Title: The Book of Durrow
Contents: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as prefaces, explanatory material, canon tables, and capitula (summaries of the Gospels)
Size: 245 x 145 mm (~9.5 x 5.5 in)
Language: Latin
Library: Trinity College Dublin
Shelfmark: Manuscript A.4.5 (57)
Physical make-up of the manuscript
It consists of 248 folios containing 12 interlaced initials, 5 full-page Evangelist figures, and 6 carpet pages. “It is noteworthy for being one of the earliest known manuscripts to devote a full page solely to ornamentation” (Harbison, 2005).
The text is a copy of the four Gospels in St Jerome’s Vulgate, which was a translation created in the 4th century to be the common Bible, rather than “Old Latin” (Vulgate, 2006; Henderson, 1987). The Gospels appear in the familiar order: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. “Like all Gospel-books of the early Middle Ages, [it] is equipped with prefaces and scholarly explanatory matter” (Henderson, 1987, p. 19). The Book of Durrow also contains canon tables and capitula, which are summaries of the individual Gospels. “It ends with an invocation asking that whoever holds this book in his hands should remember Columba its scribe who copied it in twelve days, but this inscription has been altered and rewritten and if it actually refers to St Columba himself, founder of Iona, it is at best a copy made a century later from one made by the missionary saint” (de Hamel, 1994, p. 22).
For whom written
The first possibility is, of course, that the Book of Durrow was created in the general course of copying manuscripts for the monastery. The monastery may have simply been producing copies of the Gospels for the missionary work that was prevalent in Ireland and Northern England in the seventh century. “The size of the book suggests it could easily slip into a traveller’s saddle-pack and perhaps it was used in several missionary outposts” (de Hamel, 1994, p. 22). This could be supported by the fact that the Book of Durrow did seem to travel a bit throughout history. No matter where it started from, it was in Ireland by the tenth century when King Flan (d. 916) commissioned a cumdach for it. By the early twelfth century it was in Durrow. “As late as the seventeenth century, the Book of Durrow was still being immersed in water to provide a cure for sick cattle” (de Hamel, 1994, p. 39-40).
The second possibility would have it have been written at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. In this case, the monastery and the bishop there may have had a request for a splendid copy of the Gospels made for the purpose of missionary work. “The Book of Durrow, whatever is date, is in general principle the sort of book that we can imagine Bishop Finan of Lindisfarne having as his official Gospels, under the patronage of a powerful and opinionated king, who would want, as royal overlord promoting the conversion of client kingdoms, to display the force and validity of Christianity by physical signs” (Henderson, 1987, p. 40). This is supported simply by the artwork that fills the pages of the manuscript. It is believed to be the earliest manuscript with full-page artwork which speaks to a grandiose exhibition of the Gospels (Harbison, 2005).
By whom written, with analysis of hands
The Book of Durrow was copied by a single monk, but it is relatively certain is that Columba was not the scribe who penned the book even though the colonphon claims such.
The Book of Durrow belongs to the Insular manuscript time period. Examination of the manuscript indicates that the script is Irish (Insular) majuscule. The script contains rounded letters that are closely spaced together; the bodies of the letters are thick and round. The descenders on the letters p and q are short and straight. The ascenders on the letters b and d are short and topped with a wedge shaped serif. “Serifs were formed in the least functional but best controlled manner; minim strokes were broadened at the base with overlapping strokes; arrows marking horizontal strokes were first outlined with the corner of the point and then filled in; single-stroke curves were instead penned in two strokes; and a final reverse stroke overlapped thinning tails to broaden them gracefully as they reached out to touch adjacent letters” (Drogin, 1989, p. 112). Some of the letters appear to be uppercase while still being the same size as those that appear to be lowercase. “Insular Majuscule was an unusual creation in that it contained some letters we recognize as capitals (N, P, R, Z), others we recognize as lowercase (a, b, d, e, etc.), and among them many that could fit either category” (Drogin, 1989, p. 112).
When written/Where written (origin)
The Book of Durrow may have been written in the late 7th century or early 8th century. No one can agree to an exact date or location — Ireland (ca. 650), Iona (ca. 665-675), Lindisfarne (ca. 680) or Northumbria (ca. 687- 721) (de Hamel, 1994; Meehan, 1996).
Provenance
It is not known for certain where the Book of Durrow began. It is known that it was in Ireland by the tenth century as that is when its cumdach was created. It was witnessed being used as a cure for cattle in Ireland some time in the seventeenth century. The Book of Durrow was then brought to Trinity College Dublin by Henry Jones in 1661 along with the Book of Kells (Henderson, 1987). A facsimile copy was made in 1960. If the Book of Durrow has been digitized, the digital copy is not available to the public.
Tomorrow, more about the Book of Durrow.
References
Book of Durrow. (2006). In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved Sept 6, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Durrow.
Calkins, R.G. (1983). Illuminated books of the middle ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
De Hamel, C. (1994). A history of illuminated manuscripts. London: Phaidon Press.
Diringer, D. (1982). The book before printing: ancient, medieval, and oriental. New York: Dover.
Drogin, M. (1989). Medieval calligraphy: its history and technique. New York: Dover.
Harbison, P. (2005). Durrow – Monasterium Nobile. Irish Arts Review, 22(2), Retrieved Sept 6, 2006, from http://www.irishartsreview.com/html/vol22_no2/durrow/durrow_feature.htm.
Henderson, G. (1987). From durrow to kells: the insular gospel-books 650-800. London: Thames and Hudson.
Martin, H. (1994). The history and power of writing. (L.G. Cochrane, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1988)
Meehan, B. (1996). The book of durrow: a medieval masterpiece at trinity college dublin. Dublin: Townhouse.
Muir, B.J., Kennedy, N., and Smith, G. (2003). Ductus [Electronic resource]. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.
Vulgate. (2006). In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved Oct 3, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgate.
