Insular Art (Medieval Studies)

Introduction

Insular art is a poorly defined area. Broadly speaking, it refers to the art of the British Isles and Ireland between, roughly, the years 600 and 900 CE. In Scotland (which includes the art of the Picts, Gaels, and Scots), Ireland, and the Isle of Man, it is often extended through the Viking and Romanesque periods, into the 12th century, while in England it is usually understood as ending in or around the last quarter of the 9th century. The distinction between Insular and Anglo-Saxon art is especially confusing, and for some scholars “Insular” includes Anglo-Saxon art. Generally speaking, the term “Insular” is applied to the art of northern England only up until c. 900, but there is no consensus, and debate among scholars continues. Many of the books cited below, especially those listed under Reference Works, General Overviews, and Conference Proceedings, cover both Insular and Anglo-Saxon art. Insular style is characterized by an interest in abstraction over figural ornament, an interest in linear pattern and rhythmic form over three-dimensional space and perspective, and, especially in manuscript illumination and metalwork, a love of colorful surfaces. It has frequently been pointed out, however, that the layering of pattern, line, and color on seemingly flat surfaces does in fact create complex spatial patterns. Insular art is often termed “decorative” or “ornamental,” but this is misleading because both terms have been taken to imply a lack of meaning, while the forms of Insular art have been shown to be full of meaning and symbolism. It has also often been described as exhibiting horror vacui (literally “fear of open space”) because of its preference for all-over pattern. All these terms (decorative, ornamental, horror vacui) are also applied to Islamic and other non-Western European art styles and were used by 19th- and early-20th-century art historians as a way of dismissing these styles as of less artistic and cultural value than the three-dimensional, figurative, narrative traditions of the classical world, the Renaissance, and later European art. In such a marginalizing scenario, Insular art became truly an art of the “dark ages.” This was a view that was rarely accepted by experts in the field, but it is only with the advent of the study of orientalism and postcolonial theory that the historical and historiographic colonialism of that approach has begun to be acknowledged by art historians in general.

General Overviews

There is no one book that deals with the broad topic of Insular art. General books tend to be devoted to particular areas within the Insular world, so the reader needs to begin with whatever area is of most interest. For Scotland, Henderson and Henderson 2004 is excellent, and the authors do a good job of defining their material, their area of study, and aspects of style and terminology. Moss 2014 is the place to start for Ireland, although Henry 1947, Henry 1967, and Henry 1970 still offer excellent coverage of Irish art and Harbison 1999 has better illustrations and is more suited for general readers. Wilson 2008 is best for anyone interested in the art of the Isle of Man, and Henderson 1999 is preferred for those interested in early Anglo-Saxon England.

Brown, G. Baldwin. The Arts in Early England. 6 vols. London: John Murray, 1903–1937.
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Individual volumes cover The Life of Saxon England in Relation to the Arts; Ecclesiastical Architecture in England from the Conversion of the Saxons to the Norman Conquest; Saxon Art and Industry in the Pagan Period; The Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses, the Gospels of Lindisfarne, and other Church Monuments of Northumbria; Completion of the Study of the Monuments of the Great Period of the Art of Anglian Northumbria; and Anglo-Saxon Sculpture. The organization of the volumes and their chapters is idiosyncratic, but Brown was one of the first to stress the artistic merits of Anglo-Saxon art and architecture and to consider such topics as the artistic aspects of Anglo-Saxon coinage. His work marks a shift from 19th-century antiquarianism toward an art-historical methodology. Available online.
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Foster, Sally M. Picts, Gaels and Scots: Early Historic Scotland. London: B. T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 1996.
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Foster covers the art of the 5th through 10th centuries, exploring the relationship between Picts and Gaels in the creation of a unified Scottish culture. The book is extremely useful for its information on the place of art in the larger agricultural, industrial, and political landscape.
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Harbison, Peter. The Golden Age of Irish Art: The Medieval Achievement, 600–1200. London: Thames & Hudson, 1999.
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This is a book for the general reader, providing a chronological survey of architecture, sculpture, manuscripts, and metalwork from the period. Excellent photographs reinforce the author’s portrayal of the period as a golden age.
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Henderson, George. Vision and Image in Early Christian England. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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This book attempts to eliminate the traditional divisions between “Insular” and “Anglo-Saxon” art by adopting the Continental descriptor “Early Christian” (a term applied more generally to European, especially Mediterranean, art and architecture of the 4th–8th centuries). Most of the book is devoted to manuscript art, with art in other media discussed as it relates to the questions generated by issues such as narrative, color, or artistic production. Informative, if idiosyncratic.
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Henderson, George, and Isabel Henderson. The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
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This book begins with a series of chapters useful for anyone interested in Pictish art, covering the characteristics of Insular art in general, the Pictish participation in Insular art, and the Pictishness of Pictish art. Subsequent chapters deal with metalwork, figurative art, and different forms of Pictish sculpture. All illustrations are in black and white, which can make sculptural decoration easier to read but does not do justice to the metalwork.
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Henry, Françoise. Irish Art in the Early Christian Period (to 800 A.D). London: Methuen, 1947.
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Translation of the first volume of Henry’s three-volume L’art irlandais (Paris: Zodiaque, reprinted 1963–1964). These books provide a chronological survey of Irish art broken down into its traditional stylistic/cultural divisions. The focus is on stylistic and iconographic analysis and the identification of artists and artistic origins, with a wealth of historical and cultural background to set the scene. Together with Henry 1967 and Henry 1970, this remains arguably the best overview of the art of early medieval Ireland.
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Henry, Françoise. Irish Art during the Viking Invasions (800–1020 A.D.). London: Methuen, 1967.
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Translation of the second chronologically sequential volume of Henry’s L’art irlandais (Paris: Zodiaque, reprinted 1963–1964).
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Henry, Françoise. Irish Art in the Romanesque Period, 1020–1170 A.D. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1970.
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Translation of the third volume of Henry’s chronologically sequential L’art irlandais (Paris: Zodiaque, reprinted 1963–1964).
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Moss, Rachel, ed. Art and Architecture of Ireland. Vol. 1, Medieval c. 400–c. 1600. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
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Excellent overview of the art of Ireland during the Insular period and beyond. Includes over three hundred essays and five hundred illustrations, many of them in color.
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Wilson, David M. Vikings in the Isle of Man. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2008.
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This is a broad survey aimed at the general reader that includes a detailed discussion of metalwork and sculpture, but also excellent background information on the history and archaeology of Viking-age Man. There is also a brief but thorough discussion of the position of the island within the larger Insular and Scandinavian world.
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Reference Works

The International Medieval Bibliography is the place to start for up-to-date information on the secondary sources. Alexander 1978 remains the most complete and accessible source for illuminated manuscripts. It is easiest to use if one already knows the shelfmark of the manuscript for which one is looking, but it can be browsed by image or even type of book. Werner 1984 is the only reference book devoted exclusively to Insular art. Although its limitations are obvious, it does provide information on older material that tends to be referenced less and less frequently in current scholarship. In addition to those works listed below, it is also a good idea to consult the online catalogues of individual museums and libraries, because many of them include searchable databases of objects and image, links to online exhibitions, and other useful information.

Alexander, J. J. G. Insular Manuscripts: 6th to the 9th Century. A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 1. London: Harvey Miller, 1978.
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Essential catalogue for images and basic information on Insular manuscripts. Much information is now dated (e.g., the date given for the Lindisfarne Gospels), but it is still essential for early bibliography and comparative images. The contents are arranged chronologically and are indexed primarily by collection.
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Budny, Mildred. Insular, Anglo-Saxon and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College Cambridge: An Illustrated Catalogue. 2 vols. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.
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A massive and beautifully illustrated catalogue of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the Parker Library. The information provided on individual manuscripts is uneven and sometimes overwhelmingly descriptive and very hard to follow. Information on some of the decorative letters in the Red Book of Darley (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 422), for example, is included in the introduction but is neither mentioned nor cross-referenced in the catalogue entry for that manuscript. Though difficult to use, the information included is basically correct.
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International Medieval Bibliography.
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The most complete annual bibliography, accessible only to subscribers. It also provides greater coverage of European scholarship than the other entries in this section.
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Ohlgren, Thomas. Insular and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: An Iconographic Catalogue, c. A.D. 625 to 1100. New York: Garland, 1986.
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This catalogue provides the complete shelfmarks and folio numbers for a wealth of different iconographic motifs. It is easy to use for standard scenes, such as “the Ascension,” but the terminology used for other motifs can be idiosyncratic because the actual subject of some images and scenes can be controversial or carry more than one meaning. Most so-called ornamental or decorative motifs are not included.
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Werner, Martin. Insular Art: An Annotated Bibliography. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984.
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The bibliography is now well out of date but still useful, especially for its descriptions and assessments of the early sources.
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Exhibition Catalogues

Youngs 1989 and Webster and Backhouse 1991 are the place to start because they provide the most coverage of arts in different media. While the former is devoted primarily to metalwork, comparanda in manuscript illumination and stone sculpture are also discussed. Hawkes 1996 is also good, although it is the catalogue of a much-smaller exhibition and is limited to material from Northumbria. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977 and Ryan 1983 are best for Irish art, although both are devoted to much-broader periods than the early Middle Ages.

Hawkes, Jane. The Golden Age of Northumbria. Morpeth, UK: Sandhill, 1996.
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The catalogue of a relatively small exhibition, concerned only with the art of Northumbria, this volume is particularly noteworthy for its attention to sculpture, though it also includes the Lindisfarne Gospels—in fact, the exhibition marked the first time that manuscript was displayed north of the river Tyne since 883. Roman sources, sites, and references are more prominent than connections with the art of Scotland or Ireland, though the latter do appear where necessary, and there is some discussion of the Book of Durrow and Columban monasticism. It is aimed more at the tourist and general public than the scholarly world.
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Kennedy, Brian, Margaret Manion, and Bernard Meehan. The Book of Kells and the Art of Illumination: An Exhibition under the Patronage of Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and Sir William Deane AC KBE, Governor-General of Australia. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2000.
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The catalogue of a small exhibition that displayed the Gospel of St. Mark from Kells alongside medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, which demonstrate various aspects of its legacy. The text of the catalogue provides information on Celtic Ireland, the art of illumination, word and image in the Book of Kells, and the legacy of the manuscript.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art. Treasures of Early Irish Art 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. from the Collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy and Trinity College, Dublin. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.
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The majority of this catalogue consists of pictures rather than text, though brief introductions introduce each of its five sections: the Bronze Age, the earliest Christian art in Ireland, the golden age of Irish art, the Vikings in Ireland, and Irish art in the Romanesque and Gothic periods. The premise of the exhibition was the continuity of Irish artistic genius from the prehistoric to the modern, and its context was both the patrimony of Ireland and the close ties between Ireland and the United States.
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Ryan, Michael, ed. Treasures of Ireland: Irish Art 3000 B.C.–1500 A.D. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 1983.
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This catalogue is based on an exhibition of objects from the National Museum of Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy, and Trinity College Dublin, although it also includes much contextual information. Sections are devoted to the early prehistoric period, prehistoric goldworking, the Iron Age, Early Christian Ireland (450–1000 CE), Early Christian metalwork, early medieval manuscripts, Viking-age and Romanesque art, the Norman Conquest, and the later Middle Ages.
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Webster, Leslie, and Janet Backhouse, eds. The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture, A.D. 600–900. London: British Museum Press, 1991.
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This catalogue and the exhibition it accompanied take an explicitly political approach to the art on display (as the title makes clear), though that is not always apparent in the individual catalogue entries. The title implies an active role for art in the making of nation and national culture, which few would now deny, but the attempts at suggesting cultural unity either in the Anglo-Saxon/Insular world or today are problematic.
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Youngs, Susan, ed. “The Work of Angels”: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork 6th–9th Centuries A.D. London: British Museum Publications, 1989.
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This beautifully produced catalogue includes sections on fine metalwork to c. 650 CE, secular metalwork of the 8th and 9th centuries, church metalwork of the same period, and metalworking techniques. There is also a useful glossary.
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Collected Papers

Collections of papers can provide the broader coverage of Insular art that the general publications lack, even if the papers themselves are usually on very narrow subjects. Karkov, et al. 1997, for example, includes chapters that touch on Irish art, Northumbrian art, and Insular art on the Continent (art produced by or under the influence of Insular monastic foundations on the Continent). Bourke 1997, on the other hand, is an example of a collection that provides information on one subject from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Henry 1997 is excellent for Pictish material, and Schapiro 2005 is a must for anyone interested in Insular manuscripts.

Bourke, Cormac, ed. Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 1997.
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Ten papers on specific aspects of Columba’s life, work, and cult. Five are of special art-historical interest, with information on the archaeology of Iona (including the architecture of the monastery), image of the Virgin and Child in Insular sculpture, relics and reliquaries linked with Columba, and the Delg Aidechta (the hereditary brooch of the coarb of Columcille).
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Henry, David, ed. The Worm, the Germ and the Thorn: Pictish and Related Studies Presented to Isabel Henderson. Balgavies, UK: Pinkfoot, 1997.
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Nineteen papers from a variety of disciplines, chiefly history, archaeology, and art history. The art-historical papers include contributions on Pictish sculpture and symbols, sculpture at Abernathy and Mugdrum, Insular inscriptions, recording the Early Christian monuments of Scotland, illustrating Insular carved stones, the carved stones of Fortingall, the iconography of Insular sculpture, Pictish and related harps, and late Pictish sculpture. The book also includes a bibliography of Henderson’s publications.
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Karkov, Catherine E., Robert T. Farrell, and Michael Ryan, eds. The Insular Tradition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.
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Includes papers on the wooden cross erected at Heavenfield by Saint Oswald in the 7th century (by Douglas Mac Lean), the iconography of the 8th-century Bewcastle Cross (by Karkov), issues of gender on the 8th-century Ruthwell Cross (by Carol Farr), and questions of survival and revival in Anglo-Saxon sculpture (by James Lang), as well as a paper on the Echternach Gospels and early Insular manuscript illumination (by Carol Neuman de Vegvar).
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Rynne, Étienne, ed. Figures from the Past: Studies on Figurative Art in Christian Ireland. Dun Laoghaire: Glendale and Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1987.
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The papers are divided into two parts, the first part dealing with Early Christian and Romanesque art, and the second with Irish art of the later Middle Ages. Topics covered include sundials and timekeeping, the inscribed slabs of County Sligo, the figural art of the Derrynaflan paten, the date of the Duvillaun More and Inishkea North crucifixion slabs, the motif of the figure between two living things, the Old Court Bray cross base, the high crosses of Castledermot, the high crosses of Tihilly and Kinnitty, a carved stone head from Killaspuglonane (Clare), Irish Romanesque Crucifixion figures, and the background of Irish sheela-na-gigs.
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Schapiro, Meyer. The Language of Forms: Lectures on Insular Manuscript Art. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 2005.
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In 1968 Schapiro delivered six lectures at the Morgan Library, published here for the first time. One of the first to pay close attention to form and style in Insular manuscript art, Schapiro’s work foreshadowed that of early-21st-century art historians such as Fred Orton or Heather Pulliam. Chapters cover frame and field, carpet pages, image and ornament, models and their transformation, and the religious and secular nature of Insular art. This book deserves to be more widely known.
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Conference Proceedings

Most of the entries listed below are the proceedings of the peripatetic International Conference on Insular Art, and all of them will provide excellent insight into the hot topics of the day. The quality of papers can vary but in this case is overall very high. Hawkes and Mills 1999 was organized in conjunction with the exhibition catalogued in Hawkes 1996 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues). It is especially noteworthy as the first in-print meeting of Éamonn Ó Carragáin and Fred Orton in their debate over the Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses—on which, further see Ó Carragáin 2005 and Orton, et al. 2007 (both cited under Sculpture: England). O’Mahony 1994 is essential reading on the c. 800 Book of Kells.

Bourke, Cormac, ed. From the Isles of the North: Early Medieval Art in Ireland and Britain; Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Insular Art Held in the Ulster Museum, Belfast 7–11 April 1994. Belfast, UK: HMSO, 1995.
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Thirty papers on Insular art in all media: Insular artists, Early Christian symbolism, dress fasteners, the Donore (metalwork) discs, polychrome enamel and early Insular manuscript decoration, millefiore and enamel work, Insular nonferrous metalwork from Wales, metalwork from Kilpatrick (County Westmeath), Irish and Welsh drinking horns, animals on Insular metalwork, evangelist symbols, the Merovingian Stuttgart Psalter, the Salaberga Psalter, Insular gospel book decoration, 11th-century Welsh illuminated manuscripts, the design of Irish high crosses, carpentry-construction and Insular stone crosses, the jeweled cross, the Blackwater group of crosses, the Virgin and Child in Irish sculpture, Muiredach’s cross at Monasterboice, the Sandbach (Cheshire) crosses, the sculpted stones from Tarbat (Easter Ross), inscriptions from Whitby Abbey, inscriptions on the Dupplin Cross, dating Irish grave slabs, art and patronage at Clonmacnoise, the iconography of the portal of Clonfert Cathedral, and the biblical iconography of Irish Romanesque sculpture.
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Hawkes, Jane, ed. Making Histories: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Insular Art. Papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on Insular Art, held 18–22 July 2011 in York, UK. Donington, UK: Shaun Tyas, 2013.
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Thirty-two papers covering the art and archaeology of the Insular world, as well as later reproductions and interpretations of that art. Beautifully illustrated, and includes an increasingly rare selection of color plates.
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Hawkes, Jane, and Susan Mills, eds. Northumbria’s Golden Age. Proceedings of a conference held at Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, in July 1996. Stroud, UK: Alan Sutton, 1999.
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Papers from the conference that accompanied the Golden Age of Northumbria exhibition (see Hawkes 1996, cited under Exhibition Catalogues): Insular and Anglo-Saxon history, literature, and archaeology; the reconstruction of timber buildings; the Dupplin Cross; Northumbrian vine-scroll ornament and the Book of Kells; Anglo-Saxon sculpture; the Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses; the Franks casket; the motif of Romulus and Remus in Anglo-Saxon art; the Ripon Jewel; the Asby Winderwath plaque; the Hunterston brooch; and the Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and the Codex Amiatinus.
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Hourihane, Colum. From Ireland Coming: Irish Art from the Early Christian to the Late Gothic Period and Its European Context. Papers presented at a conference organized by Index for Christian Art at Princeton University, 5–6 March 1999. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.
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Seventeen papers on Irish crosses and Early Christian sarcophagi, Irish round towers, the Temptation scene in the Book of Kells, the iconography of the three children in the fiery furnace in 9th-century Ireland, Irish high crosses and Continental art, Irish art in the 12th century, masks and monsters in Irish Romanesque sculpture, the Market Cross at Tuam, the human figure in early Irish art, interlace, the Tara brooch, Irish metalwork from Medway (Kent), the cross-head from Mayo Abbey, ornament and script in early Insular and Continental manuscripts, Irish goldsmith’s work 1200–1400, sheela-na-gigs, and late medieval Irish crosses.
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Moss, Rachel, ed. Making and Meaning in Insular Art: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Insular Art. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2007.
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This beautifully produced book includes papers on the Sutton Hoo garnets, early Insular filigree Anglo-Saxon zoomorphic pins, W. G. Collingwood and the historiography of Anglo-Saxon sculpture, the iconography of the Soiscéal Molaise and Stowe Missal book shrines, fragments of early medieval metalwork from Perthshire, Insular croziers, skeuomorphs and spolia in pre-Romanesque Irish architecture, workshop practice in pre-Norman Ireland, Irish Romanesque sculpture, the Irish scripture crosses, the Carndonagh (Donegal) Marigold Stone, early medieval sculpture in southwest Wales, the Hilton of Cadboll (Ross and Cromarty) slab, classical animals on Irish high crosses, Insular display capitals, Insular canon table arcades, the Book of Kells, the Macregol Gospels, the blessing hand in Insular art, the Durham Gospels Crucifixion page, and Insular influence on late medieval Irish manuscripts.
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O’Mahony, Felicity, ed. The Book of Kells: Proceedings of a Conference at Trinity College Dublin 6–9 September 1992. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Scolar Press, 1994.
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Twenty-seven papers on almost every aspect of the manuscript, providing an excellent introduction to the c. 800 Book of Kells, its history, and its historical/cultural context, by leading scholars in the field. One paper is in French; the rest, in English.
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Redknap, Mark, Nancy Edwards, Susan Youngs, Alan Lane, and Jeremy Knight, eds. Pattern and Purpose in Insular Art: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Insular Art. Oxford: Oxbow, 2001.
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Twenty-five papers by established experts and new voices in the field, covering patrons and politics, the cultural and political context of the Reerasta Rath (Ardagh, Limerick) hoard, national and regional identities, strap ends in late Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age Britain, dating and inscriptions of Irish monumental sculpture, neo-Pelagianism and the image of Christ in early Insular art, the archaeological context for decorated metalwork from the Mote of Mark, embroidery from Llan-gors Crannóg near Brecon, glass bangles in early Ireland, rapid qualitative analysis of metalwork, Insular belt fittings from the pagan Norse graves of Scotland, 7th-century Anglo-Saxon goldsmithing, Irish filigree, the Barbarini Gospels, style in Insular art, the St. Petersburg Gospels, St. Gall Stiftsbibliothek Codex 51, Insular carpet pages, high-cross iconography, high-cross design, shrine fragments from Kinedar (Moray), the Aberlemno churchyard shrine, the Kilnaruane (Cork) cross shaft, early Irish saddle mounts, and survival and revival of Insular style in late medieval Scotland.
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Ryan, Michael, ed. Ireland and Insular Art, A.D. 500–1200. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Insular Art, University College Cork, 31 October–3 November 1985. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 1987.
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Contains valuable papers on Insular gospel books, the earliest Christian art of Britain and Ireland, the origins of escutcheon art, early Insular manuscripts, the Book of Durrow and related manuscripts, hanging bowls, animal styles in Insular art, the Book of Kells and snake-boss motifs in Pictish sculpture and the Iona sculptures, 8th- and 9th-century Irish metalwork, Celtic filigree techniques, the Ardagh chalice, 7th- to 9th-century brooches and pins, egg-and-dart derivatives in Insular art, Carolingian influences on Irish sculpture, abstract ornament on Irish high crosses, early Irish art and the art of Georgia and Armenia, written evidence for Irish crosses, the tomb of a saint at Ardoileán Galway, Viking art, carved motif pieces, the motif of the rough-hewn cross, the Ruthwell Cross, Irish crosiers, 11th-century decorated wood from Dublin, and 11th- and 12th-century schools of Irish metalworking.
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Spearman, R. Michael, and John Higgitt, eds. The Age of Migrating Ideas: Early Medieval Art in Northern Britain and Ireland. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Insular Art, held in the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, 3–6 January 1991. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 1993.
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Contains important papers on Insular interlace, Pictish symbols, the place of Insular art in Europe, the influence of Northumbrian art on Continental art, the Codex Amiatinus, the ornamental patterns of Insular manuscripts, folio 114r (the arrest or Passion of Christ) in the Book of Kells (see O’Reilly 1993, cited under the Book of Kells), the Norrie’s Law hoard and Pictish silver, the Hunterston and Tara brooches, penannular brooches, bossed penannular brooches, the Crieff (Perthshire) mounts, the Steeple Bumpstead boss, the Derrynaflan chalice and paten, the Lough Kinale book shrine, Irish crucifixion plaques, Irish tomb shrines, Pictish sculpture, the Argyll crosses, the chalice and cross in Insular sculpture, the Iona crosses, and issues of survival and revival in Insular sculpture.
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Architecture

The Insular world is known primarily for its manuscripts, metalwork, and sculpture rather than its architecture. Very few examples of pre-10th-century architecture survive anywhere in the Insular world, in part because much of it was of timber construction. Some sites were rebuilt or added to over the centuries, and at others, particularly in the case of the dry-stone architecture of Ireland, structures are virtually impossible to date. The most-detailed architectural studies are to be found in the excavation reports of individual sites, but the publications listed below provide more-general information. Fernie 1983 is the place to start for architecture in England (Ó Carragáin 2010 and Stalley 1994 for Ireland), although all three extend chronologically beyond the limits of the Insular period. Fernie 1986 and Cameron 1994 should be read together because each provides a different analysis of the same material. Manning 1995 is the best quick guide to the Irish monasteries, while Horn, et al. 1990 is an interesting case study of one of the more unusual of those monasteries.

Cameron, Neil. “St Rule’s Church, St Andrew’s, and Early Stone Built Churches in Scotland.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 124 (1994): 367–378.
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Cameron challenges the dating of St. Rule’s to the 12th century, arguing instead that the surviving structure shows evidence of having been built in phases, the earliest of which could be of 11th-century date. He also suggests that several other churches assigned to the 12th century (Fernie 1986) are likely to be earlier. Available online.
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Fernie, Eric. The Architecture of the Anglo-Saxons. London: Batsford, 1983.
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A survey of Anglo-Saxon architecture written for the student and general reader, and still the best place to start for a sense of the style, presence, and space of Anglo-Saxon buildings, especially churches.
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Fernie, Eric. “Early Church Architecture in Scotland.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 116 (1986): 393–411.
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A review and reassessment of key churches at Abernethy, Brechin, Egilsay, Edinburgh, Restennet, and St. Andrews, previously dated variously between the 8th and 12th centuries. Fernie argues that all actually date to c. 1090 to 1130, a period of architectural innovation and diversity. See Cameron 1994 for a different interpretation of the evidence. Available online.
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Henry, Françoise. Studies in Early Christian and Medieval Irish Art. Vol. 3, Sculpture and Architecture. London: Pindar, 1985.
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This final volume of a three-part collection of Henry’s writings includes seventeen of her papers on architecture and sculpture (three in French). Individual papers cover the origins of Irish art of the 8th century, early monasteries and their architecture, the early monasteries and architecture of Caherciveen and Waterville (Kerry), engraved slabs and crosses for Waterville and Skellig Michael, Inishkea North in Mayo, the antiquities of Caher Island, high medieval architecture, the Ballyvourney (Cork) stones, early slab and pillar stones from the western portion of Ireland, the Bealin inscription, inscriptions corresponding to entries in the Irish annals, the Durrow cross, the origins of Irish iconography, Irish Cistercian monasteries and their carvings, and a figure on Lismore Cathedral.
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Horn, Walter, Jenny White Marshall, and Grellen D. Rourke. The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
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A survey and partial reconstruction of the 9th-century monastery on the island of Skellig Michael, this book provides information on the history of the occupation and abandonment of the hermitage/monastery and on pilgrimage to the island. It is entertainingly written and includes stunning photographs.
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Leask, Harold G. Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings. 3 vols. Dundalk, Ireland: Dundalgan, 1955–1960.
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Vol. 1, The First Phases and the Romanesque, covers the earliest known churches built either in timber or unmortared stone, the layout and characteristic structures of early monasteries, the development of the stone roof, churches in mortared stone, and Romanesque churches. Many of Leask’s dates and conclusions are no longer accepted, but his three volumes still contain the most complete overview of Irish medieval architecture. Vol. 2 covers Gothic architecture to 1400, and Vol. 3, the final phases of Gothic architecture.
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Manning, Conleth. Early Irish Monasteries. Dublin, Ireland: Town House and Country House, 1995.
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This is a short guide aimed at the tourist and general reader, but highly informative nonetheless. The text focuses on monasteries as a whole—sites consisting of churches, round towers, high crosses, founder’s tombs, and so forth—rather than just their church architecture. Individual chapters cover monastic development and layout, early (pre-800) sites, west coast sites, large monasteries, churches, round towers and shrines, crosses and cross slabs, enclosures, and the decline of the monasteries.
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Ó Carragáin, Tomás. Churches in Early Medieval Ireland. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010.
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An excellent survey that covers the monastic and ecclesiastical architecture of Ireland from the 5th century through to c. 1100. Considers influences, techniques, and the historical and cultural contexts of the churches. Also includes discussion of the plans and rituals of the monastic complexes.
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Stalley, Roger. Ireland and Europe in the Middle Ages. London: Pindar, 1994.
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Not all the papers in this collection deal with Insular (or Irish) architecture, but the majority do. The volume includes essays on architectural patronage, Corcomroe Abbey, the sculpture of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, the Romanesque sculpture of Tuam, the West Country origins of three Irish buildings, Cashel, and high crosses.
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Stalley, Roger. Irish Round Towers. Dublin, Ireland: Town House, 2000.
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Round towers are unique to Irish monastic architecture. Sometimes freestanding, sometimes attached to church structures, they are very different in form from the towers of Continental and Byzantine churches. Their origins and function have long been debated, and Stalley provides an excellent overview of the different interpretations, as well as the historical context and likely range of functions they would have served.
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Sculpture

High crosses and carved cross slabs form the bulk of Insular sculpture, although there is also a significant amount of architectural sculpture surviving in England and Ireland. Each area of the Insular world has its own unique form or style of sculpture, so the material is divided by country below.

England

Stone sculpture is one of the most important and most original forms of Anglo-Saxon art, long a subject of antiquarian interest, but Collingwood 1989 marks the passage of the study of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture into a scholarly discipline. Indeed, one can still see the influence of some of his classifications and archaeological approaches to the material in the volumes of the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture. Methodologically, this has remained a very conservative field, though that has begun to change (e.g., see Orton, et al. 2007). There are many articles devoted to regional sculpture and individual monuments that space does not allow mentioning here. Up-to-date bibliography can be found in the sources listed under Reference Works. Three important publications on the Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses (Cassidy 1992; Ó Carragáin 2005; Orton, et al. 2007) are listed in this section because of the importance of their approaches to the study of Anglo-Saxon sculpture as a whole. For the general reader or student, Bailey 1996 is the best place to start.

Bailey, Richard N. England’s Earliest Sculptors. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996.
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The book’s seven chapters began as the Teetzel Lectures, delivered at the University of Toronto in 1993, and provide an excellent starting point for anyone interested in an overview of the subject. In addition to chapters on types of monuments and the geographical and chronological divisions of the field, the book includes chapters on approaches and pitfalls to the study of Anglo-Saxon sculpture, and sculpture and sculptors in relation to the other arts.
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Cassidy, Brendan, ed. The Ruthwell Cross: Papers from the Colloquium Sponsored by the Index of Christian Art, Princeton University, 8 December 1989. Princeton, NJ: Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 1992.
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The volume includes Cassidy on the later life of the Ruthwell Cross; Robert T. Farrell on its construction, destruction, and reconstruction; Douglas MacLean on its date; David Howlett on its inscriptions; and Paul Meyvaert on the iconography of Ecclesia and Vita Monastica on the cross. The last essay has proven problematic because of its argument that a section of the cross should be reversed in order to fit the iconographic program proposed; it has since been proven that this would be impossible. The book also contains an extensive bibliography.
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Collingwood, W. G. Northumbrian Crosses of the Pre-Norman Age. Lampeter, UK: Llanerch Enterprises, 1989.
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Reprint of the 1927 original (London: Faber & Gwyer). Eleven of the seventeen chapters deal with the Anglian period. Although Collingwood’s methodology and much of his information are now out of date, this remains essential reading as a pioneering publication in the field, and as a monument to the late-19th- and early-20th-century interest in an originary medieval heritage. It is illustrated entirely with the author’s own drawings, many of which capture details now lost to the eye, and which are a tribute to Collingwood’s own artistic eye and talent.
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Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture.
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This is the first source to go to for information on stone sculpture of any sort. Organized by county, the volumes in this series provide introductory essays on the context of the sculptures; a full photographic record plus informative catalogue entries with information on origin, date, and provenance; and bibliography, descriptions, and discussion of each work. Most relevant for the study of Insular art are the first two volumes in the series, which cover the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and Cumbria and Lancashire North-of-the-Sands, respectively. A complete list of titles, updates, information on the Corpus project, and photographs from some of the volumes in the series can be found on the website. The photographs on the site are digitized versions of the black-and-white prints from the volumes rather than digital images, but the black-and-white format often reveals details lost in color reproductions.
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Ó Carragáin, Éamonn. Ritual and the Rood: Liturgical Images and the Old English Poems of the Dream of the Rood Tradition. London: British Library, 2005.
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A thorough iconographic and literary analysis of Ruthwell’s image and inscriptions that sets them squarely within the context of the early liturgy of the church, especially as it relates to Easter. There is a wealth of information here, but the arguments are compromised by the emotional prose style and the author’s insistence on a liturgical reading of and meaning for the cross at the expense of its social and political functions.
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Orton, Fred, and Ian Wood, with Clare Lees. Fragments of History: Rethinking the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Monuments. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2007.
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The idiosyncratic prose style makes this a difficult read in some places, but it is well worth the effort. The authors provide a very focused analysis of the different meanings of these monuments with regard to place, gender, time, style and inscriptions, and function. They argue quite rightly that the monuments would have meant one thing to the Northumbrian church that erected them in previously British territory, and quite another to the British inhabitants of those areas. The book is also noteworthy for its analysis of early antiquarian accounts of the crosses.
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Ireland

High crosses are second in popularity only to the Book of Kells in Ireland. Most studies include cross-inscribed slabs, which are sometimes seen as the origin of the design of the freestanding high cross. Almost all early medieval Irish monasteries have at least one sculpted monument, so publications devoted to individual monastic sites should also be consulted. Harbison 1992 is the most complete publication of the Irish high crosses, but it can be difficult to obtain. It is unrivaled for its photographic catalogue. Stalley 1990 and Stalley 1996 are the best places to start because the latter provides an excellent introduction to the subject, while the former offers an in-depth look at the place of the high cross in European art of the Middle Ages. Roe 1981 is a first-rate example of the study of a single site and its collection of sculpted monuments. For architectural sculpture, see the publications listed under Architecture.

Harbison, Peter. The High Crosses of Ireland: An Iconographic and Photographic Survey. 3 vols. Bonn, Germany: Habelt, 1992.
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Harbison catalogues more than 230 crosses and fragments of crosses, though it is often impossible to discern whether all fragments were actually originally parts of crosses, and his definition of a cross excludes cross slabs and other types of standing monument. The catalogue is arranged by county, with each entry providing a summary description of the monument, its iconography (as Harbison interprets it), and notice of varying interpretations. With many of the monuments, including some of the most famous such as the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnoise, doubt remains over the identification of many scenes. Harbison’s speculations in such cases must be taken as just that, no matter how forcefully they are argued. Vol. 1, Text; Vol. 2, Photographic Survey; Vol. 3, Illustrations of Comparative Iconography.
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Henry, Françoise. Irish High Crosses. Dublin, Ireland: Three Candles, 1964.
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Henry’s was the first serious scholarly attempt to provide an overview of the origins, iconography, and development of the Irish high crosses. Though few now would accept the way in which she divides and classifies the monuments, or her suggestions as regards their development, the book remains a landmark in the field.
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Roe, Helen M. “The Irish High Cross: Morphology and Iconography.” In Special Issue: Papers in Honour of Liam Price. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 95.1–2 (1965): 213–226.
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The Irish ring-headed (or Celtic) crosses are distinctly different in shape from those of England and other parts of the British Isles. Roe surveys the various theories surrounding their development and meaning, offering a level-headed assessment both of the monuments and scholarship on them.
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Roe, Helen M. Monasterboice and Its Monuments. Dundalk, Ireland: County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, 1981.
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This may take the form of a small guidebook, but it is immensely informative even for the seasoned scholar. It opens with chapters on the history of the monastery and a general discussion of the crosses surviving on the site. Individual chapters are then devoted to the South Cross, West Cross, North Cross, and two fragmentary crosses. Roe’s primary interest is in the biblical iconography of the crosses, and she provides a thorough analysis of each panel and of the overall program.
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Stalley, Roger. “European Art and the Irish High Crosses.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 90C (1990): 135–158.
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A close analysis of the iconography of the high crosses that locates the sources of some of their imagery in Continental art of the 7th century and earlier. Stalley includes a reassessment of the dates of some monuments, as well as of individual panels or overall iconographic programs. The crosses, he shows, in many ways foreshadow the narrative sculptural programs of Romanesque church portals.
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Stalley, Roger. Irish High Crosses. Dublin, Ireland: Town House, 1996.
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A very brief introductory survey of the form, meaning, and function of the Irish high crosses. The book is clearly written and well illustrated.
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Isle of Man

Publication of Manx sculpture is extremely limited. Kermode 1994 is the place to start, while Fell, et al. 1983 includes two excellent scholarly papers on the subject. A new corpus of Manx sculpture is in preparation under the auspices of the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture. See also Wilson 2008 (cited under General Overviews).

Fell, Christine, Peter Foote, James Graham-Campbell, and Robert Thomson, eds. The Viking Age in the Isle of Man: Select Papers from the Ninth Viking Congress, Isle of Man, 4–14 July 1981. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1983.
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Includes papers by David M. Wilson on “The Art of the Manx Crosses in the Viking Age,” and Sue Margeson “On the Iconography of Manx Crosses.”
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Kermode, P. M. C. Manx Crosses. Balgavies, UK: Pinkfoot, 1994.
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Facsimile edition with an introduction by David M. Wilson; originally published in 1907. The Manx crosses may well be the least known and least studied group of Insular crosses. Kermode provides descriptions and summary analyses of the iconography of each cross, as well as information on inscriptions, though there is limited information on dating. The corpus consists largely of Viking-age cross slabs, though there is a significant body of pre-Viking monuments. Wilson reclassifies some of the monuments in the facsimile edition.
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Scotland

Pictish sculpture of the North and East of Scotland dominates scholarship on sculpture in early medieval Scotland, although the sculpture at Iona (see Bourke 1997, cited under Collected Papers), with its links to Irish sculpture, as well as the Govan sculpture (Ritchie 1994), are exceptions. Fisher 2001 is the best introduction to sculpture in the West of Scotland. Allen and Anderson 1993 is the best place to start, both for an overview of the material and for the information on historiography that Henderson’s introduction provides. Foster 1998 and Meyer 2009 provide more-detailed analyses of two of the key Scottish monuments. Foster and Cross 2005 is the best introduction to some of the key issues of interpretation, display, and recording of sculpture in the 21st century. See also Henderson and Henderson 2004 (cited under General Overviews).

Allen, J. Romilly, and Joseph Anderson. The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland. 2 vols. Balgavies, UK: Pinkfoot, 1993.
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Reprinted with introduction by Isabel Henderson. The original publication in 1903 was the first attempt to compile a complete catalogue of Early Christian Scottish sculptured stones. Part 1 provides a general introduction with sections on inscriptions, symbolism, characteristics and distribution of the monuments, and relations between groups of monuments. Part 2 consists of chapters on classification, position, form, dimensions, and motifs of the monuments, and Part 3 is the illustrated catalogue. It remains indispensable, not only for its pioneering scholarship but also for the quality of its drawings. The facsimile reprint benefits from Henderson’s introduction, which provides some updating of Allen and Anderson’s work but is devoted largely to the history of the production and reception of their original publication.
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An Inventory of the Monuments. Edinburgh: Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, 1909–.
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An area-by-area survey of Scotland’s archaeological and built heritage. Especially valuable for the study of the early medieval period are Iona (1982); Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay (1984), and two appended volumes: North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape (1990) and South-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape (Edinburgh).
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Fisher, Ian. Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2001.
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This is a beautifully illustrated gazetteer in two parts, with one part devoted to the Islands and the other to the Highlands, each with its own introduction. The volume includes many stones discovered since the late 20th century, but, as the author admits, it was still not possible to include everything. Most, but not all, of the stones are on monastic sites, and their treatment is largely descriptive.
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Foster, Sally M., ed. The St Andrews Sarcophagus: A Pictish Masterpiece and Its International Connections. Proceedings of a conference organized by Historic Scotland and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, held 27 September 1997 in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 1998.
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The publication of the proceedings of a conference devoted to the late-8th-century sarcophagus, held at the time that the sarcophagus was dismantled, cleaned, and photographed for exhibition at the British Museum. The papers thus provide information on that process as well as discoveries that could only have come about during its dismantling and recording. Individual papers cover the history and iconography of the sarcophagus, its discovery and various reconstructions, its conservation, other shrines of post and panel construction, the sarcophagus as a statement of power, and the sarcophagus from Northumbrian, Mercian, Irish, and Continental perspectives.
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Foster, Sally M., and Morag Cross, eds. Able Minds and Practiced Hands: Scotland’s Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century. Leeds, UK: Society for Medieval Archaeology, 2005.
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A collection of twenty-six papers by leading scholars in the field, this volume asks new questions of the material. While some papers do present a standard iconographic or contextual approach, others turn their attention to historiography, the modern need to search for meaning, problems of the curation and display of sculpture, and the digital recording of sculpture and the issues it raises.
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Meyer, Kellie S. “The Lady and the Vine: Putting the Horsewoman of the Hilton of Cadboll Cross-Slab into Context.” In Poetry, Place and Gender: Studies in Medieval Culture in Honor of Helen Damico. Edited by Catherine E. Karkov, 171–196. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2009.
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Among the ornament on the Hilton of Cadboll slab is a female rider long referred to as a “Pictish Queen.” Meyer cites a wide range of biblical and exegetical sources in arguing that the scene represents a covenant and that the lady is depicted as a bride, though whether secular, monastic, or apocalyptic remains open. Her analysis of the scene and stone is particularly important because it challenges the precedence of Northumbrian sculptures such as the Ruthwell or Bewcastle crosses in the development of Insular narrative sculpture.
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Ritchie, Anna, ed. Govan and Its Early Medieval Sculpture. Stroud, UK: Alan Sutton, 1994.
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Thirty-one early and high medieval stones survive at Govan, an area of Glasgow. The fourteen papers in this volume examine the context of the sculptures, as well as their relationship to Irish, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse sculpture. Appendixes include information on the geology and measurements of the stones.
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Wales

Relatively little sculpture survives in Wales in comparison to what survives in England or Ireland. It is also very different in nature, lacking the monumental narrative programs of the Ruthwell or Monasterboice crosses and including a significant number of simple inscribed stones. A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales is without question the source to consult.

A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007–.
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The goal of this project is to catalogue all of the more than five hundred surviving sculpted or inscribed stones of Wales produced between the end of Romano-Britain and the coming of the Normans. Three volumes in the series have been published: Vol. 1, South-East Wales and the English Border, by Mark Redknap and John M. Lewis (2007); Vol. 2, South-West Wales, by Nancy Edwards (2007); and Vol. 3, North Wales, by Nancy Edwards (2013). The format is much the same as that of the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, with a historical and analytical introduction followed by a fully illustrated descriptive catalogue.
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Nash Williams, V. E. Early Christian Monuments of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1950.
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Now superseded by the Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and stone Sculpture in Wales, this book catalogues some four hundred monuments, not all of them illustrated. The monuments are divided into simple inscribed stones, decorated stones of the 7th–9th centuries, and decorated stones of the 9th–11th centuries.
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Metalwork and Enamel

The corpus of decorated Insular metalwork is extensive and justly famous for its inventiveness and quality. Henry 1983 and especially Whitfield 2009 provide the best overviews of the material and of metalworking techniques. Bourke 1993 and O’Floinn 1994 are excellent for an introduction to shrines and reliquaries. Small, et al. 1973 and Ryan 1997 are very focused yet clearly written and accessible studies for those interested in the complexity of style and meaning in Insular metalwork. See also Youngs 1989 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues) for a beautifully illustrated overview of the material.

Bourke, Cormac. Patrick: The Archaeology of a Saint. Belfast, UK: HMSO, 1993.
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Produced to accompany an exhibition at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, this short book surveys the relics and reliquaries of and associated with Saint Patrick through to the later Middle Ages.
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Curle, C. L. Pictish and Norse Finds from the Brough of Birsay 1934–74. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1982.
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This book provides information on the site (a tidal island in the Orkneys) and the excavations, as well as a catalogue of the finds by area and chronologically within area. It includes an appendix on finds of bone, shell, and charcoal.
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Haseloff, Günther. Email im Frühen Mittelalter: Frühchristliche Kunst von der Spätantike bis zu den Karolingern. Marburg, Germany: Hitzeroth, 1990.
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The highlight of this book is the beautiful color photographs both of objects and small details. Only the final part is devoted to Anglo-Saxon and Insular material, but it is important that they be understood in the context of the larger European practices and traditions discussed here.
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Henry, Françoise. Studies in Early Christian and Medieval Irish Art. Vol. 1, Enamel and Metalwork. London: Pindar, 1983.
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The first of a three-volume collection of Henry’s articles (see also Henry 1985, cited under Architecture, and Henry and Marsh-Micheli 1984, cited under Manuscripts). It includes a preface by C. L. Curle, and ten chapters on enamels, cloisonné technique, hanging bowls, the River Bann bronze escutcheon, the Derrynaflan chalice, and the effects of the Viking invasions on Irish art. Four of the papers are in French.
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Ó Floinn, Raghnall. Irish Shrines and Reliquaries of the Middle Ages. Dublin: Country House and the National Museum of Ireland, 1994.
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Reliquaries in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland provide the focus for this short guide, with individual chapters covering the cult of relics, use of relics, types of relics, inscriptions, names of relics, preservation of relics, and families associated with surviving reliquaries (many of which had hereditary keepers).
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Ryan, Michael. “The Derrynaflan Hoard and Early Irish Art.” Speculum 72.4 (1997): 995–1017.
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The Derrynaflan hoard of 8th- and 9th-century ecclesiastical metalwork was discovered in 1980 and is most famous for its magnificent chalice and paten and strainer, all now in the National Museum of Ireland. The discovery also led to the changing of Irish laws on treasure trove. Ryan’s article provides an excellent account of the individual pieces included in the hoard, as well as its significance to the history of early medieval Irish metalwork and art in general.
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Small, Alan, Charles Thomas, and David M. Wilson. St. Ninian’s Isle and Its Treasure. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1973.
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The St. Ninian’s Isle treasure is a collection of silver and gilt silver jewelry and other items discovered beneath a cross-marked slab in the island’s church in 1958. It remains the most famous collection of Pictish metalwork, in part because of the mystery surrounding the purpose of some of the items. This is the first definitive publication of the find, with Vol. 1 devoted to introductory essay and the catalogue of finds and Vol. 2 containing the illustrations.
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Whitfield, Niamh. Design and Techniques in Early Medieval Celtic Metalwork. London: Pindar, 2009.
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Nineteen papers covering aristocratic dress in literary sources, a Viking-age brooch fragment from Temple Bar West, the manufacture of beaded wire, the Tara brooch, the Hunterson brooch, the Waterford kite brooch, filigree animal ornament from Ireland and Scotland, the lozenge on the shoulder of the Virgin in the Book of Kells, animals in Celtic metalwork, a mount from Rerrick (Scotland), the Killamery brooch, and an Insular brooch fragment from Norway.
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Wood and Bone

Most information on organic materials will be contained in the excavation reports of individual sites, as well as in the Exhibition Catalogues. Each of the works cited in this section provide information on different types of artifact or monument. Lang 1988 and Karkov 1991 could usefully be read together because they provide complementary discussions of related material. O’Meadhra 1979 and Charles-Edwards 2002 will be of special interest to those interested in manuscripts, their writing, and their decoration.

Charles-Edwards, Gifford. “The Springmount Bog Tablets: Their Implications for Insular Epigraphy and Palaeography.” Studia Celtica 36 (2002): 27–45.
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Dating from c. 600 CE, these two waxed wooden tablets are inscribed with the Vulgate text of Psalms 30–32 and are thought to have been used for teaching. Charles-Edwards here examines their larger implications for the study of Insular writing and, by extension, Insular learning.
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Karkov, Catherine E. “The Decoration of Early Wooden Architecture in Ireland and Northumbria.” In Studies in Insular Art and Archaeology. Edited by Catherine E. Karkov and Robert Farrell, 27–48. American Early Medieval Studies 1. Oxford, OH: American Early Medieval Studies, 1991.
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Insular wooden architecture is known almost exclusively from the documentary sources, and fragments of decorated wood that turn up in excavations (as noted in Lang 1988). This paper looks at those sources, and also at what may be representations of or skeuomorphs of wooden structures in contemporaneous manuscript illumination and stone sculpture, in an effort to shed light on what these now-lost structures might have looked like.
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Lang, James T. Viking-Age Decorated Wood: A Study of Its Ornament and Style. Medieval Dublin Excavations 1962–81 B1. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 1988.
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This catalogue provides information on Viking-age styles and chronology, along with a catalogue of the finds organized according to style. There are appendixes on types of object and types of wood.
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O’Meadhra, Uaininn. Early Christian, Viking and Romanesque Art: Motif-Pieces from Ireland. 2 vols. These and Papers in North-European Archaeology 7. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1979.
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Motif pieces, sometimes called trial pieces, are bone or stone fragments carved with what appear to be experimental designs or layouts for interlace and animal ornament. They are specifically associated with Ireland because the vast majority of them have been found on Irish sites. The thesis of these volumes is that they are the products of artistic training practices; however, many more motif pieces are known from a greater variety of sites than have been catalogued by O’Meadhra, so her conclusions must remain tentative. Reprinted 1987.
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Manuscripts

The illuminated Gospel book is the best known and most studied of all types of Insular manuscript, with the books of Durrow and Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels the most prominent of them all. For a survey of Insular Gospel books, Henderson 1987 is excellent. For a sense of the development of the study of Insular manuscripts and the key issues that have guided it, see Masai 1947, Henry and Marsh-Micheli 1984, Nordenfalk 1968, and Nordenfalk 1973. Stevick 1994 is a good source for information on the planning and design of illuminated pages. Full-color images and digital facsimiles of many of the manuscripts are available online, but it is necessary to know the library collection, shelfmark, and often the folio number in order to find them. See also Alexander 1978 (cited under Reference Works).

Henderson, George. From Durrow to Kells: The Insular Gospel Books, 650–800. London: Thames & Hudson, 1987.
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Henderson focuses on seven key manuscripts: the Book of Durrow, Durham Gospels, Corpus Gospels, Echternach Gospels, Lindisfarne Gospels, Lichfield Gospels, and Book of Kells. His purpose is to set these manuscripts within their larger cultural, religious, and political contexts as a way of establishing why Gospel books became such a feature of Insular art. Perhaps too-much emphasis is given to the still-enigmatic Pictish influence on manuscript production (no actual Pictish manuscripts survive), but otherwise this book provides a solid analysis of the subject. The illustrations are largely in black and white.
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Henry, Françoise, and Geneviève Marsh-Micheli. Studies in Early Christian and Medieval Irish Art. Vol. 2, Manuscript Illumination. London: Pindar, 1984.
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A collection of reprinted articles published by Françoise Henry, one of the seminal scholars of Irish art, over the course of her lifetime, some in collaboration with Marsh-Micheli. Manuscripts covered range in date from the 7th to the 16th centuries, and the reprinted articles include information on individual manuscripts, Irish manuscripts in Continental collections, and facsimiles.
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Herity, Michael, and Aidan Breen. The Cathach of Colum Cille: An Introduction. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 2002.
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The Cathach (Battler) is a psalter that has traditionally been dated to c. 600 and is believed to be the work, or at least a copy of the work, of Colum Cille (Saint Columba). It is also the earliest surviving illuminated Irish manuscript, and one in which many of the characteristics of the later, more famous manuscripts are already apparent. The authors review the evidence for date, comparanda both for script and decoration, elements of script, punctuation, and textual content, concluding that there is no evidence against the traditional dating. Includes a CD-ROM of images from the manuscript.
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Masai, François. Essai sur les origines de la miniature dite irlandaise. Antwerp, Belgium, and Brussels: Editions Erasme, 1947.
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Before Masai wrote, the creation of an Insular style of manuscript illumination was credited to Ireland, and Masai was the first to call that into question in a serious way. This article suggests an origin for the style in Northumbria, specifically at the monastery of Warmouth-Jarrow. Many of its conclusions are now out of date, and Masai’s characterization of Insular manuscript art as lacking in artistic value is patently untrue, but this is an interesting landmark in the debate over the nature, origins, and provenance of manuscripts such as the Book of Durrow or the Lindisfarne Gospels.
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Netzer, Nancy. Cultural Interplay in the Eighth Century: The Trier Gospels and the Making of a Scriptorium at Echternach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
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Netzer provides a close codicological and iconographic analysis of the Trier Gospels in order to reveal the multiple influences (Insular, Mediterranean, and Continental) evident in its production and decoration. Appendixes include a summary description and reconstruction of the manuscript, information on the manuscript’s chapter summaries and divisions, variant readings in the Gospel text, descriptions of decorated initials, and reconstructions of the Augsburg and Maeseyck Gospels.
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Nordenfalk, Carl. “An Illustrated Diatessaron.” Art Bulletin 50.2 (1968): 119–140.
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In this article Nordenfalk argues for the influence of a lost prototype of the 1547 “Persian Diatessaron” manuscript in Florence on the development of the cross-carpet pages of Insular manuscripts such as the Book of Durrow or the Lindisfarne Gospels.
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Nordenfalk, Carl. “The Diatessaron Miniatures Once More.” Art Bulletin 55.4 (1973): 532–546.
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The thesis of Nordenfalk 1968 was roundly criticized by Meyer Schapiro (among others), and this second article is a response, as well as a revision of the thesis to incorporate some of the errors Schapiro pointed out. The main problem is one of chronology and the lack of any evidence for a pre-7th-century prototype for the Diatessaron manuscript. But see now Brown 2002–2003 (cited under the Lindisfarne Gospels) on the possibility of other early forms of Eastern influence.
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Stevick, Robert. The Earliest Irish and English Bookarts: Visual and Poetic Forms before AD 1000. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.
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Stevick explores the use of mathematical proportions and geometric patterns in the design and composition both of the pages of illuminated manuscripts and poetic verses. His interest is in the forms and ratios of the pages (or verses) rather than in any sort of iconographic meaning. It is easy to see these arguments with respect to the illuminated pages, especially with the help of Stevick’s illustrations, but their applicability to the composition of poetry is less convincing and far more controversial—indeed, the scholarly literature on the pros and cons of such a theory is enormous.
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Verey, Christopher D., T. Julian Brown, and Elizabeth Coatsworth, eds. The Durham Gospels: Together with Fragments of a Gospel Book in Uncial, Durham, Cathedral Library, MS A.II.17. Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 20. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1980.
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This important 8th-century manuscript is part of a group of illuminated Insular Gospels that also includes the books of Durrow and Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. It is copiously decorated throughout in the style of Lindisfarne but is perhaps most famous for the image of the Crucifixion on folio 38 verso with its complex interaction of word and image, on which see the important paper by Jennifer O’Reilly in Moss 2007 (cited under Conference Proceedings).
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Werckmeister, Otto-Karl. Irisch-northumbrische Buchmalerei des 8. Jahrhunderts und monastische Spiritualität. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1967.
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Focusing on the Chi-Rho and portrait of John from the Book of Kells, the Crucifixion page from the Durham Gospels (A.II.17), and the Matthew symbol from the Echternach Gospels, Werckmeister argues for a turn toward monastic spirituality and away from asceticism in the early years of the 8th century. The catalyst for the change was the influx of Mediterranean influence and a new interest in the writings of Cassiodorus (especially his Institutiones) that accompanied the founding of the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow. While the paper has been criticized for its somewhat superficial understanding of Cassiodorus and theological texts relating to monastic spirituality, this article does in many ways look forward to the work both of Jennifer O’Reilly (in Moss 2007, cited under Conference Proceedings) and Michelle Brown (see Brown 2002–2003, cited under the Lindisfarne Gospels).
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The Book of Durrow

The earliest of the three great Insular Gospel books, the Book of Durrow (Dublin, Trinity College Library MS 57) is traditionally viewed as having initiated the codicological and decorative framework elaborated in the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. It is not as grand as either of those manuscripts and so has received less attention, despite its important place in the development of Insular illumination and the Insular Gospel book. Meehan 1996 is definitely the best and most accessible introduction to the manuscript.

Luce, Arthur Aston, Ludwig Bieler, Peter Meyer, and George Otto Simms, eds. Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Durmachensis. 2 vols. Olten, Switzerland: Urs Graf Verlag, 1960.
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A facsimile of the manuscript, with one volume devoted to plates and the other to commentary. The plates would no longer be considered of high quality, and the majority of them are not in color. The commentary volume includes chapters on the paleography, text, and art of the manuscript, plus a summary of the contents of each of the book’s pages.
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Meehan, Bernard. The Book of Durrow: A Medieval Masterpiece at Trinity College Dublin. Dublin, Ireland: Town House and Country House, 1996.
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Meehan provides a brief but accessible introduction to the manuscript and its background, history, and illuminated pages. There are plenty of full-color illustrations, but the aged-vellum color of the pages on which the book is printed gives many of them a faded appearance. Includes a glossary and a list of the contents of the manuscript.
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The Book of Kells

This is perhaps the most famous of all Insular manuscripts, and the scholarly literature on the Book of Kells (Dublin, Trinity College Library MS 58) is vast. Henry 1974 is still the most accessible collection of images, and Meehan 1994 is the best general introduction to the manuscript. The images and information in Alexander and Fox 1990 are excellent, but the facsimile was so costly that it was purchased by relatively few libraries. Two of the key questions in current scholarship remain the meaning of the full-page miniatures and the relationship between word and image in the manuscript—famous for its turning of text into image and image into text. On the former, see Farr 1997; on the latter, see Pulliam 2006. Lewis 1980 and O’Reilly 1993 are excellent studies of the depth of meaning achieved in the decoration of single pages. See also O’Mahony 1994 (cited under Conference Proceedings).

Alexander, J. J., and Peter Fox, eds. The Book of Kells, MS 58 Trinity College Library Dublin. 2 vols. Lucerne, Switzerland: Faksimile Verlag, 1990.
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This two-volume facsimile (Vol. 1, actual facsimile, edited by Alexander; Vol. 2, commentary, edited by Fox) was marketed only as a set, so that the traditional citation of the commentary as a stand-alone volume in the scholarly literature is a bit misleading. The facsimile volume was the first (and still only) full-color reproduction of the manuscript. Because few will ever get to handle the original manuscript, it is thus a valuable resource, though its hefty price tag meant that few libraries could afford it. The commentary volume contains excellent essays on the history of the manuscript; its codicology, text, script, and illumination; and the later texts that were added to it. The collected papers in O’Mahony 1994 (cited under Conference Proceedings) are likely more readily accessible and provide more detail, on all aspects of the manuscript, though that book cannot match the quality of the images in this facsimile volume.
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Farr, Carol. The Book of Kells: Its Function and Audience. London: British Library, 1997.
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This is an excellent analysis of the liturgical and exegetical meaning of two of the full-page miniatures in the Book of Kells—the Temptation of Christ and the Arrest or Passion of Christ—and both the introduction and the conclusion provide first-rate summaries of the liturgical function of Gospel books in general. The title, however, is misleading because the book has a far-narrower focus than it implies. In addition, although the series in which it appeared is aimed at the general reader, Farr’s analysis is difficult to follow for those not familiar with her primary sources. Includes appendixes on capitularies and marginal notations of sections of Luke and Matthew as liturgical lections, and the textual articulation of these same passages in Gospel manuscripts.
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Henry, Françoise. The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin. London: Thames & Hudson, 1974.
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This is not a full facsimile of the manuscript, but a general introduction accompanied by 126 color reproductions of full pages from each of the four Gospels, plus preliminary texts, and twenty-five enlarged details. Henry’s text provides information on the background and physical characteristics of the book and its decoration, iconography, and artists.
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Lewis, Suzanne. “Sacred Calligraphy: The Chi Rho Page in the Book of Kells.” Traditio 36 (1980): 139–159.
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This was one of the first and is still one of the best close studies of the complexities of the single Chi Rho (or XPI, or Incarnation) page in the Book of Kells. The elaboration of this section of the text in the Gospel of Matthew is a feature of Insular and Anglo-Saxon Gospel books, but nowhere is it embellished more elaborately than in the Book of Kells, where it is expanded to fill the whole page. Lewis presents convincing arguments both for the interpretation of individual elements of its iconography and for its overall impression of dynamic movement.
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Meehan, Bernard. The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin. London: Thames & Hudson, 1994.
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This is a popular but nonetheless excellent introduction to the manuscript, offering both information on the general background of the book and detailed information on specific pages and symbols. Fully illustrated with good color photographs.
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O’Reilly, Jennifer. “The Book of Kells, Folio 114r: A Mystery Revealed and Yet Concealed.” In The Age of Migrating Ideas: Early Medieval Art in Northern Britain and Ireland. Edited by R. Michael Spearman and John Higgitt, 106–114. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 1993.
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This is a complex and detailed reading of a single image, the image of the Arrest or Passion of Christ. O’Reilly musters both visual evidence from the larger pictorial program of the manuscript and textual evidence from patristic and exegetical sources to show that there is a long and orthodox iconographic and exegetical tradition behind this unique image, and that it is all about recognition of and drawing near to Christ.
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Pulliam, Heather. Word and Image in the Book of Kells. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2006.
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The introduction presents a helpful survey of scholarship on the Book of Kells and lays out the methodology used here. The focus of the book is on the marginal imagery for which Kells is justly famous and, so Pulliam states, on the book as art object. The chapters that follow do a good job exploring the former but are not so successful in doing the latter, in large part because Pulliam’s approach never allows her to get away from the page as text to be read, and she insists on reading symbolism into every detail. While this is convincing in the case of major initials and motifs, it is less so when every interlaced creature is made to represent evil or struggle of some sort. Still, it is refreshing to find an approach to the manuscript that does not rely exclusively on patristic and liturgical sources, and that does refocus our eyes on how images work.
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The Lindisfarne Gospels

The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library, Cotton Nero D.iv) has without doubt received more attention than any other illuminated manuscript produced in pre-Norman England. It is a stunningly beautiful, learned, and intricate work of art, but it has also become a minitourist industry and something of an icon of the cultural divide between the North, in which it was made, and the South, where it now resides (see Hawkes 1996, cited under Exhibition Catalogues). For the general reader, Backhouse 1981 is probably the place to start, supplemented with the images available online on the British Library website. Brown 2003 is the best and most recent scholarly assessment of the manuscript.

Backhouse, Janet. The Lindisfarne Gospels. Oxford: Phaidon, 1981.
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A short book, aimed at the general reader, which provides a nice synopsis of the context in which the Gospels was produced, its making, and the major decorated pages and initials. More-recent discoveries of preliminary drawings and evidence for dating have made some of this information obsolete, but the book still provides a good overview of the manuscript.
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British Library, Online Gallery.
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This site provides access to most of the major decorated pages in the manuscript. All four of the evangelist portraits carpet pages and incipits are there, plus the XPI page and a few examples of text pages with varying degrees of ornamentation, but only one of the canon tables is included. Information on the manuscript is quite basic, and while the thumbnail images can be enlarged, there is no zoom feature to allow for detailed examination either of text or image.
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Brown, Michelle P., ed. Buch von Lindisfarne/The Lindisfarne Gospels: Cotton MS Nero D.iv of the British Library, London. Lucerne, Switzerland: Faksimile Verlag, 2002–2003.
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Limited edition with 290 of 980 copies bound in a reproduction of the 19th-century Victorian binding of the original manuscript. The quality of the images is excellent but cannot compare with the quality of digital facsimiles, which allow the user to zoom in on details both of imagery and script. The commentary volume, Brown 2003, serves both as a companion to the facsimile and a stand-alone study of the manuscript.
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Brown, Michelle P. The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe. London: British Library, 2003.
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Both a stand-alone study and the commentary volume to the facsimile of the manuscript in Brown 2002–2003, the chapters of this book cover the origins, provenance, script, codicology, and art of the Lindisfarne Gospels. It is exemplary for setting the book not only within the historical and theological context of 8th-century Northumbria, where it was produced, but also within the larger international world of the early church and its intellectual and trading networks. Some assertions, especially regarding the iconography of the full-page illuminations, are less convincing than others, but overall this is an exemplary treatment of the manuscript as more than just the sum of its parts.
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Kendrick, T. D., ed. Evangeliorum quattuor codex lindisfarnensis. 2 vols. Olten, Switzerland: Urs Graf, 1956–1960.
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Although this volume has been replaced by the facsimile in Brown 2002–2003, it remains more accessible to many than the facsimile volume of that edition, because the price of the latter was prohibitive for many libraries. The introductory essays, though dated in many respects, are still useful.