The Book of Kells

Carl Jung, analytical psychologist, coined the name, ‘synchronicity’ in which he posited an

underlying pattern beneath everyday actions which accounts for unexpected, unpredictable

events. In other words, meaningful coincidences occurring with no apparent causal relationship yet seeming to be significantly related. He introduced the concept in the 1920s but did not further define it until 1951 in a public lecture when he used the word in arguing for the paranormal. He suggested that events could be connected by causality but also might be connected by meaning.

 Three of the ten major full-page illustrations, showing
St Matthew, St. John and Virgin & Child with angels.

Synchronicity may be too grand and sweeping a term but it immediately came to mind when a friend recently gave me an illustrated introduction to the Book of Kells by Bernard Meehan together with a small companion guide to the imagery, history and symbolism of the Book of Kells by Ben Mackworth-Praed. Immediately, back came a very strong memory of the admiration, even envy, that I had felt in the 1970s when a colleague told me that he and his wife had just ordered a copy of the about-to-be-published, full colour facsimile of the Book of Kells. I now see that the art publishers, Thames and Hudson, under licence from the Board of Trinity College, Dublin, published a facsimile edition in full colour in 1974. I cannot remember the cost but at the time, it was so huge to me in 1974 [with three children aged between 10 and 12 to provide for] as to be totally unattainable! The lucky collector eventually brought in his newly-acquired pride and joy to show to me. It was indeed, a delight to see, unattainable but powerfully beautiful.

 Ruins of the Abbey of Kells

For the uninitiated, the Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript in Latin of the four Gospels of the New Testament together with prefatory texts and tables. It is a work of outstanding beauty, created by Celtic monks around 800 A.D. in a Columban monastery in either Iona or Kells and housed for centuries in the Abbey of Kells. The Abbey of Kells in County Meath, Ireland, was re-founded by the monks from Iona on the Isle of Mull, off the coast of Scotland, and built between 807 and 814, the relocation coming as a result of devastating Viking raids which began on Iona in 794.These brutal raids dispersed the monks and their holy relics further afield into Scotland and Ireland. However, Kells, too, in its turn, was repeatedly raided by the Vikings during the 10^th century.

The illustrations and ornamentation in the Book of Kells, are stunning, combining traditional Christian iconography with the swirling, ornate motifs typical of British art, known as Insular Art. There are ten full-page illustrations, and many text sheets featuring decorated initials and interlinear miniatures with

Detail of lion head decoration

 Peacock, above
Dove, below

figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts plus Celtic knots, all adorning the 340 calf vellum folios. [folios are separate sheets, written on one side only] The exceptional quality of the art attests to the fact that at the period of the production of the Book of Kells, the monastic community responsible for it, must have been rich and stable with an established library and a large number of scribes and artists. Furthermore, that community included several monk-artists of conspicuous, indeed, superlative, talent, in itself, an act of synchronicity!

Three artists seem to have produced the major decorated pages. One monk was capable of such fine and delicate ornamentation that his sophisticated skills have been compared to those of a goldsmith. Four major scribes copied the text, each with his own individual style and characteristics, but all working within the traditions of what was known as the scriptorium style. One scribe, for instance, was in the habit of leaving the decoration of letters at the beginning of verses to an artist while perhaps the last scribe to join the enterprise is probably responsible for the bright colours, purple, red and yellow, used on some folios and is also the one with the habit of filling spaces with unnecessary repetition of certain passages. It has not been determined if artist and scribe, in some cases, might have been the same monk.

Chequered History.

The Annals of Ulster, describing the Book of Kells as ‘the chief treasure of the Western world’, record that it was stolen from the western sacristy of the great stone Abbey at Kells, in 1006 by raiding Vikings, chiefly for the extravagant ornamentation and wealth of its enclosing shrine. The Book was eventually discovered, 'after two months and twenty nights' without the shrine and with several pages at the beginning and end ripped out when the valuable shrine was hurriedly torn off, and the Book thrown ‘under a sod’. When rescued, it remained at Kells throughout the Middle Ages, venerated as the great gospel book of St Colum Cille. In the late 11th

 Book of Kells, facsimile edition

and 12^th centuries, following contemporary, monastic custom, blank pages and spaces were used to record property transactions relating to the monastery at Kells. In 1090, it was reported that relics of Colum Cille, [St Columba and founder of Iona in 561 and the Saint to whom the Book of Kells was probably dedicated] including ‘the two gospels’ had been brought to Kells from Donegal. The two gospels were probably the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow. The Book of Kells was always referred to as 'the great gospel book of Colum Cille 'throughout the Middle Ages.

After the Cromwellian rebellion of 1641 when the abbey at Kells lay in ruins, fit only for stabling, around 1653, the Book of Kells was sent for safety to Dublin by the Governor of Kells, the Earl of Cavan. Eventually, in 1661, when Henry Jones, Vice Chancellor of the University of Dublin became Bishop of Meath, he had the Book transferred to Trinity College where it has been on permanent public display since the mid 19^th century. It was from this period that the Book of Kells gradually assumed the role of art object. Two of the four volumes are always exhibited, one showing a page of a major illustration and the other a typical text page. It currently attracts over 500,000 visitors each year.

 The famous Chi-Ro page introducing
St Matthew's account of the Nativity.

Cloisters at Iona.
Iona is a small island, only 5.5 x 2.5 km at its greatest. Large enough
to support a big monastery, nonetheless, its size and position left it vulnerable
to Norse attacks. One raid, in 806, left 66 dead and triggered the
first moves of survivors to Kells in 807.