The Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels is the most important surviving treasure from early Northumberland (Nothern England). Written between 710 and 720 in honour of St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who died in 687, it is a masterpieceof book production and a historic and artistic document of the first rank. The manuscript was executed in the Monastery of Lindisfarne, on Holy Island, off the coast of modern-day Northumberland.The Lindisfarne Gospels in the British Library is one of Britain’s greatest artistic masterpieces. It is famous for the superb quality and amazingly intricate design of its decorated pages. Almost everything we know about the origin of the manuscript comes from a note in Anglo-Saxon inserted, probably between 950 and 970, by a priest named Aldred (afterwards Provost of Chester-le-Street), who also put an Anglo-Saxon ’gloss’, or word-for-word translation, between the lines of the Latin text. This note, in modern English translation, reads:
’Eadfrith, Bishop of the church of Lindisfarne, originally wrote this book in honour of God and St Cuthbert and the whole company of saints whose relics are on the island. And Aethelwald, Bishop of the Lindisfarne islanders, bound it on the outside and covered it, as he knew well how to do. And Billfrith, the anchorite, wrought the ornaments on the outside and adorned it with gold and with gems and gilded silver, unalloyed metal. And Aldred, unworthy and most miserable priest, glossed it in English with the help of God and St Cuthbert…’
The Gospels remained at Lindisfarne until 875, when it accompanied the monks on their flight before the invading Danes. From 883 to 995 the Lindisfarne community remained at Chester-le-Street, near Durham, finally settling at Durham itself in the latter year. The manuscript probably lost its original binding at the time of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Early in the 17th century it was by Sir Robert Cotton from Robert Bowyer, Clerk of the Parliaments. His collection came to the British Museum in the 18th century, and from there to the British Library. The Lindisfarne Gospels can be seen, free of charge, in the British Library Exhibition Galleries in London.