Viking Upheaval

The upheaval caused by the Viking advance resulted for a time in the vesting of secular and ecclesiastical authority in the hands of a number of colourful king-bishops in Cashel. Understandably, this uneasy union of crown and crozier did not always enhance the cause of religion. However, not all king-bishops in Cashel followed the example of the ambitious and bellicose Feighlimid, who perished on a Leinster battlefield in 841. The saintly Cormac Mac Culleanáin (901-8) was a rare embodiment of monastic holiness and scholarship allied to wise and peaceful rule. Emly's famous monastic school and the beautiful Derrynaflan Chalice serve to exemplify the remarkable achievement of the monastic church period in the dioceses of Cashel and Emly. The Emly. The Hoard (chalice, paten and wine strainer) was discovered on a Sunday afternoon, 17 February 1980, in the environs of the ancient monastic settlement of Derrynaflan, an island in Littleton Bog, County Tipperary. (List of Monastic Sites)