Medieval Museum of Waterford

After touring the Waterford Crystal Factory, we crossed the street to see the Medieval Museum.  Upon coming in we first saw the Mayor's Chair.  Then we went down a spiral staircase to the Chorister's Hall and the Wine Vault.

This is the Chorister's Hall, which was built around 1270.

Then we headed into the wine vault!  It was built about 1440 and is the oldest wine vault in Ireland.

The ceiling was made using baskets.  They were stacked and the mortar for the ceiling was put on top to dry and create the ceiling.  I thought it was interesting.

In the 13th century, Waterford was the only port that could import wine into the southeast of Ireland.  This was by royal decree.  Originally, most of the wine came from France, but during the Hundred Years' War, the wine was mostly obtained from Portugal and Spain. 

This chest is 800 years old.  The tour guide actually sat on it while he talked to us!

From there we went upstairs to the museum.  There was so much to see it was absolutely amazing.  Waterford has a long and wild history, with the Vikings coming to settle it, then the Anglo-Norman invasion at the request of Dermot McMurrough, the deposed King of Leinster, the marriage of Strongbow to Aoife, Dermot's daughter, at Christ Church Cathedral, in return for Strongbow's help in conquering Waterford and Dublin and restoring Dermot to his throne, thereafter English control, Cromwell's invasion, invasion by pretenders to the throne, etc, etc etc!  There was so much to see and so much to learn and to put into context with other places we had been that it was almost overwhelming.  It is a museum I would visit again, because there is so much to see.

This is a relic of the cross upon which Christ was crucified.  The double cross holds a piece of wood that is purportedly, from the true cross.

The next few pictures are cloth of gold vestments that were hidden in a chest and buried for 123 years.  They date to around 1460 and they are the only full set of medieval vestments to survive in Northern Europe.  It is believed they were paid for by James Rice, a wealthy wine merchant who was Mayor of Waterford 11 times and who was most likely seeking indulgences from the Church.  When Waterford fell to Oliver Cromwell's forces in 1650, the vestments were put in a chest and buried.  123 years later, they were discovered when the medieval cathedral was being demolished.  The vestments were gifted back to the Catholic Church by the Bishop of the Church of Ireland.

My photos cannot do them justice.  One needs to see them in person.  Seeing them calls to mind Yeat's poem:  Cloth of Gold

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.

This Book is a manuscript that contains records of the City from 1356 to 1649.  It is made of 233 sheets of vellum and contains information regarding royal decrees, the wine trade, laws and regulations put in place at various times, and other interesting things.  Each year is recorded under the name of the elected mayor and the ruling monarch.  in 1649, King Charles I was executed and the entry for the year listed John Levitt as mayor and King Charles II, the late King's son, as the monarch.  Shortly thereafter when the city fell to Cromwell's army, the page was defaced to remove the royalist entry.  Ten years later Charles II was restored to the throne, but the Book was no longer in use at that time.

Below is an example of some of the entries in the Book.

This is King Henry VIII's Cap of Maintenance.  It was given to the people of Waterford in 1536 as a special honor.  It is the only article of clothing of King Henry VIII in existence today.

Below is the royal coat of arms of King Henry VII and it was placed above St. Patrick's Gate, Ballybricken.

This is a painting depicting the wedding of Strongbow to Aoife.  The Anglo-Norman invasion and Strongbow's marriage into the Leinster King's family was a huge turning point in Irish History.  The painting shows the anguish of the Irish people rather than celebration.

Below are coins that were called gunmoney.  The coins were issued in 1689 by King James II during his campaign against his son-in-law, King William III.  They were minted from copper and would have been redeemable for silver if James had been victorious.

If everything in this section seems a little eclectic, it is only because the history is so immense and I didn't really keep it all in order very well!  Below is a portion of the Great Charter which I think is about 10 feet long and covers a wide range of things and it is simply amazing to see things that are so old and yet so well-preserved.