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Book of Kells (Medieval Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. The Book of Kells is a large format manuscript of the gospels, famed for the beauty and ingenuity of its decoration. One of the most renowned medieval manuscripts, its exact date and place of origin are unknown. Generally accepted to have been made in the late 8th or early 9th century, it is usually attributed to the monastery founded in 563 by the Irish holy man St. Columba on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. Written in bold Insular style scripts, it has a mixed Vulgate and Old Latin text typical of gospels associated with early medieval Ireland, but with some notable unique variants. It opens with accessory texts introducing the whole gospel book and prefatory texts proper to each gospel. Documents relating to lands of the Columban monastery at Kells were written on blank sides of several of these prefatory folios in the 11th and 12th centuries, providing evidence of its later medieval location. Some scholars attribute all or part of it to Kells, founded in the early 9th century after Viking attacks on Iona. The manuscript was removed from Kells during the religious and political turmoil of the 17th century and eventually sent to Dublin, where it was given to Trinity College Library. Today, as Manuscript 58, it remains at Trinity. One of Ireland’s most precious treasures, its visual art and historical aura are part of the modern Irish national self-image. It contains all types of Insular manuscript art: “beast” canon tables, four-symbols pages, full-page initials, an evangelist portrait, full-page pictures, one “cross-carpet” page, and thousands of decorated minor initials. Modern scholarship is mainly art-historical, with concentration on “word and image” and other interpretative studies. Efforts to determine the date of origin have receded from the contentious debates of the 20th century, as to a lesser extent have the arguments over its place of origin, with recognition of the general cultural unity of Ireland and the British Isles in the early Middle Ages and the fading of modern prejudices. Date and origin remain, however, unresolved important questions, with the absence of conclusive argument frustrating detailed contextual studies. Other questions, such as the number of artists and scribes who contributed to the manuscript and how often and by whom it was viewed, also remain without definitive answers. Despite the knowledge gaps, the Book of Kells remains one of the most discussed works of the early Middle Ages.
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  5. General Overviews
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  7. A vast number of general books have been published on the Book of Kells, many of them inexpensive souvenirs for the tourist market. Nevertheless, it has been the subject of specialist attention and popular cultural interest for two centuries, creating a demand for high-quality general overviews. Meehan 1994 presents the best text and pictures in a low-priced modern overview directed at the general public. Deluxe format books of color facsimiles, Henry 1974 and Meehan 2012 have detailed commentaries written by leading scholars. Henderson 1987 gives an excellent overview of the larger artistic context and is appropriate for advanced students as well as specialists. Fox 1990 provides detailed analysis and discussions of all physical aspects of the manuscript. O’Mahony 1994 provides a wide range of specialist studies in several disciplines (history, textual study, art history, paleography, archaeology). Barbet-Massin 2013 gives a rich contextual and iconographic survey of Insular manuscripts. Masai 1947, notorious for its racism, intensified and widened the controversy on origin, to the effect of further undermining assumptions of Irish origin. See also Facsimiles.
  8.  
  9. Barbet-Massin, Dominique. L’Enluminure et le sacré: Irlande et Grande-Bretagne VIIe-VIIIe siècles. Paris: Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2013.
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  11. At times ranging uncritically and too broadly (for instance in drawing upon prehistoric material), this lengthy survey nonetheless presents some insights that deserve further consideration. The chapter on symbolic representations of space in particular provides some original and fruitful interpretations. Engages with current scholarship across multiple disciplines.
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  13. Fox, Peter, ed. The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  15. Indispensable to scholarly study, this volume provides authoritative studies of prefatory and gospel texts, later additions, vellum, bindings, scripts, illuminations, later history, and comprehensive bibliography to 1990. The section on pigments, however, is outdated (see Bioletti, et al. 2009, cited under Technical Studies: Pigments, Vellum, Drawing Techniques, and Fox 1990, cited under Complete Facsimiles.
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  17. Henderson, George. From Durrow to Kells: The Insular Gospel-Books, 650–800. London: Thames and Hudson, 1987.
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  19. The only modern art-historical survey of Insular gospel books. Henderson’s iconographic interpretations of major decoration of the Book of Kells remain influential. Ends with a chapter on historical perceptions of the manuscript.
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  21. Henry, Françoise. The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974.
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  23. The primary purpose for this volume was the color facsimiles, but Henry’s commentary remained the most detailed and influential art-historical study until the 1990s. In part outdated, although some points are still cited and her sensitive descriptions remain valuable. See also Henry 1974, cited under Reproductions of Single Pages and Details.
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  25. Masai, François. Essai sur les origins de la miniature dite irlandaise. Brussels: Éditions “Erasme,” 1947.
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  27. Asserted origins of the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Books of Durrow and Kells at Lindisfarne, based largely on published facsimiles and the author’s racial opposition of Irish and Anglo-Saxons. An early supporter of a 9th-century date for Book of Kells. Key for Brown 1993, cited under Paleography.
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  29. Meehan, Bernard. The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994.
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  31. An accurate, readable overview by the Keeper of Manuscripts, Trinity College, Dublin. Gives concise accounts of the historical and artistic background, the overall scheme of decoration, iconographic elements, types of decoration, materials, and production. Also imparts new observations and engages with recent scholarship, and has up-to-date references. Widely available, and suitable for undergraduate students.
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  33. Meehan, Bernard. The Book of Kells. London: Thames and Hudson, 2012.
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  35. Detailed discussion of the decoration, engagement with recent scholarship, and observations rooted in Meehan’s unique access to the manuscript elevate the commentary’s value for specialists and students. Covers nearly all aspects, including pigment analysis and revised “collation map.” Outstanding color reproductions. See also Meehan 2012, cited under Reproductions of Single Pages and Details.
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  37. O’Mahony, Felicity, ed. The Book of Kells: Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  39. Papers on historical background, texts, scripts, vellum, iconography, style of decoration, and related art works. Several present new discoveries, syntheses, and analyses: Ó Corráin (historical background); McGurk (Hebrew names); Stalley (high crosses); Kelly (Lough Kinale shrine); Netzer (canon tables); Brown (stylistic connections); O’Reilly, Ó Carragáin, and Farr (iconography).
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  41. General References
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  43. Reliable reference works are widely available for the study of Insular manuscripts, but most of these present some outdated material. Alexander 1978 remains essential for art-historical study of Insular manuscripts, even if growing dated in some entries. Lowe 1972 holds its place as the most complete paleographic reference for manuscripts up to 800. Henry 1967 surveys the Book of Kells and related examples of visual art. Fischer 1988–1991 is the modern collation of early Latin gospel texts. Kenney 1929 is still an essential work for research on early medieval Irish history. McGurk 1961 provides analysis of the graphic structuring of textual divisions in early Latin gospel books, a notable feature in the Book of Kells. Gameson 2012 has a wealth of discussion on the broader context of manuscripts in early medieval Britain and Ireland. Colker 1991 and Colker 2008 are the most recent volumes of the medieval Latin manuscripts catalog of Trinity College Library.
  44.  
  45. Alexander, Jonathan James Graham. Insular Manuscripts, 6th to the 9th Century. London: Harvey Miller, 1978.
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  47. The most comprehensive survey of Insular manuscript decoration. Written in catalogue format, with illustrations for each manuscript. Has an introduction and entries that remain useful. The lengthy entry for the Book of Kells (No. 52) includes excellent discussions of decoration style, iconography, and older scholarship.
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  49. Colker, Marvin L. Trinity College Library Dublin: Descriptive Catalogue of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Manuscripts. 2 vols. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1991.
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  51. Has illustrated catalogue entries for the Book of Kells and the other manuscripts of Trinity College Library.
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  53. Colker, Marvin L. Trinity College Library Dublin: Descriptive Catalogue of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Manuscripts—Supplement One. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2008.
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  55. Updates entries and bibliography of Colker 1991.
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  57. Fischer, Bonafatius, ed. Die lateinischen Evangelien bis zum 10.Jahrhundert. 4 vols. Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1988–1991.
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  59. A collation with Wordsworth and White 1889–1898 (cited under Gospel Text), this volume provides the modern critical edition of the Vulgate gospels, essential for textual studies. Volume 1, Varianten zu Matthäus (1988); Volume 2, Varianten zu Markus (1989); Volume 3, Varianten zu Lukas (1990); Volume 4, Varianten zu Johannes (1991). See also citations under Gospel Text.
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  61. Gameson, Richard, ed. The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain. Vol. 1, c. 400–1100. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
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  63. An up-to-date reference for nearly all aspects of the Book of Kells’ Insular context, including paleography, gospel texts, liturgy, art in all media, and history. Chapters by Gameson (material fabric; scribes and scriptoria), Brown (paleography) and Netzer (design and decoration) are especially relevant to the Book of Kells.
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  65. Henry, Françoise. Irish Art during the Viking Invasions (800–1200A.D.). London: Methuen, 1967.
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  67. Chapter 3, “The Decoration of Manuscripts A.D. 800–1020” (pp. 58–110), describes and analyzes the decoration and iconography in relation to the manuscript’s contemporary and later art. Discusses possible connections with art outside Britain and Ireland. Although in part outdated, it raises questions that still concern scholars. Widely influential for art-historical studies.
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  69. Kenney, James F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical, an Introduction and Guide. Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies 11. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929.
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  71. Guide to all known documents relating to early medieval Ireland, although a new, revised edition is seriously needed. The entry on the Book of Kells (No. 471) contains several errors, but Kenney provides a very useful catalogue of documents and texts of all types relating to its early medieval context. Reprint, New York: Octagon Books, 1966.
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  73. Lowe, Elias Avery, ed. Codices latini antiquiores: A Palaeographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts Prior to the Ninth Century. Vol. 2, Great Britain and Ireland. 2d ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
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  75. Key reference for paleography of pre-9th-century manuscripts, with entries on individual manuscripts organized by country, city, and library. Entry No. 274 has detailed physical description of Book of Kells, but see Meehan 1990 (cited under Paleography) and Meehan in O’Mahony 1994 (cited under General Overviews) for corrections. Lowe accepted a mid-8th-century date (see Brown 1993, cited under Paleography).
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  77. McGurk, Patrick. Latin Gospel Books from A.D. 400 to A.D. 800. Les publications de scriptorium 5. Paris: Éditions “Érasme”, 1961.
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  79. Records the codicological and textual structuring of early Latin gospel manuscripts, important considerations for the heavily decorated and paleographically complicated Book of Kells. A useful reference for physical descriptions. McGurk’s Introduction remains one of the best surveys of the manuscripts.
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  81. Facsimiles
  82.  
  83. The art and script of the Book of Kells have inspired the publication of facsimiles since the 1840s. The earliest facsimiles rarely represented whole pages. Usually only “specimens” of individual decorated letters or small decorated sections of pages were reproduced. Lithographic, photographic, and collotype processes in the 19th and early 20th centuries enabled extensive reproductions. The first complete facsimile of the Book of Kells appeared in 1952, with the major illuminated pages in color. The first complete full-color facsimile was feasible with the advent of digital technology. Facsimiles remain important to the study of the Book of Kells because access to the original manuscript is highly restricted.
  84.  
  85. Complete Facsimiles
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  87. All the complete facsimiles remain useful, but digital technology and the Internet have made access to full-color copies of the manuscript inexpensive and widely accessible. The earliest complete facsimile, Alton and Meyer 1950, is mostly black-and-white, but it can still convey a sense of the material grandeur of its size and decoration. Fox 1990, the only full-color print facsimile, provides the most complete sense of the manuscript and its decoration short of the original, but it was published in a costly limited edition. Simpson 2008 and the Trinity College Library Dublin Digital Collections website provide inexpensive or free access to satisfactory digital images of the entire manuscript in color. Book of Kells for iPad takes the facsimile to a new level of accessibility. See also citations under Exhibitions.
  88.  
  89. Alton, Henry, and Peter Meyer, eds. Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Cenannensis. 2 vols. Bern, Switzerland: Urs Graf, 1950.
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  91. Remains useful as a reference for preliminary study. Gives a concrete idea of the scale of the book and its decoration. Commentary (Vol. 3) has general descriptions and a short introduction to the Insular art style, but otherwise this work is now quite outdated. See General Overviews for recent studies.
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  93. Fox, Peter, ed. The Book of Kells, MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin. 2 vols. Lucerne, Switzerland: Faksimile Verlag, 1990.
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  95. Excellent quality color reproductions. Digital scans printed full-size on vellum-like material cut to reproduce irregular folio edges and holes. Has made possible detailed studies of minor decorated initials (see also Meehan 2012, cited under Reproductions of Single Pages and Details, and Pulliam 2006, cited under Minor Initials).
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  97. Simpson, Bill, ed. The Book of Kells. DVD-ROM. Dublin, Ireland: Trinity College, 2008.
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  99. Inexpensive and convenient complete color facsimile. Runs on either PC or Macintosh (4xDVD-ROM drive). No download facility, limited zoom. The images are clear enough for general study. Discontinued but still available online.
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  101. The Book of Kells for iPad.
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  103. A complete digital facsimile of the manuscript with zoom facility and details. For the iPad only. Download from the App Store. No availability for Android or other systems. Perfect for students at any level; useful for specialists.
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  105. Trinity College Library Dublin Digital Collections. Book of Kells (IE TCD MS 58).
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  107. Complete full color facsimile, freely accessible from the Digital Collections home page by clicking on images from the manuscript on the home screen. Has short description, and better zoom than the DVD. No download facility; shows only one folio at a time.
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  109. Reproductions of Single Pages and Details
  110.  
  111. Reproductions of single pages and specimens continue to be useful for paleographic and art-historical study, and the oldest facsimiles are essential to historiography. Westwood 1843–1845 and Westwood 1868 represent early analytic studies of Insular decoration, record details of condition, and present a 19th-century vision of the art. Abbot 1895 has photographs (possibly the earliest) taken when the Book of Kells was unbound. Sullivan 1914 made available the first color photographic reproductions; it was the forerunner of Henry 1974 and Meehan 2012, both of which have important texts and the most available printed color facsimiles of individual folios.
  112.  
  113. Abbot, Thomas Kingsmill. Celtic Ornaments from the Book of Kells. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1895.
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  115. For one of its five known rebindings, the manuscript was fully disbound in 1895 so that Abbot, the Librarian of Trinity College, could produce this volume of photographic reproductions. Of historiographical interest, it may document the late-19th-century condition of the book.
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  117. Henry, Françoise. The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974.
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  119. Until Fox 1990 (cited under General Overviews and Complete Facsimiles), this volume provided the only color reproductions of many folios and details of script and decoration. Although some minor decoration is included, most plates show major decorated folios and pictures presented singly, not as openings, determining scholarship’s direction away from minor toward isolated major decoration. Henry’s commentary remains influential.
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  121. Meehan, Bernard. The Book of Kells. London: Thames and Hudson, 2012.
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  123. Excellent color reproductions of over eighty “actual size” full folios plus many smaller images. Color and clarity are much superior to those in Henry 1974. Well-chosen details. Presents some folios as openings but most are shown singly, their order determined by the structure of Meehan’s commentary. Widely available, reasonably priced.
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  125. Sullivan, Edward. The Book of Kells. London and New York: Studio Publications, 1914.
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  127. Has the first color photographic facsimiles, with detailed commentary by a scholarly bibliophile and librarian. Sullivan, a renowned bookbinder, initiated the cover graphic design followed by Henry 1974. Published in limited and mass market editions. Plate XI has James Joyce’s beloved Tunc page. Published in at least five editions.
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  129. Westwood, J. O. Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria: A Series of Illustrations of the Ancient Versions of the Bible, Copied from Illuminated Manuscripts, Executed between the Fourth and Sixteenth Centuries. London: William Smith, 1843–1845.
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  131. Includes two hand-colored engraved plates of specimen drawings after decoration, initials, and scripts. Beautifully produced; of historiographic value. Any early argument for an Insular art style. Westwood, an entomologist, used natural science methods to categorize Insular decoration.
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  133. Westwood, J. O. Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts Executed by J.O. Westwood, M.A. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1868.
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  135. Chromo-lithographs after Westwood’s tracings from major decorated pages, along with specimen drawings. The saturated colors, uniform tones, black contour lines, and generalization or misrepresentation of details make the intensely Victorian pictures useful only for historiographical study. Westwood’s scholarship is evident in his text.
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  137. Exhibitions
  138.  
  139. In 1881 the Book of Kells and other manuscripts were put in a display case in the Trinity College Library’s Long Room, the first of several accommodations for its permanent exhibition, but it has rarely left Dublin. In 1874 J. A. Malet, Librarian of Trinity College, sent it to the British Museum, London, for rebinding, but the Board of Trinity College sent their law agent to collect it. Highly protective of this foremost national treasure, the Board in 1888 refused its loan to the Olympia Exhibition in London. In 1953 its precarious single-volume binding was dismantled, followed by rebinding in four volumes, each having roughly one gospel. Today two volumes, one open to a decorated folio, the other of script, are on permanent exhibition in Trinity’s Old Library. One or two volumes at a time have been exhibited outside Dublin on only four occasions. In 1961, for the purpose of raising funds to extend Trinity Library, the Board allowed the departure of the Books of Durrow and Kells, Volume I, for exhibition at the Royal Academy, London. Hurst 1961 served as an exhibition guide. Volumes II and IV toured the United States in 1977–1978 as stars of the blockbuster exhibition Treasures of Early Irish Art (Mitchell 1977). Upon its return, the Treasures of Ireland exhibition was installed in the National Museum of Ireland, 1980 to 1981, but in 1982 Volumes II and IV departed again when a modified Treasures show toured Europe. The exhibition catalogue, Ryan 1983, presents the objects with essays and plentiful color illustrations. The Gospel of Mark, Volume II, made in 2000 the final tour outside Ireland for the exhibition The Book of Kells and the Art of Illumination (Green 2000) in Australia.
  140.  
  141. Green, Pauline, ed. The Book of Kells and the Art of Illumination, Catalogue of an Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 25 February–7 May 2000. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2000.
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  143. An 80-page publication for exhibition of Volume II, the Gospel of Mark. Has color images, essays, bibliography and glossary. Meehan’s essay on decorated initials may be of interest for students and specialists.
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  145. Hurst, Frances J. E. Treasures of Trinity College, Dublin, An Exhibition Chosen from the College and Its Library, Burlington House, London W1, 12 January–5 March 1961. London: Clowes, 1961.
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  147. Publication accompanying the exhibition of the Gospel of Matthew, Volume I of the Book of Kells, alongside the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Durrow, the only time the three manuscripts have been displayed together. The thirty-four-page catalogue is one of a few published documents of the historic exhibition.
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  149. Mitchell, G. Frank, ed. Treasures of Early Irish Art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., from the Collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.
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  151. Exhibition catalogue. Includes Gospels of Mark and John. Liam de Paor’s entry (No. 37/38) proposes a mid-8th century date based on comparisons with metalwork examples. Available online.
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  153. Ryan, Michael, ed. Treasures of Ireland: Irish Art 3000 BC–1500 AD. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 1983.
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  155. Has essays, bibliography, and color illustrations. Bernard Meehan wrote the essay, “Irish Manuscripts in the Early Middle Ages” (pp. 48–57) and the entry on the Book of Kells (pp. 134–135). Suitable for students and general audience.
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  157. Gospel Text
  158.  
  159. A relatively large number of textual studies that include the Book of Kells have been published over the last 150 years. Key studies and editions, because of their comprehensiveness and detail, are McGurk 1990, Fischer 1988–1991, and Wordsworth and White 1889–1898. All three should be consulted for specialist study of the text. Simms 1951 also provided detailed comment on the text, collated with the Vulgate, as then available only in the critical edition of Wordsworth and White 1889–1898. Verey 1980 presents groundbreaking findings from collation of the texts of Kells and the Durham Gospels with an Italian Vulgate gospel book known to have been in Britain by the late 7th century. McNamara 1994 gives a useful summary of scholarship on the text of the Book of Kells as well as bringing together and updating the major studies of Insular gospel texts. One of Fischer’s major studies was completed and published posthumously in Fischer, et al. 2010, presenting a synthesis of his massive data in a study of a textually neglected Insular gospel manuscript, with the text of Kells being one of the comparanda. Simms 1960 is one of a very few discussions of the doublet readings and gives Simms’ views on their content, sources, and purpose.
  160.  
  161. Fischer, P. Bonafatius, ed. Die lateinischen Evangelien bis zum 10.Jahrhundert. 4 vols. Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1988–1991.
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  163. Monumental collation against Wordsworth and White 1889–1898, placing the “mixed family” Irish manuscripts, which include Kells, more clearly within the spread of Italian mixed Vulgate texts, dispelling the idea that Irish gospels had a crucial role in transmission. Fischer’s assessments of his findings remained unfinished at his death.
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  165. Fischer, P. Bonafatius, Patrick McGurk, and Florentine Mütherich. “Die lateinischen Evangelien bis zum 10. Jahrundert: Zwei Untersuchungen zum Text.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und de Kunde der älteren Kirche 101 (2010): 119–144.
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  167. Selective study of Stockholm Codex Aureus with computer-generated tables of affiliations of 462 gospel manuscripts, showing degree of variation from the Vulgate. These include the Book of Kells (number 401, page 136), and most Insular gospel manuscripts. Useful to specialists for generalized insight into textual relationships.
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  169. McGurk, Patrick. “The Text.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 37–152. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  171. The most complete collation of the Book of Kells’ gospel text is provided in the “Appendix of Gospel Readings” (pp. 71–152). McGurk’s commentary summarizes scholarship and sheds light on Kells’ relationships with other gospel texts. Essential for textual study, although written before all volumes of Fischer 1988–1991 had been published.
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  173. McNamara, Martin. “Irish Gospel Texts, Amb. I.61 sup., Bible Text and Date of Kells.” In The Book of Kells: Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 78–101. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  175. Brings together collations and analyses of Fischer 1988–1991, McGurk 1990, Wordsworth and White 1889–1898, and Verey 1980, with limited collations of non-Vulgate readings in the Book of Kells, Mt. 27:29–46 and Jo. 2:19–12:27. Provides a compact guide to scholarship, and augments McGurk 1990. Last section on decoration and date has less value.
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  177. Simms, George O. “Collation of the Text of the Vulgate Together with an Inventory of the Contents of the Manuscript.” In Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Cenannensis. Vol. 3, Commentary. Edited by Henry Alton and Peter Meyer, 59–75. Bern, Switzerland: Urs Graf, 1951.
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  179. Gives the variants of the text of Kells against the Vulgate edition of Wordsworth and White 1889–1898. Provides English translations of the additions. Alton made further comment (pp. 22–23) based on Simms’ collation.
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  181. Simms, George O. “The Doublet Readings in the Book of Kells.” Hermathena 94 (1960): 103–106.
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  183. A study of the conflate readings in the Book of Kells’ gospel text, in which Old Latin and Vulgate are mixed together. Proposes that the readings give a type of gloss that was didactic and critical, drawing in some instances upon Greek vocabulary. Based on Simms 1951.
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  185. Verey, Christopher. “Inventory and Collation of the Durham Gospels.” In The Durham Gospels. Edited by Christopher Verey, T. Julian Brown, and Elizabeth Coatsworth, 68–105. Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 20. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1980.
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  187. Collation of Durham A.II.17 with Book of Kells, showing definite relationships between the texts of the two manuscripts and the Oxford “St. Augustine Gospels” (Bodleian Library, MS Auct. D.2.14). Excellent, clear discussion.
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  189. Wordsworth, John, and Henry J. White, eds. Novum Testamentum Domini nostril Jesu Christi latine: Secundum editionem Sancti Hieronymi. Oxford: Clarendon, 1889–1898.
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  191. Remains an essential complement to Fischer 1988–1991 for study of individual Latin gospel texts, although its gospels section has inadequacies. Coverage of text types associated with Ireland is still the most comprehensive, although the model of transmission has been discredited by Fischer 1988–1991. See also McNamara 1994.
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  193. Paleography
  194.  
  195. Famous for their virtuosity, Kells’ scripts fit within Insular types, but the number of scribes, their working methods, and how their role interacted with that of the artists remain unknown. It is certain artists and scribes worked in close coordination, yet each had an individual style and level of skill. Their scripts display stylistic complexity, making description challenging. Meehan 1990 gives the most detailed discussion of the scripts and related features, a summary of paleographic scholarship, and a close analysis of the hands, based on and revising the views of Françoise Henry. Henry 1974 presents the influential view that multiple scribes trained in one scriptorium wrote the manuscript. Before Henry, paleographers, such as Meyer (in Alton and Meyer 1950, cited under Complete Facsimiles) and Brown (in Brown 1993), had asserted that it was the work of a single brilliant scribe. Brown 1993, however, presents the first 20th-century argument for the manuscript’s origin outside of Ireland or Iona, a view that, given the political situation and scholarly views contemporary with its presentation as a Jarrow lecture in 1971 and publication in 1972, had cogency due to its detail and less pronounced evocation of national stereotypes. Over the last thirty years, the mid-8th century date to which Julian Brown assigned the manuscript as well as his attribution of the whole to a single scribe have fallen out of favor with most scholars, but his detailed argument relating it to the Lindisfarne Gospels has remained a key element of the paleographic debate. Eisenlohr 1994b achieves progress in answering several questions on the division of hands and relationships between script and decoration. Eisenlohr’s conclusion contradicts Brown 1993 based on close analysis of the features that he found to indicate a single hand throughout the manuscript. Display script, which mediates visually between highly decorated initials and plain script, rarely sees individual study, and for that reason alone Higgitt 1994 is valuable. Moreover, Higgitt’s short essay addresses all the relevant questions and provides convenient analytic drawings and tables. Brown 1994 calls attention to evidence for interaction between Irish and southern Anglo-Saxon manuscript production during the later 8th and 9th centuries, a neglected aspect but one that has, as Brown suggests, important implications for the date of the Book of Kells. At the time she presented the paper, scholarly opinion still leaned toward a date in the mid-8th century. Eisenlohr 1994a provides a refinement of the author’s study of variant letter forms noticed but not examined by Brown 1993 to further argue for multiple hands. Meehan 2012 provides an introductory discussion relating script and decoration that is suitable for specialists because it presents new observations and excellent details in color, but is superb for students because of its clarity and engagement with current scholarship, and also for the general reader because it opens avenues into the visual art and thought behind it.
  196.  
  197. Brown, T. Julian. “Northumbria and the Book of Kells.” In A Palaeographer’s View: The Selected Writings of Julian Brown. Edited by Janet Bately, Michelle P. Brown, and Jane Roberts, 97–124. London: Harvey Miller, 1993.
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  199. Argues that the Book of Kells has close connections with Northumbrian manuscripts: the search for its origin should begin at Lindisfarne and proceed westward. Assumes a single scribe, of Northumbrian training. Constructs a stemma centering on surviving Northumbrian manuscripts. Suggests origin in eastern Scotland, mid-8th century. Reprint of article in Anglo-Saxon England 1 (1972): 219–224.
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  201. Brown, Michelle P. “Echoes: The Book of Kells and Southern English Manuscript Production.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 333–343. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  203. Demonstrates precise stylistic and paleographic similarities in Books of Kells and other 8th- and 9th-century Irish manuscripts with roughly contemporaneous Southumbrian manuscripts. Cites Irish input to Mercian context and concludes either the effect of shared artistic developments or direct Irish influence. Determines Kells’ probable date c. 800.
  204. Find this resource:
  205. Eisenlohr, Erika. “Alternative Letterforms in the Book of Kells.” Gazette du libre medieval 24 (1994a): 8–16.
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  207. Addresses question of transitions between scribes, following a provisional four-hand division. Analyzes uses of alternate letter forms for ‘d’ and ‘n,’ considering them in contexts of other letters. Attempts to discern between general rules and individual scribal habit. Results given in numeric form with her interpretations.
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Eisenlohr, Erika. “The Puzzle of the Scribes: Some Palaeographical Observations.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 196–208. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994b.
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  211. A close analysis of a range of paleographic features. Concludes, in general agreement with Meehan 1990, that four main scribes, probably with assistants, wrote the manuscript. Calls for more work to solve remaining questions of scribe-artist relationships. Very clear, careful presentation of analysis and conclusions.
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  213. Henry, Françoise. “The Script.” In The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin. By Françoise Henry, 154–157. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974.
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  215. Along with Lowe 1972 (cited under General References), Henry broke from the conventional one-scribe view, seeing at least three hands. She understood well the scribal artistic skill, but wrote only a brief discussion of her impressions without detailed supporting analysis. However, her impressions have been generally borne out by other scholars (see, for example, Meehan 1990 and Eisenlohr 1994b).
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Higgitt, John. “The Display Script of the Book of Kells and the Tradition of Insular Decorative Capitals.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 209–233. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  219. Gives a clear analysis of the forms of Insular display scripts and their uses to show the relationships of those in the Book of Kells and other Insular manuscripts. Has useful diagrams of forms and an appendix laying out analysis of principal forms of each letter.
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  221. Meehan, Bernard. “The Script.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 245–262. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  223. Detailed discussion of scholarship, script, pricking and ruling, and hands. Argues carefully for four scribes, with a table of the division of hands. Transcribes and translates some passages. A key paleographic study. See also Meehan’s part revision, “The Division of Hands in the Book of Kells,” in O’Mahony 1994, cited under General Overviews.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Meehan, Bernard. “Scribes and Artists.” In The Book of Kells. By Bernard Meehan, 186–219. London: Thames and Hudson, 2012.
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  227. Excellent introduction, presenting Meehan’s scribal division of four hands. Illustrated with dozens of color plates of complete folios, many full-size, and details, with informative captions. Meehan brings to the discussion observations gained from his unique access to the manuscript. One of the best discussions on the relationship of art and scribal work.
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  229. Prefatory Materials
  230.  
  231. The Book of Kells is unusual in that it groups together all the prefatory material at the beginning of the book. The usual arrangement is for the material introducing the entire gospel book to be at the front and for each gospel to begin with its own preface. McGurk 1990 addresses the major questions and pinpoints where Kells differs from published editions, relating the differences to those in the Book of Durrow. Meehan 2012 presents the relevant folios in color illustrations with an accompanying compact overview. See also Prefaces (Argumenta), Chapter Lists, Hebrew Names and Canon Tables.
  232.  
  233. McGurk, Patrick. “The Texts at the Opening of the Book.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 37–58. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  235. The most detailed study of the prefatory texts in the Book of Kells. Examination of the texts’ order, prefaces, chapter lists, Hebrew names, and canon tables. Provides references for specialist study. Appropriate for specialists and advanced students. See McGurk 1998, cited under Hebrew Names, for errata.
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  237. Meehan, Bernard. “The Elements of the Book.” In The Book of Kells. By Bernard Meehan, 30–98. London: Thames and Hudson, 2012.
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  239. Excellent complete color illustrations of the all the prefatory folios. Most of the illustrations are full-size, some with superb details, giving a good sense of the physical book. Succinct commentary points out visual features and scribal and artistic interrelationships. Appropriate for students and interested nonspecialists, but specialists, too, may find it useful.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Prefaces (Argumenta)
  242.  
  243. The prefaces, or argumenta, in the Book of Kells are of a type called Monarchian. They are theologically obscure and written in a style that is difficult to translate. Besides the analytic study of the Insular or “Irish” group of Monarchian prefaces given in McGurk 1990 (cited under Prefatory Materials), De Bruyne 1920 offers a critical edition of the Latin prefaces of the Bible. Regul 1969 is also an essential critical study of the families of Monarchian prefaces. Theron 1958 provides an English translation of the Monarchian prologues. All are suitable for advanced students and specialists.
  244.  
  245. De Bruyne, Donatien. Préfaces de la Bible latine. 2 vols. Namur, Belgium: A. Godienne, 1920.
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  247. A frequently cited critical edition of prefaces of each book of the Bible. The Monarchian prefaces edition is No. 6 ‘Mo’ (pp. 170–173); Q = the Book of Kells. Variants from De Bruyne’s edition given in footnotes. Also has an edition of the Eusebian canon tables, pp. 158–170.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Regul, Jürgen. Die antimarcionitischen Evangelienprologe. Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1969.
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  251. Detailed study and edition of the Latin Monarchian prefaces, with tables showing variants. Distinguishes Italian and Irish families, the latter (H) in seven manuscripts, including the Book of Kells. Used for the analytic tables in McGurk 1990 (cited under Prefatory Materials).
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Theron, Daniel J. Evidence of Tradition: Selected Source Material for the Study of the History of the Early Church, the New Testament Books, the New Testament Canon. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1958.
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  255. Has an English translation of the four Latin Monarchian prologues (pp. 56–65). A great help to specialists and advanced students who wish to read these notoriously difficult texts.
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  257. Chapter Lists
  258.  
  259. Although the Book of Kells has a mixed Vulgate and Old Latin text, it has a set of chapter lists, or capitula, originally associated with an Old Latin type of gospel text. Modern scholars have identified many families of chapter lists and assigned them sigla, or letters. The Book of Kells has the “I” set. McGurk 1990 has a succinct discussion of the I set manuscripts and analytic tables of variants in Kells. De Bruyne 1914 has a critical edition of the I set and tables comparing fourteen families. Wordsworth and White 1889 also has an edition of the I set, although without the critical apparatus of De Bruyne.
  260.  
  261. De Bruyne, Donatien. Sommaires, divisions et rubriques de la Bible latine. Namur, Belgium: A. Godienne, 1914.
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  263. Critical edition of capitula set I (pp. 240–268). Convenient tables (pp. 500–526) of modern chapter and verse, Eusebian sections, and 14 capitula families, including the I family (includes several Insular manuscripts); footnotes give variants. The sigla are confusing: Q = Kells in set I edition but not in the tables.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. McGurk, Patrick. “Chapter Lists.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 42–47. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  267. Provides a brief overview of the I family, including table of the manuscripts grouped by text, script, and origin, with an indication for each of the gospel lists in I family. Eight analytic tables showing points of difference between Kells, Book of Durrow, and De Bruyne’s edition. Essential study of Kells’ capitula.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Wordsworth, John, and Henry J. White, eds. Novum Testamentum Domini nostril Jesu Christi latine: Secundum editionem Sancti Hieronymi. Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon, 1889.
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  271. Edition of capitula set I: pp. 19–37, 174–187, 274–306, 492–506. Should be used in conjunction with De Bruyne 1914 and McGurk 1990.
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  273. Hebrew Names
  274.  
  275. The Book of Kells, folio 1r, has the final page of a set of incomplete, abbreviated Hebrew names lists for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The abbreviated lists, which appear in eleven gospel books with Insular associations, apparently derive from St Jerome’s etymological guide to Biblical proper names (Onomasticon, or Hebrew Names). Kells’ list of etymologies has only the final column of the list. The second column of folio 1r bears depictions of the four evangelist symbols in winged zooanthropomorphic form. The text of the list is important to show relationships with other examples, and the evangelist symbols representative of a special type of iconography. McGurk 1998 provides discussion of the textual background and the manuscript witnesses along with an edition of the lists. Wutz 1914 provides detailed discussion of Jerome’s Onomasticon. Lagarde 1959 is a widely available critical edition. Migne 1845 presents the most available publication of a revised 18th-century edition that is still essential because it uses manuscripts left out by Lagarde 1959. Szerwiniack 1994 places the Insular lists in a broader historical context. See also Henry 1974, cited under General Overviews.
  276.  
  277. Lagarde, Paul, ed. Liber interpretations hebraicorum nominum. S. Hieronymi opera, Pars I, Opera exegetica. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 72. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1959.
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  279. Has a critical edition of Jerome’s Onomasticon, including the names for the gospels at pages 134–142. Clarifies some important points in relation to the Insular Hebrew Names. McGurk 1998 points out a few anomalies in this edition. Should be used in conjunction with the revision of Vallarsi’s edition in Migne 1845 and De Bruyne 1920 (pp. 188–191), cited under Prefaces (Argumenta).
  280. Find this resource:
  281. McGurk, Patrick. “An Edition of the Abbreviated and Selective Set of Hebrew Names Found in the Book of Kells.” In Gospel Books and Early Latin Manuscripts, IX. By Patrick McGurk. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.
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  283. First published in O’Mahony 1994 (cited under General Overviews). Puts the Kells’ list in the textual and manuscript contexts. Collation of the Insular abbreviated set with Jerome’s Hebrew Names. The only study focusing on Kells’ list. Has Errata correcting McGurk’s paper essay in O’Mahony 1994 (cited under General Overviews). See also McGurk 1990 (cited under Prefatory Materials).
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Migne, Jacques-Paul, ed. S. Eusebii Hieronymi Liber de nominibus Hebraicis. PL 23, cols 771–856. Paris: Vrayet, 1845.
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  287. Edition of Jean Martianay’s revision of Domenico Vallasi, ed., Venice, 1766–1772. Each book of the Bible; the gospels at cols. 839–846. Remains an important edition because of the number of manuscripts used. Footnotes give variants and further notes. Serves as supplement to Lagarde 1959.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Szerwiniack, Olivier. “Des recueils d’interprétations de noms hébreux chez les Irlandais et le Wisigoth Théodulf.” Scriptorium 48 (1994): 187–258.
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  291. Detailed comparisons of lists in manuscript sources and with exegetical sources. Explores the interpretation and etymology of Hebrew names in Irish and Visigothic sources. Supplements McGurk 1998.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Wutz, Franz. Onomastica sacra. Vol. 1, Quellen und System der Onomastika. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 41. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1914.
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  295. The fundamental work on Jerome’s Hebrew Names. Has extensive commentary covering background of the etymologies. Wutz’s edition of the Onomasticon is in Volume 2, Texte und Register, published in 1915.
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  297. Canon Tables
  298.  
  299. The Book of Kells has a type called “beast canon tables” (having headings with evangelist symbols), the origins of which are disputed. Some of the tables have additions of human busts and figures. The numbers in the columns, however, are sloppily written. Their imprecision alongside a rich iconography suggests that the tables acted as statements of gospel harmony. Nordenfalk 1938 is the seminal study of canon table design and iconography. Friend 1939 pointed to omissions in the tables to suggest dependence on a Carolingian model, swaying opinion on Kells’ date to favor c. 800. McGurk 1998 suggests the possibility of a pre-Carolingian Northumbrian model. McGurk 1990 expands on McGurk 1998 (first published in 1955). Alexander 1990 is a good critical overview that summarizes the beast canon table types and their iconography, along with a critical discussion of the scholarship on Kells’ tables. Netzer 1994 presents evidence for an Insular origin of beast canon tables. Howlett 1996 has the only published English translation of the poem. See also De Bruyne 1920, cited under Prefaces (Argumenta); and Henderson 1987, cited under General Overviews. Meehan 2012, cited under Prefatory Materials, has full-size color illustrations of all ten folios.
  300.  
  301. Alexander, Jonathan J. G. “The Canon Tables.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 268–273. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  303. A thorough summary of art-historical scholarship on the beast canon tables, with special attention to Friend 1939. Points out weaknesses and provides alternate hypotheses. Among the first to incorporate the important discussion by Netzer (see Netzer 1994).
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Friend, Albert Mathias. “The Canon Tables of the Book of Kells.” In Medieval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter. Vol. 2. Edited by Wilhelm Köhler, 611–640. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939.
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  307. Observes two breaks in the canon tables. Suggests the first indicates a model resembling a Carolingian design, and that the second indicates a break in work, during the Viking invasion of Iona in the late 8th or early 9th century. The suggestion of dependence on a Carolingian model has been widely influential.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Howlett, David. “Seven Studies in Seventh-Century Texts.” Peritia 10 (1996): 1–70.
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  311. Has an edition of the Latin poem on the canon tables by Ailerán, with English translation and discussion of the manuscript sources.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. McGurk, Patrick. “The Canon Tables.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 52–57. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  315. Analysis of design and scribal process. Argues, based on comparisons with the tables in the Book of Durrow and a Northumbrian gospel book fragment, the intention to convert a set of grid tables to arcade design and use of a defective arcaded model, perhaps with “beasts.” See also Alexander 1990.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. McGurk, Patrick. “Two Notes on the Book of Kells and Its Relation to Other Insular Gospel Books.” In Gospel Book and Early Latin Manuscripts, IV. By Patrick McGurk. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.
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  319. First published in Scriptorium 9 (1955): 105–107. Response to Friend 1939, suggesting that the break indicates a Northumbrian model for Kells’ canon tables, based on a break at one of the same points in a canon table in a fragment of an earlier gospel book, British Library, Royal MS 7.C.xii.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Netzer, Nancy. “The Origin of the Beast Canon Tables Reconsidered.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 322–332. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  323. Points out the crucial evidence of the canon tables in the Maaseik Gospels and a poem on the evangelical canons by Ailerán, a 7th-century Irish poet, in the Augsburg Gospels, both manuscripts from the Echternach scriptorium. Argues an Insular origin for the beast canons, reopening the possibility of a pre-800 date for Kells.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Nordenfalk, Carl. Die spätantiken Kanontafeln: Kunstgeschichtliche Studien über die eusebianische Evangelien-Konkordanz in den vier ersten Jahrhunderten ihrer Geschichte. Gothenburg, Sweden: O. Isacsons, 1938.
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  327. Essential study of the development and types of design of early canon tables. Sets out the art-historical context for the canon tables in the Book of Kells.
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  329. The Charters (Notitiae)
  330.  
  331. The charters, or notitiae, concerning land transactions on folios 5v-7r and 27r present documentation of the manuscript’s presence at the monastery of Kells from the mid-11th century, evidence for the early medieval Irish forms of documentation of property, precise historical information, clues about the transformation of Irish monasticism in a crucial period, and evidence for the manuscript’s later significance to the Columban familia. Scholars usually consider them not properly charters but rather “reminder” notes (notitiae). The most complete edition of the documents, MacNiocaill 1961 includes the author’s discovery: 17th-century copies of notitiae from lost folios of the Book of Kells. MacNiocaill 1990 provides a compact presentation of the editions, with translations. Herbert 1994 argues a view alternative to MacNiocaill’s on the question of whether the charters are originals. Herbert 1996 puts the manuscript and charters within the Columban context. Davies 1982 sets down the features of northwestern “Celtic” Latin charters. Broun 1995 provides an excellent survey of early Irish and Scottish charters suitable for advanced students and specialists. Sharpe 1986 makes an influential association of Columban monasteries with vernacular charters. Flanagan 2004 is a specialized historical study intended as an aid to further research.
  332.  
  333. Broun, Davit. The Charters of Gaelic Scotland and Ireland in the Early and Central Middle Ages. Quiggins Pamphlets on the Sources of Mediaeval Gaelic History 2. Cambridge, UK: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, University of Cambridge, 1995.
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  335. Short but authoritative study on charter-type documents surviving in sources, 8th through 12th century. Puts the Kells charters into their 12th-century context, describing their documentary nature. Bibliography of primary and secondary sources for each type.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Davies, Wendy. “The Latin Charter Tradition in Britain, Brittany, and Ireland in the Early Medieval Period.” In Ireland in Early Medieval Europe. Edited by Dorothy Whitelock, Rosamund McKitterick, and David Dumville, 258–280. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
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  339. Argues for the existence of a Western Celtic charter writing tradition from the 7th century. Examines sources in ecclesiastic and patristic writing. The 11th- to 12th-century additions in the Book of Kells serve as crucial evidence.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Flanagan, Marie-Therese. Irish Royal Charters: Texts and Contexts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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  343. Focuses on charters issued by Irish kings, 12th to 13th centuries. Provides a collection of the charters and a framework for study of Irish history of the 12th to early 13th centuries. Full of informative observations.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Herbert, Máire. “The Charter Material from Kells.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 60–77. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  347. Argues on a historical basis, rather than a paleographic one, that the records were written into the manuscript contemporary with their contents. A rich presentation of background and significance.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Herbert, Máire. Iona, Kells and Derry: The History and Hagiography of the Monastic Familia of Columba. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 1996.
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  351. First published by Oxford University Press, 1988. An excellent introduction to the Kells charters, including their significance and historic context.
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  353. MacNiocaill, Gearóid. Notitiae as Leabhar Cheanannais, 1033–1161. Dublin, Ireland: Cló Morainn, 1961.
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  355. Edition of all the known Kells documentary materials. The first to include records that were lost from the Book of Kells but survive in a 17th-century copy now in the British Library, London. Essential for scholarly study.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. MacNiocaill, Gearóid. “The Irish Charters.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 153–165. Lucerne: Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland, 1990.
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  359. A short introduction, followed by editions of all the Old Irish texts with English translations and date for each. Footnotes in the translations provide some historical context and references.
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  361. Sharpe, Richard. “Dispute Settlement in Medieval Ireland: a Preliminary Inquiry.” In The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe. Edited by Wendy Davies and Paul Fouracre, 169–189. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  362. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511562310Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  363. Suggests that vernacular charter forms may have some particular association with Columban monasteries in the 11th and 12th centuries.
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  365. Decoration: Surveys, Artistic Context, Style
  366.  
  367. Art-historical study has changed greatly in its focus since the early studies of Insular art in the 1930s. Older studies concentrated on formal qualities and relationships with art of earlier or later periods, exploring possible sources and influences, usually in Late Antique, Byzantine, or post-Carolingian art. From the mid-20th century, art historians related it to native artistic traditions and attempted to reveal its nonclassical aesthetic and cultural values. From the late 20th century, emphasis has shifted to “word and image” approaches, contextual studies, and recent interpretative theories pioneered in other disciplines. Alexander 1990 provides an account of the major questions and methods to the late 1980s. Schapiro 1979 takes aim at divisive methods of art history. Henderson 1982 recognizes important stylistic relationships with Pictish carvings.
  368.  
  369. Alexander, Jonathan J. G. “The Illumination.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Library Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 265–303. Lucerne, Switzerland: Fine Art Facsimile, 1990.
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  371. Combined with the following chapter, Alexander’s “Descriptions of Illuminated Pages” (pp. 304–329), this remains one of the best short surveys of the decoration and full-page pictures. Provides critical review of the scholarship to late 1980s relating to each of the decorated pages and Alexander’s own valuable ideas on production, iconography, and art-historical interpretation. “Descriptions” includes many brief comments on points of interpretation.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Henderson, Isabel. “Pictish Art and the Book of Kells.” In Ireland in Early Mediaeval Europe: Studies in Memory of Kathleen Hughes. Edited by Dorothy Whitelock, Rosamund McKitterick, and David Dumville, 79–105. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
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  375. Brought attention to the neglected Pictish carvings. Important in light of recent archeology of Dunadd and Portmahomack.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Schapiro, Meyer. “The Decoration of the Leningrad Manuscript of Bede.” In Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art: Selected Papers. By Meyer Schapiro, 199–224. New York: George Braziller, 1979.
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  379. Addresses the idea of a dichotomy between the style of the Book of Kells and the classicizing art of Wearmouth Jarrow by comparing folio 114r with the diagram pages from the Codex Amiatinus. First published in Scriptorium, 45.4 (October 1970): 191–207, Plates 23–25.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Graphic Design
  382.  
  383. The visual art of the Book of Kells does not fit readily into categories of decoration or pictures. Scripts, minor and full-page decoration, and figural images merge and harmonize into a visual and verbal unity. The references here present some studies that explore or attempt to give an account of the design aspect of the manuscript’s art. McGurk 1998 first pointed out the coincidence of points in the text given major decoration in the Book of Kells with those emphasized graphically in other early Latin gospel manuscripts. Farr 2005 details the manuscript background of the picture on folio 114r (the so-called “Arrest of Christ”). Stevick 1994 presents ideas on the mathematical basis of design in Insular manuscripts. See also McGurk 1961, cited under General References; Farr 1997, cited under Iconography; Pulliam 2006, cited under Minor Initials, Meehan 2012, cited under General Overviews; and Hull 2003, cited under Technical Studies: Pigments, Vellum, Drawing Techniques.
  384.  
  385. Farr, Carol A. “Commas and Columba, Power and Patrick: Restating the Archaic in the Book of Kells.” In Omnia Disce: Medieval Studies in Memory of Leonard Boyle, O.P. Edited by Anne J. Duggan, Jean Greatrex, and Brenda Bolton, 129–154. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005.
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  387. A comparative analysis supports an argument that the artist-scribes of the Book of Kells created the picture on folio 114r in reference to and specific elaboration of a tradition of textual articulation associated with the community of St. Columba.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. McGurk, Patrick. “Two Notes on the Book of Kells and Its Relation to Other Insular Gospel Books.” In Gospel Book and Early Latin Manuscripts, IV. By Patrick McGurk. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.
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  391. First published in Scriptorium 9 (1955): 105–107. Shows that textual positions of the Book of Kells’ decorated initials and intratextual pictures were not purely individual responses to text or based solely upon aesthetic design, but were determined by a shared Insular tradition of textual articulation.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Stevick, Robert. The Earliest Irish and English Bookarts: Visual and Poetic Forms Before A.D. 1000. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.
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  395. Although the thesis concerns Old English verse, Stevick argues that the same mathematical “commensurability” determines the design of Insular book art, including pages from the Book of Kells, and the meter of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Iconography
  398.  
  399. Both general and some specialized studies are cited in this section, with more specialized ones in subcategories by type of picture or decoration. Werckmeister 1967 was a groundbreaking study using a detailed “word and image” contextual methodology at a time when most art history was concerned with styles and iconographic sources. Henry 1974 remains a useful overview, appropriate for students and nonspecialists. Harbison 1985 suggests that iconographic sources show a 9th-century origin at Kells. Farr 1997 explores the relationships of the intratextual pictures (Temptation of Christ and folio 114r) to early Western liturgies as well as their visual semiosis of interpretations found in patristic and Insular commentaries. O’Reilly 1994 covers much of the major decorated pages’ iconography and the exegetical connections to be revealed through a sensitive reading of the relevant patristic and Insular commentaries. O’Reilly 1993 and Ó Carragáin 1994 argue the exegetical and liturgical associations of the intratextual picture at folio 114r. Farr 1989 is an earlier version of Farr 1997 that has additional material. See also Alexander 1990, cited under Decoration: Surveys, Artistic Context, Style; Henderson 1987, cited under General Overviews; and Pulliam 2006 and Meehan 2000, both under Minor Initials. The studies are appropriate for advanced students and specialists.
  400.  
  401. Farr, Carol A. “Lection and Interpretation: The Liturgical and Exegetical Background of the Illustrations in the Book of Kells.” PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1989.
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  403. Although Farr 1997 gives a more developed form of the ideas and argument, the dissertation has material that was not included in the book, such as the section relating early medieval church dedication liturgy to the Temptation picture (pp. 164–191), and discussion in footnotes throughout.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Farr, Carol A. The Book of Kells: Its Function and Audience. London: British Library, 1997.
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  407. Attempts to explain the reasons for Kells’ extraordinary emphasis of certain points in the gospel text by liturgical context, based on evidence of early Western gospel lections, liturgical texts, and exegesis. Suggests relationships of decoration to public recitation.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Harbison, Peter. “Three Miniatures in the Book of Kells.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 85C.7 (1985): 181–194.
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  411. Looks mainly to Carolingian art as the source of the iconographic elements in three full-page pictures (Christ Enthroned, folio 114r, and Temptation). Revises title of folio 114r as “Christ on the Mount of Olives” instead of “Arrest of Christ.” Concludes a date in the late 820s, at Kells not Iona.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Henry, Françoise. “Iconography.” In The Book of Kells. By Françoise Henry, 183–204. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974.
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  415. An overview of the manuscript’s figural iconography and elements such as architecture, evangelist symbols, the Trinity, and zoomorphic figures. Makes many points still repeated, but often without reference. Some material, such as the “Osiris Pose,” is outdated. Still useful for students and specialists; nonspecialists may enjoy it.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Ó Carragáin, Éamonn. “‘Traditio Evangeliorum’ and ‘Sustenatio’: The Relevance of Liturgy and Ceremonies to the Book of Kells.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 398–436. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  419. A detailed exploration of the figure of Christ in the pose with upraised arms flanked by two other figures or animals, as it appears on folio 114r. Relates it to the liturgical ceremony of sustenatio as one way of understanding its meaning.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. O’Reilly, Jennifer. “The Book of Kells, Folio 114r: A Mystery Revealed Yet Concealed.” In The Age of Migrating Ideas: Early Medieval Art in Northern Britain and Ireland. Edited by Michael Spearman and John Higgitt, 106–114. Edinburgh: Sutton, 1993.
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  423. Gives a detailed account of the picture’s iconographic, textual, and exegetical context. A rich interpretation relating it to the textual context of Insular monasticism along with the monastic techniques of lectio divina that evoked visual as well as verbal images and referred to liturgical forms.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. O’Reilly, Jennifer. “Exegesis and the Book of Kells: The Lucan Genealogy.” In The Book of Kells, Proceedings of a Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992. Edited by Felicity O’Mahony, 344–397. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1994.
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  427. Using the figural iconographic elements in the decoration of the genealogy, this lengthy paper unifies most of the themes of the manuscript’s figural decoration by relating them to patristic and Insular exegesis. An excellent iconographic overview, important for advanced students and specialists.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Werckmeister, Otto Karl. Irisch-northumbrische Buchmalerei des 8. Jahrhunderts und monastische Spiritualität. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1967.
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  431. The first extended attempt to place Insular manuscript art in its monastic context, using patristic and early medieval biblical commentaries and monastic writings as evidence that can be related to the pictures and decoration. Has sections on Kells’ portrait of St. John and the Chi initial page. Essential for specialist study.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. The Minor Initials
  434.  
  435. The Book of Kells has thousands of decorated minor initials. They are one of its outstanding features, but they have only begun to receive scholarly attention, following publication of the first full-color, full facsimile (Fox 1990, cited under Complete Facsimiles). Pulliam 2006 is the only book-length study devoted to the minor initials, their iconography, and their visual operations within the manuscript. Meehan 2000 investigates the significance of iconographic elements of the decoration, comparing them with similar elements in two Carolingian manuscripts.
  436.  
  437. Meehan, Bernard. “The Book of Kells and the Corbie Psalter (with a note on Harley 2788).” In Studies in the Illustration of the Psalter. Edited by Brendan Cassidy and Rosemary M. Wright, 12–23. Stanford, CA: Shaun Tyas, 2000.
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  439. Compares individual iconographic elements with those in the Corbie Psalter and Harley 2788 in the British Library to interrogate their meaning. Elements include zoomorphic types, emphasis on mouths, beard-pulling human figures, and circles. Suggests that the Carolingian manuscripts’ more literal iconography provides keys to Kells’ allusive, ambiguous visual language.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Pulliam, Heather. Word and Image in the Book of Kells. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2006.
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  443. The first comprehensive study of the decoration of the minor initials. Frees the iconography from an overriding determination by dogma or liturgical context to understand the decoration as an artistic response to the text within a monastic context. Touches on a few full-page pictures (Portrait of John). Emphasizes expressionism and individual response.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Evangelist Portraits and Four Symbols Pages
  446.  
  447. Two types of gospel book images that are the most conventionalized are given highly individualistic and sophisticated treatment in the Book of Kells. The two surviving evangelist portraits are so unusual that until recently their subjects have been mistaken for Christ or misidentified. O’Reilly 1998 presents the outstanding treatment of the purposefully ambiguous figures of Matthew and John and the Johannine four symbols page. See also Werckmeister 1967, cited under Iconography; Pulliam 2006, cited under Minor Initials; Henderson 1987 and Meehan 2012, both cited under General Overviews; Farr 2011, cited under “Portraits” of Christ; and O’Reilly 1998, cited under Full-Page Incipits.
  448.  
  449. O’Reilly, Jennifer. “Patristic and Insular Traditions of the Evangelists: Exegesis and Iconography.” In Le Isole britanniche e Roma in etá romanobarbarica. Edited by Anna Maria Luisella Fadda and Éamonn Ó Carragáin, 49–94. Rome: Herder, 1998.
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  451. A rich discussion of early medieval evangelist iconography and relevant patristic and Insular commentaries. Groundbreaking in relating the levels of interpretative meaning to the portraits in the Book of Kells. Uses some Insular exegetical texts that at the time were unpublished.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. “Portraits” of Christ
  454.  
  455. Two of the full-page pictures may be called “portraits” of Christ: folio 7v (Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels) and folio 32v (Christ Enthroned with Angels). One of the earliest surviving depictions of the subject from northern Europe, the Virgin and Child picture has received continued scholarly attention, but the enthroned Christ picture has attracted few extended treatments. Influential earlier studies, such as Werner 1972 and Kitzinger 1956, seek out Late Antique and Byzantine iconographic and stylistic sources. Later studies tend to be iconographic interpretations. Hawkes 1997 relates the Virgin and Child miniature to the sculpted depictions on Iona and to others in the larger Insular context. Farr 2007 gives an account of it as an image of the Incarnation within the context of a gospel book. Pulliam 2011 breaks new ground in studying the significance of color and pattern depicted, primarily in the textiles worn by the figures. Farr 2011 attempts to understand the Christ Enthroned as part of the series of full-page pictures in the Book of Kells. All the studies listed are appropriate for advanced students and academics. See also Lewis 1980, cited under Full-Page Incipits.
  456.  
  457. Farr, Carol A. “Bis per Chorum, Hinc et Inde: The ‘Virgin and Child with Angels’ in the Book of Kells.” In Text, Image, Interpretation: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature and its Insular Context in Honour of Éamonn Ó Carragáin. Edited by Alastair Minnis and Jane Roberts, 117–134. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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  459. Puts together formal qualities, iconographic elements, exegetical themes, liturgical evidence, and the hymn by the Columban poet Cú Chuimne to show how the picture relates to the idea of the heavenly and earthly liturgy. Suggests that it may depict the Virgin and Child present in the community of Columba.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Farr, Carol A. “Cosmological and Eschatological Images in the Book of Kells: Folios 32v and 114r.” In Listen, O Isles, Unto Me: Studies in Medieval Word and Image in Honour of Jennifer O’Reilly. Edited by Elizabeth Mullins and Diarmuid Scully, 291–301. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 2011.
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  463. Attempts to show that the two full-page pictures express related themes of the vision of an eternal Christ in the heavens. Cites the larger iconography of the Passion, Ascension, and Second Coming along with details of the two images, early Christian funerary iconography, and exegetical and liturgical texts.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Hawkes, Jane. “Columban Virgins: Iconic Images of the Virgin and Child in Insular Sculpture.” In Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba. Edited by Cormac Bourke, 107–135. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 1997.
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  467. The most detailed discussion of the Insular iconography of the Virgin and Child. Places the Kells picture within the 8th and early 9th centuries, and argues a reintroduction of iconic images during that period.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Kitzinger, Ernst. “The Coffin Reliquary.” In The Relics of St. Cuthbert. Edited by Christopher Francis Battiscombe, 202–304. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956.
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  471. Gives a detailed discussion of early iconography of the Virgin and Child (pp. 248–264). Brings the example from the Book of Kells fully into this discussion of the Virgin and Child with archangels carved on the coffin of St. Cuthbert, covering stylistic as well as iconographic aspects.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Pulliam, Heather. “Looking to Byzantium: Light, Color, and Cloth in the Book of Kells’ Virgin and Child Page.” In Insular and Anglo-Saxon Art and Thought in the Early Medieval Period. Edited by Colum Hourihane, 59–78. Princeton, NJ: Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2011.
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  475. Expands the discussion of iconography to color and pattern, with references to painting techniques, scriptural sources, and exegesis.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Werner, Martin. “The Madonna and Child Miniature in the Book of Kells, Part I.” Art Bulletin 54.1 (March 1972): 1–23.
  478. DOI: 10.2307/3048928Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. First of two parts, with Part II in Art Bulletin 54.2 (June 1972): 129–139. Places emphasis on Coptic and East Mediterranean iconographic sources but also surveys Western early medieval examples, including the Pictish Brechin carving. Discusses Byzantine iconographic types of the Madonna and traditions and iconography of archangels.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Full-Page Incipits
  482.  
  483. In the Book of Kells, initials of sections of text become full-page pictures. This is one of its most famous features, but until relatively recently the animals, patterns, and figures that massed about and within the letters and monograms were seen as splendid decoration, imitating high-status ornament, but without specific meaning. Werckmeister 1964 was one of the first to argue in detail that the decoration’s elements, including abstract ones, had meaning based on ideas also expressed in earlier and contemporary texts. The “word and image” method, with its potential for the interpretation of geometric figures, was brought to English-language art history in Lewis 1980. O’Reilly 1998 presents the patristic and Insular exegetical background of the decorated nomina sacra, with particular attention to the full-page initials and monograms in the Book of Kells. Tilghman 2011 includes an interpretation of the enigmatic full-page incipit of the Gospel of Luke.
  484.  
  485. Lewis, Suzanne. “Sacred Calligraphy: The Chi Rho Page in the Book of Kells.” Traditio 36 (1980): 139–159.
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  487. Applies an iconographic method to interpret the animals and patterns of the Χρι monogram, folio 34r, and interprets other full-page pictures by relating them to scriptural commentary and liturgical lections. In some instances, ahistorical, but powerful and vibrant in its method.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. O’Reilly, Jennifer. “Gospel Harmony and the Names of Christ: Insular Images of a Patristic Theme.” In The Bible as Book: The Manuscript Tradition. Edited by John L. Sharpe III, and Kimberley van Kampen, 73–88. London: British Library, 1998.
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  491. Detailed exposition of the Insular exegetical traditions behind the full-page nomina sacra that appear in the Book of Kells at the conclusions of the genealogies of Christ in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Connects their presentation with the depictions of the evangelists and their symbols.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Tilghman, Benjamin C. “Writing in Tongues: Mixed Scripts and Style in Insular Art.” In Insular and Anglo-Saxon Art and Thought in the Early Medieval Period. Edited by Colum Hourihane, 93–108. Princeton, NJ: Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2011.
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  495. Explores the Insular uses of Greek and runic letter forms as belonging to Insular Christianity. Sees plays on letters Α and ω in Kells’ Lucan initial that provide a key to the painting’s meaning.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Werckmeister, Otto Karl. “Die Bedeutung der Chi-Initialseite im Book of Kells.” In Das erste Jahrtausend: Kultur und Kunst im werdenden Abendland an Rhein und Ruhr. Vol. 2. Edited by Victor Elbern, 687–710. Düsseldorf, Germany: L. Schwann, 1964.
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  499. Explores integration of human figure with rhombus form, relating it to exegetical texts and cosmic diagrams or schematic depictions. Detailed essay that looks forward to later word and image studies.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Technical Studies: Pigments, Vellum, Drawing Techniques
  502.  
  503. Advances in technology have revealed precise information about the manuscript’s physical make-up. Determination of pigments was difficult until the availability of Raman spectroscopy in the last twenty years. Bioletti, et al. 2009; Meehan 2007; and Meehan 2012 (cited under General Overviews and Reproductions of Single Pages and Details) present findings from examination using this new technology. Cains 1990, with contributions by Meehan on direction of the calf spines, provides the most detailed account of the vellum. Hull 2003 analyzes the construction of elements of the decoration to show how the artists might have been able to create such astonishingly intricate, small-scale designs.
  504.  
  505. Bioletti, Susan, Rory Leahy, John Fields, Bernard Meehan, and Werner Blau. “The Examination of the Book of Kells Using Micro-Raman Spectroscopy.” Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 40.8 (August 2009): 1043–1049.
  506. DOI: 10.1002/jrs.2231Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. The report of the first Raman spectroscopy of the manuscript. The findings revise all previous pigment analyses. One of the most important findings was the absence of ultramarine (blue pigment made from lapis lazuli).
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Cains, Anthony. “The Vellum.” In The Book of Kells: MS 58, Trinity College Dublin: Commentary. Edited by Peter Fox, 177–183. Luzern, Switzerland: Faksimile Verlag, 1990.
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  511. The most complete report on the vellum to date. Essential reference.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Hull, Derek. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Art: Geometric Aspects. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
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  515. An analysis of the geometry of the decoration, showing how its elements could have been created through a sophisticated understanding of the geometric concepts and with highly skilled use of the basic tools of straight edge and compass.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Meehan, Bernard. “Looking the Devil in the Eye: The Figure of Satan in the Book of Kells Folio 202v.” In Making and Meaning in Insular Art. Edited by Rachel Moss, 268–274. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2007.
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  519. Based on the findings of the technical examination reported on in Bioletti, et al. 2009, reveals some previously unknown features of the Satan figure, such as body decoration and stab marks.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. James Joyce and the Book of Kells
  522.  
  523. James Joyce, a great interpreter of the Book of Kells, was inspired by the Crucifixion text on folio 124r, but he also made references to the manuscript and its decoration in many ways, most famously in Finnegan’s Wake. He mocked the commentary in Sullivan 1914 (cited under Reproductions of Single Pages and Details, the second edition (1920) of which he took everywhere on his migrations. The following essays are especially insightful for art historians, paleographers, and historians of the book. Werckmeister 1966 provides the most visually oriented of the essays. Eco 1998 expresses a larger philosophical and linguistic view that is a potential revelation for art historians as well as for scholars of modern literature. Atherton 1974 excavates Joyce’s references to the Book of Kells in his letters and literature.
  524.  
  525. Atherton, James S. The Books at the Wake: A Study of Literary Allusions in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. Expanded edition. Mamaroneck, NY: Paul P. Appel, 1974.
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527. Gives an informative discussion of Joyce’s references to and uses of decoration in the Book of Kells, and of Sullivan 1914 (cited under Reproductions of Single Pages and Details). Provides a careful reading of Finnegan’s Wake and Joyce’s references to Sullivan.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Eco, Umberto. “A Portrait of the Artist as a Bachelor.” In Talking of Joyce. Edited by Liberato Santoro-Brienza, 26–40. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin, 1998.
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  531. This section on the Book of Kells (pp. 26–40) provides a commentary on Joyce’s inspiration in fol. 124r, and on the ways in which Joyce connected it with his themes of language and labyrinth. Puts the work of artists and scribes within a larger linguistic and philosophical view.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Werckmeister, O. K. “Das Book of Kells in Finnegans Wake.” Neue Rundschau 77 (1966): 44–63.
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  535. An examination of Joyce’s interplay of the Book of Kells’ verbal and visual themes with his novel’s themes, by an art historian who wrote on the Book of Kells’ word and image relationships. Relates Joyce’s plays on the manuscript’s art to early-20th-century culture and the modern novel’s beginnings.
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