It is incredibly complete for a text that is so old. These accompany the Latin text: the complete gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke part of John and indexes, summaries and commentary. The painted images are intricate, with tiny details and embellishments from Celtic knots to peacocks and lions, in a variety of bright pigments. The book measures 13x10 inches (33x25 cm), and of the hundred of pages each one is decorated in some way, whether with a large and lavish illustration or through adornment of the text itself. It was done by three anonymous scribes, who are identified in the present day only as Hand A, Hand B, and Hand C. #Illuminated manuscripts have historically been created skin#The Book of Kells is written on vellum pages, historically a type of material made from prepared animal skin (for vellum it was usually calfskin) and used for many of the finer high-quality medieval manuscripts. Bishop Henry Jones (1605–1682), an alumnus and vice chancellor of Trinity College, donated it to the college’s library in 1661. In the 1650s, during the invasion of Oliver Cromwell, it was sent to Dublin for safekeeping. It remained at Kells for the next eight centuries – hence how it came to be known as the Book of Kells. The prevailing theory is that the Book of Kells travelled with them, and was also possibly finished there. At some point in the decades after, the survivors decided to leave the island and relocated to Ireland and a monastery at Kells. Where is the Book of Kells?įrom 795 onwards, Vikings began to strike Iona, and in the year 806 a single Viking raid killed 68 monks. Written in Latin, it contains the four Gospels of the New Testament and would have been crafted by the Celtic monks in the Columban monastery on Iona, circa 800. One of the greatest treasures of its kind, the Book of Kells is an illuminated religious manuscript from the medieval period.
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