



Cambridge University Library.



Book of Deer (MS Ii.6.32)

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.



Information about this document

Physical Location: Cambridge University Library

Classmark: MS Ii.6.32

Alternative Title(s): Evangelia

Subject(s): Scotland -- History

Origin Place: Scotland?

Date of Creation: 850-1000 C.E.

Former Owner(s): Gale, Thomas, 1635?-1702; Moore, John, 1646-1714; George I, King of Great Britain, 1660-1727

Associated Person(s): Columba, Saint, 521-597; David I, King of Scotland, ca. 1082-1153; Drostan, Saint

Extent: 86 fols Leaf height: 157 mm, width: 108 mm. Written height: 108 mm, width: 71 mm.

Material: Parchment

Format: Codex

Binding:

Full goatskin (Douglas Cockerell & Son, Letchworth, 1963), replacing sheepskin Bowtell-style binding of 18th-19th century, which is kept together with the manuscript



Script:

Insular minuscule



Layout:

22-26 lines, ruled in hard point, above top line, 2o fol. Omnes (3)



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)

Provenance: The Columban house at Deer, Aberdeenshire; probably at Cistercian monastery of Deer, Aberdeenshire, 13th-14th century C.E.; Thomas Gale, 1695; acquired in 1697 from Gale by John Moore (d. 1714); presented to University Library by George I, 1715



Data Source(s): 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).

Author(s) of the Record: Patrick Zutshi

Paul Binski



Bibliography:

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

Jackson, Kenneth Hurlstone, The Gaelic notes in the Book of Deer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972) ISBN: 0521082641 9780521082648.

Hughes, Kathleen and D. N Dumville, Celtic Britain in the early Middle Ages : studies in Scottish and Welsh sources (Woodbridge, Suffolk; Totowa, N.J.: Boydell Press ; Rowman & Littlefield, 1980) ISBN: 0847667715 9780847667710 0851151272 9780851151274.

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

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

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

Studies on the Book of Deer contributor: Katherine Forsyth (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008) ISBN: 185182569X.