Celtic art in Pagan and Christian times

John Stuart Mill · en
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.”

[408] De Caumont’s _Abécédaire d’Archéologie Architecture Religieuse_,
p. 117.

[409] Dr. R. Munro’s _Boznia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia_, p. 292.

[410] De Caumont, _loc. cit._, p. 118.

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.