15 TH. PETERSEN. [1907 



known in the British Isles and being decorated in the peculiar 

 Celtic style it must naturally originate in one of the Celtic parts 

 of the British Isles. From the faet that it has been in the possession 

 of a Norwegian woman, it may further be concluded that in the 

 Viking age and probably in a laler part of this period it has been 

 carried to Norvvay as a Vikings spoil. After the introduction of 

 Christianity into this country, the shrine, the destination of which 

 has not been forgotten, is then transferred to a church and pro- 

 vided with new relics. In one of the centuries immediately after 

 the Reformation it has then been sent to the Royal Cahinet of 

 Curiosities at Copenhagen^), and from here it was in the year 1845 

 transferred to the National Museum. 



To these four can now be added a fifth, the newly-found 

 shrine at Melhus. It agrees very closely with the others of the 

 same group in the exterior form and partly also in the size, only 

 in the details of Ihe decoration we find some differences, due 

 to the faet that the shrines cannot all be of the same age, and 

 a difference in age must naturally find expression in the style and 

 kind of decoration. Thus there is so striking a correspondence with 

 regard to the construction and size of the Melhus-shrine compared 

 with that preserved at Monymusk House, that 1 should be inclined 

 to suggest some connection between ihem. the former possibly 

 having been derived from Scotland; but the decorations show 

 clearly, in my opinion, that the Monymusk-shrine must be of a 

 later date. It lies outside the limits of this account to enter into 

 a comparison of the relative ages of the different shrines, this 

 being a matter for Celtic archæologists. I will, however, venture 

 the opinion that the Melhus-shrine may be the oldest in this class 

 of reliquaries. This may be concluded from the circumstance that 



It is not possible exactly to determine, at what time this has taken place. 

 With certainty the shrine cannot be traced back farther than to the inven 

 tory of 1737. I should, however, think that it is the same shrine, which 

 is mentioned bj' O. J a c o b æ u s, Museum Regium, Havn. 1696, p. 63; 

 ■'Cistae variae ex cupro inaurato pro reliqviis Sanctorum olim asservandis 

 usitatae. Harum una ex Norvagia allata est.'' Comp. I. Undset I. c, 

 p. 65, 



