Colmcille 1500 Lecture Series (3): St Columba’s crosier: power and devotion in medieval Ireland

Описание: Colmcille 1500 Lecture Series: The Hand-Bells, Books and Crosiers associated with St. Columba

Along with books and bells, crosiers played an important role in representing the power of early Irish saints in medieval Ireland. In the final lecture of the series, Dr Griffin Murray will introduce these fascinating objects with a focus on St Columba’s crosier from Durrow, Co. Offaly. While more famous for its illuminated manuscript and high cross, an early medieval crosier also survives from this important Columban monastery. It was preserved for generations by the Mac Geoghegan family, remaining in their keepership until the nineteenth century. The crosier may originally date from the ninth century but was significantly refurbished in the early twelfth. Early Irish crosiers were originally held by the abbots of monasteries as symbols of authority and were passed on to successive holders of the office. As the abbot of Durrow was a successor of St Columba, the crosier was associated with the saint, and over time, was regarded as a relic. This lecture will explore how St Columba’s crosier was viewed and used during the medieval and post-medieval periods. It will also examine the context of its refurbishment in the early twelfth century, as well as looking at other evidence for crosiers associated with the saint from Kells, Co. Meath, and Dunkeld in Scotland.

Dr Griffin Murray is a Lecturer in Archaeology at University College Cork. He is author of The Cross of Cong: A Masterpiece of Medieval Irish Art (2014) and is a specialist in Irish medieval church metalwork.

The series is part of a programme being run by NMI for Colmcille 1500. This programme includes a new exhibition about St Colmcille, Colmcille: Sacred objects of a Saint – 1500 years of devotion, which opened on December 8th 2021 at NMI - Archaeology.
https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museums/A...

This lecture was broadcast as a live event on Wednesday 8th December, 2021.

For more information, please see museum.ie or email [email protected]

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