Читать книгу Irish History: People, places and events that built Ireland - Neil Hegarty - Страница 25

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Illumination

The so-called ‘illuminated’ manuscripts are the greatest cultural glories to have emerged from Ireland’s early Christian era. These were books, on vellum, richly decorated with elaborate borders and illustration. Many cultures through the ages have created such ‘illuminated’ books: the Irish variety included reproductions of Gospel and other Biblical stories, and the best known of them today is the Book of Kells. This manuscript was written in Latin, and it brings together all four Gospels, plus an assortment of other texts, into one vast book. It is ornately decorated with swirling motifs and images of humans, birds, and beasts, and is richly and lavishly coloured. The Book of Kells was created around AD 800, probably on Iona. It is likely to have been completed in the abbey at Kells in County Meath, and it remained in Kells until 1654, when it was sent to Dublin, where it has been held in the Library of Trinity College since 1661. But the monks of Ireland did not limit themselves to sacred texts: everything from classical myth to the Táin – the great Irish myth cycle of Cúchulainn and Queen Medb – was similarly included in a new and burgeoning literary culture.

Irish History: People, places and events that built Ireland

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