Features
Gird your loins for a battle against the Devil with the monks of Lindisfarne. We re-create life in the Northumbria of the eighth century, and take a closer look at the decorative pages of the Gospels
Fighting the Devil
Medieval Christians strongly believed the world was a battlefield, in which the forces of good, led by Christ, fought against Satan and his army of demons. The monks at Lindisfarne saw themselves as frontline soldiers in this battle. To them, the Lindisfarne Gospels was much more than a beautiful book. It was also a weapon to be used in their war with evil. As the fifth century Italian churchman, Cassiodorus, explained, “Every word of the Lord written by the scribe is a wound inflicted on Satan."
Life in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
In Anglo-Saxon times, England was a patchwork of kingdoms existing uneasily side by side. The kings of these provinces did not rule on the hereditary principle, but simply according to whether they could wield enough power, and buy enough influence, to see off any potential challengers. Periodic wars and minor skirmishes were an unremarkable feature of life.
Decorative Styles
What makes the Lindisfarne Gospels so visually striking is their range of intricate, and vividly coloured, decorated pages. Painstakingly traced and hand-coloured from a stunning array of different pigments, they contribute to the overall beauty of the Gospels as an aesthetic artefact, rather than just a book.
The Cotton Library
Robert Cotton’s library collection of manuscripts was the most important private collection in Britain (probably ever), which explains why so many of his prestigious contemporaries used it – among them, Francis Bacon, Walter Ralegh and William Camden.
Bede and the Ecclesiastical History
In AD 731, while the Lindisfarne Gospels were being written, the monk Bede was just down the road in a monastery in Jarrow, getting busy with his most famous work "The Ecclesiastical History Of The English People"…
Michelle Brown interview
ICONS talked to Michelle Brown, curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library, about the Lindisfarne Gospels
Ten things…
Ten things that you may not have known about Holy Island and the Lindisfarne Gospels.
