The Book of Kells

Illuminated depiction of the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, chi and rho; from the Book of Kells, c. 800 AD.
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The Book of Kells is one of the most famous and magnificent illuminated manuscripts in the world. It was produced around 800 somewhere in the British Isles. The vellum manuscript contains the four Gospels, with prefaces and the “Eusebian canons”—tables containing concordances to the Gospels. The manuscript comprises 340 vellum pages, each page containing 16 to 18 lines of text in a handwriting known as “insular majuscule.” But the chief interest in the book lies in its lavish illuminations. Three elaborate full-page miniatures of the symbols for the evangelists Matthew, Mark, and John appear before the openings of those Gospels. Directly facing the opening texts of each Gospel are portraits of the four evangelists themselves. There are, in addition, full-page illuminations illustrating Christ in majesty, the Virgin and Child, the Temptation of Christ, and the Arrest of Christ. There is also a magnificent “Carpet Page”—a page of pure geometric symbols— and a much-admired “Chi Rho” page—a full page ornately decorating the first three letters of the name Christ  where it first appears in Matthew’s Gospel.


The manuscript was housed at the monastery of Kells in Meath, Ireland, from at least the year 1006, when it was reported stolen in the Annals of Ulster, and referred to as the Gospel of Columba. The book was recovered, though its highly wrought golden cover was lost. It remained at Kells for centuries, and is almost certainly the book that GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS describes having seen at Kildare in the 12th century and declares must be the work of angels, not men. In 1653 it was sent to Dublin, and later in the 17th century Archbishop Ussher donated the manuscript to Trinity College there, where it remains to this day, displayed regularly in the Old Library.
   This much is known. What experts cannot agree on is where the manuscript originated. The decorative plan of the manuscript (including the evangelist symbols, the carpet page, and the Chi Rho page) is similar to that of earlier insular (i.e., British Isles) manuscripts, such as the Book of Durrow and the famous Lindisfarne Gospels. Because of similarities in style, some scholars have suggested that the Book of Kells originated at Lindisfarne. Others have proposed that the foliate decoration in the manuscript connects it with the scriptoria, or monastic copying centers, at Wearmouth or Jarrow, the sister monasteries associated with the Venerable BEDE. But the very early association of the manuscript with St. Columba has led most scholars over the years to attribute the production of the book to the church of St. Columba on the Isle of Iona off Scotland. Viking raids of Iona during the ninth century probably forced the removal of the valuable manuscript to the safer monastery at Kells.

Examined with a magnifying glass, one square inch of design in a Book of Kells miniature revealed 158 ribbonlike interlacings, revealing the complexity of design that went into the illustrations.With their tightly coiled spirals and geometric patterns, their interlacing figures of animals, humans, and fantastic creatures, woven into incredibly intricate designs of various colors, the illuminations in the Book of Kells  are universally recognized as the most impressive in medieval manuscript painting.

   Bibliography
   ■ Alexander, Jonathan J. G. Insular Manuscripts, 6th to the 9th Century. London: Harvey Miller, 1978.
   ■ The Book of Kells. Fine Art Facsimile Volume. Lucerne: Faksimile Verlag Luzern, 1990.
   ■ Nordenfalk, Carl A. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Painting: Book Illumination in the British Isles 600–800. New York: George Braziller, 1977.



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