THE BOOK OF KELLS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 19, 11 May 1899, Page 24

THE BOOK OF KELLS.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD

The manuscript of the Four Gospels, known as the Book of Kells, is probably the most complete triumph of illuminative art which the word has ever seen. The highest possible tribute has been paid it by Professor Westwood in his work on Miniatures and Ornamnitation of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts in designating it 'the most beautiful book in the world.' Though the period of its production is still a disputed question, it is traditionally asserted to have been written by Columba, Ireland's artist-saint, who flourished in the sixth century. In the Chiistiau legends of Ireland it is stated that the book was written at the dictation of an angel, and that the designs traced on its leaves were revealed to the artist in heavenly visions. It is imperfect as it exists at present and probably with the portion now missing perished the record of the time and circumstances under which this remarkable volume was produced. It may, however, indisputably be assigned to a period between the sixth and ninth centuries.

The manuscript, originally consisting of 354 pages, is 1 1 inches long and 10 in width. Of these pages, however, five were lost during the various vicissitudes through which it passed ere it came to its present resting-place in Trinity College, Dublin. The initial of every sentence throughout the Gospels is artistically wrought, several of these letters, varying in size and design, being generally presented on one page. The letters are of the semiunical or rounded type generally used by Irish and other Celtic scribes ot the early school. The writing in the Book of Xi Us is mainly in single column across the entire page, inks of black, red, purple, and yellow being used. The ornamentation consists chiefly ot the interlacing of bands, or serpents, and of the divergent spiral or trumpet pattern, which gives it a distinctively Irish character. The designs of the ancient school of art in Ireland are generally considered as twofold ; firstly, the arbitrary or geometrical, of which the trumpet pattern, the triquetra, the interlaced curved lines, and the design! formed of right lines are examples ; and, secondly, the patterns derived from natural forms, such as folaige, birds, reptile.- 1 , fish, quadrupeds, imaginary or monstrous animals and man. Every design in the Book of Kells belongs to either of these two classes. Sometimes we have a whole page filled with mutually connected spirals, alternately expanding and contracting in peculiar trumpet shape. The introduction of natural foliage, too, with its intricate entwining of branches, is eminently characteristic of the Celtic spirit which compelled even the human figure to submit to the most impossible contortions. There are many examples of the sybtem used in Irish manuscripts of carrying portions of long lines from below to fill blank spaces left by shorter lines above. These inserted lines were separated from the concluding ones of the preceding paragraph by a symbol known as ' head under the winy ' (jn Irish, ceann fa cite), or 'turn under the path' (in Irish, cur fa cosari). The form of these symLols were various, but those used moßt generally in later times resemble inverted C's facing each other.

This manscript is particularly valuable on account of the various pictorial representations of different scenes in the life of our Saviour, delineated in genuine Irish style, of which several of the MSS. of St. Gall, and very few others, otfer analogous examples. In addition to the pages occupied with the illumination ot large initial letters each Gospel is preceded by a portrait of the Evangelist ; there are also three groups of evangelical symbols and three central pages containing miniatures of the Virgin and Child, the temptation, and the betrayal. At the beginning of the volume there are several pages filled with Eusebiau canons, written in narrow columns enclosed between highly-ornamented pillars supporting rounded arches, on which the evangelical symbols are again introduced.

Unless the colouring be reproduced no illustration can give any adequate idea of the brilliancy and elaborateness of the execution. The skill with which the colours are blended is particularly striking when we notice that there is a complete abseuee of gold in the Book of Kells, whilst it is in the profusion of gilding that the chiet beauty of the Oriental manuscripts consists. Sometimes the colouring is negative — that is, the ground coloured and the design iormeu by the natural tone of the vellum. The text is far more extensively decorated than in any other ancient copy of the Gospels now existing. A perfection of touch and minute accur icy. which could result alone from the keenest artistic perception, is everywhere yisible. To us the minuteness of detail is simply bewildering. The more powerful the lens with which it is examined, the more thoroughly the consummate skill of the work is realised. There v not the slightest error in the formation of the spirals, not a single fault of interlacement which can be detected throughout the entire book. What the instruments were like with which such a marvellous work was executed is a problem which remains yet to be solved.

Not less astonishing than the perfection of the execution is the extraordinary wealth of imagination displayed. For instance, the Bimple word et is treated hundreds of times, and yet no two examples are quite alike. However, as if to show that the artist's inventive powers were inexhaustible, advantage is taken of every available space left by an unfinished line to insert a figure, perhaps of a bird, or dog, or other animal, not indeed true from a naturalist's point of view, but always ornamental and tastefully coloured. The infinite fertility of imagination, the exquisite harmony of colouring, and the perfection of execution seem almost to verify the tradition that the Book of Kdlt was the work of an angel. 'If you look closely,' says Geraldus Cambrensu6, an historian by no means prejudiced in favour of Irish merit, ' and penetrate the secrets of the art you will dibcover such delicate and subtle lines, so closely wrought, so twisted, and so interwoven, and adorned with colours still so fresh, that you will

acknowledge that all this is the work of angelic rather than human hands.' In addition to its interest as a masterpiece of Irish art, die Book of Kells has still another claim on our interest. Its existoJfce is a proof of the high state of civilisation and proficiency in art which had been attained in Ireland at so early a period, and it is moreover a link between the Christianity of the East and the West.

The ornamentation of the Scriptures by writing them on purple-stained vellum was usual in the earliest days of Christianity. When Constantine transferred the seat of the Rorr-an Government to the eastern portion of his empire, Byzantium became the first capital of Christendom. New types of the art of illumination were .then developed, and in these Byzantine manuscripts of the fifth century we find the first traces of that Oriental splendour of decoration which became so intricate and so various in the hands of Western illuminators. The earliest art of this kind of which traces remain nourished contemporaneously in the extreme east and west of the Continent of Europe; The style of the Byzantine manuscripts soon became a debased mixture of Eastern, Roman, and Christian arfc, lacking both vigour and originality. Thus it continued for more than a thousand years without any further development, till the last faint traces of Christian art disappeared on the fall of Constantinople into the hands of Moslem conquerors. With the Western scribes, on the other hand, an extraordinary variety of idea, progressing with an advancing civilisation, infused fresh instinct and vitality into their work. For many successive centuries books were illuminated in Ireland — principally in the monasteries — which in skill and artistic execution have never been surpassed.

In the eleventh century the magnificent Bhrine within which the Book of Kells was enolosed nearly proved its destruction. The Annals of the Four Masters recorded that the large Gospel of Columb Cille was sacriligeously stolen at night out of the great Church of Kells. Fortunately, however, the manuscript itself sustained little injury— less than it sustained in the hands of the modern binders of our own century. After ' forty nights and two months ' it was found ; but the precious cumdach, or cover of gold and jewels, was gone. During the eleventh ana twelfth centuries a few of the unwritten pages were utilised for recording some charters and grant 3 relating to the monasteries of Kells and Ardbraccan.

The Book of Kelts received its present name from having belonged to the Monastery of Cennanus or Kells, in the County Meath. The foundation of the establishment has been ascribed to St. Columba, but it would appear not to have been of much importance till the early part of the ninth century, when the incursions of the Norsemen on the Island of lon a caused the community who dwelt there to provide a place of refuge in Ireland. Under the presidency of Cellach, the nineteenth successor of Columba as Abbot of lona, a new city ot Coluinb Cille was constructed at Kells. This became the chief station of the Columban community, and the Abbot of Kells was long known and recognised as the legitimate successor of St. Columba.

During the Tudor suppression of monasteries, that of Kells was surrendered to the Crown in 153 i) by Richard Plunket, its last Abbot. The Book of Kelts, which was doubtless the most valued possession of the monastery, soon after came into the hands of Gerald Plunket, of Dublin, from whom James Ussher, afterwards Primate of Armagh, received it. During the rebellion of 1611, Ussher's library, which counted this tamous volume in its manuscript collection, was in Drogheda, the archiepiscopal residence, where it narrowly escaped destruction, aa the town was besieged for four months. Shortly after the raising of the siege, for greater safety, Übsher had his books transferred to Chester, and thence to Chelsea College. Here, however, they proved to be less safe than in Ireland. Owing to a sermon preached by the Archbishop against the Assembly of Divines, the House of Commons inflicted on him the severest punishment possible in his case by confiscating his library. Happily two of the Assembly were more kindly disposed than their compatriots, and contrived — either by obtaining a grant or purchasing it for a small sum — to preserve it for the Primate. Later on, when Ussher was appointed preacher at Lincoln's Inn, he was able to place What remained of his literary collection in the apartments assigned to him. It had been his intention to bequeath it as a legacy to Trinity College, Dublin, where he had been educated, but having met with serious losses in those troublous times he was obliged to bequeath it to his daughter, Lady Tyrrell. The fame of this library was widespread, and on the death of Ussher, in 1606, when the probability of its sale becSme known, both the King of Denmark and Cardinal Mazarin made very large offers for it. Through the interference of Cromwell, however, it was not allowed to leave the Kingdom. It was afterwards bought by the Army in Ireland, who wished to present it to Trinity College. Here Cromwell again interlered and prevented the bestowal of so costly a gift, saying that he intended to erect a building for its reception. But neither the spirit of the times nor of the people was suited for such a work. The library lay for about five years in Dublin Castle, during which time some of the books and manuscripts were either lost or stolen. It was probably at this period that the pages which are now missing from the Book of Kells disappeared. On the restoration of Charles 11. the Irish Howe of Commons moved that the library should be disposed of according to the original fc wishes of Archbishop Ussher, when it was accordingly transferred to Trinity College, Dublin, where it has since remained.

Of this magnificent library, needless to say, the Book of Kells is the most valued treasure. It is the proudest memorial of Erin's golden age.— L. M. CuLLEN, in St. Peter's.