The Mac Durnan Gospels or Book of Mac Durnan (London, Lambeth Palace MS 1370) is an

illuminated Illuminated may refer to: * Illuminated (song), "Illuminated" (song), by Hurts * Illuminated Film Company, a British animation house * ''Illuminated'', alternative title of Black Sheep (Nat & Alex Wolff album) * Illuminated manuscript See also

manuscript

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 ...

made in Ireland in the 9th or 10th century, a rather late example of

Insular art Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the sub-Roman Britain, post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from ''insula'', the Latin language, Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland ...

. Unusually, it was in

Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman Empire, Roman imperial rule in Roman Britain, Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the ...

soon after it was written, and is now in the collection of

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament of the United King ...

Library in London.Keynes, "King Athelstan's books", p. 153. It contains the four

gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, without the usual prefatory matter, and has a full-page

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, ...

of each. There is an opening quasi-

carpet page A carpet page is a full page in an illuminated manuscript containing intricate, non-figurative, patterned designs.Moss, 57 They are a characteristic feature of Insular manuscripts, and typically placed at the beginning of a Gospel Book. Carpet ...

with the four

evangelists' symbols In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts. In the New Testament, they bear the following titles: the Gospel of Matthew; t ...

in panels around a cross, and some elaborately decorated

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

pages.

Manuscript history

Information concerning the provenance and history of the manuscript comes from an alliterative Latin inscription which was added on folio 3v, possibly by

Koenwald Koenwald or Cenwald or Coenwald (floruit 928–958) was an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Worcester, probably of Mercian origin. Life Koenwald succeeded Bishop Wilfrith at some time between 16 April 928, when Wilfrith is last known to have ...

(d. 957/8), later

bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...

. It suggests that the manuscript was written or commissioned by Máel Brigte mac Tornáin (d. 927), known as Mac Durnan,

abbot of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

since 888, who is said to have dedicated the book to God.Dodwell, ''Pictorial arts'', p. 92.Keynes, "King Athelstan's books", p. 154. Rearranged in regular metre, the inscription reads: : The manuscript must have left the scriptorium of Armagh soon after for England, since it passed into the possession of

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...

(r. 924–939), presumably as a diplomatic gift. According to the same inscription, Æthelstan presented the book to

Christ Church, Canterbury Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...

. The Mac Durnan Gospels offer a unique glimpse on the Irish connections of Æthelstan's court, which is known to have been attended by at least one Irish abbot, Dubinsi, abbot of Bangor.Ó Cróinín, ''Early medieval Ireland'', p. 229. During the 11th century, six

Anglo-Saxon charters Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the early medieval period in England which typically made a grant of land or recorded a privilege. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s: the oldest surviving charters granted land to ...

were copied into the gospel-book, including

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

s and records of agreements, the latest being no later than AD 1050. By 1574 it was owned by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 to his death. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with Thomas Cranmer ...

. It was probably Parker who had folios decorated with miniatures taken from a 13th-century

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

and gave the work its current binding. After his death, Parker bequeathed all his manuscripts, save the ''Mac Durnan Gospels'', to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

. The reason for this is unknown though he may have gifted to a friend while he was alive. The only known owner thereafter is Brother Howel, a manufacturer of measuring instruments in London, who showed the work to antiquarian and poet

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Conti ...

. The manuscript probably entered the library of Lambeth Palace on the initiative of its director, Andrew Coltee Ducarel, who assumed the post in 1757. However, the work isn't listed in any library records from the time and doesn't make its first appearance in the catalogues until 1932.

Text

The manuscript contains the four Gospels of the

Latin Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...

written in Irish

minuscule Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

script and without their usual prologues. The text is very close to that found in the Echternach Gospels, the

Book of Armagh The ''Book of Armagh'' or Codex Ardmachanus (ar or 61) (), also known as the ''Canon of Patrick'' and the ''Liber Ar(d)machanus'', is a 9th-century Irish art, Irish illuminated manuscript written mainly in Latin. It is held by the Library of Tri ...

, or that of the Gospels of Máel Brigte.
Contents: *F.5-69: Gospel of Matthew *f.69-70: Four charters and two texts on the heritage of

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...

dating from before 1050 *f.72-115: Gospel of Mark *f.117-170: Gospel of Luke *f.172-216: Gospel of John

Decoration

The manuscript's introductory page is decorated with a cross that frames the symbols of the Four Evangelists, an angel, an eagle, a bull, and a lion, each surrounded by a yellow or green frame, along with the four portraits of the evangelists, and the initials introducing each gospel. The interior of the cross is decorated with black and white

Celtic knot Celtic knots (, , , ) are a variety of knots and Style (visual arts)#Stylization, stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the Celtic style of Insular art. These knots are most known for their adapta ...

patterns. Along its length are frames decorated with the same knots alternating with red, yellow and green diamonds. The top of the page on the left has been torn and then glued. The portraits of the evangelists are decorated with the same colors and similar motifs. Matthew holds in his hands a stick and a book in a frame made of interlacing panels and knots (f.4v.). Saint Mark only holds a book and is surrounded by crawling lions symbolizing a throne on which he is seated (f.70v.). Mark's head is surmounted by an animal which exceeds the frame and which looks more like a bull than a lion, thus corresponding to the ancient symbols of the evangelists as seen in the

Book of Durrow The Book of Durrow is an illuminated manuscript gospel book dated to that contains the Vulgate Latin text of the four Gospels, with some Irish variations, and other matter, written in Insular script, and richly illustrated in the style of Ins ...

. Saint Luke, with the geometric head, holds a stick on the ground and a book (f.115v.). Saint John holds in one hand a quill dipped in an inkwell and in the other a book with another quill (f.170v). All the Evangelists are all framed by various motifs of Celtic knots and diamonds, with Saint Luke and Saint John's frames being near-identical. The initials placed at the start of the Gospels have the same register of decoration made of frets and interlacing. Three Gospels are introduced by Evangelist portraits at their opening pages. Four miniatures taken from a thirteenth-century English Psalter have been placed in the incipit of the Gospels; the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

at the beginning of Matthew, the

Flagellation of Christ The Flagellation of Christ, in art sometimes known as Christ at the Column or the Scourging at the Pillar, is an episode from the Passion of Jesus as presented in the Gospels. As such, it is frequently shown in Christian art, in cycles of the Pas ...

at the start of Mark, The Betrayal of Judas at the beginning of Luke, and The Entombment of Christ at the Beginning of John.

Mac Durnan Gospels - Lambeth Palace Lib MS1370 f4v (Matthew).jpg, Portrait of Saint Matthew, f.4v. Mac Durnan Gospels - Lambeth Palace Lib MS1370 f70v (Mark).jpg, Portrait of Saint Mark, f.70v. Mac Durnan Gospels - Lambeth Palace Lib MS1370 f115v (Luke).jpg, Portrait of Saint Luke, f.115v. Mac Durnan Gospels - Lambeth Palace Lib MS1370 f170v (John).jpg, Portrait of Saint John, f.170v.

References

Notes

Secondary sources

*Dodwell, C.R. ''The Pictorial Arts of the West 800-1200''. New Haven: Yale UP, 1993. * *Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí. ''Early Medieval Ireland, 400-1200''. Longman History of Ireland. London, 1995.

External links

Images from Lambeth Palace Library

Illustration in Mac Durnan Gospels, f. 115v
{dead link, date=May 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts Gospel Books Irish manuscripts 9th-century illuminated manuscripts Vulgate manuscripts