The Durham Gospels is a very incomplete late 7th-century insular

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ) is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the roo ...

, now kept in the

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

Dean and Chapter Library (MS A.II.17). A single folio of this manuscript is now in

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

(Pepysian MS 2981). Only two of the fully decorated pages survive: a ''Crucifixion'' (the oldest in English art) and the initial to John, and both of these are in poor condition. There were probably originally

evangelist portrait Evangelist portraits are a specific type of miniature included in ancient and mediaeval illuminated manuscript Gospel Books, and later in Bibles and other books, as well as other media. Each Gospel of the Four Evangelists, the books of Matthew, ...

s and carpet pages, as in other Insular Gospel books conceived on a similar scale. The book was produced at

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

and brought to Durham when the monks of Lindisfarne removed to Durham because of

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

attacks. The Durham Gospels were written by the same scribe who wrote the

Echternach Gospels The Echternach Gospels (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 9389) were produced, presumably, at Lindisfarne Abbey in Northumbria around the year 690. This location was very significant for the production of Insular manuscripts, such as the Durham Gospel ...

, now in Paris. The

Durham Cathedral Library A. II. 10. Gospel Book Fragment Durham Cathedral Library, Manuscript A.II.10. is a fragmentary seventh-century Insular Gospel Book, produced in Lindisfarne c. 650.Nordenfalk, 28 Only seven leaves of the book survive, bound in three separate volumes in the Durham Cathedral D ...

is another manuscript (MS A.II.10) in the cathedral library which is sometimes referred to as the "Durham Gospels", but more usually as the "Durham Gospel Fragment". The Durham Gospels are used at the Enthronement of each new

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

, for the new Bishop to take his oath on. During this service, the most senior first King’s Scholar from

Durham School Durham School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located in Durham, England, Durham, North East England. Since 2021 it has been part of th ...

holds the Gospels for the Bishop to take his oath.

References

{{Reflist *De Hamel, Christopher. ''A History of Illuminated Manuscripts''. Boston: David R. Godine, 1986. *Henderson, George. ''From Durrow to Kells. The Insular Gospel-books 650-800''. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1987. Gospel Books Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts 7th-century biblical manuscripts 7th-century illuminated manuscripts Durham Cathedral Manuscripts held by the University of Cambridge