The ninth- or tenth-century Prosperous, Co. Kildare, crozier was received for conservation and study in the Ulster Museum, Belfast, in the 1980s. The work and its results are documented here. It is argued that the crozier was divided in two, probably in the late Middle Ages, and that the parts were reunited in the nineteenth century. An explanation is advanced in terms of the function of the crozier as a symbol of title or tenure. The material of the primary metal components is identified provisionally as a copper-zinc-tin alloy (i.e. a 'gunmetal').

A cross on the intact face (Fig. 1) has a rectangular base and is flanked on the left by four standing figures in two registers, between whom is a fifth, inverted, figure. Two figures to the right of the cross, identifiable as SS Paul and Anthony, sit facing each other in the act of sharing bread. Below them a crouching figure wields a knife as though to stab the breast of a horned ox or bull and his tongue is extended as though to lap the animal’s blood (Fig. 2). In the Hendersons’ view, the juxtaposition of this scene with that of Paul and Anthony

Imirce Ciarain, hitherto regarded as the title of a lost voyage tale, is here identified as the proper name of a manuscript.