Dunvegan Cup
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The Dunvegan Cup is an ancient artifact from the 15th century belonging to the Clan MacLeod of the Scottish Highlands.
The date engraved into the cup is 1493. The cup is about ten inches high and is today preserved at MacLeod's Dunvegan Castle. However the wooden bowel which goes with the cup is believed to be from the 10th century and was the property of Neil Glundubh who was the King of Ulster in 990.
The silver ornamantation on the cup cannot be earlier than the 15th century and the inscription of 1493 proves that. Each side has its own design. On all four sides appear triangles, the emblems of Trinity and circles, the emblems of Eternity. The cup stands on four silver legs. Its sacred use isindicated by the letters I.H.S, repeated four times inside the rim. A few bits of Coral remain and it is evident that many others have dropped from the settings in which they were fixed.
The inscriptions on the cup is believed to read:
Katharina Nig Ry Neil Uxor Johannis meg Macguire, principles de Fermanae me fieri fecit anno Domini 1493.
Iculi omnium te serant Domine et tu das esca illorum in tempore opportuno
Meaning:
Katharina, daughter of King Neil, wife of John, grandson of Macguire, prince of Firmanagh, had me made in the year of the Lord 1493.
The eyes of all wait on Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season,
The ancient wooden bowel may have descened to Katharina, and she may have put the silver work on the old cup. Tradition explains how the cup came from Ireland to Dunvegan Castle in Scotland: One of the chiefs of the Clan O'Neill in Ireland had been a great friend of one of the Clan MacLeod chiefs. The former visited the latter and had brought the cup as a gift.
A century later chief Rory Mor MacLeod took 500 men of the Clan MacLeod to Ireland to fight in support of Shane O'Neill against Queen Elizabeth I.
[edit] References
- "The MacLeods of Dunvegan, From the Time of Leod to the End of the Seventeenth Century" By The Rev Canon R. C MacLeod of MacLeod.
