Irish Brain surgeons, Vikings who recycle and spotting mistakes in churches: Medieval News Roundup

Archaeological dig in Northern Ireland uncovers huge haul of medieval artefacts

Archaeologists have been impressed by the huge treasure trove of artefacts that have been discovered so far during excavations of a crannog in Northern Ireland. They are providing a “snap-shot” of life in Ireland between the 9th century AD to the 17th Century, and further work may reveal more items that could date back even centuries earlier.


The crannog – an artificial island in a lake – is located in County Fermanagh in the southwest corner of Norther Irland. Digging began in June, and has revealed a small settlement of about four or five houses. It is believed that the island was occupied between the years 600 AD to 1600 AD. The waterlogged site is turning up many kinds of objects related to daily life in the Middle Ages.

Some of the most striking finds are a wooden bowl that has a cross carved into its base, a unique find from an excavation in Ireland, parts of wooden vessels with interlace decoration, and exquisite combs made from antler and bone, status symbols of their day that date to between 1000 and 1100 AD.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

New Book on ‘The Book of Kells’ launched

The Book of Kells is widely recognised as one of the world’s most beautiful decorated manuscripts and a masterpiece of European medieval art, with images that are staggering in their richness, intricacy and inventiveness. This handsome new volume, by Dr Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Library, brims with fresh insights and interpretations and features the extraordinary imagery on a generous scale. The publication which was introduced by Professor of History of Art,  Roger Stalley also marks the tercentenary of the foundation of the Old Library building, Trinity College Library, Dublin, one of  the great historic libraries of the world.

The Book of Kells dates from around 800 AD and contains a Latin text of the four Gospels. There is great uncertainty about its origins. It is thought that the Book of Kells was first worked on at the monastery on the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland, and was continued, after Viking raids, at the monastery of Kells in Ireland. The Book remained in Kells until the mid-1600s, and in 1661 was presented to Trinity College, Dublin, where it is on permanent display, and is regarded as a national treasure. It is seen every year by half a million visitors from all over the world.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Wanted! Limerick men with Viking blood for tests

If you ever wondered whether you are you descended from the Vikings or the Normans, now is the time to find out.

A network of academics led by Dr Catherine Swift of Mary Immaculate College, and Dr Turi King of the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester are using scientific techniques and the traditional tools of the historian in an attempt to identify what percentage of the Irish population are descended from Vikings.

Volunteers with certain surnames - including English, Stokes and Noonan, amongst many others - will be tested at Fennessey’s pub, New Street, Sunday, October 21, at 12 noon.

“Limerick is a very interesting location for our project as it is known to be a vital Viking trading centre,” said Dr Swift.

Click here to read this article from the Limerick Leader

Find hints at early medieval monastery

Archaeologists exploring links among early medieval monasteries in Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe have discovered important evidence of a settlement in Co Donegal.

 The team of tutors and students from the University of Sunderland made their discovery last week during a 10-day field trip to Culdaff on the Inishowen peninsula. Using the latest in mapping equipment, they discovered a circular boundary wall, some 100 metres in diameter, buried underground in fields at Carrowmore.

 Click here to read this article from the Irish Independent

Book of Kells has attracted ten million visitors to Trinity College Dublin Library

The 10 millionth visitor to the Old Library, Trinity College Dublin since the creation of its visitor centre in 1992 was welcomed yesterday by the Librarian, Mr Robin Adams. The Old Library and Book of Kells is one of Ireland’s major tourist venues and attracts over 520,000 visitors each year to see the exhibition on the Book of Kells and other medieval manuscripts and to enjoy the spectacular space of the Long Room.

The number of visitors to the Old Library has increased from 220,000 in 1992. Figures for this year have increased by 10% over the previous twelve months. Visitors to the Old Library come from across the globe, with the majority coming from Europe (39%) and North America (33%). Eight percent of visitors come from Ireland, with over 20,000 schoolchildren having free access, often coming as part of a school visit.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Research examines the ‘abortionist saints’ of medieval Ireland

A recent article on sexuality and childbirth in early medieval Ireland reveals some surprising attitudes towards abortion held among the Christians during this period, and that hagiographical texts recount four Irish saints performing abortions.

 'Of Vanishing Fetuses and Maidens Made-Again: Abortion, Restored Virginity, and Similar Scenarios in Medieval Irish Hagiography and Penitentials', by Maeve Callan, appears in the latest issue of the Journal of the History of Sexuality. Callan examines a wide range of hagiographical works and other sources from medieval Ireland. She writes, “these accounts celebrate saints who perform abortions, restore female fornicators to a virginal state, contemplate infanticide, and result from incest and other ‘illegitimate’ sexual unions. Moreover, the texts themselves generally reflect a remarkably permissive attitude toward these traditionally taboo acts, an attitude also found in Irish penitentials and law codes.”

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Dogs, booze and bling: Northern Ireland's medieval shopping mall

Excavations on Dunnyneil Island in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, have revealed a seventh century trading emporium frequented by merchants from as far afield as modern day Russia, Germany, Iceland and France.

 Back in early medieval times, there was no cash economy, few buyers, and even fewer sellers, but there are surprising parallels between these ancient trading outposts and modern shopping centres.

 According to archaeologist Dr Philip MacDonald, who led the dig on Dunnyneil, merchants would have brought wine and other luxury products to Ireland to exchange at emporia for furs, seal skin, slaves and famed Irish wolfhounds.

 "High status members of the Dal Fiatach [the local dynasty whose royal centre was Downpatrick, County Down] and local traders, would have frequented the island," he said.

 In medieval times, the king controlled trade and wealthy merchants travelled the seas to buy and sell goods. The trade in imported prestige items would have been important for the king of Dal Fiatach, to signify his status and power.

Click here to read this article from the BBC

Thousands of Irish Medieval Documents now available online

Trinity College Dublin historians have reconstructed invaluable medieval documents destroyed during the bombardment of the Four Courts in 1922. The Four Courts was the home of the Public Record Office, which was catastrophically destroyed when it was bombed in the conflict between pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty forces at the start of the Irish Civil War. It was previously thought that the entire medieval archive had been destroyed, but forty years’ work by a team of researchers at Trinity has led to the reconstruction of more than 20,000 hugely important government documents produced by the medieval chancery of Ireland. From today, the Irish chancery letters are available again in a new publicly accessible and free internet resource known as CIRCLE: A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters, c.1244–1509.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Story behind Faddan More Psalter discovery told at John Rylands Library

The fascinating story behind a 1,200-year-old book unearthed by a mechanical digger operator six years ago in an Irish bog was told by the man who is supervising its conservation.

John Gillis, a Senior Conservator of books and manuscripts at Trinity College Library, Ireland, spoke at The John Rylands Library yesterday in an event jointly organised by the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies (MANCASS), based at The University of Manchester, and Manchester Medieval Society.

As the first medieval manuscript ever found in a wetland environment, the Faddan More Psalter is one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries ever made. Mr Gillis, who is working with the National Museum of Ireland on examining and conserving the manuscript, described the latest discoveries he has made about the remarkable artefact.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Was St Patrick a slave-trading Roman official who fled to Ireland?

The classic account of St Patrick’s life tells us that he was abducted from Western Britain in his teens and forced into slavery in Ireland for six years before escaping, during which time his faith developed.

However, a new article looking at Patrick’s own writings in their historical context argues that the saint may have in fact fled to Ireland deliberately to avoid becoming a ‘Decurion’ – a Roman official responsible for tax collection.

“In the troubled era in which Patrick lived, which saw the demise and eventual collapse of Roman government in Britain in 410, discharging the obligations of a Decurion, especially tax-collecting, would not only have been difficult but also very risky,” says Dr Roy Flechner of the University of Cambridge.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Somewhere in Ireland, a burglar has the heart of a saint

Here is a series of articles about the theft of the relic of St. Laurence O’Toole this weekend from a church in Dublin, Ireland.

Somewhere in Ireland, a burglar has the heart of a saint


Officials at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin said Sunday they’re distraught and perplexed over the theft of the church’s most precious relic: the preserved heart of St. Laurence O’Toole, patron saint of Dublin.

St. Laurence’s heart had been displayed in the cathedral since the 13th century. It was stored in a heart-shaped wooden box and secured in a small, square iron cage on the wall of a chapel dedicated to his memory. On Saturday someone cut through two bars, pried the cage loose, and made off with the relic.

“I am devastated that one of the treasured artifacts of the cathedral is stolen,” said the Most Rev. Dermot Dunne, the cathedral’s dean. “It has no economic value but it is a priceless treasure that links our present foundation with its founding father.”

Ireland’s national police force, the Garda Siochana, said detectives were studying hours of closed-circuit TV footage to try to identify the approximately 40 people who walked out the cathedral’s front doors Saturday morning.

Click here to read this article from The Globe and Mail

Religious fanatic hid overnight to steal relic of saint's heart

A religious fanatic hid overnight in a cathedral before stealing the 800-year-old preserved heart of Dublin's patron saint, church officials believe.

The 12th century preserved heart of St Laurence O'Toole -- which has been a religious focal point in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, for the past eight centuries -- was stolen from a small heart-shaped wooden box which was sealed in an iron-barred case.

The Dean of Christ Church, Reverend Dermot Dunne, said yesterday that he believes the culprit secretly hid in the cathedral before closing time on Friday evening.

It has also emerged the thief lit two candles during the night before making off with the relic the next morning.

"The vergers realised it was gone when they opened the cathedral at 9.30am on Saturday morning," he said.

"It was definitely there the evening before. They also noticed that there were two peace candles lit on the Trinity Altar. It's all very strange.

"Somebody must have hid in the cathedral overnight on Friday and slipped out first thing on Saturday morning. There was no sign of forced entry and all our doors are alarmed."

Click here to read this article from the Irish Independent

Call for increased security for church relics

Church authorities who are custodians of relics have been called on to increase their security, or temporarily remove the items, in light of recent thefts.

Raghnall Ó Floinn, Head of Collections at the National Museum of Ireland, said these incidents were worrying, and that custodians of relics might have to increase security.

It follows the theft from Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin this weekend of a wooden box in which the heart of St Laurence O'Toole had been placed almost 1,000 years ago.

Click here to read this article from RTE

See also our earlier article Medieval Saint’s relic stolen from Dublin church

Medieval Saint’s relic stolen from Dublin church

The preserved heart of St Laurence O’Toole, Dublin’s patron saint has been stolen from the city’s Christ Church Cathedral. The theft occurred sometime between Friday night and noon on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for the cathedral said it was opened at 9.30am this morning and there was no of a forced entry. She said the thieves did not take valuable gold chalices and gold candlesticks in the chapel, but only took the relic. “It’s completely bizarre,” she added. “They didn’t touch anything else. They specifically targeted this, they wanted the heart of St Laurence O’Toole.”

The Dean of Christ Church Cathedral and the diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, the Most Reverend Dermot Dunne, commented that the relic “has no economic value but it is a priceless treasure that links our present foundation with its founding father, St Laurence O’Toole.”

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Ireland: So what have the Romans ever done for us?

The Roman General Agricola reportedly says he can take and hold Ireland with a single legion. Some archaeologists have claimed the Romans did campaign in Ireland, but most see no evidence for an invasion. Imperial Rome and this island on its far western perimeter did share interesting links, however.

The Discovery Programme, a Dublin-based public institution for advanced research in archaeology, is to investigate Ireland’s interactions with the empire and with Roman Britain, aiming to fill gaps in the story of the Irish iron age, the first 500 years after the birth of Christ.

The project, Late Iron Age and Roman Ireland (Liari) could uncover a surprising role for Roman culture, predicts Dr Jacqueline Cahill Wilson, project leader. It offers “a new narrative for this formative period of early Irish history”.

Science is going to drive the project, and the interpretation presented by the researchers will be based on science as much as the archaeology, Cahill Wilson explains. Roman artifacts including coins, glass beads and brooches turn up in many Irish counties, especially in the east.

Click here to read this article from The Irish Times

Click here to visit the Discovery Programme website

Old Irish words deciphered from Stowe Missal

Research into the Stowe Missal, an Irish manuscript written around 800 A.D., has led to the exciting discoveries of two new Old Irish verbs and several nouns from the text, which will help unlock mysteries in other Old Irish scripts.

Professor David Stifter detailed his findings at a lecture earlier this month at the National University of Ireland – Maynooth. In his lecture, Professor Stifter described his work, part of which involves the translation of a text in a famous liturgical manuscript, which is housed in the Royal Irish Academy, and is the source of much fascination to linguists, with many passages hitherto considered incomprehensible.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

A medieval Irish castle and a Dublin gem give couples a taste of town and country

Ireland might not pop to mind as the most romantic of destinations, but the Emerald Isle’s charms can be quite seductive.

Dublin has a youthful, energetic vibe, while the rolling countryside beckons with its peaceful, quiet beauty. Couples can sample a little bit of both with the six-night “Town and Country Experience.” The package includes three nights each at a pair of historic Irish properties: The Merrion in Dublin and Ashford Castle in County Mayo.

Originally built in the 13th century as a monastery, Ashford Castle eventually fell into the hands of the Guinness family who turned it into their country estate. It became a hotel in 1939. Set on 350 acres of gardens and forest, the imposing gray castle looks like something out of a fairytale.

Click here to read this article from the Chicago Sun Times

Ireland: ‘Medieval Mile’ plans to be unveiled

Plans for a ‘Medieval Mile’ in Kilkenny are due to be announced in the next few weeks, and the project will help to promote the South East as a “necklace of must-see destinations,” a Fáilte Ireland conference held in Hotel Kilkenny heard on Monday afternoon.

The Medieval Mile will be one of two “game-changing developments,” the other being a Viking Triangle in Waterford, said Fáilte Ireland’s head of operations for the South East, Gary Breen.

Of the Medieval Mile, he said: “We hope within the next two weeks to have blueprints developed that will outline how this project will evolve.”

It will include the Craft Yard; St Mary’s Cathedral, which will become an exhibition space; the new Butler Gallery for contemporary art being developed at Evans Home; and the upgrade of High Street.

“When that project is in place, we will have the finest built heritage experience in Ireland,” Mr Breen said.

Click here to read this article from the Kilkenny People

A look at the lives of those who built Jerpoint Abbey

A new book about the religious order that created Jerpoint Abbey is being launched this Friday night.

A Monastic Landscape: The Cistercians in Medieval Ireland by Breda Lynch, who has worked as a guide and information officer at the abbey, will be launched at the NUI Maynooth outreach campus at St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny on Friday at 7.30pm. A launch will also be held on Sunday at noon in the John O’Donovan Parish Centre in Slieverue.

The 192-page book is a detailed study of various aspects of the Cistercian Order in medieval Leinster. It focuses on the lands that the monasteries held in the province, including the great houses of Mellifont, Baltinglass, Jerpoint, Duiske, Tintern and Dunbrody. The main content of the book deals with the identification of the lands held by the Cistercian houses of Leinster, with references to other provinces. The last chapter deals with the fate of these monasteries in the post-Dissolution period.

Click here to read this article from Kilkenny People

Click here to purchase this book from Xlibris

Weir complex and medieval quay the latest archaeological finds in Galway bay

An extensive tidal weir complex close to Barna and a late medieval quay on Mutton Island have become the latest in a series of recent archaeological finds in Galway Bay.

The finds are “transforming our knowledge” of a “neglected aspect” of Connacht’s maritime history, according to Connemara archaeologist Michael Gibbons.

The tidal weir complex in Rusheen Bay, to the west of the city, is visible at low tide and appears as a series of stone rapids across a fast-flowing tidal race mouth, Gibbons says.

It is not far from the location of the earliest discovery to date in that area – the 6,000-year-old Barna boat which has been conserved for display at Galway Atlantaquaria in Salthill.

A barrier of “granite erratics” at the weir complex has been adapted by hand, with several large channels cut through an 80-metre-wide band of rock.

Click here to read this article from the Irish Times

Oldest surviving timber-framed house discovered in Ireland

Archaeologists in County Clare believe they have discovered Ireland’s earliest surviving example of a timber framed house. Dendrochronological analysis is expected to conclude that the timber structure at Chapel Lane, Parnell Street, Ennis, dates back to the late 16th century.

Ms. Irene Clune’s house, known as McParland’s is long understood to have been the oldest inhabited house in the Clare County capital. The building’s triple diamond stone Jacobean chimney has been an icon of medieval Ennis for centuries.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net