Cumdach
[6] Another Irish speciality was the bell-shrine, encasing the handbells used to summon the community to services or meals, and one of the earliest reliquaries enshrined the bell of an unknown saint, and was probably worn as a test of truthfulness and to cure illness.
[7] As the sample size of 8 to 10 surviving examples is so small (presumably many such works were lost, mostly plundered for their precious metal or stones) they cannot be classified typologically.
In the majority of instances, the master metal worker left an inscribed signature and date of completion, some of which contain wording that hints at their artistic motivations.
[5] Distinguishing factors include size (indicating the originally intended function as for example as private fixed shrines pocketbooks, or objects to be worn over the shoulder or from belts), and their later use.
However, the designs may well have been very similar; the best surviving Insular example, the lower cover of the Lindau Gospels (c. 880) in the Morgan Library in New York, is also centred on a large cross, surrounded by interlace panels.
A number contain inscriptions that can be read as signatures, but that is the extent of their historical record, as even first-rank craftsmen of the time were not mentioned in annuals and were not given obituaries when they died.
[14] Cumdachs basic utilitarian functions were as practical protective covers for their manuscript or relic, and to provide, sometimes portable, private centres of devotion, or were of liturgical use.
[16] Most other early medieval Irish manuscripts were stored away in secure stone buildings, but were over the years sold, stolen or plundered, and thus lost.
[5] The books of Dimma and Mulling were found with inserts containing texts from masses of the dead, indicating they were used for healing purposes.
[17] Reliquaries were often used as battle standards in medieval Ireland, with expectation that they would boost morale, protect the troops, or grant victory.
[19][20][21] Typically the relics would be held in, or represented by, crosiers, bell-shrines or cumdachs, and carried onto the battlefield by a cleric, who would often be employed by the family as its "hereditary custodian".
[25] The objects were usually worn around the neck, and the tradition was that the holder would circle the area three times in a "sunwise" direction before the battle commenced.
Younger clerics were usually selected, according to the historian Anthony Lucas, as a result of "prudent consideration that they stood a better chance than men of mature years of escaping with their precious burden by speed of foot should they find themselves in a tight corner in the melee.
Dated to the late 8th or early 9th century,[35][36] it was not rediscovered until 1986 when found by divers at a depth of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) of water in the County Longford side of Lough Kinale.
[38] The Soiscél Molaisse, also known as the Sheskill Molash, is the oldest surviving cumdach example largely in its original form, and was made in the early 11th century to hold the gospels of Molaise.
[43] The top face is mainly silvered bronze and silver-gilt and contains panels the four symbols of the Evangelists in the spaces between a cross.
Built for the Cathach of St. Columba, an important psalter usually dated to just after the death of Colum Cille in 597, it is probably the earliest Irish book to survive and a very prestigious relic.
The front cover was added in the 14th century, and included a large seated Christ in Majesty flanked by scenes of the Crucifixion and saints in gilt repoussé.
It was by then in very poor condition, but underwent a major restoration in 1982 when the extant pages were rebound and remounted on vellum leaves.
[50] Originally a late 11th-century relic, it was reworked in 1534 by the goldsmith Brian O'Morrison with repoussé silver decoration with many figures around a cross.
A three-dimensional figure of Christ crucified is at the centre of the main face, accompanied by relief plaques of saints, the Virgin and Child and other scenes on the sides.
The first phase of the cumdach was completed during a period of prosperity for the abbey and broadly coincides with the building of a Romanesque church on the site.
[62] Although most of the extant book-shaped protective shrines are mentioned in Irish annals, they were not properly described until the early 19th century when antiquarians and collectors such as George Petrie began to seek them out from hereditary collections.
Most are badly damaged, including due to general wear and tear over the centuries, events such as fires at their holding location, or most usually having elements such as their gemstones removed for sale by their owners.
