House-shaped shrine

The Monymusk Reliquary, early 8th century, National Museum of Scotland
Saint Manchan's Shrine, 12th-century

House-shaped shrine (or church or tomb-shaped shrines)[1] are early medieval portable metal reliquary formed in the shape of the roof of a rectangular building. They originate from both Ireland and Scotland and mostly date from the 8th or 9th centuries. Typical example consist of a wooden core covered with silver and copper alloy plates, and were built to hold relics of saints or martyrs from the early Church era;[2] a number held corporeal remains when found in the modern period, presumably they were parts of the saint's body.[3] Others, including the Breac Maodhóg, held manuscripts associated with the commemorated saint.[4] Like many Insular shrines, they were heavily reworked and embellished in the centuries following their initial construction, often with metal adornments or figures influenced by Romanesque sculpture.[5]

The format appears to have originated in Ireland, and was adapted in Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England, particularly Northumbria which had close artistic ties with Ireland.[6] The format draws from Ancient Roman and contemporary continental influences, including for later examples, French Romanesque architecture.[7] The type spread to Scandinavia during the 10th and 11th centuries during cultural exchanges following the —disastrous for Ireland— Viking invasion of Ireland.[8][9] According to Fintan O'Toole "there [was not a] single moment of conversion, and there was probably a considerable overlap between those [vikings] who had gone native and those who kept to the old religion. Conversion, as the historian Donnchadh Ó Corráin put it, "must have come gradually, as an effect of assimilation."[7]

Surviving Irish examples include the Emly shrine (found in County Limerick, dated to the late 7th–early 8th century, often considered the exemplary of the series),[10][3] the two Lough Erne Shrines (9th century), Bologna Shrine (9th century), the Breac Maodhóg (11th century) and Saint Manchan's Shrine (12th century).[11] Three fully intact examples have been found in Norway (the 'Copenhagen' or 'Ranvaik's Casket'),[12] Melhus and Setnes shrines),[13] one is in Scotland (the Monymusk Reliquary), one is in Wales (the shrine of St. Gwenfrewi at Gwytherin),[14] and two are in Italy.[10][15]

  1. ^ Crawford (1923), p. 82
  2. ^ Ó Floinn (1990), p. 49
  3. ^ a b "Reliquary casket ("Emly Shrine"). Early medieval: late 7th–early 8th century". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 19 July 2021
  4. ^ Murray (2005), p. 136
  5. ^ Murray (2021)
  6. ^ Soderberg (1993), p. 158
  7. ^ a b O'Toole, Fintan. "A history of Ireland in 100 objects: Breac Maodhóg Shrine, late 11th century". The Irish Times , 3 December 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2021
  8. ^ Moss (2014), p. 45
  9. ^ Moriarty, Colm. "Fragments of an Irish-type reliquary discovered in Norway". Irish Archaeology, 7 January 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2021
  10. ^ a b Edwards (2017), p. 138
  11. ^ Moss (2014), pp. 286–293
  12. ^ Moriarty, Colm. "Ranvaik's Casket: an ornate shrine stolen during Viking raids on Ireland?". Irish Archaeology, 20 November 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2021
  13. ^ Ó Floinn (1990), p. 52
  14. ^ Bourke (2009), p. 375
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference m286 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).