Revealing the Complexity of Early Ecclesiastical Networks: Cross-Slabs within and beyond the hinterland of Clonmacnoise

CARVED STONE MONUMENTS CAN BE AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF INFORMATION about early ecclesiastical networks, but only if the complexity of these networks is appreciated. These were intricate, overlapping and fluid entities, characterised not only by outright ownership but by different degrees of tenure and obligation, and an array of other less onerous but still meaningful relationships. Using Clonmacnoise-style cross-slabs as a case study, we show that even very simple and ostensibly uniform monuments can illuminate this complexity through systematic mapping, close scrutiny of subtle variations, and by interweaving multiple lines of evidence, both material and textual. Using the Digital Atlas of Early Irish Carved Stone (DAEICS), we present the first comprehensive analysis of the two cross-forms most closely associated with the site. The distribution of Type A slabs is interpreted as a material expression of Clonmacnoise’s pre-eminence in Connacht during the ‘long 8th century’. Within Clonmacnoise’s hinterland, Type B slabs (c ad 800–1100) are often on documented outlying estates, while some of the others may indicate additional landholdings. A minority are further afield, sometimes providing evidence that Clonmacnoise-trained carvers travelled 60 kilometres or more. Usually there is just one example per outlying site, and unlike their Clonmacnoise counterparts, they often lack an inscription. We suggest that, rather than standard grave-markers, they were monuments that allowed all those buried there to benefit at a remove from the special qualities of the cemetery at Clonmacnoise. Both these distant Type B slabs, and related monuments employing the same cross-form, tend to be found at sites that sought to associate themselves with Clonmacnoise but are notably absent from sites that claimed to be of equal or greater importance. Compared to the latter, and indeed within the wider Insular context, Clonmacnoise emerges as an outstanding example of how stone-carving could be used to shape relationships with subsidiaries and affiliates.