The Book of Kells

Illuminated manuscript

1
* Books produced during Middle Ages, all hand-writing, called manuscripts,
contain miniatures.

* Miniatures, called so not because of their size but rather after the minimum or
orange lead used in their preparation and in the writing of red-ink headings or
rubrics. The miniatures may constitute only a small proportion of the ornament in
the manuscript, for frequently the text also contains decorated letters and penned
calligraphic flourishes and is surrounded by elaborated borders.

* All of these elements are presented in varying proportions in what is called an

“illuminated” manuscript.

2
In the narrow sense the
term illumination refers These illuminations
to any ornament to take on a major
which gold, silver or function, whether as
bright colours have been symbolic ornament,
addded. iconic representations
of holly personages,
or pictorial narration
accompanying and
elaborating the text.

Purpose
The book had a sacramental, rather than
educational purpose. A large, lavish Gospel,
such as the Book of Kells would have been left
on the high altar of the church, and taken
off only for the reading of the Gospel
during Mass. However, it is probable that the
reader would not actually read the text from
the book, but rather recite from memory.
3
 The Book of Kells is the finest example from a group of manuscripts in
what is known as the Insular style produced from the late 6th through the
early 9th centuries in monastries in Ireland, Scotland and England and in

continental monasteries with Irish or English foundations.

Origin: The name "Book of Kells“

is derived
from
the Abbey of Kells in Kells,
County Meath in Ireland,
which was its home for much of
the medieval period.

4
Other manuscripts include :
* the Cathach of St. Columba,
* the Ambrosina Orosius,
* a fragmentary Gospelin, the Durham cathedral library
(all from the early 7th century),
* Book of Durow (from the second half of the 7th century).
•From the early 8th century come
* the Durham Gospel,
* the Echternach Gospel,
* the Lindisfarne Gospel, and
* the St. Gall Gospel Book and the Macregal Gospel belong to
the late 8th century, as well as the
Book of Kells)
• * The Book of Armagh (dated to 807–809),
• * the Turin Gospel Book fragment,
• * the Leiden Priscian,
• * the St. Gall Priscian and
• * the Macduran Gospel
(all date from the early 9th century).
5
The Book of Kells (Irish: Leabhar
Cheanannais)
sometimes known as the Book of Columba is an
illuminated manuscript that is a masterwork of
Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of
Insular illumination. Transcribed by Celtic monks ca.
800, it contains the four Gospels of the New
Testament in Latin, together with various prefatory
texts and tables. The text of the Gospels is largely
drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes
several passage drawn from the earlier versions of the
Bible known as the Vetus Latina (Old Latin).

6
Iona village

7
 Iona Island
In 563, Columba came to Iona from
Ireland, inner Hebrides and founded a
monastry which grew quickly and soon
became one of the largest religious
centres in western Europe. Monks from
Iona set up other religious centres as far
away as Switzerland.

The first written records of the

islands began with the arrival of
Columba.
8
The Abbey of Iona

9
St. Columba (St. Columcille, c.521-597) was an Irish monk who founded the a
monastery o the Iona off the western coast of Scotland in 563 and undertook to
convert the Picts to Christianity.

10
It is one of the great
treasures of Irish culture.
•Written on calf vellum, the Book of Kells is
a Latin copy of the four Gospels.

* The text is interspersed with large

illuminated pages, animated initials, beasts,
grotesque figures, and brilliantly colored
ornaments.

11
The Book of Kells is one of the finest examples of
illuminated manuscripts from the era of great
manuscripts, 650-800 A.D.

Kells book was probably started in the monastery on

the island of Iona in the late 8th century and moved
to the monastery at Kells in County Meath in the 11th
century.

The move was provoked by a desire to protect the

manuscript from the invading Vikings.

12
•It contains the “Breves causae “(of St. Mathew, Gospel summeries)
and “Argumenta” (short biographies of the Evangelists) at the
beginning

* It is supposed to have contained the “Novus opus” of St. Jerome

(Jerome explains the reason of his translation), the letter of
Eusebius, and some preliminary decorations.

Pope Damasus When revising the

commisioned St. Gospels, St. Jerome
Jerome in 382 to prefixed the Eusebian
undertake a canon tables and
revision of the included his letter to
Latin text from Pope Damasus –
Greek. beginning “Novus opus”,
explaining his revision
and the use the tables.
13
Eusebiu’s (of Caesarea) tables

Or Eusebian canons, at the

start of the Gospels, is the
system of dividing the four
Gospels used between
Antiquity and the Middle Age.

14
There are decorations at the start of each paragraph and within some sentences.

the beginning
of the Breves
causae of
Luke.

15
* The Book he Book of Kells contain a text based upon the Vulgate
translation, but with numerous variants. Therefore, it is not such a
pure rendition of Jerome's translation as the Book of Durrow or
the Lindisfarne Gospels.

* It was said that this book was intended to serve as a magnificent

altar book.
* The book contains portraits of the four Evangelists, the Virgin
Mary, Jesus Christ, and scenes from the New Testament, such as
the Arrest and Temptation.
16
Carpet Pages" were purely decorative, and were so named for their resemblance
to eastern carpets. This carpet page from the Book of Kells depicts the symbols
for the four evangelists: Matthew the Man, Mark the Lion, Luke the Calf (or
Bull), and John the Eagle, derived from the vision of Ezekiel.

Mathew, Mark,
the Man the Lion

Luke, John, the

the Calf Eagle

17
Giraldus Cambresis’s description of the manuscript in 1185 :

* “This book contains the harmony of four Evangelists according to

Jerome, where for almost every page there are different designs,
distinguished by varied colours”.

* “You will make out intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and
compact, so full of knots and links, with colours so fresh and vivid,
that you might say that all this was the work of an angel , and not of a
man”.

*” For my part, the oftener I see the book, the more carefully I study
it, the more I am lost in ever fresh amazement, and I see more and
more wonders in the book”.
18
Leaf of manuscript,
Book of Kells Genealogy
of Christ

19
 text from
Leaf of manuscript, Book of Kells the Gospel
of John
written in
Insular
majuscule
by the
scribe
known as
"Hand B".

20
 The Virgin Mary
The miniature of the
Virgin and Child faces
the first page of text
and is an appropriate
preface to the
beginning of the
Breves Causae of
Matthew, which
begins Nativitas
Christi in Bethlem (the
birth of Christ in
Bethlehem).

The decoration combines traditional Christian

iconography with the ornate swirling motifs of typical of
Insular art.
21
 Christ enthroned
Book of Kells

Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts

together with intricate knotwork and interlacing
patterns in vibrant colours .

22
* The monks who worked on Kells did not
use gold leaf, commonly used in
manuscripts of this kind, but they did use
ultramarine, a color which, because of its
scarcity, was as costly as gold in the 8th-
9th centuries.

23
* The manuscript today comprises 340 folios and since 1953 has been bound in
four volumes.
* The leaves are on high quality calf vellum with unprecedentedly elaborate
ornamentation.
The ornamentation includes ten full-page illustrations and text pages that are
vibrant with historiated initials and interlinear miniatures;
* it marks the furthest extension of the anti-classical and energetic qualities of
Insular art.
Book of Kells contains
the text "Erat autem
hora tercia" ("now it
was the third hour").

24
Buried within the myriad abstract motifs are some suprisingly well-articulated
animals and figures. Two butterflies or moths appear in the dotted field to the
left of the crossing of the Chi. Below, along the descending arm, are three
angels. At the bottom two cats crouch facing each other with mice perched on
their backs. The cats have caught by the tail mice that are nibbling a round
objects with a cruciform marking, possibly a wafer of the Eucharist. To the right,
beneath the rho and iota, a black otter has just caught a fish.

Chi Rho, Chi Rho are

Book of the first two
Kells Greek
letters for
Christ
monogram

25
 The Book of Kells
The Incipit to the Gospel of Matthew

The page consists of only two

words Liber generationis ("The
book of the generation"). The "lib"
of Liber is turned in to a giant
monogram which dominates the
entire page. The "er" of Liber is
presented as interlaced ornament
within the "b" of the "lib"
monogram. Generationis is
broken into three lines and
contained within an elaborate
frame in the right lower quadrant
of the page. The entire assemblage
is contained within an elaborate
border.

26
* The Book of Kells marks the fullest development of the Insular tradition of
illumination with ornamental frontispieces and illuminated incipits.

* It shows the impact of new ideas, some from the Continent, others perhaps
indigenous, which resulted in an expanded program of decoration and a
meaningful sequence of illuminations.

* There were added extensive zoomorphic decoration of initials on most of the

text pages and the introduction of what may have been a program of narrative
miniatures to illustrate what was considered to be liturgically significant points
in the text.

* Henceforth Insular illumination became less preoccupied with purely abstract

ornament and developed a more pictorial emphasis.

27
•There are decorations at the start of each paragraph and
within some sentences.
•Scattered through the text are decorated initials and small
figures of animals and humans often twisted and tied into
complicated knots.

Decorated
Initial, Book
of Kells

28
Leaf of manuscript – Initial Q
Catach of
St.
Columba,
Cathach/battler is an early
/talisman in seventh
battle century
Irish
Psalter.

29
A portrait of John the Evangelist

John : In
principio erat
verbum ("In the
beginning was
the Word")

30
Leaf of manuscript

The beginning of the

Gospel of Mark from
the Book of Durrow

31
 The Lindisfarne Gospel
contains the incipit Liber generationis
of the Gospel of Mathew

32
Leaf of manuscript with lion

Echternach Gospels

33
Leaf of manuscript
The Book of Mulling (Dublin,
Trinity College Library MS A. I. 15) is
an Irish pocket Gospel Book from
the last half of the 8th century. The
book was probably copied from an
autograph manuscript of St.Moling
The text includes the four Gospels, a
service which includes the "Apostles'
Creed", and a plan of St. Moling's
monastery. The script is a fine Irish
minuscule. The decoration includes
illuminated initials and three
surviving Evangelist portraits: those
of Matthew, Mark and John. Its
jeweled shrine is also preserved at
Trinity College.
34