faddan more psalter

Background
Discovered in a midlands bog in 2006, buried under a meter of peat, Faddan More Psalter is the first medieval manuscript discovered in Ireland in over 200 years.

Date created
Around 800 CE

Place created
Unknown, but possibly the monastery at Birr, Co. Offaly, Ireland.

Subject
The only words that conservators could intially make out were "In ualle lacrimarum" ("In the valley of tears") from Psalm 83. This allowed them to identify the book as a Psalter, or book of Psalms.

Physical description
52 or 54 vellum folios in 6 gatherings, approximately 10" x 13", in a limp, tanned-leather cover. It is a working copy or exemplar, with only 2 or 3 decorative carpet pages. The book was dug out from Faddan More peat bog in County Tipperary in 2006 and has been undergoing restoration ever since.

At the time of its recovery the book was described as looking not unlike a pan of lasagna--it had been buried in the bog spine down, pages splayed and crushed. Much of the center part of all the folios is missing and in some cases only 10--15% of the page remains.

The presence of papyrus in the lining of the leather cover was an unprecedented discovery. It suggests a possible link between the insular church of Ireland and the Coptic (Christian) church of Egypt.

History
Nothing is known about who created the Faddan More Psalter or how it came to be in a peat bog. The site where it was found is very near the monastery of Birr (founded by St. Brendan in 550 CE). Ancient artifacts in bogs are not uncommon in Ireland--during peat harvesting, artifacts turn up as earth movers cut great chunks of peat to be processed and used as fuel. Bronze and Iron age tools, timbers, ornamental pins and bowls, weapons, wooden casks of butter and even human remains have been found, but this is the first book.

So how do bogs preserve things? Bogs are made up of partially decomposed vegetation which accumulates at a rate of about one meter every thousand years. Bogs are cloud-fed, meaning that instead of soaking up mineral-rich ground water, they receive all their water from rainfall, which is acidic. Only acid-tolerant plant life thrives there: sphagnum moss, bog cotton, heathers and lichens, etc. Natural bacteria and microbes necessary for decay are inhibited by the natural tannic and humic acids that exist in these plants. Add to all this the fact that bogs are cold, and you have the "perfect storm" of a preservative environment.

Above: Faddan More Psalter after conservation.

Currently Housed
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
www.museum.ie

Can I see it?
Yes! The book is part of the exhibit The Treasury: Celtic and Early Christian Ireland at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, alongside the Tara Brooch, St. Patrick's Bell and other treasures.

Links
Description of the conservation at NMI
Nation Museum of Ireland: Focus on Faddan More

The Faddan More Psalter was not just dropped in a pond--the midland bogs were fully formed by 500 CE. Conservators believe it was deliberately buried...but why? Birr and other area monasteries were raided by Vikings in the 800s, and books would have been among their most valuable possessions. Perhaps it was the librarian-monk of Birr who saved the Psalter.
As barbarian hordes approach, he stuffs the Psalter in a leather satchel and makes a dash for it, scrabbling across the bog and stumbling through puddles. In desperation he quickly hacks away clumps of sod with a knife and jams the book in. Maybe he was unable to find the hiding place later...or maybe he didn't live long enough to retrieve it.

The Irish Peat Board (called Bord na Móna) produces a poster called "Under Your Feet" which instructs workers and residents what to do if they encounter an unusual item while cutting peat or digging: "Mark its location. Leave it in position. Keep it wet. Don't try to clean it. Avoid further cutting in the area." Peat is still harvested, dried and burned as fuel as it has been for centuries in Ireland. Although there is a growing movement to preserve the midland bogs, industrial peat harvesting cuts 5 million metric tons of this non-renewable resource a year.