Стоу Миссалы: Ирландиялық жазба қолжазба және қорғау қаптамасы

The Stowe Missal (sometimes known as the Lorrha Missal), which is, strictly speaking, a sacramentary rather than a missal, is a small Irish illuminated manuscript written mainly in Latin with some Old Irish in the late eighth or early ninth century, probably after 792. In the mid 11th century, it was annotated and some pages rewritten at Lorrha Monastery in County Tipperary, Ireland. Between 1026 and 1033 the manuscript was encased within a protective cumdach (a reliquary book shrine), which was refurbished and embellished a number of times in the late medieval period, in particular before 1381, the year of death of Pilib O'Ceinneidigh (Philip O'Kennedy), Lord of Ormond, who then had possession of the shrine. It is known as the "Stowe" Missal as it reappeared in the 18th century as part of the Stowe manuscripts collection formed by George Nugent Temple Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham at Stowe House. When the collection was bought by the nation in 1883, it and the other Irish manuscripts were handed over to the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, where it remains, catalogued as MS D II 3. The cumdach, which up to this point had survived together with the book, was later transferred, with the rest of the academy's collection of antiquities, to the National Museum of Ireland (museum number 1883, 614a). but this appears to be incorrect, and they were found inside a stone wall at Lackeen Castle near Lorrha in the 18th century, where they had been hidden for centuries from Norman and later Protestant attackers, as well as Irish looters. The Latin sections contain extracts from the Gospel of John (opening with f 1), which were probably from another manuscript and are the most heavily illuminated, then the order of Mass and some special Masses (f 12), the Order of Baptism and of Communion for the newly baptised (f 46v), and the Order for the Visitation of the Sick and Last Rites (f 60). The original manuscript is dated to before 800 based on the inclusion of prayers for St. Ruain (d. 792); his monastery in Tallaght, in today's County Dublin is the most likely place where it was first copied. A few initials are decorated, notably on f 1, where extracts from John contain a "crude" full page evangelist portrait of the saint with his symbol of the eagle, decorated with Insular interlace. The lower end of the page contains the body of an elongated animal. Apart from the eagle, it is rather similar to the portrait of John in the Book of Mulling, and its style has been compared to the 8th century Lindisfarne Gospels. Other folio initials are of the "knotted wire" type (f 48r & 51r). Two folios show human faces within the letters O (f 12v) and D, with the latter resembling anthropomorphic designs in the Book of Kells. while the other face is later, and can be dated to about 1375, again from its inscriptions. The 11th century dating makes it one of the oldest known cumdachs, after the Soiscél Molaisse of 1001–1011. probably at the same time as the later face, by a setting for a large stone (now missing) with four lobed sections, similar to the centre of the later face. The inscription has missing sections because of this, but can mostly be reconstructed: "It asks for a prayer for the abbot of Lorrha, Mathgamain Ua Cathail (+1037) and for Find Ua Dúngalaigh, king of Múscraige Tíre (+1033). The four spaces between cross and border have panels of geometric openwork decoration, and there are small panels with knotwork decoration at the corners of the border and inside the curved ends of the cross members. The sides have unsilvered copper alloy plaques with figures of angels, animals, clergy and warriors, set in decorative backgrounds. The newer "upper" face, of silver gilt, is again centred on a cross with a large oval rock crystal stone at the centre and lobed surrounds, and other gems. The inscription, engraved on plain silver plaques, runs round the border and the spaces between the cross and border have four engraved figures of the crucified Christ, Virgin and Child, a bishop making a blessing gesture, and a cleric holding a book (possibly St John). The inscription "invokes a prayer for Pilib Ó Ceinnéidigh, 'king of Ormond' and his wife Áine, both of whom died in 1381. It also refers to Giolla Ruadhán Ó Macáin, abbot of the Augustinian priory of Lorrha and the maker, Domhnall Ó Tolairi". Black niello is used to bring out the engraved lines of the inscription and figures, and the technique is very similar to that of the later work on the Shrine of St Patrick's Tooth (also in the NMI), which was also given a makeover in the 1370s, for a patron some 50 km from Lorrha. They were probably added to by the same artist, something that can only rarely be seen in the few survivals of medieval goldsmith's work.