Ground

Andrew Ground

Prof . Burgdorf

Mon 7:00

December 9th 2020

Book of Kells: An Analysis

Comparing a picture of a child to their adult self might be totally surprising. They have

few physical similarities to their younger self, sound different, or act with a grace or sense of

clumsiness one could hardly compare to. Or they could look practically the same, just larger.

Either way they will have experienced the years in which they have grown and changed, and

from that, they are related to their younger self, yet separate. No style of art can claim to be

wholly unique. The Book of Kells was created in the 9th century as a product of Irish

monasticism and prominent individuals in the early Latin Church. Modern Wales and England

were Roman provinces and produced influential theologians such as Pelagius who opposed

theories of predestination and the notions of Augustine’s City of God 1. It also produced

missionaries such as Saint Patrick(c.389-461) and Columba(c.521-597) who would found

monasteries and work to convert the non-Roman territories of Ireland and Scotland2 and

Columbanus(c.540-615) who would convert Alamanani and Lombards 3. The institution of

monasticism developed with a certain amount of isolation from the rest of Europe due to its

periphery location and furthered by the invasion of the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes in the 5th

century AD 4. The isolation of the Celtic monasteries would be interrupted by the Council of

1
Geanakoplos p. 40
2
Geanakoplos p. 75
3
Geanakoplos p. 76
4
Geanakoplos p. 53

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Whitby as it determined the Latin method as the true way of calculating the day of Easter. The

Latin church would become further involved in the island following the conversion of the Jutes

in Kent in 569 AD. In 668 AD, Pope Vitalian consecrated Theodore of Tarsus as Archbishop of

Canterbury with the task of organizing the Latin Church in England5. Between this period of time

from the conversion of Ireland to Chirstianity and the Latin Church cementing a stronger hold,

there would have been roughly two centuries for the institution of Irish monasticism to influence

the British Isles. It is in this paper that the Book of Kells may be presented as a product of a

Monastic system that incorporated individuals into it’s creation can be traced maybe before

Christianity touched Britain or Ireland. The manuscript is currently held at Dublin, Trinity

College Library. It is available for viewing at the Trinity College Library site6. Book of Kells; IX;

Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS. A. I (58);

https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/hm50tr726?locale=en&page=68

The Life of Saint Columba is a work of hagiology that tells of Iona’s founding. Columba

was born and baptized as Colum Crimthain to the Clan O'Donnell. In Ireland(Eire) he worked as

a part of a monastic order in establishing churches and monasteries under St. Finnian. Later in

life he was exiled after beginning a war between the Clan Neil and King Diarmat over a psalter

Columba had secretly copied without the consent of the original owner7. During his exile

Columba had founded the monastery of Iona within a small bay that lay within sight of Ireland8.

The island subsisted off it’s own animal husbandry and agriculture, supplemented by regional

donations from entities such as Dal Riata9. The hagiology states that missionary work began on

converting local tribes in 565 AD. From this point they engaged in similar missionary activities

5
Geanakoplos p. 77
6
Trinity College Digital Library. "Book of Kells." Digital Collections.
7
Adhamnan p. 27
8
Adhamnan p. 30
9
Adhamnan p. 36

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as done in Ireland. Building monasteries, converting, instructing, and baptizing around the

surrounding islands and mainland Britain. In 574 AD, he connected the monastery at Iona with

the monarchy of Dal Riata and ordained the King Ainmaire at Iona in an early form of a royal

coronation10. Noted here is that within the account there is mention of a pastoral staff, a bachull,

as a sign of authority11.

Insular art typically dates from 550 to 900 AD. Anglo-Saxon and Celtic in nature, the

style of illumination became influenced by the Carolingian Renaissance12. Written in Latin, the

Book of Kells is a manuscript insular in nature. 330 x 355 mm with trimmed and gilded edges

within a bound book(codex) that required rebinding in the 19th century and contains within it

340 folios using calfskin for it’s vellum. These contain symbolic illustrations and an insular semi

unica text, colored decorations, representations, and symbols; arcaded cannon tables and initials.

The Book of Kells is thought to have originated around 800AD. Attributed to the

scriptorium of St Colum Cille on the island of Iona. When raided by vikings in 806, the

Columban monks took refuge in a monastery at Kells Abbey in Meathe, Ireland. This is relevant

as it is possible that the manuscript may have begun at the Iona monastery. With the exception of

being stolen once in 1007AD. It was kept in Kells Abbey until 1653 where it was transferred to

Dublin. There, it came into the keeping of Trinity College Dublin along with the bishop of Meath

and vice chancellor of the college, Henry Jones. The manuscript is composed of four volumes.

Two are opened to the public view and switched out at regular intervals with digital copies of all

four volumes available online.

The literary contents of the folios are written in Latin and the total manuscript of the

Book of Kells contains the following. Folios 1r-27r are Preliminaries. Folios 27v-129r contains

10
Adhamnan p. 42
11
Adhamnan p. 46
12
Brown p. 10

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the book of Mathew. Folios 188r-290r is the book of Luke. Folios 292r-339v is the book of John.

Following this is a Breves causae which contains summaries of the narratives from the Gospel.

After this is the Argumenta which serves as prefaces characterizing the Evangelists. Gospel

books may be the result of patronage and generally contain carpet, chi rho, and incipit pages, chi

rho pages, and portraits of the evangelists, with functional versions utilized in liturgy13.

In the examination of the Book of Kells, three pages of the manuscript will be of focus.

These are the portraits of John(Folio 291v), Mathew(Folio 28v), and the Christ(Folio 32v). The

ringeux is typically a part of 13th and 14th century manuscripts in the form of an intricate and

interwoven foliage14. There is something similar in the three portraits. But instead of foliage,

they are beasts. Long of body, beaked, and with talons they are common in the frames of the

portraits of Christ and Mathew. As Ultimate La Tene, they are ambiguous in nature 15. These

snakes and ambiguous beasts are inhabit borders or decorative surrounds16. Creating

intercolumnar space for Christ and Mathew and occupying the paneled margins in John’s

portrait. Though, for John these beasts are more distinguishable as snakes in the frame. Despite

the presence of beasts, these portraits cannot be described as a bestiary17. The exterior frame of

John’s portrait is unique in comparison to Christ and Mathew in other respects as well. Outside

of the frame are body parts. Hands on the left and right exteriors, feet on the bottom exterior, and

an impression of head on the top. The impression of the head is flanked on either side by pattern

similar to the Pictish Key Pattern Nig Stone, that of a layered diamond pattern18. This particular

stone pattern can be seen in Mathew’s portrait in the four corners of the page. However, in John

and Mathew they hold the book with only a left hand, while Christ holds it using both.
13
Brown p. 60
14
Brown p. 107
15
Brown p. 16
16
Brown p. 24
17
Brown p. 19
18
Beachler p. 26

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Mathew is flanked on each side by an animal. On his bottom left is a bird and his right, a cow.

On his top left and right is a beast. The panels to either side are composed of single spiral

patterns that culminate in triple spiral finish or triquetra19. The Christ is presented in an archway.

On either side he is flanked by two figures. Three of these are angels, but one is a man holding a

long staff. John does not stand in his portrait, rather remains seated in what would appear to be a

throne. While his left hand is occupied with the book, in his right he holds a short staff. His head

is at the center of a corona within the background that is composed of two circles, an inner and

outer one. While John is within the inner circle, the outer circle is cut interrupted at four times.

With the influence of Rome now in southern Britain, the influence of Irish monasticism

increasingly waned20. The Council of Whitby resulted in the Irish monks leaving Lindisfarme to

return to Iona and put an end to the their influence in Northumbria21. At this time, Iona had been

under repeated attack by viking raids until finally moving to Kells Abbey. As Celtic groups and

Celtic Christianity lost their foothold in Britain with the exception of Wales, their art would

increasingly merge with that of the Latin Christianity. The end result was Insular that change and

be utilized well into the Norman Conquest of England22. All manner of things can be put beneath

the microscope to see and interpret greater meaning. In a world where there is no difference

between the secular and the spiritual, the tenet that very few things have true endings can be

tested and seen. Art is time captured in a bottle for all to see, a reminder of how societies and

how they expressed themselves have changed. Let it be regarded as one of the more comforting

aspects of history; the knowledge that while many things do slip into a void where they cannot

be recovered from, there are still those tangible ways we can see and find continuation.

19
Brown p. 36
20
Beachler p. 35
21
Beachler p. 36
22
Brown p. 74

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Bibliography

Secondary Sources

Adamnan, Saint. Translated, Wentworth Huyshe. 1905. The Life of Saint Columba

(Columb-Kille) A.D. 521-597 : Founder of the Monastery of Iona and First Christian Missionary

to the Pagan Tribes of North Britain. The Life of Saint Columba (Columb-Kille) A.D. 521-597 :

Founder of the Monastery of Iona and First Christian Missionary to the Pagan Tribes of North

Britain. England: Routledge, [1905?].

Beachler, Jennifer. "The Artistic Innovations and Stylistic Evolution Evidenced in the Book of

Durrow and the Book of Kells." Order No. 1421882, California State University, Dominguez

Hills, 2003.

https://search-proquest-com.lib-proxy.fullerton.edu/dissertations-theses/artistic-innovations-stylis

tic-evolution/docview/305276948/se-2?accountid=9840.

Brown, Michelle. 1995. Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: a Guide to Technical Terms.

Los Angeles, California: The J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the British Library.

Geanakoplos, Deno John. 1979. Medieval Western Civilization and the Byzantine and Islamic

Worlds: Interaction of Three Cultures. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath.

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Lewis, Suzanne. 2002. “The Book of Kells: Its Function and Audience”. Medieval Academy of

America.

Trinity College Digital Library. "Book of Kells." Digital Collections.

https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/hm50tr726?locale=en.

Sullivan, Edward. 1920. The Book of Kells, Described by Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart., and

Illustrated with Twenty-Four Plates in Colours. The Book of Kells, described by Sir Edward

Sullivan, Bart., and Illustrated with Twenty-Four Plates in Colours. England: "The Studio" ltd.,

1920.