The Book of Kells (Latin: Codex Cenannensis; Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais; Library of Trinity College Dublin, MS A. I. [58], sometimes called the Book of Columba) is a decorated book written in Latin. It contains the four Gospels from the New Testament, along with other texts and charts. The book was created in a monastery in Scotland by members of the Columban religious group, possibly with help from other Columban communities in Scotland and Ireland. It was made around the year 800 AD. The Gospels are mostly based on the Vulgate version of the Bible, but some parts come from older Bible translations called the Vetus Latina. The book is considered a masterpiece of calligraphy and a top example of Insular art, which is a style of art from the British Isles. The book is named after the Abbey of Kells in County Meath, Ireland, where it was kept for many years.
The pictures and decorations in the Book of Kells are more detailed and complex than those in other Insular Gospel books. The designs mix Christian symbols with intricate swirling patterns common in Insular art. The pages include drawings of people, animals, mythical creatures, Celtic knots, and interwoven patterns in bright colors. Many small decorative details have Christian meanings, which highlight the main images on the pages.
Today, the manuscript has 340 leaves, which make up 680 pages. Since 1953, it has been divided into four volumes, each measuring 330 by 250 mm (13 by 9.8 inches). The pages are made of high-quality animal skin called vellum. The decorations include ten full-page illustrations and many decorated letters and small pictures, showing the detailed and lively style of Insular art. The text is written in a script called Insular majuscule, which appears to be the work of at least three different scribes. The writing uses iron gall ink, and the colors were made from materials brought from faraway places.
The Book of Kells is displayed in Trinity College Library in Dublin. At any time, visitors can see two pages of the manuscript, and these pages are changed every 12 weeks. A digital version of the entire book is also available online.
History
The Book of Kells is one of the most famous and beautifully decorated manuscripts from a group known as the Insular style. These manuscripts were created between the late 6th century and early 9th century in monasteries in Britain, Ireland, and some monasteries on the European mainland with Hiberno-Scottish or Anglo-Saxon influences. Other examples include the Cathach of St. Columba, the Ambrosiana Orosius, a fragmentary Gospel in the Durham Dean and Chapter Library (all from the early 7th century), and the Book of Durrow (from the second half of the 7th century). From the early 8th century, the Durham Gospels, the Echternach Gospels, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and the Lichfield Gospels were made. The St. Gall Gospel Book is from the late 8th century, and the Book of Armagh is dated to the early 9th century.
Scholars group these manuscripts together because they share similar artistic styles, writing forms, and traditions. The detailed decoration of the Book of Kells places it later in this group, likely from the late 8th or early 9th century. It follows many traditions seen in earlier manuscripts, such as the intricate knotwork patterns on the large, decorated letters in the Gospel pages. For example, the incipit pages of the Gospel of Matthew in the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells both use these patterns.
The Abbey of Kells in Kells, County Meath, was founded or refounded from Iona Abbey, with construction beginning in 807 and the church completed in 814. The date and place of the Book of Kells’ creation have been debated. It was once thought to have been made during St. Columba’s time, but evidence suggests it was created around 800, long after his death in 597. The 9th-century dating matches Viking raids on Lindisfarne and Iona, which began around 793–794 and led to monks fleeing with relics to Ireland and Scotland. Some Irish scholars suggest the manuscript was made to mark the 200th anniversary of St. Columba’s death. Others believe it was created to honor the moving of his remains into a shrine, which likely happened by the 750s.
There are four main theories about where and when the Book of Kells was made. One suggests it was started at Iona and finished in Kells. Another claims it was made entirely at Iona. A third says it was created entirely in Kells. A fourth proposes it was made in Pictish Scotland, though no evidence supports this. Most scholars agree the first theory is the most likely. Regardless, the book was made by monks connected to Iona.
The creation of the Book of Kells was influenced by the survival of the Latin language after the Roman Empire fell and the rise of monastic life, where texts were copied. Cassiodorus, who founded the monastery Vivarium in the 6th century, promoted both Latin studies and monastic work. Later, the Carolingian period introduced vellum, a stronger material for copying texts, which spread across Europe and to the British Isles.
Kells Abbey was attacked by Vikings in the early 9th century, but how the Book of Kells survived is unknown. The earliest record of the book appears in the Annals of Ulster from 1007, which mentions it being stolen from Kells. It was later found without its golden cover. This suggests the book was in Kells by 1007. The description of the book as belonging to St. Columba implies it was believed to have been made on Iona.
By the 12th century, the book was in Kells, as land charters were copied onto its pages. The Abbey of Kells was dissolved during 12th-century church reforms, and its church became a parish church where the book remained.
In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales wrote about seeing a Gospel Book in Kildare that some believe was the Book of Kells. His description matches the book’s intricate designs and craftsmanship. However, it is unclear if he saw the Book of Kells or another lost manuscript.
The Book of Kells stayed in Kells until 1654, when it was sent to Dublin for safety during Cromwell’s military campaign. In 1661, Henry Jones gave it to Trinity College, Dublin, where it has remained, except for brief loans. It has been displayed to the public since the 19th century.
The book became widely famous in the 19th century, partly because of its connection to St. Columba, who died the same year Augustine brought Christianity and literacy to Canterbury.
Description
The Book of Kells includes the four Gospels from Christian scriptures written in black, red, purple, and yellow ink using a special style of uppercase letters called insular majuscule. The text is introduced by prefaces, summaries, and lists of Gospel passages. Today, the book has 340 vellum leaves, or folios, making 680 pages total. Most folios are numbered on the bottom left of the front side. One folio, number 36, was counted twice by mistake. Because of this, the book is numbered as follows: folio 1r — 36v, 36r — 36v (the double-counted folio), and 37r — 339v. Most folios are part of larger sheets called bifolia, which are folded to create two folios. These bifolia are nested and sewn together to form groups called quires. Occasionally, a folio is a single sheet inserted into a quire. The existing folios are grouped into 38 quires. Each quire has between four and twelve folios (two to six bifolia), and the folios are often, but not always, bound in groups of ten. Some folios are single sheets, especially the decorated pages. Lines for writing were drawn on the folios after the bifolia were folded. Some pages still show prick marks and guidelines. The vellum is high quality, but the folios vary in thickness, with some nearly as thick as leather and others very thin. Up to twelve people may have worked on the book, including four scribes and three painters.
The book’s current size is 330 by 250 mm. Originally, the folios were not uniform in size, but they were cut to the current size during a 19th-century rebinding. The text area is about 250 by 170 mm. Each text page has 16 to 18 lines of writing. The manuscript is in excellent condition for its age, though some artwork has been damaged by rubbing. The book was likely created over several years in a major scriptorium, but it was never completed, as some planned decorations are only outlined. It is believed the original manuscript had about 370 folios, based on missing text and illustrations. Around 30 folios may have been lost when the book was stolen in the early 11th century. In 1621, James Ussher counted 344 folios, and today four or five more are missing after folios 177, 239, and 330. The missing bifolium 335-36 was found and restored in 1741.
The existing book includes preliminary material, the complete texts of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the Gospel of John up to John 17:13. Other preliminary material includes two incomplete lists of Hebrew names, summaries of the Gospels (Breves causae), short biographies of the Evangelists (Argumenta), and Eusebian canon tables. It is likely that the lost preliminary material included a letter from Jerome to Pope Damasus I explaining his translation of the Bible. It is also possible, though less certain, that the lost material included a letter from Eusebius explaining the use of canon tables. Only the Lindisfarne Gospels contain this letter.
Two fragments of the Hebrew name lists remain: one on the first surviving folio and one on folio 26, which is now placed at the end of the prefatory material for John. The first fragment shows the end of the Matthew list, requiring two more folios to complete it. The second fragment on folio 26 contains about a fourth of the Luke list, requiring three more folios. The structure of the quire containing folio 26 suggests it is unlikely three folios are missing between folios 26 and 27, meaning folio 26 is probably not in its original location. No traces of the lists for Mark and John remain.
The first fragment is followed by Eusebian canon tables, which help readers find where events in the life of Christ are mentioned in each Gospel. These tables, which predate the Vulgate, were traditionally included in medieval copies of the Gospels. However, the tables in the Book of Kells are unusable because the scribe condensed them, making them confusing, and the chapter numbers were never added to the text margins. The reason for this omission is unclear. The scribe may have planned to add the numbers later or intentionally left them out to preserve the appearance of the pages.
The Breves causae and Argumenta are from a pre-Vulgate tradition. The Breves causae are summaries of the Old Latin Gospel translations, divided into numbered chapters. These chapter numbers are not used on the text pages. The Argumenta are collections of stories about the Evangelists. The Breves causae and Argumenta are arranged in an unusual order: first, the Breves and Argumenta for Matthew, then for Mark, followed by the Argumenta for Luke and John, and finally their Breves causae. This order is similar to the Book of Durrow, though in that manuscript, the misplaced sections appear at the end rather than within the preliminary material. In other insular manuscripts, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, each Gospel is treated separately with its preliminaries immediately preceding it. Scholar T. K. Abbott noted that the scribes of the Book of Kells likely used the Book of Durrow or a shared model as a reference.
The Book of Kells contains the four Gospels based on the Vulgate but does not include a pure copy of the Vulgate. It uses Old Latin translations in some places instead of Jerome’s text. While such differences are common in other insular Gospels, there is no consistent pattern of variation among them. Evidence suggests the scribes often wrote from memory rather than copying directly from an exemplar.
The manuscript is mostly written in insular majuscule with some lowercase letters (usually e or s). The text is usually written in one long line across the page. Françoise Henry identified at least three scribes in the manuscript, whom she named Hand A, Hand B, and Hand C. Hand A wrote from folios 1 through 19v, folios 276 through 289, and folios 307 to the end of the manuscript. Hand A typically wrote 18 or 19 lines per page using brown gall ink. Hand B wrote on folios 19r through 26 and
Purpose
The book was created for religious purposes rather than for teaching. This large, beautifully decorated Gospel was kept on the high altar of the church and only taken out during Mass to read the Gospel. The person reading likely recited the text from memory instead of reading it aloud. It is important to note that the Chronicles of Ulster mention the book was stolen from the sacristy, a room where items used during Mass were stored, not from the library. The book's design shows this purpose: appearance was more important than usefulness. There are many errors in the text that were not corrected. Some lines were finished in the empty space above them. Chapter headings, which were needed to use the canon tables, were not added to the page margins. Overall, the appearance of the page was not changed to fix these issues: beauty was prioritized over practicality.
Reproductions
In the 19th century, an artist named Helen Campbell D'Olier created the first accurate copies of pages and designs from the Book of Kells. She used a special type of paper called vellum and recreated the colors used in the original book. Photographs of her drawings were included in a book about the Book of Kells written by Sullivan, which was published in 1913.
In 1951, a Swiss publisher named Urs Graf Verlag Bern made the first complete copy of the Book of Kells. Most pages were printed in black and white, but the edition also included 48 color images of the decorated pages. In 1974, Thames and Hudson, with permission from Trinity College Dublin, created a partial copy of the book. This version included detailed analysis by Françoise Henry, all full-page illustrations, and examples of decorated text pages. All images were in full color, and the photographs were taken by John Kennedy of Green Studio in Dublin.
In 1979, a Swiss publisher called Faksimile-Verlag Luzern asked for permission to make a full-color copy of the Book of Kells. At first, permission was refused because officials worried the book might be damaged. However, by 1986, the publisher developed a method to flatten pages using gentle suction, allowing them to be photographed without touching the original. After each page was photographed, a single-page copy was made to compare colors with the original and make adjustments. The completed copy was published in 1990 as a two-volume set, including the full reproduction and scholarly notes. One copy is kept by the Anglican Church in Kells, near the original monastery.
In 1992, a heritage center called Celtworld in Tramore, County Waterford, opened with a replica of the Book of Kells. The replica cost about £18,000 to make. In 1994, Bernard Meehan, who worked at Trinity College Dublin, created a booklet with 110 color images of the manuscript. His book published in 2012 included more than 80 full-size, full-color pages from the original book.
In 2006, Trinity College created a digital version of the Book of Kells. This version was sold on DVD-ROM and allowed users to flip through pages, view two pages at once, or zoom in on details. Commentary about specific pages and the book’s history was also included. Users could search for images based on categories like animals, letters, and angels. The DVD cost about €30 but is no longer available. Today, images from Faksimile-Verlag are online through Trinity College’s Digital Collections portal.
Significance
Christopher de Hamel writes that the Ireland where the Book of Kells was created was not a simple or backward place but a society that could read Latin, even though it had never been ruled by the Romans. This society was familiar with writings and artistic designs that clearly match those found in the Coptic and Greek churches, such as carpet pages and Canon tables. While the Book of Kells is uniquely Irish, it is also connected to the Mediterranean region. The colors used in its creation, such as orpiment—a yellow pigment made from arsenic sulfide imported from Italy—show that there were trade and communication routes that we do not fully understand. In 2011, UNESCO added the Book of Kells to its Memory of the World International Register, recognizing it as a significant historical document of global importance.
In popular culture
The 2009 animated movie The Secret of Kells is a fictional story about an old monk named Aidan and his young helper, Brendan, who try to make the Book of Kells. They face problems because of Viking raids that destroy things. The movie was directed by Tomm Moore and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2009.