Raghnall Ó Floinn: a short appreciation

 

Raghnall Ó Floinn: a short appreciation

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

 

On Saturday morning, 16^th November 2024, at the Lismore Heritage Centre, Co. Waterford, an important and delightful seminar was held, entitled, Monastic Lismore: Saints, Scholars and Scoundrels. The seminar was inspirited by the publication in the summer of 2024 of a valuable and important book, entitled Monasticism in Ireland AD 900-1250 by Waterford-based Edel Bhreathnach (published by Four Courts Press, Dublin). The speakers and their paper titles included Dr. Edel Bhreathnach (Why Monastic Lismore?), Dr. Griffin Murray (The Lismore Crosier and Insular crosiers in Ireland and Scotland), Dr. Tomás Ó Carragáin (Speaking through Stone: what cross-slabs can tell us about monastic networks and identities in early Ireland), Cormac Burke (Monastic bells in early Ireland and some modern reiterations) and Dr. Yvonne McDermott (The way of the friars: the mendicant orders in Ireland). Nearly all the speakers, during their presentations, mentioned the name of Raghnall Ó Floinn in connection with some aspect of their papers. During December 2024, as I was writing up my notes on the seminar, Dr. Raghnall Ó Floinn died.

The following biography was written before his passing and I have left it as written with just the extra inclusion of the funeral notice and a prayer in Irish by Eóghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin.

Raghnall Ó Floinn, biography

Raghnall Ó Floinn, FSA, is a noted scholar who was mention a few times by various speakers at the Lismore conference. In the early 1970s he attended University College Dublin, where in 1976 he attained a Master of Arts in Celtic Archaeology having developed a passion for archaeology as a teenager. In 1976 he joined the staff of the National Museum of Ireland. In the 1990s Raghnall Ó Floinn was Assistant Keeper in the Irish Antiquities Division of the National Museum. By the turn of the century he was Curator in the Irish Antiquities Division. In 2003 Raghnall Ó Floinn became the first Head of Collections. In 2013 Raghnall Ó Floinn was appointed Director of the National Museum in succession to Patrick Wallace. Raghnall Ó Floinn served as Director until his retirement in 2018. Raghnall Ó Floinn had great knowledge of the National Museum and could locate fragments of artefacts to reassemble pieces of pottery or metal work to the delight of researchers and which brought joy to his own heart. Throughout his career, Raghnall Ó Floinn promoted public access to cultural treasures to appreciate and educate. He held world class exhibitions, adopted innovative polices and strongly favour free access to museums as a fundamental right.

Raghnall Ó Floinn didn’t spend all his life behind a desk in Kildare Street and occasionally got out to get his hands dirty. Thus he was involved at archaeological excavations at numerous sites including at Annagh bog, Derrynaflan and Clonmacnoise. Raghnall Ó Floinn also dropped in to various archaeological digs conducted by others. In 1994 he helped landowner Benny O’Neill to sieve the spoil heap from Killuragh Cave in County Limerick recovering material from the Early Mesolithic to Late Bronze Age. In the area of publications and societies Raghnall Ó Floinn was editor of the Journal of Irish Archaeology. Raghnall Ó Floinn was chairman of the Council of National Cultural Institutions. He also served as vice-chairman of the Society of Medieval Archaeology based in London. His interest in cultural heritage was not bound by the city limits of Dublin and he supported local museums and cultural centres like the Waterford County Museum Society, the Heritage Centre at Damer House in Roscrea and the Waterford Treasures Museum. Outside of work Raghnall Ó Floinn enjoyed the beauty of Stradbally Co. Waterford and boating on the River Blackwater. Raghnall Ó Floinn was noted for his warmth and humour and his generous help to all who seek it. Raghnall Ó Floinn is the husband of Edel Bhreathnach and father of Sorcha and Muiris.

On 10^th December 2024 Raghnall Ó Floinn died after an illness. The National Museum of Ireland in Kildare Street closed for the half day on Friday to allow staff to attend the funeral mass. Raghnall Ó Floinn was buried in the graveyard adjoining Stradbally parish church, Co. Waterford, following prayers in the church which were conducted in Irish. The messages of condolence spoke of great friendship, great humour, a kind man and that most honoured of titles, a true gentleman.  

Ár nAthair by Eóghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin

Ár nAthair atá ar Neamh

Do cheap sinn féin ar dtúis,

Go naomhaíthear d’ainm

Is go dtagdimid go léir id dhún,

T’aon-toil bheannaithe

Ar an dtalamh go ndéanam súd,

Fé mar dheineann gach neach ar Neamh

Nuair a théid id dhún.

An t-arán geal do cheapais féin dúinn tabhair

Is ár gcionta ar fad go maithir féinig dúinn,

Fé mar a mhaith an Mac don fhear gan néall ina shúil.

Na lig sinn sa ríocht san as nach féidir teacht,

In aon drochní ná i dtintibh daora i dteas,

Ach amen, a Chríost, agus lig sinn go léir isteach.

[Source = John J. Ó Ríordáin, CSSR, Where Araglen so gently flows (Limerick, 2007), pp. 143-4]

Raghnall Ó Floinn, bibliography

The following list of the bibliography of Raghnall Ó Floinn has no claim to be the full total of his writing and publications; just those that I have found through various sources and a few that sit in my own library.

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Medieval seal matrix from Gaulstown, Co. Meath’, in Riocht na Midhe, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1978/79), pp. 84-88

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Medieval crucifix figure from Skelling Michael’, in Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 13 (1980), pp. 45-49

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The Kavanagh “charter” horn’, in Donnchadh Ó Corráin (ed.), Irish antiquity: essays and studies presented to Professor M.J. Kelly (Cork, 1981), pp. 268-278

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Vikings and Romanesque influences 1100 AD-1169 AD’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), Treasures of Ireland: Irish art 3000 B.C.-1500 AD (Dublin, 1983), pp. 58-69

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The shrine of the Book of Dimma’, in Éile: Journal of the Roscrea Heritage Society, i (1983), pp. 25-39

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The bronze strainer-ladle’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), The Derrynaflan Hoard I, a Preliminary Account (Dublin, 1983), pp. 31-34

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Bronze basin’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), The Derrynaflan Hoard I, a Preliminary Account (Dublin, 1983), p. 35

Ó Floinn, Raghnall and Fanning, Thomas, ‘The evangelist slab at Athlone, and some additional cross-inscribed stones from Athlone and Lemanaghan’, in the Journal of the Old Athlone Society, ii, no. 6 (1985), pp. 116-23

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, In Ireland and Insular Art AD 500-1200 in Proceedings of a Conference at University College Cork, 31^st October-3^rd November 1985 (Dublin, 1985)

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A bronze shield grip of Viking age date from the River Bann’, in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, xlix (1986), pp. 106-8

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Schools of metalworking in eleventh – and twelfth-century Ireland’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), Ireland and Insular Art, A.D. 500-1200 (Dublin, 1987), pp. 179-187

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Irish Romanesque crucifix figures’, in Etienne Rynne (ed.), Figures from the past: Studies on Figurative Art in Christian Ireland in honour of Helen M. Roe (Dublin, 1987), pp. 168-88

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Handmade Medieval Pottery – S.E. Ireland – Leinster Cooking Ware’, in G. MacNiocaill and Patrick Wallace (eds.), Keimelia Studies in memory of Tom Delaney (Galway, 1988), pp. 325-348

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Two medieval seals from County Louth’, in Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 22 (1989-92), pp. 387-394

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A Romanesque crucifix from Athgarrett’, in Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society, xvii (1987-91), pp. 211-12

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The Soiscél Molaisse’, in Clogher Record, xiii, no. 2 (1989), pp. 51-63

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Secular metalwork in the eighth and ninth centuries’, in Susan Youngs (ed.), The Work of Angels: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6^th-9^th centuries AD (London, 1989), pp. 72-124

Youngs, Susan, ‘Catalogue’, in Susan Youngs (ed.), The Work of Angels: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6^th-9^th centuries AD (London, 1989), pp. 19-74 – Susan Youngs said various people wrote text for individual pieces of metalwork in the catalogue and on page 223 Susan said that Raghnall Ó Floinn was helpful in editing the catalogue

Ryan, Michael, ‘Church metalwork in the eighth and ninth centuries’, in Susan Youngs (ed.), The Work of Angels: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6^th-9^th centuries AD (London, 1989), pp. 125-169: Raghnall Ó Floinn supplied the text to many objects featured in the article by Michael Ryan

Craddock, Paul T., ‘Metalworking techniques’, in Susan Youngs (ed.), The Work of Angels: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6^th-9^th centuries AD (London, 1989), pp. 170-213: Raghnall Ó Floinn supplied the text to many objects featured in the article by Paul Craddock

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A fragmentary house-shaped shrine from Clonard, Co. Meath’, in the Journal of Irish Archaeology, v (1989-90), pp. 49-55

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Two ancient bronze bells from Rath Blathnach, Co. Clare’, in North Munster Antiquarian Journal, xxxii (1990), pp. 19-31

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The “Tipperary brooch”: a reprovenance’, in the Tipperary Historical Journal, 1990, pp. 187-92

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Lisnamulligan Bronze Age cist’, in Isabel Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1989: Summary Accounts of Archaeological Excavations in Ireland (Dublin, 1990), p. 17

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Ecclesiastical objects of the early medieval period from Co. Clare’, in The Other Clare, xv (1991), pp. 12-14

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Viking age art influences’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), Irish Archaeology Illustrated (Dublin, 1994), pp. 155-157

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The 11^th/12^th Century renaissance in metalwork’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), Irish Archaeology Illustrated (Dublin, 1994), pp. 163-166

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Later medieval decorative arts’, in Michael Ryan (ed.), Irish Archaeology Illustrated (Dublin, 1994), pp. 194-196

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, Irish shrines and reliquaries of the Middle Ages (Dublin, 1994)

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Of silver, slaves and secrets: the “Viking age Ireland” exhibition at the National Museum’, in Archaeology Ireland, ix, no. 3 (1995), pp. 26-9

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Clonmacnoise: art and patronage in the early medieval period’, in Cormac Bourke (ed.), From the Isles of the North: early medieval art in Ireland and Britain (Belfast, 1995), pp. 251-60

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Sandhills, silver and shrines – fine metalwork of the medieval period from Donegal’, in William Nolan, Liam Ronayne and Máiréad Dunlevy (eds.), Donegal History and Society (Dublin, 1995), pp. 85-148

Cahill, Mary, and Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Two silver kite brooches from near Limerick City’, in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Vol. 36 (1995), pp. 65-82

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Innovation and conservatism in Irish metalwork of the Romanesque period’, in Catherine Karkov, Michael Ryan and Robert Farrell (eds.), The Insular tradition (New York, 1997), pp. 259-81

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Insignia Columba I’, in Cormac Bourke (ed.), Studies in the cult of Saint Columba (Dublin, 1997), pp. 136-61

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Two Viking burials from Co. Wicklow’, in Wicklow Archaeology and History, I (Dublin, 1998), pp. 29-35

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Some decorated stone sculptures from Liathmore, Co. Tipperary’, in Conleth Manning (ed.), Dublin and beyond the Pale: studies in honour of Patrick Healy (Bray, 1998), pp. 193-201

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The object known as the “Mias Tighearnáin”’, in M. Ryan (ed.), Irish Antiquity: Essays in memory of Joseph Raftery (Bray, 1998), pp. 151-72

Clarke, Howard, Marie Ni Mhaonaigh and Raghnall Ó Floinn (eds.), Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age (Dublin, 1998)

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The archaeology of the early Viking age in Ireland’, in Howard Clarke, Marie Ni Mhaonaigh and Raghnall Ó Floinn (eds.), Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age (Dublin, 1998), pp. 131-65

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Freestone Hill, Co. Kilkenny: A Reassessment’, in Alfred P. Smyth (ed.), Seanchas: Studies in early and medieval Irish archaeology, history and literature in honour of Francis J. Byrne (Dublin, 2000), pp. 12-29

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Patrons and politics art, artefact and methodology’, in Mark Redknap, Nancy Edwards, Susan Young, Alan Lane and Jeremy Knight (eds.), Pattern and purpose in insular art: proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Insular Art, held at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff, 3-6 September 1998 (Oxford, 2001), pp. 1-14

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Goldsmiths work in Ireland, 1200-1400’, in Colum Hourihane (ed.), From Ireland coming: Irish art from the early Christian to the late Gothic period and its European context (Princeton, 2001), pp. 289-312

Wallace, Patrick and Ó Floinn, Raghnall (eds.), Treasurers of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities (Dublin, 2002)

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Beginnings: Early Medieval Ireland, AD 500-850’, in Patrick Wallace and Raghnall Ó Floinn (eds.), Treasurers of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities (Dublin, 2002), pp. 171-212

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Later Medieval Ireland, AD 1150-1550’, in Patrick Wallace and Raghnall Ó Floinn (eds.), Treasurers of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities (Dublin, 2002), pp. 257-300

Bhreathnach, Edel and Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Ireland: Culture and Society’, in Stephen Henry Rigby (ed.), A companion to Britain in the later Middle Ages (Oxford, 2003), pp. 558-595

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The foundation relics of Christ Church cathedral and the origins of the diocese of Dublin’, in Sean Duffy (ed.), Medieval Dublin VII (Dublin, 2006), pp. 89-102

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Bishops, liturgy and reform: Some archaeological and art historical evidence’, in Damian Bracken and Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel (eds.), Ireland and Europe in the twelfth century (Dublin, 2006), pp. 218-38

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Conservation [of the Faddan More Psalter]’, in Archaeology Ireland, Vol. 20, No. 3 Supplement (2006), pp. 3-10

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The Anglo-Saxon Connection: Irish Metalwork, AD 400-800’, in James Graham-Campbell and Michael Ryan (eds.), Anglo-Saxon-Irish relations Before the Vikings (Oxford, 2009), pp. 231-252

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The late-medieval relics of Holy Trinity Church, Dublin’, in John Bradley, Alan Fletcher and Anngret Simms (eds.), Dublin in the medieval world: studies in honour of Howard B. Clarke (Dublin, 2009), pp. 369-389

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The Lislaughtin Cross’, in Griffin Murray (ed.), The Medieval treasurers of County Kerry (Tralee, 2010), pp. 82-95

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The Marker Cross at Glendalough Raghnall’, in Charles Doherty, Linda Doran and Mary Kelly (eds.), Glendalough: City of God (Dublin, 2011), pp. 80-111

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A Tale of Two Crosiers’, in Roger Stalley (ed.), Limerick and South-West Ireland: Medieval art and architecture (Leeds, 2011), p. 259

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A review of Early Christianity in Medieval Ireland based on the most current archaeological research’, in Orsolya Heinrich-Tamaska, Niklot Krohn, and  Sebastian Ristow (eds.), Christianisierung Europas: Entstenhung, Entwicklung und Konsolidierung (Ragensburg, 2012), pp. 11-36

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Reproducing the past: making replicas of Irish antiquities’, in Peter Harbison and Valerie Hall (eds.), A Carnival of learning: essays to honour George Cunningham and his 50 conferences on medieval Ireland in the Cistercian Abbey of Mount st Joseph, Roscrea, 1987-2012 (Roscrea, 2012), pp. 146-157

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Annagh Cave’, in M. Cahill and M. Sikora (eds.), Breaking ground, finding graves – reports on the excavations of burials by the National Museum of Ireland, 1927-2006 (Dublin, 2012), pp. 17-47

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Antiquarian Influences in the Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife’, in Alexandra Jane Hawkes (ed.), Making Histories: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Insular Art, University of York, July 2011 (Donington, 2013), pp. 385-398

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Das Heilige in Bewegung: Reliquien, Reliqiare und Insignien in der frühen Kirche Irlands’, in Credo – Christianisierung Europas in Mittelalter I: Essays (Petersberg, 2013), pp. 202-213

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A medieval bronze pax from Dunbrody Abbey, Co. Wexford, and the fate of ornamenta from suppressed religious houses in Ireland’, in Sean Duffy (ed.), Princes, prelates and poets in medieval Ireland: Essays in honour of Katherine Simms (Dublin, 2013), pp. 362-375

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘An Anglo-Saxon Disc-Brooch from Sjerring Jutland’, in Andrew Reynolds and Leslie Webster (eds.), Early medieval art and archaeology in the northern world: studies in honour of James Graham Campbell (Leiden, 2013), pp. 359-370

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, Franciscan Faith: Sacred Art in Ireland, AD 1600-1750 (Dublin, 2011)

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The Shannon shrine: a suggested provenance’, in Emer Purcell, Paul MacCotter, Julianne Nyhan and John Sheehan (eds.), Clerics, Kings and Vikings: Essays on medieval Ireland in honour of Donnchadh Ó Corráin (Cork, 2015), pp. 291-302

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, Viking Graves and Grave-Goods in Ireland (Dublin, 2015)

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Papal bullae found in Ireland’, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Series 3, Vol. 74 (2017/18), pp. 162-174

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘A late medieval crozier fragment from Galloon, County Fermanagh’, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Series 3, Vol. 75 (2019/20), pp. 94-100

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Personal belief in Hiberno-Norse Dublin’, in Anne Pedersen and Soren M. Sindbaek (eds.), Viking encounters: Proceedings of the eighteenth Viking Congress, Denmark, August 6-12, 2017 (Aarhus, 2020), pp. 235-48

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘Viking Graves and Grave-Goods in Ireland: addenda’, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Series 3, Vol. 76 (2021), pp. 47-53

Ó Floinn, Raghnall, ‘The End of Lagore: Later First Millenium CE, Medieval, Post-Medieval and Modern activity on an Early medieval royal site’, in Vicky McAlister and Linda Shine (eds.), Rethinking medieval Ireland and beyond: lifecycles, landscapes and settlements, essays in honour of Terence B. Berry (Leiden, 2023), pp. 266-306

 

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