237 



Cormac's chapel, at Cashel, ranks next to St. Doulagli's in anti- 

 quity, and bears somewhat of the same character, but with an in- 

 crease of ornament and improvement of execution indicative of a 

 later date. It is attributed to Cormac Mc Cullenan, who was 

 Archbishop of Cashel and King of Munsler, and celebrated for his 

 piety and learning. The Psalter of Cashel is said to have been com- 

 piled from an ancient MS. under his directions, and is highly 

 esteemed by Irish scholars, who often refer to it as an authority ; 

 this great man was killed in batltle A. D. 908,* so that if the 

 chapel was completed by him it must have been previous to that 

 period. 



The cathedral of Cashel was built in 1198 by Donald O'Brien, 

 and in 1419 repaired and modernised wholly in the narrow pointed 

 style, while the chapel is altogether Saxon or Norman. Some anti- 

 quaries have judged it to belong to the interval between the death of 

 Cormac and the building of the cathedral. But Cormac was a 

 man of great learning, who had travelled much in foreign parts, 

 and may have introduced improvements in style and in sculpture 

 from the Continent, with which Ireland had always much inter- 

 course. For we find that the same mode prevailed in Normandy, 

 and that in the succeeding century William the Conqueror built the 

 church of St. Nicholas at Caeti, which is the latest building in this 

 style, the date of which is accurately known. The resemblance 

 between this church and Cormac's chapel is so strong, that it is said 

 to be an almost " exact counterpart :" the low pillars rising only 

 to the cornice ; the arches of the intercolumniations under the win- 

 dows, formed each of a single stone ; the roof constructed of stone, 

 with its steep wedge-shaped pitch : all these particulars agree so 



• Ware's Antiquities, I. 



