Posted on 01/02/2007 3:18:34 PM PST by blam
Treasure emerges from the mud of history
Dalya Alberg, Arts Correspondent
Conservators say the psalter can be restored, although the centres of all the pages have rotted
To the untutored eye, it looks like a lump of mud, but experts say that an 8th-century psalter found in an Irish peat bog is exceptionally significant. Even though the vellum pages of the early Book of Psalms are a crumpled mass, they are likening it to the Book of Kells, one of the world’s most beautiful illuminated manuscripts.
As the find is thought to date from the late 8th century, the illuminators of both books would have been contemporaries, within ten or twenty years of each other. The two books — among few survivals of an age of outstanding manuscript production — are comparable in their large-format size.
The Book of Psalms — now undergoing a long-term conservation project — was uncovered by chance by a bulldozer digging peat moss in Faddan More Bog, Co Tipperary.
The low level of oxygen and the presence of an antibiotic substance called sphagnum mean that peat bogs offer excellent conditions for the preservation of organic remains.
Conservators have no doubt that they can separate the compacted leaves, although it is a complex process that will take years and the centres of all the pages have rotted.
The remains of a layer of a concealing mat and a leather carrying-bag suggest that the psalter had been hidden deliberately, perhaps to keep it safe from a Viking raid.
Patrick Wallace, the director of the National Museum of Ireland, said: “In my wildest hopes, I could only have dreamt of a discovery as fragile and rare as this. It testifies to the incredible richness of the early Christian civilisation of this island and to the greatness of ancient Ireland.”
The psalter, found last July, is now in cold storage. Rolly Read, head of conservation at the National Museum, said that it was “an incredibly important find” and that the museum was trying to find out as much as possible about it without disturbing it. “It’s still in its excavated state, fully saturated with bog water, which has a sterilising effect. When we work on it, it’s in a cooled room, at 14C (59F).”
Specialists from the museum and Trinity College Dublin — which was given the Book of Kells in the 17th century — are collaborating with international experts on an ambitious project to separate the more than 100 leaves, each measuring 32.4cm by 22cm (12.7in by 8.6in) and with about 30 lines to a page. Decoration on the first page includes an interlaced border and the figure of an eagle.
The psalter, written in Latin, is still in its original binding and is, said Mr Read, of “a very high standard”. Such lavish books would have been produced in scriptoria attached to important monasteries. There were once six such monasteries within about 15km (9 miles) of Faddan More. The nearest was Birr, 7km away.
Eamonn Kelly, the Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum, said that recorded attacks on the monastery suggest why such a valuable manuscript may have been concealed in the bog.
CELTIC MASTERS OF CALLIGRAPHY
The Book of Kells is an illustrated manuscript, produced by Celtic monks about AD800. It is one of the more lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Middle Ages and has been described as the zenith of Western calligraphy
It contains the four Gospels in Latin
The work is accompanied by intricate full pages of coloured artwork, with smaller decorations throughout the text. Purple, lilac, red, pink, green and yellow were used
The name “Book of Kells” is derived from the abbey in Kells, Co Meath, where it was kept for much of the medieval period
No one knows where it originated. Theories range from Iona and Lindisfarne to Kells
The book was presented to Trinity College Dublin in 1661 by Henry Jones, who was to become Bishop of Meath
GGG Ping.
There was a time when that is about all a private person could have in his possession of the Bible. The Psalms. Maybe Proverbs and Song of Solomon.
Celtic culture was amazing - what a history.
Legend has it that Columba's exile was an act of penance, and that he deliberately chose an island out of sight of his beloved Ireland. During a visit to Moville, Columba is said to have secretly copied a book of psalms. When Finnian discovered this, he insisted on having the copy. Columba refused to hand it over, and their dispute was referred to the high king, Diarmuid, who ruled: "To every cow her calf, and to every book its copy". Columba already resented Diarmuid for slaying a youth to whom the saint had given sanctuary and he persuaded his kinsmen to wage war. Diarmuid was defeated at Cuildreimhne, Co. Sligo and Columba was blamed for the hundreds of dead. When a synod called on him to make amends by converting an equal number of pagans, he opted to work among the Picts of Scotland.Columba of Iona
Wiki--
C'est à Aix qu'arriva en 802 l'éléphant blanc, présent du calife de Bagdad Harun ar-Rachid. L'empereur fut enterré dans cette chapelle en 814.
LOL. Aix means water, from the old Latin--It was a Roman camp first.
Ping
Happily corrected! Thank you!
(Alas, my memory fades!)
Alas, I have recalled 2 saints who did different things!
It was some other Irish saint who went as missionary to northern europe!
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Thanks for the ping!
I bet there is an interesting story on how it was found.
Fol. 7v: Virgin and Child. The miniature stands at the beginning of St. Matthew's Gospel. Mary rocks the infant Jesus in her arms who turns to look at his mother. Four angels surround mother and child. Between them semi-circles filled with interlaces. The scene is framed with interlacing zoomorphic designs. This type of depiction is most rare for a Gospel Book.
Fol. 182v/183r: Embellished text page initiating the narrative on the Crucifixion according to St. Mark (15,24).
https://secure.webland.ch/faksimile/werke/frame_werke.php?l=e&nr=1
Thanks!
I was just reading about St. Columba recently, that's all -- happened to remember it. Cute little book of saints for kids - called "Saints for All Seasons".
Sounds like it. Get the info to them early. I don't think I could engage my children about the saints any longer.
My 16 year old son is going through an atheistic phase.
My 18 year old daughter wants to join Opus Dei. Go figure.
I've got him in contact with a youth minister who happens to be from another denomination but is a godly man -- also in the Navy Sea Cadets with a bunch of good role models -- we're trying!
(A nice Catholic girl from my daughter's orbit would be a GOOD thing too!)
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