Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.6.32

Gospel Book ('The Book of Deer')

Contents

Introduction: The Book of Deer (Evangelia) is a Gospel Book written in a hand that was current in the period c. 850-1000 and generally dated to the first half of the tenth century. While the manuscripts to which the Book of Deer is closest in character are all Irish, scholars have tended to argue for a Scottish origin, and it is widely regarded as the earliest manuscript produced in Scotland. Of the four Gospels only the text of St John is complete. Each Gospel is prefaced by a full-page illumination (1v, 16v, 29v, 41v). The manuscript belongs to the category of 'Irish pocket Gospel Books', produced for private use rather than for church services.| | The association with Deer is deduced from additions in Gaelic or Middle Irish (3-5) including an account of the foundation of a monastery by Saint Columba and Saint Drostan and land grants to the house, and a Latin brieve of King David I in favour of the 'clerics of Deer' (40). One entry is dated 8 David I (1131-32). It is reasonable to assume that the manuscript was at Deer in Aberdeenshire when these additions were made. This item was included in the Library’s 600th anniversary exhibition Lines of Thought: Discoveries that changed the world .

1. 1v-15

Excerpts from the Gospel of St Matthew Excerpta ex Evangelio secundum Matthaeum

Language(s): Latin, with additions in Gaelic (or Middle Irish)

2. 16v-27v

Gospel of St Mark Evangelio secundum Marcum

Language(s): Latin, with additions in Gaelic (or Middle Irish)

3. 28v-29

Office for the visitation of the sick Officia divina pro infirmis

Language(s): Latin, with additions in Gaelic (or Middle Irish)

4. 29v-40

Excerpts from the Gospel of St Luke Excerpta ex Evangelio secundum Lucam

Language(s): Latin, with additions in Gaelic (or Middle Irish)

5. 41v-84v

Gospel of St John Evangelium secundum Iohannem

Language(s): Latin, with additions in Gaelic (or Middle Irish)

6. 85

Apostle's Creed Symbolum Apostolorum

Language(s): Latin, with additions in Gaelic (or Middle Irish)

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment

Extent: Codex: 86 leaves. 155 × 110 mm.

Layout

110 × 70 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame and line. Single columns, 22-26 lines to the page, written on the line.

Hand(s)

Insular minuscule

Decoration

Full-page miniatures: tinted in yellow and orange (now much darkened), and framed by bars, often filled with geometric patterns and interlace:

Four figures, lower two with satchels, arranged around cross with star/flower in circle at intersection (1v)
Bearded, seated figure (head partially effaced by staining) holding sword and flanked by two small figures (4v)
Figure with halo and satchell (16v)
Figure with halo and satchel, his hands reaching out through frame (29v)
Figure with satchel, flanked by six small figures (41v)
Two miniatures of four figures arranged around cross with circle at intersection, first showing three of them with their hands outstretched into frame, second including two figures in lower compartments with satchels (85v, 86)

Half-page miniature:

Two figures with satchels at end of St John's Gospel (84v)

Interpretation of the miniatures varies, and the view that frontispieces to Gospels depict Evangelists is no longer universally accepted. Henderson’s interpretation (Henderson 1986), is as follows:

4v, Abraham
29v, Zacharias
41v, Christ
85v, Ascension.

Geddes’ interpretation (Geddes 1998) is:

1v, Two Evangelists and two other figures
4v, Matthew
29v, Zacharias and Luke ‘compressed’
41v, Christ
85v, Empty cross
86, Four Evangelists

Marner’s interpretation (Marner 2002) is:

4v, Christ
16v, Crucifixion
41v, Resurrected Christ surrounded by angels

Ornamental and minor initials: initials (2-5 lines) formed of black interlocking stripes, with geometric infill, tinted in yellow and orange, and human and animal heads projecting from finials, at beginning of Gospels and Creed (2, 5, 17, 30, 42); versals tinted in yellow and orange

Border decoration: Full borders, tinted and/or decorated with knotwork, geometric designs, etc., to all miniatures and openings of Gospels; numerous drawings of animals, birds, human figures or simple fan-like shapes in black ink, some tinted in yellow and orange (e.g., 41v, 44, 45v, 51v, 54v, 67, 71v)

Binding

Full goatskin (Douglas Cockerell and Son, Letchworth, 1963).

An earlier sheepskin Bowtell-style binding of 18th-19th century is kept with the manuscript.

History

Origin: Second half of the 9th century or 10th century. ; Scotland?

Provenance and Acquisition

The Columban house at Deer, Aberdeenshire; probably at Cistercian monastery of Deer, Aberdeenshire, 13th-14th century C.E.

Owned by Thomas Gale (?1635-1702) , 1695.

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 664 (f. 2r) in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697). Acquired from Gale in 1697.

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I (1660-1727) .

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry derives from Western Illuminated Manuscripts: A Catalogue of the Collection in Cambridge University Library by Paul Binski and Patrick Zutshi, with the collaboration of Stella Panayotova, Cambridge, 2011 (used here by kind permission of Cambridge University Press).

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

The Book of Deer, Stuart, John (Edinburgh, 1869)

The Gaelic notes in the Book of Deer, Jackson, Kenneth Hurlstone (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1972)

Celtic Britain in the early Middle Ages : studies in Scottish and Welsh sources, Hughes, KathleenDumville, D. N (Woodbridge, Suffolk; Totowa, N.J., Boydell Press ; Rowman & Littlefield, 1980)

The sword of the spirit, the word of God and the Book of Deer Medieval Archaeology, Marner, Dominic (46, 1-28, 2002)

The art of the Book of Deer Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Geddes, Jane (128, 537-549, 1998)

Abstracts: the Book of Deer Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Celtic Studies held at Oxford, from 10th to 15th July, 1983, Henderson, I., (Oxford, D.E. Evans, 1986)

Studies on the Book of Deer, (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2008)

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.