The Lindisfarne Gospels
The British Library which now possess this beautiful manuscript states:
“The Lindisfarne Gospels is one of the most important inheritances from early Northumbria. Written and illuminated about 698 in honour of St Cuthbert, the famous Bishop of Lindisfarne, who died in 687, it is a masterpiece of book production and a historic and artistic document of the first rank.
The Lindisfarne Gospels were written and illustrated probably by Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne (698-721). In the mid-tenth century a priest called Aldred added a translation in Old English above the Latin words, making this the earliest surviving translation of the Gospels into English.
“… Almost everything that it is known concerning the origin of the manuscript is derived from a note in Anglo-Saxon inserted, probably between 950 and 970, by a priest named Aldred … who also inserted an Anglo-Saxon gloss, or word-for-word translation, in the spaces 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...'
St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, died in 687; Eadfrith was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721; AEthelwald from 724 to 740. Except for some minor details, the manuscript is thought to have been written and illuminated by Eadfrith and bound by AEthelwald about 698. Subsequently, possibly during AEthelwald's episcopate, Billfrith added gems and metalwork to the binding.
“The Gospels remained at Lindisfarne until 875, when it accompanied the monks on their flight before the Danes. … The manuscript probably lost its original binding at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Early in the 17th century it was acquired by Sir Robert Cotton from Robert Bowyer, Clerk of the Parliaments.”
“Dear Mr. Roberts. I can not accept your ahistorical claims /
The Lindisfarne Gospels...the manuscript is thought to have been written and illuminated by Eadfrith and bound by AEthelwald about 698. Subsequently, possibly during AEthelwald’s episcopate, Billfrith added gems and metalwork to the binding.”
No. As I have pointed out, translations of bits and pieces for the wealthy WAS done. A translation of the whole, even the whole New Testament, for commoners? That was not done, in English, until Wycliffe.