Muireadhach O’Duffy, who, if not a brother of Domhnall, was doubtless a member of the same family, appears to have succeeded him as High-bishop of Connaught. Reference is made to this prelate by the Four Masters the very year of Domhnall’s death, and he is distinguished from the comarb of Jarlath in Tuam. He is referred to again in A.D. 1143 as one of the sureties for Rory O’Conor; but in spite of his sureties that prince was seized and imprisoned by his own father Turlough. At his death in A.D. 1150 he is described by the Four Masters as “High-bishop of Connaught, and chief senior of all Ireland in wisdom, in chastity, in the bestowal of jewels and food.” He died at Cong in the new abbey which he helped to found, on the sixteenth of May, that is the festival of Brendan, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. It will be observed that these two prelates flourished during the reign of Turlough O’Conor, and no doubt cordially co-operated with that prince in his projects for the diffusion of knowledge and the development of art.
Hugh O’Hessian (Aedh Ua h-Oissen) appears to have succeeded O’Duffy as High-bishop of Connaught in A.D. 1150. He seems to have lived at Tuam, and he is correctly described as Archbishop of Tuam; for in A.D. 1152 he was one of the prelates who received the Pall from Cardinal Paparo in the Synod of Kells. He died in A.D. 1161. Mention is made of a Bishop Flanagan O’Duffy, who died in A.D. 1168; but no See is mentioned in connection with his name. He was, however, a most learned man, for he is described as “Bishop and chief Doctor of the Irish in literature, history, and poetry, and in every kind of science known to man in his time.” He died ‘in the bed of Bishop Muireadhach O’Duffy at Cong,’ and was doubtless a near relative of that prelate. Catholicus O’Duffy is generally represented as succeeding to the See of Tuam after the death of O’Hessian in A.D. 1161. He ruled in Tuam for forty years; and was through good and ill the faithful friend and counsellor of the unhappy Rory O’Conor during all the years of his stormy and disastrous reign. He was present with five other Irish bishops at the General Council of Lateran in A.D. 1179. In A.D. 1198 he saw his discrowned monarch die in his old age amongst the canons of Cong ‘after exemplary penance.’ Doubtless he accompanied the king’s body to Clonmacnoise, and saw it laid near the grave of his great father, Turlough, beside the altar of Ciaran. Then stricken by the weight of years and sorrows, the archbishop, too, retired to Cong, and three years later died amongst the same holy canons, victorious, like his unhappy master, ‘over the world and the devil.’
The O’Duffys, therefore, were the real ministers and counsellors both of Turlough and Rory O’Conor throughout the twelfth century; and to them, as much as to those princes themselves, must be attributed the many works of art which were produced during that period. They had almost all the ecclesiastical power of the province in their own hands; for we find that besides those already mentioned, Maurice O’Duffy, who died in A.D. 1174, was abbot of the great Cistercian monastery of Boyle, and another, Kele or Catholicus O’Duffy, who died in A.D. 1209, was Bishop of Mayo of the Saxons. We find also that one of them held the See of Clonfert towards the close of the thirteenth century—William O’Duffy—whose death is marked under A.D. 1297. It will be seen, however, that this great family used their power for God’s glory, and the good of the Church. Whatever they touched they adorned, as the existing monuments of their artistic taste and skill so conclusively prove.
II.—Celtic Art at Clonmacnoise.
Clonmacnoise was founded by a saint, who was born and baptized at Fuerty, within three miles of the town of Roscommon. It is quite true, as we have already observed, that Clonmacnoise was more catholic in the selection of its abbots than any other great monastery in Ireland; and this was undoubtedly one of the causes which raised Clonmacnoise to its proud pre-eminence amongst the monastic schools of Erin. Still the City of Ciaran could not forget the rock from whence it was hewn; and, as our Annals tell, the men of Roscommon always occupied positions of commanding influence in Clonmacnoise. This connection will also help to explain why Domhnall O’Duffy, Bishop of Elphin, and Abbot of Roscommon, was also chosen to be comarb of Ciaran, at Clonmacnoise. This connection also gave countenance to the ambitious designs of Turlough O’Conor, who was resolved to annex the abbacy of Clonmacnoise, with all its rich termon lands, to his own hereditary dominions.[403] In the Synod of Rathbreasil, Cluain appears to be included in the diocese of Clonard,[404] and rightfully, as it was a portion of the ancient kingdom of Meath. But in the Synod of Kells (A.D. 1152), Cluain, or Clonmacnoise, is explicitly assigned as a suffragan See to Tuam. This was doubtless owing in great measure to the influence of Turlough O’Conor; and naturally enough the influence of the O’Duffys would favour the designs of the king. In A.D. 1152, however, it was O’Malone, and not an O’Duffy, who was Comarb of Ciaran; but the O’Malones themselves were a branch of the great O’Conor family, who had settled in Teffia[405] (County Longford).
Clonmacnoise, during the twelfth century especially, was the great school of Celtic Art. This statement will need no proof for anyone who even at this day wanders through the ruined City, and carefully observes its churches, its crosses, its round towers, and its sculptured tombstones. But we propose to put in more formal evidence, and to show that it was the artists of Clonmacnoise who executed many other of our choicest works, which at first sight appear to have no connection with the City of St. Ciaran.
Architecture was certainly one of the fine arts taught in our monastic schools, and with very considerable success, as existing ruins, and especially our round towers, clearly prove. The architect, or ollamh-builder, was at the head of the profession, and had his remuneration fixed by law. Besides a kind of per-centage on the work which he superintended, he had a fixed annual salary rated at twenty-one cows, from the king-in-chief, in whose service he was engaged. But he was required to be a perfect master of his art in the widest sense of the word. He was not only required to build stone churches (damhliags) and oratories, whether of wood or stone, but also farm steadings, containing the usual five buildings, namely, dwelling-house, cow-house, calf-house, pig-sty, and sheep-fold. He was required to be a millwright, a boat-maker, a cooper, a cart-maker, and a road-maker. He should be skilful in yew carving and plough-making, and was even expected to weave wicker shields and build wicker houses. He was, in fact, a jack-of-all-trades, and must have well earned his salary of twenty-one cows in the year.
The most distinguished of this fraternity was the renowned Gobban Saer, or Gobban the builder, whose fame is still traditionally preserved in various parts of the country. He was, undoubtedly, a historical personage, and seems to have flourished during the first half of the sixth century. His father is said to have been Turvey (Tuirbhi), who gave his name to the strand of Turvey, on the northern coast of the County Dublin—Kilgobbin, in the same county, is said to derive its name from the renowned builder himself. At this early date the Gaels knew little of church building, and hence the services of the Gobban were in great request with the saints for building their churches and oratories. As he had no rivals he could make his own terms, and is said to have charged exorbitant prices, and, moreover, being feeble, took his own time at his work. He agreed to build a wooden oratory for St. Moling of Carlow, but he spent a whole year in idleness before he began, and when he had finished his task, at the instigation of his wife, he asked from the saint the full of the oratory of rye as his wages. The saint had agreed to give him his own demand, but not having nearly this quantity of rye, he was forced to appeal to his tribesmen to help him. “Bring me,” he said, “whatever you have—corn, nuts, apples, even green rushes.” They did so, and filled the oratory, which the Gobban turned upside down to receive the offerings without starting a plank. It was all changed into rye at the prayer of the saint, but next morning, when the Gobban came to take away the grain, he found that it had turned into maggots!
We also find this famous architect mentioned in the Life of St. Abban, for whom he built a church. It was, says this Life, his constant occupation to work for the saints wherever he was, but he charged them so dear that he lost his sight through the displeasure of the saints at the greatness of his charges. The Gobban was probably of foreign descent, and tried to make the Scots pay well for their buildings.
It is certain that Clonmacnoise reached a high degree of perfection in architecture, and the Nuns’ Church, Relig na Cailleach, was certainly one of the most beautiful types of the Celtic Romanesque in Ireland. It was situated to the north-east of the monastic buildings, and was approached by a causeway that was built along the river, which frequently overflowed the surrounding meadows.