Book of durrow

Date created
possibly as early as 680 CE, but more likely early 8th c.

Place created
Most likely Durrow or another monastery founded by St. Columba, possibly Derry. Another theory suggests it was created at Iona, made the journey to Kells and ultimately Durrow.

Subject 
Four Gospels, introductory material, commentary, glossary of Hebrew names, canon tables, et al.

Physical description
245 mm x 145 mm, 248 vellum folios. Suffered some damage from an ill-fitting shrine and was trimmed. In 1954 the Book of Durrow underwent extensive restoration at the British Library—it was unbound, the pages washed, flattened and re-ordered.

History
The Book of Durrow is one of the earliest fully-illuminated insular gospel books—created almost one hundred years before the Book of Kells. It may or may not have been made at the Abbey of Durrow, but we know it resided there from about 900, when the High King of Ireland, Flinn Sanna, had a shrine (or cumdach) made for it. It was later privately held until it was donated to the Trinity College Library (along with the Book of Kells) in the late 1600s.

The Book of Durrow and the Book of Kells are often linked—they are similar in content and style, although the Book of Durrow is simpler and its design work not as fine as the Book of Kells'. It has more open areas on the carpet pages and there are fewer bits of illumination among the lines of text. The depiction of the Evangelist symbols is more stylized and the pigments used are of a limited palette: almost entirely red, yellow and green.

The Book of Durrow contains 6 carpet pages (full pages of abstract design), 4 full-page depictions of each of the symbols of the Evangelists (not the men themselves, as in the Book of Kells or Lindisfarne Gospels) and a separate single page showing all four Evangelist symbols together. The Book of Durrow also contains pages with elaborate illuminated initials, such as the Chi-Ro page.

Scribe
Unknown. An inscription in the colophon claims St. Columba as the scribe and creator of the Book of Durrow, but investigation in the 1980s revealed that the name of the scribe had been erased and St. Columba's name written in its place. This was done (presumably) because a book's spiritual potency would be greatly increased by an association with an important saint.

Currently housed
Trinity College Library, Dublin
www.tcd.ie/library

Shelfmark
Trinity College Library MS 57

Can I see it?
The Book of Durrow is sometimes part of the exhibition of the Book of Kells and related objects called "Turning Darkness Into Light". Objects are rotated in and out and sometimes pulled for analysis by the Preservation and Conservation department of the Trinity College Library. Check here to see which manuscripts are currently on display.

Links
Medieval Latin Manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin

In the early 1600s the Book of Durrow was in the possession of a local farmer. To make a holy-water cure for his sick cows, he soaked the book in water. Parts of the book show water damage and areas of lost pigment and changes to the vellum. A number of pages have a hole in one corner, suggesting that perhaps they were strung on a cord and hung up when not being used by the farmer to make his medicinal tonic.

Look closely at Matthew’s symbol, the Man—he appears to be wearing the distinctive Irish, druidic-style tonsure, with the front of his head shaved and his hair worn long in back. See our Fun Facts page for more about monastic tonsures.

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Why are the Evangelist symbols of Mark and John reversed? In the Book of Durrow, Mark is represented as an eagle (instead of a lion) and John as a lion (instead of an eagle). The standard symbols of the Gospel writers were established by St. Jerome in his vulgate version of the Bible (late 4th c.). The uncommon representation in the Book of Durrow references the pre-vulgate version of the gospels.  If you find of another insular gospel book with this unusual assignment of symbols, please let us know!