4 Books for Missionaries hen St Augustine and his fellow missionaries landed in south-east England in aD 597, they asked for an interview with King Fthelberht of Kent, saying they had important news of etemal life to announce, Bede recounts that an audience was arranged in the open air and that, as the missionaries approached the king, they held up a silver «cross and the image of the Saviour painted on a board, A few days later the monks reached Canterbury, where Ethelberht had assigned a house to them, and once again i is related by Bevde that, secording to their custom, they came for the first time towards the ‘ity bearing aloft the cross and the iniage off Christ, It was evident ly very important that right from the outset the monks should exhibit visual mage of the new religion which could be soen and wondered over even before they began explaining the message of Scripture. After Augustine had reported his suecesses back to Rome, a fur ther delegation of missionaries was sent out to consolidate the newly founded church, In 6ax the party arrived, led by Mellitus, and brought with them, Beale says, Ty necessary for the worship and ministry of the Church, such as sacred vessels, altar cloths and church omaments, vestments for I such things as were general priests and clerks, relics of the holy apostles and martyrs, and very many books’ (‘codices plurimos’, in his words), IC these books which are of interest. Christianity isthe religion ofthe book and its message goes with literacy, a concept new to many of its British converts, Missionaries, then as now, could face sceptical audiences with the Gospels under their arms —a specific manual for salvation in debate against a andthe scarcely literate are quite rightly impressed by the written word. We do not know exactly what manuscripts were brought in 601, Alfred the Great says that St Augustine owned a copy of the jam baved om oral tradition Postoenl Rule of Gregory the Great, the pope who ent the mission, and this is more than likely, Bede calls ita remarkable book, and it ‘was of great value for missionaries. The late medieval library cata Jogue of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury recorded ten copies of the Pastoral Rule ard many other texts by Gregory the Great, some described as old, imperfect and worn out through use. St ‘Augustine's copy, sent to him by the author, would have been an exciting relic if it had survived. It woukl hare looked something {unicipale, ms. 404), written almost certainly in St Gregory's own scriptorium in like the ancient copy pow in Troyes (Bibliotheque Rome about ap 6ee in splendid uncial script without division between words and with penwork initials in dark red, dark green, and brownish yellow repaired in moder times but is still a heavy and noble manuscript. ‘The Troyes volume his been cruelly It isjust the kind of book the missionaries from Rome would have used in England ‘The late meslieval monks of St Augustine's Abbey believed they Ihad some books acquired from St Augustine himself, and these ‘were carefully examined by Thomas of Eimbam between 1414 and 1448. He drew a sketch of the high altar in the abbey church show: ing that the books were kept tl Iwo rowsameng other relics of saints (et, 5), Inthe text he describes a two-volume Bible with inserted purple leaves, a Psalter and hymnal, a Gospel Book (known as the ‘Text of St Mildrid — Fimham says a certain peasant in Thanet wore filsely on it and was said to have been propped upstruck blind), andl another Balter with a slver binding showing (Christ and the Evangelists. ‘The two-volume Bible was preserved tntil at feat 694, when & was apparently Kept concealed as a miracles relic i the hands of tbe English Catholics. 10 has since disappeared, The Putter, deseriba as on having ect bu silver, does survive. Weis now ss. Cotton Vespasian A in the British Library 9 London (Pt. 9). The book hal passed alter the Willam in tw Sir Robert Cot Lord suppremion of St Augustine's. Abbey Burghley (1520-98). ant from (57101651), whose magnificent brary entered th sewly fount ved British Muscum i755. Mt ie disappointing to find that the ancient tration does not stand up te investigation. The manuscript is of superb quality, in wcial script rather Tike that of the Troyes St Gregory, but it English in execution and must be assigned to a seal oa arena 740, St Angustine himself hal did in 604. The Vespasian Pal Thalia models, but i ia focal production, The important pois is incall, is almost cxetanly based on some that the monks remembered St Auguste as bringing books v0 Britain and they asoctated this square uncial mannycript with the earliest missin, We need not blame them because aftr eight hur ra years they were vencrating the wrong volume, Pe hie Lenton Binary cotton Cambri. Caran Chet Cs, MS Nero Iv fot 210 sh 135" htt or wt tepals, ala Gane vot gla Ties Hen gh Eg ned The rye a et ‘hey tte tation Angst ar el cers er by Ae pn ‘canbe To Ha side oft Thuan He Papen cate een ee feet. Pavers neem sot ie ing retin his i hk al ged tne {ay eg nl era Agi The meThere may he an actual candidate, however, for on of St Angus This isa Gospel Book which belonged Matthow Parker (1504-75), Archbishop of Canterbury, an whieh lb sill inthe bieary that Parker gave te arpa Christ Calle ty Cambridge (nts. 286, Pt. 6). It too comes from St August Abljey andl was certainly there at ast a thoxsand yeare ago, The Be pach however, cae mate in aly in the eth conturya sate aulte consistent with the frst misses, a th cath or early fighth century numerous corrections were tule to the text iv an Fgh hare. ‘The book has been much thumbed, and stil used manuscript prexeryes two full-page miniatures of at least six which must once have contained (ihere are faint bets from at least HBr others). The fst sho ewelve acesicsthden the Me of Chet ded the second depits St Lake boMing an open Fvvok and bs sue Aramatically explicit in their message. It was the cuntomn of St exhibit the paint of Ch cl bm i technique was very effective, They cou have held up this b wo, The ilustrations haa very simple andl very practical function The “very many books’ which arrived with St Augustine's mt aght to Ait! wéte certalaly nit’ the only Italian maniieripts bi Britain in the early generations af Chrivianity, There & an Italian seventh century Gs i in the Heellcisn Library in Oxfont fous. Auet. Dois.2g). An ‘inumerable quantity of nf all Kinds’, acoording to Bede’ (using 4 similar phrase to. that about Canterbury), came to Wearouth and Hexham ia Northambri. These are iinportant. Beth Radke and an anenymioas reonk yret ts of Wearmouth ane. Jar informed about Benedict Bicnp and his suc ven land by Egtrth, King of Northumbria, for a ail at Wearmouth, in the extreme north-eastern net of England. His library, temporarily on deposit at Viente by France, now sent to form the nucleus of the Wearmeth collec I Srp “ oni on neeis Ceolith in 678. ‘They returned with relics and pictures forthe sew ale, including panel paintings of Christ, perhaps something Uke the ore hel aft hy St Augustine, al above all they seem ta have Irught Bac mammcripts We have a fw elves sot these forays nto the hook collections of lay: Bede recounts that many books were acquired on one of Benedict Brcop's vists to Italy, ‘and these he ha ether bought ata price, or recelved as presents sus" This tow is important. The reference to purchas: ing ata price is tantalizing, as it suygests there was a market for books in fly. It would be fascinating ty have details of howe this srorhed tn practiog.. Were, there stl seme. keds of bookshop o there had been in hte classical Rome? However it was achieved, Renedict Biscop and Ceolfrith may actually have brought off one of she greatest book-collectayg cup of all time, It seems very pos ‘le that they purchased second-hand the library of Cassiodorus (c485-6.5%0), the great Roman patristic author and scholar, When he retired trom public life, Cassiodorus had set up two monaitic communities at Vi oad he fad formed there a kind off academy for the promotion of both religious and secular learning, Cassiodoras mel that be Furnished! the foundation with el avin the Far south of aly ons im his Pinte, ‘los of sexjpuural manaseripts which he describes in some detail. These included what wasknow as the Codex Geandir, a hage one-solume ‘pan lect’ (that is, 1 Bible in a single volume) in the old Latin ver from before the tine of St ome, ‘This actual book, Cassodorue's copys as certainly in Narthumbri in the time of Bede Probably Ceolfth and Benedict acquired all or seme of ‘Cassiodonus's Buble an ine volumes (the Nowe Coulee), which we know to have been at Viarium too, and they may have obtained a third Bible which Cassiodorus described as being in tiny seript Not impessily the purchase included copies of Cassiodorus's own commentaries (of which Durham Cathedral Library sts. B may be some echo) ant pethaps even the old Latin version of Josephus and other clawical texts, We know that, one way ot ano and of Henedet's second fo Fy the resources of Wearmon vation of Jarrow became exceptionally rich, Bede himself, working in Jarrow ¢.690-<.735 and never travel- ling out of the north of England, cites some eighty diferent siuhors whois works he int have en The inpoetane of the Christian missions to Briain cannot be overstated, ani iti note- hand with inilized Latin bterature of ancient Rome iat the learring which went hand worthy ity br by brow sa 0 Orme ror Boden Liber, Prana SitotecaMedinn 5. Hato 8 0 oranana MSA fl Vr ‘thats hie Wl on Uae hat rs Cd Fenton pr bet eo eng Ehren ret Wey ames ‘we gh Stem actor py eb deterrent aly ope emg Cone Tarlo amare sp a porerey 9 Opto el, remnant Te destin gage oh Caen laste aller ge eke fy tent ae ee bey ered ‘ee gl rd igi, Jo deceraiaenatland of the early Christian writers to the very © nce ftnibed with exemplars to copy, monks began mak their oven hooks (Pb, §). An kmportant documented. record Breton, cecum abo in the fives of the abbots. of The biography of Ce pe of ie weeks and saya Wearmouth and Jarrow. inde with an hat he oan three huge Bible manuscripts (‘tres pandectes nove teausltioniy 4 ta be offered a tne each for use in the churches at Wearny present to the pope. One could! imagine that Ceolfrith wished 10 emonstrate w the Roman Sec (th [Co Gratior and ks Fellow eve remote England was now able to reproduce pes rorthy of housing the FIRE irerine arrangernt: perhaps the Cr library was released only on the understanding that a copy of the great paeloct was ceturmed to Rome for reference, The chronicle quotes Beebe inscription added to te prerentation manuscript nating Abbot Ceolfrith a offering the book in token of faith from the farthest end of the car, as indeed i them was ("exteemi F:ceNoRndEXIOH EAT over wnilpala@nronss quacxn expert cectesine [ ocorew stinger retigsLwyoonstbestan> Commo sdCpINB: ARIAS deuort appectas : picsorseorrromecr me quie eos oprANs AANTINTERGAGD PAFRISE Ivcactis memonew sconpcr hynencLocu bus’), Abbot Coolfrth himself accompanied the ion to tarry the manuscript to the pope. They’set out on 4 June 716. This 1 the export of a hook mace in i. He di September. The book is not known to havc England, Unfortunately Coolfrith on tk reached Rome, at that, anti a lithe aver hundred years ago, was In the Laurentian Library in Florence isa celebrated Latin Bibl fof the very early eighth ventury ~ in fact, the oldest atin Whe known — which wax taeda. a soutee fot the # q Floren Medlcea Laureniana, sts, Amati 1). It had come to Florence fi Latin ible published in 159 within: Ch “Aah (rts, 9-40). It his ation a From 9 “Petrus Langobardorum’ and the volume was always thought to be Kalian work. tn 1846, however, 8. de Row! observed. that several names in the inscription bad been tampered with and were written this sath 1 dons PA Hort nat aver vie, without at frst link1 The Covlex Amiatinus is quite simply the actual at Weatmuth or Jarrow hy Raglish cis in ie ‘Cine Grantor. As Ceol ded on the journey, er reached Rome. The diagrammatic ilstations ‘those leseribed hy Cassius in the Corlex ‘The strange frentspicee shows the age prophet fr, more prfubly, both as the sme man) | open cupboard containing the carfully labelled Bike Neren Codes which Cossxidaris gave to the wnity. This pictore too + mo dole copie frm atin orignal jn of the Codex Amisinus as Ceol’ copy +n the late nivetecnth century, eapeally antparians glad to learn thatthe carliet known, ‘Bible was made ia England Im 1849 Canon ell of Durham bought an idl register fm a Jean found thot itsbindng was wnule yp of ‘vein with part of the Latin Bok af Kings ia cal that ofthe Codex Amatims, He gave bis jy Mascum (now Bul. Adi. Ms. 47772). Soon and scraps ofan eleventh) secre sorted at 1909 it became quite car tht they came ered manuscript. They were aequired by In 8937 (vow BLL, Add. as. 45525), tn July ea ws Cae forming Winding at Kingston fost aceite by the National Trust (Pt, 18), S othcrs still to be cbscovered, The significance of er oe ih she tier tl ete ty Ceolfrith and asigeel by him to the ase a rrow. Both monasteries were destroyed by the aint entry. aa rennin as ros foe two i> from the sites were rescued for Durham ‘Bede's own ane (ie mam Red’, fet, a over. opti tribution After the Reformation at lest ene Durham Cathal ‘manuscript Bible migate int the Wbrary ofthe Willoughby fam ly, later Lorde Midleton, and very: probably the Wille downed a substantial portion of the Ceolfith manuscript and used {ts huge pages centuries ago fr binding ther books at Wolliton Hil, near Notting, or Midleton Hall, war Tamwor An oven smaller faginnt, sil jn Dusham Catedral, inks ‘wil the story 00. There ita’ scrap of part ofthe Bible (his of I Maccabees Ms, BAV6, Ih is only 8Y% x Giwhes (217 by 127 mm), aboot ee sine ofa postcard, butis certainly Balan work ofthe sith century ‘Gould ic be rl frons Castors’ ne volune ble saree two extremely rare readings — ne of them unique, in at the Codex Amitinus, ata was deubtlas the model used by CCoolvah’s shes. These copyiss sed both the Caley Grint and the Novo Cady atleast. By calculating the amoust of text Uat the seme of the Durhae fragment could have itd ont a single page, one can conclu tht the wale be, ander eas whole Bible, would haye hove well er tw thoan lesen tick, If divided into nine volutes, on the other hand, cas part ‘would have average about 24a eaves, which woul! be ite nan ageable. Reyors hat, we hardly dare speculate All the manuscripts mentions so far hs Uh chapter, whechesr Uicsh or ain are weiter cial script, Th int ate cass cal hanheriing made ap af eaptal letters formed sth grace 7) rewed ava llleal fm Durham Cathedral Library with courved strokes (014, 4, 9 and. 1). The depensknce of the Kentish tnssionaries on their Roman origins and the fiescw allegiance of the Wearmouth/ Jarrow romain vo the: papacy’ are: denonetratid ‘oot only by historical record but, mast graphically, bythe use of this handwriting. 1 sa script specially asseciated with Rime “The very earliest Worary cwtaloyges deperihe uncial maineripts ae Romana litera scriptien’ ‘We must now introduce a whole new element into the: soryTo the embarrassment and confusion of the Roman-hased apostles li England, theirs was not the only 0 sion to Britain, Christianity had flourished in Trebind since the mid the ist Cais ins fifth comury, led by St Patrick and athers, and it 56), mare than thiny years bore St Augustine landed, St Colambs founded the famous at Fna. of the west const of Sotand, It land monastery win the: beginning of wget sidadowry tsovesnents By 635 Bt Aidan fad brought this Celtic Christianity right across the country 10 another offshore foundation at Linisfame on the east coast of Northumbria. The trih bed lands, Ceolfeth, dedicating. his Bible to the pope, thoaght he lived in a remote place, but it was nothing to the extreme and literal insularity of the ty primitive Irish communities. The image of Benoit biscop thoughtfully pur- chasing classical texts in Rome sounels supremely civilized, t cn ‘taste dramatically with the legends of the earliest fis books. St Columba (@ 521-97) is sid to have borrowed! a manuscript from St Finan (€495 579) and stayed om in the church at night eops- ing it out while his fingers shone like candle and filled the ehurch with light, Finan contested that Tweed be ‘manuscript should never hive i seay- His messenger, interrupting the illegal ‘copying, had his eyes pecked out hy St Columba’s pet crane, we are told. The feuding saints appealed to the local king who Acclared against Col hand over his pirated copy boy making Cio every cow her offspring, and to every book its transcript) (Celurnta in retaliation then marshalled the king's enemies against Pnnian and defeated hin at Uke Battle oF Cul Drembe tn 901. The identiticd with the socalled, Cathach of St Columba, a seventh ‘century manuscript now kept atthe Royal ish Academy (#1. 12) Ie ica die From the Codex Amsiatinns as one can imagine. es svall and decorated with spiralling penvwork inital, and it sur sived tn the arly medieval shrine oF candi in which its owners took i into 6 idan Fiesty ten the nine "Catach means “battler in Old Irish, Wee are fa diferent world Historians trom the time of Bede onwards have: descr J the dinteming Hivalry nl! difeting claphesey of the early: toh ‘CIristans and the first Roman missionaries, and the disputes were made 1 easice by the absolute sincerity of the protagenists, A major difference of tradition was represented by contrasting meth ‘ods for calelating the date of Faster, and ao deullt the arguments vere watched with sly amusement by any sill pagan British, a race famous for carefully regulated festivals and seasons, nally 8 664. the Christians came together for their great synod at Whithy in ‘Yerkshire when King Oswy chaired the debate between Colman for the frish and Willd for Rome. In the event, the argument came te hinge on whethir St Peter or St Cohimiba had grestor and the claims of the Roman Church tri of the Wish cause, including the the universal Church, bbut Colman himself remmnes unconvinced tp treland, sautbosity_ in hea tumphed. Aknost all aheren ing, now declare their new alls Literacy and a beliein written revelation were the most fanda- meatal tenets of both Irish and Roman Christians, and chey all owned books, We see something of their polit reflected in the srviving manuscript, The Irish lent of Rome — produced tm undal manusiripts a all, and wrote entirely in their eceentric Irish majuscule and minuscule scripts, ‘soled, holy, ascetic, indepen Their books swore at Bast gencraly cramped and irregular and on poor-quality vellun, consistent with the primitive nature of the ‘omimmities, The Cathach of St Columbs is (ish work dating fram well before the Syeod of Whilhy. The eaves are crouked and the fines aneven, but there is something deeply venerable about thie reli, ‘The Bangor Antiphonary (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, sis. €.4.mf.) was writen at Bangor in northern Irelanel during the abbacy of Colman (688-91) and is ap unorthodox volume full of ‘origina holes, The same ascetic roughness can still be seen in the cighth-ccntury Iridh pocket-sized Gospel Books lke the Book of Pimms, probably made in County Tipperary (Dublin, ‘Trinity College, ats, A.IV.23), and in the Book of Mulling, which has a colophon associating t with the kame of St Moling (4692-7) and which was probably made by his eighth century successors atthe Carlow (Dublin, Trinity monastery of Tedh-Moling in Count allege, MS. A15) Somewhere i this wiity ctely period tio bslotgy the cont versal Book of Darrove. This great Gospel Bock, now in Trinity College, Dublin (us, AAV. 5, 18s. 13 and 15), i tall and narrow, about 92 by 572 inches (245 by 145 mm) and includes nwelve Interlaced initials, five full page emblematie figures symbolizing the Evangelists, and six ‘carpet’ pages, an evocative term used to Alscribe thors ebtire sheets of multicoloured abstract interlace pat tems so character of arly Ih art, Anyone eat sce that it be a fine manuscript and it has atracted much speculation. Tt en with an invocation asking that whoever: holds this book in his hanes should remember Columba ie scribe, who ‘copied it in twelve days, but thie inscription hae been altered ancl rewritten and if t actully refers to St Columba himself, founder of lona, iti at best ‘supy made a century later from one made by the misionsry saint. Th is very possible that the book comes from one of St Columba’s foundations (of which Durrow is one} some time inthe second haf of the seventh century, Scholars have argued for origins li Ireland (659), Toma itsel (e664), oF even right across at Lindiafame (680). The size of the book suggests it could eaily slip nto traveller's sadle-pack, and perhaps it was used in sever al missionary outposts. It was back én sland when King Han ned « cursdach for it, and it seems to have been miles west of Dublin, from atleast the early (4.916) commis at Darrow, about ‘wall coy After 864 and the merging of Irish and Rorman interest, many manuscripts graphically select their double pedigree. ‘The term “inmilar maniascipt is used to describe books made in the Bea Inles (as distinct fom the Continent), but whether in England oreer ; ISvediauelsOommonabraur > " reratiram dation boaNpens!Ireland may not be clear, Another general term is “Northumbro Irish’, We have alevady mentioned the Vexpasian Praler from St Augustine's Abbey: in Canterbury, written in uncials 9 Roman in ype that the lite medieval monks kept it on the high alte as St Augistlive's Gin. copy. Hels tke that es diattite of King David and his rmasicians must he copied, pethaps dircetly, from 2 sixth cwntury Tulian original but the bread arched top af the pleture is shoreuighly. trish with te delicate swirling snterlacvd patteras Ut a). Ws very closely relat toa Gospel Book ow: in Stockholm (Kui Aurets, the golden book (rh 1). This manuseript is ase i uneiak igs Bibliotehet, vs. ALi 4), known as the Codex script, partly in gold ink on leaves stained in purple, and the hook isascried to the mi-eighth century, I too has delicate Irish inter laced andl animal filled initials, Like the Vespasian Poulter, it was of the Reman tradition, There were charly Northurbee-trish medels almost certainly make in Canterbury, right in the « there hy the eighth century, Indeed! the Covlex Aurvus ner In the midsninh century the Volume was salen ina rad by the pagats Norgemen, {twat then ransomed for gold by ANormun Act vi and his wife Werbung and presentst to Christ Church, Canterbury, probaly between 71 and 89, a famseus donation Lb veeptury the book was in Sp reconled ty Anglos Saxon an the upper of olla 1a. By the sixteen Ielonging in turn tothe historian Jerdinime Zurita (+512-#e), the Carded of Aula Det near amily, to atv Madrid by John Gabriel Sparwenfeldr for the leet. Alor eight andeed years thersfure, x20, and members of the Guzm Hoge it was bo Swedish royal Fell back toto Scandinavian h graphically minded ‘Bur f Celtic decoration edged ts way quietly sato uncial mana ow duly Christian and biblio seripts, the losing f on at Whithy achieved a fir more enduring monument hy the sietory of their script. This ts thi period of the reat insular Gospel Books, They’ are all written fa Lesh hall uncial tke the Hook of Duirrow, and Irish minuscule, like the Rook of Armagh, ‘The most famous is cortanly'the Book of Kells, but this is really the Last in a Hong line 1 was proceded by such out wevipes as Ue Lndifimne Grepelt (cgi), the ehternach Genpels, the Durham Gospels (both «a0 and probs ‘My Northumbrian), the Book of St Chad or Lichfield. Gospels (igh century, pessibly Welsh ris. 44 and yo), the Heretard spel Book (perhaps the west u ceentury), the Book of Armagh (Ireland, 407), and a Cathedral England or Wales, late eigh _gp0d many other splendi books of this clas, The Bok of Kells i a problem, No study of manuscripts can exclude it, a giant among Ad Dublin directing tourists to shen it my be wen, an hour pal wits (Trinity: College, Dublin, as. is, 17-48), There ave signposts througl the strsets of tomo other manuscript in the work, Around its glass case in Trinity: College thore stands an almost permanent circle of) co anccce-tAMO NT REC b= UNS POCICOSEMICAS TUS «+ cag a eaten .. -babaxans &pnaediean” Ob abusmumpacnreenade- _Junemsionem pPececcoont’ Geqechebacam achiiumomnes nese ludlexe-negro GhrenusoumTeae unt peng @babo=abarmainabrito Mow _., Gane-plummeconpreences pececcontts fi Goer rohannss werrars prison ES ae 7?5 extevine Lies aad te Imagins tive quality of its workmanship fs quite exceptional, It was proba bly this book which Giraldus Cambrensis in about 485 called ‘the Bur ok of Kel position because (despite much investigation, pot all oft fre from work ofan angel, not of a man the general history of medieval book production the B as an uncotnfortable zealous patriotism) really very litle & known about i origin date, It may be Irish or Scottish oF English. Ithas heen assigned various dates between the early eighth and the early nim century, quite late (in any case) In the story of insular manuscripts It is vonks sted that it wae male at Tons and thatthe fled with it back to treland oben in S06 Ten was sacked by the Vikings and sisty-eight members of the commurity were killed, The survivors eocaped tn Kelly, abou thirty miles north-west of Dublin, and the abbot of fona, Cellach, was buried there in 815. All that is known fo certain is thatthe Book of Kells was there by the twelfth century In the cane of the Lindisfarne Gospels (B.L., Catton sis. Nero DAV) which may be up toa hundred years earlier, the documenta tion is, by contrast, almost overwhelmingly rich (ets. 4 and 19) We bnew whine it wan PuETRORSE CGS FALUSINENS OH coRTS RE bone conpiceure mam ]pse thacKecCMApIENSTAES ULL HoRUIN Cangas uqUEEb camps Lescnke——o MI pegs hen pues madi pores Leu parte 2 enetchi pure 9 & joscp lem, pre oan eT Taye Crt ec peur eo) ene Isha decorated the binwing, and sho glossed the test, We kane ‘enough about the erfismen tobe able todate the manuscript fie Joely. Although the colophon was added in the wenth century by the priest who filled in tran f words into the Anglo Soke language long after the volume wa first made in Latin, there i m0 reason tor douls the aewuracy of hit information, In transtatio teas: “Fadi, bis ofthe Lindisfarne Church, this book, for God and fe St Cuthbert and saints whose relics are in the island, And Ethelwal, b tly — for ll the hyp of the Lindisfne islanders, impress! on the aswell he knew how to do. And Billfrith, the anch aside and covered i ite forge th omaments which are on the eutside and adomed it with gold and with gems and also. with ed.aver silver — pare metal. Anil the lines with the help of God ancl St Cuthbert alrith, said to he the yer, became bishop in. 698 anil was sucoowsed in 724 by Ethehwakl who (according 1» the eolephon) fit und the book. Ethelsall himself wis a movies at Lindisfarne, but between about 699/705 and his returs a ish in 771 he Held alice as prior and her abbot at Melrose Abbey. Therefore i the seo men worked together at Lindisfarne, + eataround 694 must be about right for the manuscript, The miniature of St Matthew writing is dearly modelled on the same source a the Evra, pottrait f& the Coden. Ant ins, pated im Northuenbeia 6700-16 (eis, 10 and 19), The Lindisfarne Gospels was intended to hea showpiece: In 698 the monks of Lindisfame reburied the Cuthbert in an claburate wouderr shrine, an event which hay of brought many’ pilgrims co the monastery, The manuscript belongs exactly to this period and the colophon names St Cuthbert as eo patra, The volume was probably ow display for about a huslred years. Flt, at ahout the time of the raids on lana, Lindisfarne too ‘ame under attack fiom the Vikings. In 793 the isand community ‘vas sicked! by the invaders, and eventually in $75 the monks led to the iasinlind, taking with them thelr moat precious ponnalons, Including the relics of St Cuthbert and the Lindisfarne Gespels. ‘There isa tale recorded ia the early twelfth © D monks hae! done), but that, as they put eat to sea, terrible storm ary by Symeon of Jun thac the weal to crass to Ireland as the toma agees arose and a c9} of the four Gospels, richly hownd in gold and Jewel, qwas sept overboard and Jost, The monks quickly aban: dloned their voyage and, through the miraculeus intervention of S. Cuthbert, their precious manuscript was restored to them at low tide, stil perfeutly preserved. This tory very probably rfersto the Lindisfarne Goapele, I thire had been fad brought the book saely to Ireland, of course, Aldred would never have been there to aed his detailed colophon and we might iret ol es rchiges ony Par Bochgue Naor, mca $289,018 ag eri io cM aon ‘Gp The man the tre, ‘ecokdvcnbe ogi Se eos 24 Opa ars atti evar, The lternth Gayl sho iva Neda rene as py ae he Nek eg un Elo Eetucmach Ay i (aac, ye Waid 6 9) sl ‘Slee minha Tipe seni te eno L's never have known the Lindisfarne provenance. In that case, stu dents coull stil] be debating whether the book was English or Irish ‘Though the monks had tried to take the Lindisfarne Gospele westwards to Ireland, rainy more books were by this date be carried for quite different reasons eastwards across the North Sea. One of the great achiovements of the insular Church as to carry the Word of God to the Continent. Alter the Synod of Whitby, yan hd retreated to Ireland but the champion Wilfrid hal turned his zal to Frisia mn 677, and Wihtbetht preached there in 690. The missions gained momentum at the extreme end of the seventh century. While the Lindisfarne islanders were making their Gospel Book at home, St Willbrord (658-739) and his younger comtemporary St Boniface (66-754) met forth from Britain across Germany. Wilibrord founded the famous at Exhterrach ia 68, Before 742 the missionaries had established Aloceses at Utrecht, Warburg, Frfurt, Eicotatt, and elsewhere; in 744 Boniface founded the great abbey of Fulda and in 747 he opted Maing as his cathedral. With St Willald and others, they cvangelized most of Frisia, Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, and part of Denmark To return then to dhe thete of this chapter, Christin mission aries need books. These are essential tools for impressing. the pagans and educating the converts, It is habdly pomible to think of 4 more striking way of illustrating the impact of the Anglo-Saxon ‘missionaries on German cultural life than by looking at theie| Se mci nobrft eat p THO FP St UGA future _ ShamOMS coceese nsosaeaeee05 Gir Comtex principio” S I inos ap cecebeanocbe rgarchhs exonehine- GbisenbG fre opame—~ Bi -theopite < Sach dos quam Nome xAchm41as 4, euncebtcte~vosseesooden Geuvop: Uy Depilicbus AOLNON cooccwnreorcnemnannas Gnomen eur esabech Qnstaetuchm lufy tims). bo ince cltincedsaacocses JRacedGre§> Inommibsursee Mel NCL ATIScapenaIace oie Gaufixprcavionibus elt Sine qufrelsLeceresecerae % Gcnonfiac ur pubs | “eoqquon ere elypbech FUL eccescoeteerecnvanee: Gcumbo Processipire— Inchebiny PIN ee2c0008"an eh Copel Bk ih ary. he Iota mail he 24 Opn Seat, Suite Ca $18.7 hae fal the ie thecal de ot ney ert Gall, boca Es Nothumbr-Fish manuscripts are scaterd right cross northem Eurupe, For Instance, the magnificent Fehtemsch Gospel Book (Pans, BLN. mi, ht. y989, Pls, 20-1) was wtten peobably Northumberland. pethaps even at Lindafarve, asthe same scribe seems to have written another great Gospel manuscript, Durham Cathedral Library, is. AIL7. 1s wot at all uke tha the Pasi vel i “ Willbronl. Bat iis only one of a huge ee scripts fiom Echternach which, afler the secularization of the voday, ewelve hundred years and any ovary later, stich hae ie cof insula mam aes jn the French Revoletion, pamed in about rKe2 te th Aibbothéque Nationale (mss. lat. 9527, 9529, 9548, F039, 107, ste.). There ate siondar substantial runs of insular books fhm the Mivaics ofthe Anglo-Saxon foundations of Fulda any now in the Basel Universiatsibicthek and inthe Kassel Landesbibiothck), Wurshurg Cathedral (to in the Wirabury LUngversiutsibiothek, ot 24) and at St Gall (stil n the ol abbey library, the Stfishlithek, rts. 22-2. Many’ books survive on ‘own, Ofien there no le a ta how they read Europe except that they have beet there from time immemorial Examples, aming many, are Lepr, Universititshilionheh, ss Rep, La and Rep. ll y5a (perhaps from Ni but ‘writen presumably in. Northumbria, according saltach in Bavaria BA thes Less), pats of two eamancrpe tithe chutch OS Macseych, the lovely Rarberial Gospels in the Vatican (Hibliotesa Apostoliea Vaticana, ms, Barb, lat. 570, FL. 26), which has crib invocation tw pray for Unigbal Ors peo aia cvivably Hygebeakl, bishop of Lindighne 781-808), St Petersburg, Publichnaja Bibliteks, ss, Fv 1.8 (another splendid ‘manuscript with textual similarities with the Lindisfarne Gospel), and St Gall, Sifts, Cod, 59 (vritten io Ireland bat er tainly at St Gall in the Mille Ages, nt. 33). All these are Gospel Hooks, expemsvely made and experted b ‘we by Gregory the Great to St Augustine in 61 with ‘all such things generally necessry for the worship and ministry of the charch!, we see that hooks are pat on par with sacred vessel, yestments, and relies of the aposths ane martyrs. When Benedict Biscup sas furnishing his new Northumbrian monasteries, he t00 hack at the catalogue of missionary equipment sent seipuited Titan Manuscripts were putt of the paraphernalia of Christianity, They jal accessories, like relies and vestm cal objects amd relics along with the books, were regarded as ¢ “The fice that tsulas Gespel Books are preserved today sn libraries, notin vestry cupboards or high akars (or even museums), should not prelice our view of thew arefats as lunges equipment, “The books survive (because ater generations preserved libraries, Jute weal he fascinating to none what eke cae ih then in the wagons, which trunlled across Hurope in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon tiny ibhon of vellan aout 4 inches lang (1 v4mm), ail kept in nares. An vcative hint of this i given by athe abbey of St-Naurice in Switzerhind. It was once wrapped around relic and itis elf label inscribed in an eighth-century insular minuscule “de terra aeclisiae in qua. sepultus est pets primo", h acconnpanied, therefore, as this caption tells us, «crumb of th seth Fromm St Peter's frst tomb in Rome, Benedict Biseop spesitcally fetched relin from Rome; it was the pre-eminence of St Peter himself which swayed the Syne of Whitby, ‘This lithe Rome to the insular missionaries by-whom it was labelled and lodged! ima continental durch, se tears ca oF this line of sappy from ttaly to Engl to nomhern Eurape: A the Fulda Lamlesbibliotheke (Cod, Boma, 1) was writen in south pel Haroon i aly sth ccattry, but It itor, bishop of Capua, inthe has insular annotations Us eninuseule hand which some students a Ra Identify with thot of St Boniface himself, founder of Fulda Abbey im 747. Toon manaacripts from the Angle-Sixon cathedral of ‘Warralwarg seem to have been brought from ltaly to England before re-export to Germany: oxe ad missing laves rephecd Norbumborland sid the other hic agiatees cf an dhe axed ated with Worcester in 700. There werv probably direr ways that an Anglo-Sa ty on the Continent could sexquire hooks, 1 co from the effets of its founder oF frem the luggage of a visiting Anglo-Saxon missionary. It cou write ts own manuscripts. It eld ps. Th onal ily done, ifthe monks bad exemplars, an! there are many “insu! Anglo-Saxons while on the Continent igheh century hooks like Trice, Domschatz, Coil. 61, a Gospel Book bib Beta Vor tau manuscripts capil (1, 24), We requltes delicate tat to assign nationality to ¢BeBe by the Anglo Sexo scribe Thomas, presumably shi rtersburg. (Publichn wis, hit Quy. gs nt uarrin Hidscrmach Abbey (ev. 25), or Vienna, Osterreichiache National ps 8 can wok ath in ios vo DBilitbek, Coad. 1224, Gespel Hook signed by Cutbereht, doubt Iusily supplying manser it we ty't sto ante Teen inair cihe, white h Satshurg, ‘The third meth Foever serapped ap th tomb Inthe most sntersstin Irecase i im tence of pethaps he or she divided up a pile of crumbs into many packag Reema of cottage industry for the export of manuscripts from and labelled each one for wider distribution, So also St B Hiitala, There BE Gectktg lotion ec hth Ge msipt ct stem, eoe kia ad his muccessor a archbiship of Maine, Lul, who both that candle which the Lond bestowed on you. The abbot of AMBER Germany betwee the 740s and -760s to the archbishop Wearmeuih/Jarrow wrote al desperate (York snd to the abhor of Wes row trying 1 ing Uy had eispatehed all they could but thatthe terrible wn EO! the works of Rede. The misionaties i : sed tho scribes’ progres ate that they would sll fexplned that they much regretted any treuble involved but one supply all the needed b si siverimu! (‘i we li Hee plainly terized books: which ‘we request you will kinlly “We can almost see him wring han FMB. ave cpa ont and sent Boniface'wrtis, One ach b Pa apie foe expr ariund 74% was ne debt the Bede in St ‘The: ment etnaring vi Irish Christianity. canJherume standird both for the grand! Gospel eae ple missionary texts. In Ireland today it more o Jess tll survise the longs fisting Furopean handwriting, far more than a ile fom afer the last Roman uncial was used, The script was wo iat taialogee of St Gall lited together a whale group of mission be cu pt, and other: monastic cataloguers ps evi "ctshc on fer Lt arid Fe Ag Sa pts, recognizable by their forvign weit We are now inna position to look back ever the writing of wa Useripts for missionaries ams te ase several questions shits wil P " made Wht books? Why were they decorated (QW & dupertial level, we ka amount about th ate books signed by Sigbert, Ealfrith, Burginds ° Berichafid, Wigbald, Cx fer Ferdomnach, Macegol, Dubtach, and) many others; Pobably not name hea fo: ivi Aten century French Books of Hours, Tlie fact thats riba invocation pear, with andl without names, is some evidence that the «h 7 Shanical Function, lke builaiag a Milile Ages cared who had written cat their manuscripts, but the wooxs vo rooms did. Hver the fat that Gives Carcborersis ina — inc tht the Book of Kells was the work ofan angel, not of a man, shovis that he was considering the question, Whether insular scribes worked ina scripeorium, or special emis oe iniowm, Several of the knowns seribes were themselves bishops, indicating (if nothing else) that hey were not full-time copyits, though a soventh- century bishop mai chosen ay a spiritual leader, a role which ned not exclad wactical Lubour. Billfith, maker of the metal binding of thy series sks, and sme insular pictures of Evangelists show wvriting open book on thei ap : snipes in the Lndisiene, (Massey aed Bar Foxpel Books, hy the latter, th 0 tbe sting Wearmouth/arrow scribes were held xp by cold weather i they to may have worked in the open ai, The nah a wa i Priscian af the ith centary daimed 4 bs enwood tree ay the char-vokil cuckoo sang fran Qn ante es eqn sunpanisamme qatuemeradore Now esunier er guncnadrensene NowsitteT dangeinay ght, S@ddatuonia UA eTUBISTINE nd “ernouenedoieTss sOene quod eatanibepetem Above Gener Teun quiveneradone NN etcuten Qu Sescenor Seeelo he DrpActies daLusrraren vein sed Golunrrresn es Hitec eer acrens aolans ew quiansrcne purrs arToaye quad de0r ash MON pendtay exe betWhen a medicyal scribe eunene t hin velluns, he nerds 8 multiply nooxs ror the page ruling throughout the book. He would measure the frst gs isstowaniiy page in-a stack of unwritten leaves and then with a sharp inst-u ‘meat he would prick holes atthe ends of the lines and push these right through the pile of vel mn. When he turned ta cad) pag ubesefre, he had ony » join up she prickings to duplicate the mul ing pot throughout the Middle scripts, however, unlike their costinental rm from page to page. ‘This is well known and applies ‘Whit is curios about insular manu. ounterparts, is that the prickings occur in both margins of a page instead of justin the ‘outer margin, The exphination &oacy. H€ means that ins scribes folded th contrast, probably wrote on lange oblong hiolia, We can leaves before they ruled them; continental series, by thee than thst. The litle St Cuthbert Gospel of St John (the 4 called ‘Stonyhutst Gospel’, vts, 27-8)is the only insular book sill in fs original ining, and has evidence of having been loosely tite in gatherings before the peoper binding was made, Siar Hitels stitching holes can he detected! inthe Lindisfame and Lichfield Gospels, Temporary sewing would held the volume in shape while 1 was being written. A small book folded inte sceure gatherings can be written almost anywhere. Sometimes inslar ‘books must have remained in these ad hoe bundles of folded gather ings. Bede recorals that St Bois il (ac64) and St Cuthbert read ly Ing thatthe quires were quite distinct units, Books carried across through the Gospel of St John ome gathering a day, str fy Europe by missionaries wauld have been hy Five i Gall were dessribed a ‘quaterno or “in quoternionibus’ ter without heavily Nearly a thi of the "ibe se (perhups) tn quires, bas unbound, Just because surviring medieval bbooks are in library bindings does wot nican they’ always looked like that Just as there Is no surviving seriptoriuan from early Anglo-Saxon, Eng dso there are certaily n library Bitings, andl almost eth ing is known about how books were kept: The kta picture in the Conkex. Arvin includes 2 painted cupboard sth hinged doors books are Iying fat with their spines eat wards, A seventh century Jerome in Irish syle but probably made at Bobliio has a contemporury inscription “Liber de arca domino tala’ (Milan, tiblioncca, Aembroni wm. S.45.0p.) atthe worl ‘aca’ suggests a chest or box with possessions of Atalanas, abbot 615.22. A Gospel Book, however, may have been kept on fn altar or sith ether I fal apparatus rather than in a hbrary (the ascciation with, vest has already: been, stressed). Especially in Ircland, a Gospel Hook might have com de’, oF portable shrine, made for it Fxamples enclosed the CCathach of St Columba and the Books of Durrows and! Malling. Wt must be remembered that a Goxpsl Book was ite a holy abject to be venerated and to be saved from the pagan, A Durham monk suflered teribte swellings when ly temparcd with the Stonyhurst Gospel in s104. There isa legend of the trish scribe Ulan sshose finger bone having written ou Gospels in Utan's Ictime, porfortnel a micle after his death, It seems to hove bein ‘pecially in Ireland that Gospel Books had these near-mageal ta Ismanic qualities. Redo, in peasing frland, says he had heard of a solution of water ‘iesini of snake bite belng cures by driaking tnd scrapings from the leaves of Irish manascripts, As late as the are 7 INCIPYT (Psu Bee HustoRe 4 KCLESTisTiCNtcpyte ewcLORVAL Lor eFucreR conpopby40 fevemeenth century, the Book of Durrow was still being immerse in water to provide a cure for sick atl Gxpel Books were obvivuly the volamen mont ies. The next most popular authors were sare of Se Bede, and Gregory the Great, to judge from the nunubers of st siving copies. AIL these hud 4 practical evangeli ba and Ree provide nimple sence and erful explanation ofthe Church calendar This rust have hae great value in present ;ng Christianity to the British pagans, whose sense of natural order bea by mie funtion tow and (especally of chronclogy was s0 strang that even now we stil ase their pre-Christian names for the days ofthe week: snd for the ‘major festivals such as "Yule" and *Eostre’, We can hardly im how embarrassing to the Christians the squabbles over calculating Easter must ave bees, i Ses eget yee Bede's fexlegaweul HMouory too had value as 4 maral for the con version oF pagans aml it was very popu among the missiomarics ‘on the Continent, Gregory the Great was very highly regard. It was he avho hal sem Augustine to Finland. He Patra Rule the ‘most funchmental missionary handbook, The St Petersburg Beds fol. 26) shows what is sometimes regarded asthe earliest histori sed inital in wes sm art (tL. 29): the humble Ite drawing shows St Gregory halG-length holding up a cross and clasping a book, No one would forge! that St Gregory's initiative hal borough beth Christianity and book learning 80 Britain, nig, however, ip the Gaspel Books thatthe rust famous al most elaborate decoration occurs, With hindsight we Took buck on medieval maniscripts as if their illumination was a matter of course, but we must ask why these specific books (for the frst time) were so elaborately ormamented, There is virtually no deve ration in ether texts, There mast be several answers: The fist ati ‘most practical function was asa means to fiw one’s way abet the Gospels, The text as wel for rolerence, There were no chapter snummbers ae running titles in the eighth eentury. Fven now, as one looks through the leaves of an insulor manuscript, the bright carpet pages on the versos of leaves provide the quickest possible indica tor of the beginning of each Gospel, and the in al of serynig si have a convenience in separating the text into visually recognizable sections, Scconily, there is the theological reason. Gespel Books were decorated precisely because they contained the revealed word of God, which wae being honoured by bei remcnted are whose mystery and complexity were bei Wy claborate illumination. ‘Th not sph 1g prised hy the amazing. wll fall-page ornament ia Insular Gospel Books occurred not only at the opening of each of the four Gospels themselves but aly at Matthew 1:18, the begin ning of the account of the incarnation of Christ, usually decorated witha huge Greek ‘XPV monogram forthe sered name of C Jn ths way the Holy Name, too sicred 1 be easily eghl sipped by te art which fo wt. Thirdly, there was probably a protective function in depicting crosses and the Frangelistsymbe fon the opening pages of a Gospel, as 4 tal from the treasire in the book, Tales whieh have eome down 10, ‘vith the worvising insular Gorpel Books are illed with accounts nan to wari aff semi magical preservation ofthe books “The fil reason, however aks right back othe funtion the Hooks as msionary equipment. We can tie th there a Feil te kind decvtion in sir Goiel Rook the al heavy oxtinal and brightly painted picture, ad the extremly ‘elec and erally varied planttke iterhice, Anyone ean try le of he Liner Gospels or the Book of Kells and wa backwards: Ava few fet the initia lone thir clarity, bat at twenty paces the Evangel portnits are magnincent. We rememer naw tat on assaf simp experiment, Prop. uy. the fas England, St Auguste held up in the open air eligious paitingy Bede deserhes the effet of pictures in the church at Wearmouth “tothe intent that al. eve ignorant of letters, might be able the eser-gracions conmtenance of Christ and hi saint, These bi hooks Ielenged to a misicinary soviety. That purpose was to show the wor of Godt i-educated audenoes No douin the big pictures dil exactly that, A picture, wrote St Gregory, who scot the mision to gland, is hind of literate for the uneducated san. But to the convert and to the prick, allawed elose access to the manuscript the effet was altogeter diferent, “Lock more keenly a it and you will penetrate tothe sory dine of at. You will make out intricacies, 0 delete a sub, so exact and compact, 0 full of Ks and inks, wih colours fresh and vivid... For my’ part, the mene aften see the book, the more carefully 1 study, he more ann fost im ever fresh amazement, and I see more wonders in the hook." The writer is Giraldus Cambrensis aboot a vist a Ireland in 11855 is is the intllectal response of the literate priest and itis 0 hes ay, Insular Gospel Bioks were mae for missionaries, Once eaneer valid iis very probably dhat of sion was assured, the books become quite diferent, The las great Irish Gospel Book is the Macdumnan Gpels (Lambeth Palace 2. 12) made well was given to Christ Chute, Canterbury, i the tenth century nat by a misionary but by a king, Atheltan, king of Weise and Mercia @-924-49). We have moved beyond the word of Sains Awgistine, Columba, Wille, Cvoleth, and Bontace, and ave now in the age of kings and politics