manuscript, it consists of two concentric circles accompanied by crosses with captions and indications of directions in Irish including the four cardinal points. The eight crosses around the outer circle are arranged in four pairs, each combining the name of an evangelist with the name of a prophet: from the top, clockwise, ‘cross of Mark’, ‘cross of Jeremiah’, ‘Matthew’ and ‘Daniel’, ‘cross of John’ and ‘Ezechiel’, and ‘cross of Luke’ and ‘cross of [Isaiah]’. The inscriptions accompanying the four crosses contained inside the circles are partly illegible but one can still read, from top to bottom, ‘cross of the Holy Spirit’, ‘… with gifts’, ‘…with angels from above’ and ‘Christ with his apostles’.Strong green copper staining particularly apparent on the first leaves of the volume indicates that the manuscript was kept for a long time in direct contact with its enclosing shrine without the protection of a binding. This explains why this last leaf (f. 94) is so discoloured and damaged: it got torn in various places and some parts of it were sewn back together . The poor state of the leaf makes the interpretation of the circular device even more arduous.Hugh Lawlor, in 1895, saw it as a ‘map or plan of some sort’, pointing out the presence of cardinal points.3 He proposed, on the suggestion of Thomas Olden, that the diagram could actually represent the ecclesiastical site of St Mullins (Co. Carlow), with the crosses marking the location of monastic buildings or crosses, while the circles could ‘represent the Rath of St Molling [sic], within which were his ecclesiastical buildings; the concentric circles perhaps indicating a double or even triple rampart’.4 A few years later, he attempted to superimpose the diagram with a plan of the actual site, but he admitted that this was inconclusive: ‘It leaves Mr Olden’s suggestion nearly as it was before – a hypothesis highly plausible in itself, not indeed altogether free from difficulties […], but by no means improbable – yet still only a hypothesis: a theory which is not, perhaps cannot be, either proved or disproved.’5In 1983, Larry Nees, while not rejecting entirely the plan hypothesis, added another layer of interpretation, arguing that it probably functioned closely with the preceding liturgical text (on the same page).He stressed that the pairing of evangelists and prophets had its roots in Carolingian art (see fig. 3) and that the scribe must have had at his disposal a Carolingian model when designing the circular device, which he considered as closer in function to a ‘colophon drawing’.The hypothesis of a Carolingian model would mean that this part of the manuscript could date to as late as the mid-9th century.Catherine Yvard, Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
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. 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. The inscription was partially transcribed by T. K. Abbott in 1891: 1 ‘artturus/rex domin/usʒ[abbreviation] lagenie/elnsdabe/tiliaʒ baroni/annoʒ baroni/millio/quadrin/gentesi/mo scdo/a’ and was translated as: ‘Arthur, king of Leinster AD 1402. This inscription refers to Art Mac Murchadha (MacMurrough) (b. 1356, d. 1417) who, in 1375 was proclaimed the first king of Leinster since the conquest, and provides a date for the refurbishment he commissioned. If the central setting and small cross set in filigree belong to this phase, it is difficult to know when the shrine was made in the first place, due to the lack of remaining decoration. Paul Mullarkey tentatively offered that the base, sides and backing plates could be early medieval, while the other settings appear to be post-medieval, at least in their current arrangement, in scalloped frames. He also argues that they probably were recycled from other objects.Incidentally, the central crystal constitutes the largest setting in Irish metalwork (c. 12.7 x 5 cm), and the inscription is one of the earliest occurrences of Gothic script in Ireland. Together with the manuscript it contained, the cumdach remained until the 18th century in the custody of the MacMurrough Kavanagh family, distant descendants of Art MacMurrough, whose historic seat was at Borris House, Co. Carlow. They presented the Gospel Book and its shrine to the Library of Trinity College in the late 18th century. The book passed into the Library’s collection while the shrine later returned to the family who, in 2001, deposited it on loan at the National Museum of Ireland where it still is today.Catherine Yvard, Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
