SIGNIFICANCE OF
THE BOOK OF KELLS
Luchia Lee-Howell
“Everyone has the right
freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts
and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.”[1]
The Book of Kells is recognized by UNESCO in
the Registered Heritage of the Memory of the World, contains iconic symbols of
Irish culture, is identified with the influential role of the monasteries of
Columba in European medieval history, and has attracted much attention from
various levels of society internationally. As de Hamel writes of the Book of
Kells, “‘the most precious object of the Western world’ is now a national
monument of Ireland at the very highest level. It is probably the most famous
and perhaps the most emotively charged medieval book of any kind.”[2] The
UNESCO inscription of Documentary heritage submitted by Ireland in 2010 and recommended by UNESCO in 2011 for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register[3] reads:
“The Book of Kells is widely regarded as Ireland's greatest historical treasure and is one of the most spectacular examples of medieval Christian art in the world. Its fame rests principally on the impact of its lavish decoration, the extent and artistry of which are incomparable. The decoration ranges in complexity from full folio compositions based around initials or portraits, to small details used to augment and emphasise text. Each page contains decoration. The Book of Kells attracts around 500,000 visitors to Trinity College Dublin every year, and functions for many both in Ireland and further afield as a cultural symbol of Ireland.”[4]
“The Book of Kells is widely regarded as Ireland's greatest historical treasure and is one of the most spectacular examples of medieval Christian art in the world. Its fame rests principally on the impact of its lavish decoration, the extent and artistry of which are incomparable. The decoration ranges in complexity from full folio compositions based around initials or portraits, to small details used to augment and emphasise text. Each page contains decoration. The Book of Kells attracts around 500,000 visitors to Trinity College Dublin every year, and functions for many both in Ireland and further afield as a cultural symbol of Ireland.”[4]
The sentiment that the Book of Kells is the
“most purely Irish thing”[5] (Fig. 3) indicates
its role in national identity, and its evidence of high Irish artistic and
religious achievement almost four centuries before the Anglo-Norman invasion of
Ireland in 1170. Its visual splendour evinced in the lavish decoration by
interlace symbols (Fig. 4 a-d), swirls, spirals, animals (Fig. 5 a-m), interlocking
beast heads and bodies (Fig. 6 a-c), is a signifier of national culture and
symbolizes the power of learning and the impact of Christianity on the life of Ireland, and the spirit of artistic imagination.
While this political dimension, both now and
to the authors of the Annals of Ulster, may have caused understandable
“patriotic bias”[6] in favour
of this book, it is the best known medieval manuscript in the world, and was
much admired and copied across Europe. Symbols from the Book of Kells permeate
daily life in Ireland and are found ubiquitously on commercial products aimed
at the tourist market. Designs echoing elements of the Book of Kells have been
used on the former penny coin of Ireland from 1971 to 2000 and in a
commemorative twenty-euro piece in 2012. In addition, elaborated initials from
it were shown on the reverse of the old Irish five-pound banknote[7]
(Fig. 7 a-c). A detail from the composition on fol. 7v – the Virgin and Child - was reproduced by
Patrick Scott (1921- 2014) in his design for an Irish postage stamp in 1972. (Fig. 8 a-d) And in 2018 folios 99v and 141v were
reproduced on a set of stamps.[8] In souvenir
stores such as the chain store Carols, its pictograms have been reproduced on
millions of tea boxes and tea towels, scarves, ties, brooches, beer bottles,
cufflinks and place mats.
The aesthetic aspects
of the Book of Kells bring a significant
sense of inspiration that does not require years of study.
“Look more keenly at
it and you will penetrate to the very shrine of art. You will make out
intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and compact, so full of knots and
links, with colours so fresh and vivid.”[9]
Even
the otherwise disparaging Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales 1146-1223)
writing in Topographia Hibernia
records looking at a marvellous manuscript in Ireland, “on one page you see the
face of God, drawn in godlike fashion-in another, the forms of the Evangelists
with either six, four, or two wings.”[10]
Because of this description, many scholars are not convinced that Giraldus was
talking about the Book of Kells.[11]
As Ann Dooley flatly states, “The book of Kells is not, pace Gerald of Wales, ‘the work of angels;’”[12]
the monks who created this great manuscript were professional in their handling
of both the words and its decorative agenda. The Book of Kells conveys glowing
energy - visible and compelling. De Hamel identifies a key point for any exhibition of
the Book of Kells:
“An Insular Gospel was a work of art. It was a sacred
object and a tangible symbol of divinity…It was a catalyst for religion and a
central implement of the liturgy, but it was not primarily for textual study. Mere reading was secondary – to most
of the modern public; queuing to see it in the Treasury in Trinity College
today, it is not much different.”[13]
Since the Book of Kells is a religious document, put aside the academic
perspective for a moment to take theology into account. As St. Bonaventure might have framed the analysis, the church has the
special task of shaping the will in accordance with piety, and
“… it employs the modus which …
proceeds by way of precept, example, exhortation, revelation and prayer. On the
other hand, the lesser sciences have the task of educating the intellect, and
they employ the modus which
proceeds through definition, analysis, and deduction.”[14]
While the
fruits of scholarship can inform appreciation of the Book of Kells, the public
may approach the book from a more spiritual stance.
“The Book of Kells,
famed for is pure visual splendour, may become even more alive and meaningful
in our imaginations if we begin to learn how it may have functioned as a gospel
manuscript within the larger context of the Christian elite and the early
medieval western Church”.[15]
Turning from theology to ecclesiastical history in early medieval Europe, Christianity had flourished
in Ireland since the mid-fifth century, led by St Patrick and others. Colum Cille (St. Columba c. 521-597), one of
the most influential Irish saints, established a monastery in 563 on Iona, an island off
the western coast of Scotland but not far from Ireland. Other monasteries were
to follow, for example, that at Durrow, and the one at Lindisfarne founded by St Aidan, a monk from
Iona. Since Colum Cille came from a
powerful family that supplied kings of Tara, inevitably the monasteries he
founded played a sustained role in medieval politics. St. Columba’s ecclesiastical
power was embodied not only in relics, but also in Insular manuscripts such as those from Kells,
Lindisfarne, and Durrow. Monasteries at Armagh and in southern Britain provided
competition. The Columban monasteries prospered for over two centuries and were
a principal command post for the dissemination of Irish Christianity into
Britain and across into Europe. For example, in the later 6th century, the
monks of Columbanus relied founded monasteries in France and at Bobbio in
Lombardy.[16]
St Augustine landed in south-east England in 597 and successfully
presented Christianity to King Ethelbert of Kent. A second delegation of
missionaries was sent out to consolidate Augustine’s work about AD 601 with the
necessary items for worship and ministry of the church. Bede indicated that
these included “sacred vessels, altar cloths and church ornaments, vestments
for priests and clerks, relics of the holy apostles and martyrs, and very many
books.”[17]
These books were impressive when missionaries were trying to convert the mostly
illiterate pagans with the literary message associated with Christianity.
Christianity reached England by two different
routes – directly from Rome when it ruled Britain and later in the missions of
St. Augustine of Canterbury and others, and indirectly from Ireland primarily
via the efforts of Columban monks. In a few doctrinal matters, due to their
distance from Rome, some elements of the Irish church had developed different
customs. The most critical of these was the method of calculating the date of
Easter.[18]
In 664 at the Synod of Whitby, these differences were adjudicated in favour of
the Roman practice. Another division had arisen, between the Italian books
which used the uncial script, and the Irish script, accompanied by the delicate
Irish interlaced and animal-filled initials. In time, the great majority of
those books produced in the islands – England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales –
used the Irish script, which is now called Insular. The resulting style,
Insular Art, has its finest exemplar in the Book of Kells. It is one of the
first Insular books to contain illustrations of scenes in the life of Jesus, in
addition to the abundant marginal decorations, the elaborate decorations of
initial letters (Fig. 9 a-e), plants and animals, human figures, and interlace
patterns.
Other manuscripts in this tradition include
the Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV), dating
from 715-720; the Book of Durrow (TCD MS. 57) from around 700; the Echternach
Gospels (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 9389) from approximately 690; the Bangor
Antiphonary (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS. C.5.INF) written in Bangor,
Ireland probably between 680 and 691; the Book of Dimma (TCD MS. 59) dating
from the late 8th century; the incomplete Durham Gospels (MS A.II.17) of the
late 7th century; the Book of Mulling (TCD MS. 60) possibly from the
8th century, and the Book of Armagh (TCD MS. 52) written around 807.
Today, Insular, manuscripts are scattered right across northern Europe (Fig. 10a
to s- the Insular manuscript family), having been carried by itinerant Irish
monks.[19]
To place the Book of Kells in its historical
context, consider its origin. There is tentative agreement that it is the
product of monks in the group of monasteries founded by St. Columba, the most
prominent of which was the one at Iona. Modern analysis suggests that it was
begun at the end of the eighth century.[20]
The book may have been intended for the bicentennial of the saint’s death, and
thus started by 797. During this period Ireland was coming under pressure from
the Vikings. In 792, they first raided Iona;(Fig. 11) returning in 802, they
burned the monastery before leaving. During their visit in 806 they killed 68
monks and by 825, they destroyed the monastery. Many of the monks relocated to
a safer position inland, in the county of Meath at the village of Kells (Fig. 12)
where St. Columba had founded an abbey in 564. The monastery in Kells thus
became the new centre for the Columban community. However, even Kells suffered
repeated incursions. Scholars have championed various theories, none of which
has yet been proven: the book was completed in Iona; started in Iona and then
completed in Kells; written entirely in Kells; or created in another Columban
monastery.[21]
The superlative calligraphy and artistry of the Book of Kells suggest that it
was produced in a stable environment. If so, perhaps this was at Iona between
the Viking raids, rather than at a hastily assembled scriptorium in Kells.
Contentions that the Book of Kells is of uneven artistry or even unfinished
support the provisional nature of manuscript-making facilities at Kells. But
further information is required for a definite conclusion. There is no definite
evidence that the Book of Kells was not produced at yet another Columban
monastery, although such a suggestion would need to account for the presence of
the book at Kells.
The Book of Kells
consists primarily of the four Gospels - written in Latin and following the
Vulgate text of St. Jerome’s translation of the Bible in 384 - with occasional
lapses into the earlier Old Latin which the new translation had supplanted. A substantial
amount of material precedes the four Gospels. First is a set of Eusebian canon
tables (Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 a-i), occupying 10 folios and showing concordances
among the Gospels. These are followed by Breves
causae which summarize the Gospels, and then Argumenta (Figs. 15 and Fig. 16 a-f), or prefaces to each Gospel.
The canon tables in the Book of Kells are unusable since the text of the
Gospels was not divided and numbered. A. A. Luce summarizes the attitude that
valued ornamentation over utility: “My book is written for the glory of God,
not for the convenience of learning.”[22]
This outlook parallels the expressions of Diderot, who wrote passionately in defence
of the artist’s freedom.[23]
It would also resonate with an Islamic visitor who kept in mind the Sufi ideal
of valuing a personal connection with God above
all. Elaborate planning must have gone into creating the Book of Kells, with
the scribe leaving room for illustration, and this might recall the geometric
forms of the detailed Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas that are destined to be
destroyed once completed. The sustained attention required of the scribes, who
produced page after page of uniformly shaped script, finds an echo in the
Buddhist ideal of intense concentration.
One of the glories
of the Book of Kells is the precise script, known as insular majuscule. While
most authors understandably concentrate on the endlessly fascinating pictorial
elements of the illustrations, the Book of Kells is composed of 340 folios, of
which 23 are either full-page illustrations or text, such as that on initial
pages of a Gospel, which is so complicated as to approach illustration. The
other 317 pages are text, and full appreciation of the book cannot be claimed
if 93% of it is disregarded.
Early gospel books were used by missionaries
in converting people to Christianity. Bibles in the early Christian era were
very long and bulky. Thus, they were less than ideal for travelling
missionaries; gospel books were much more convenient. A gospel book could quite
adequately supply the basis for explaining the word of God to a largely
illiterate audience. The Book of Kells is distinguished for the extent of its
illustrations. So, while the Book of Kells would have been quite impressive as
a conversion aide, by the time of its creation around 800, it would not have
found much use in this capacity. Given the numerous uncorrected textual errors,[24]
it likewise would not have been useful as a scholarly resource.[25]
This suggests that it was intended mainly to impress from a distance, to
support the prestige of the Columban community, and for ceremonial and
liturgical purposes. The numerous crosses and evangelist symbols (Fig. 17 a-d) and
other Christian imagery would also have had a function as talismans to ward off
evil. The surest way for a monastery to acquire a gospel book was by producing
it in its own scriptorium. Such a scriptorium would need not only writing
materials but also skilled scribes and artists.
The more
recent history of the Book
of Kells, is almost as unclear as its formative years. It was in Kells in 1007,
for the Annals of Ulster record that it was stolen in that year from the great
stone church of Colum Cille, and subsequently recovered.[26]
Kept in Kells for several centuries, probably in 1653, according to Meehan it
was sent by Charles Lambert, Governor of Kells, to Dublin for safekeeping,
following the great damage done to the town of Kells in the Irish rebellion of
1641.[27] It
was donated to Trinity by Bishop Henry Jones in 1661.
A value to
Trinity that cannot be overlooked is the university’s ability to play a role in
facilitating the incremental expansion of knowledge regarding the Book of
Kells, to enable the deduction and marshaling of relevant data that constitutes
research on manuscripts. Such scholarship leads to likely scenarios which seem
to be in the best agreement with current understanding. Seminars and
conferences on different topics related to the Book of Kells and Insular art have
frequently been held on campus and at other institutions. For example, in 1992, a conference concerning
the Book of Kells was held at Trinity, and the proceedings of 27 scholarly
essays in 603 pages published.[28]
Also the International Insular Art Conference, has convened the conferences in
Cork in 1985; in Edinburgh in 1991[29],
in Belfast in 1994[30];
in 1998 in Cardiff[31];
in 2005 at Trinity [32]; in
York in 2011[33]; Galway,
Ireland in 2014[34]; and
in 2017 in Glasgow.[35]
(for details, see Appendix Two). The Trinity Long Room Hub held a “Beyond the
Book of Kells” lecture series[36]
focusing on other books and manuscripts in Trinity’s collection. This unique
academic lecture series crossed disciplinary boundaries to address art
historians, medieval historians, archaeologists, biblical scholars, artists,
scientists and calligraphers.
Another
concern of conservators is the history of rebinding of the Book of Kells. According to Meehan, the
book has been rebound at least five times, counting the rebinding that must
have followed its theft in 1007 which destroyed the cover; there is no record
of this rebinding. Four rebindings have taken place while it was in Trinity’s
possession. In 1742 John Exshaw rebound the manuscript as part of general
overhauling Trinity’s library.[37] In 1825 or 1826, George Mullen cleaned the
margins, trimmed the pages, and added white paint to improve the definition.
Mullen cut the top and bottom of numerous pages, an operation most clearly seen
on the St. John portrait page. Sir Edward Sullivan described[38]
this rebinding as ignorant. In 1895 the binding again needed repair, and Galwey
of Eustace Street in Dublin rebound it. The book was most recently and
competently rebound by Roger Powell in 1953 (Fig. 18). He completely restored
it, dividing the Book of Kells into four volumes. In this way, the codices on
display can be rotated, thereby minimizing exposure. The page in the books on
exhibition at the Old Library is turned once every three months.
Another
value to Trinity is that much student and faculty research, teaching and public
lectures are based on the Book of Kells. The book exhibition makes a major
contribution by inspiring artists (Figs. 19, 20, 21, and 22) and acquainting
members of younger generations with Irish culture. For a university that was a
bastion of Protestant privilege during much of Irish history, on whose campus
armed men were deployed during the Easter Rising to defend it against the
revolutionaries, stewardship of this iconic signifier of Irish culture provides
a link to the local population.
In 1821 and 1849, the Book of Kells was shown
to George IV, and in 1849 to Queens Victoria and Prince Albert.[39]
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh (Fig. 23 a, b) visited in 2011.
Mary McAleese, then president of Ireland, gave a speech at the launch of the
Book of Kells Exhibition Turning Darkness
into Light.[40]
Trinity boasts on a website[41]
that (Fig. 24 a, b, c) Mrs. Obama and her children, US Vice President Joe
Biden, Prince Charles, Sir David Attenborough, Hillary Clinton, President and
Mrs. Carter, Al Pacino, Michael Palin, Bruce Springsteen, Pierce Brosnan and
Julia Roberts have all visited the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells lends
Trinity College immense international prestige.
[2] (de Hamel, 2016) ; p. 99. ‘the most precious
object of the Western world’ are the words of the Annals of Ulster, U1007.11
[3] (The United Nations of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Orgnization,
2017) ;
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/book-of-kells
[4]
Ibid.
[5] (Power, 1940) ; p. 67. Quoting a
letter from James Joyce “… It is the most purely Irish thing we have, and some
of the big initial letters which swing right across the page have the essential
quality of a chapter of Ulysses.”
[10]
Ibid.; p. 84.
[14]
(Minnis, et al., 1988 repr. 2003) ; p. 200. As cited in (Thompson, 2018) ; Medieval History
seminar.
[16] (Brown, 1989) ; p. 29. St. Columba was
only the first of a long line of Irish monks who were travel to the continent
during the 6th to 9th centuries.
[18] Ibid.;
p.22.
[19]
Ibid.; pp. 14-15.
fol. 27v
Source: Meehan,
B., 2012. The Book of Kells: with 250 illustrations, 230 in colour;
p.62
folio 202r
Elaborate design and patterns, interlace, spiral, trickles
Source: Meehan, B., 2012. The Book of Kells: with 250 illustrations, 230 in colour; pp. 152 & 148
by author
folio 34r
Elaborate
design and patterns, interlace, spiral, trickles
Source: Meehan, B., 2012. The
Book of Kells: with 250 illustrations, 230 in colour; pp. 152 &
148
by author
This
elaborate design is constructed from dots, circles and lines. Spiral ornament
is Celtic and a difficult to master because its visual grammar is subtle and
complex, with sophisticated interlaced, interlocking, and interwoven braids. Knotwork
had a simple formula and was well known in European art. Classical plant and vegetal motif used
palmettes, vine scrolls, lotus buds, and peltae either as symbols or
decorations. Variants of spirals, running scrolls and wave tendrils, triskeles,
and tubular whorls.
The book of Kells manuscript used to be displayed in the long room with other library collections
Source: (Claddagh Design , 2018) ; https://www.claddaghdesign.com/history/irish-treasures-the-book-of-kells/
(above essay taken partially from Luchia Lee-Howell's postgraduate thesis
PRESENTING THE PAST TO THE FUTURE
A Curatorial Perspective on Exhibiting Trinity’s Book of Kells)
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