DÚNS
DÚNS
SeePromotory Forts; Ringforts
DURROW, BOOK OF
The Book of Durrow (Trinity College Dublin MS 57)
contains a Latin copy of the four Gospels, in a version
close to the Vulgate text compiled in the fourth cen-
tury by St. Jerome. The Gospels are preceded by
“etymologies,” mainly of Hebrew names; “canon
tables,” or concordances of gospel passages common
to two or more of the evangelists; summaries of the
gospel narratives, known as Breves causae; and Argu-
menta, prefaces characterizing the evangelists. The
first gospel text (Matthew) begins on folio 22r. The
manuscript contains 248 folios, now measuring 245
× 145 mm, and is written in the script known as Irish
majuscule.
The Book of Durrow is perhaps the earliest example
of a fully decorated insular gospel book. The decoration
is greatly influenced by metalwork motifs. The gospel
texts are prefaced with an Evangelist symbol, a carpet
page (containing only abstract decoration), and an
elaboration of the opening words of the gospel. In St.
Jerome’s scheme, the Man symbolized Matthew, the
Lion symbolized Mark, the Calf stood for Luke, and
the Eagle for John. In a reversion to a pre-Vulgate order,
John’s Gospel in the Book of Durrow was prefaced by
the Lion, and Mark’s Gospel by the Eagle. There is no
extant carpet page for Matthew’s Gospel. This may be
lost, or it may have been the present folio 3v. There is
doubt about the location of several pages, the conse-
quence of the volume having been broken down to
single leaves prior to its repair and rebinding in 1954.
Thepresent final leaf, folio 248r, a carpet page with
“lattice-work” decoration, was at one time placed ear-
lier in the volume, while the symbol of the Man, folio
21v, was formerly the last leaf.
The book’s date and place of origin have aroused
considerable academic debate. It was probably pro-
duced early in the eighth century. It takes its name
from the monastery of Durrow, County Offaly, one
of several foundations by St. Colum Cille (c.521–597),
whose principal house was on Iona. His name occurs
in an early inscription on folio 247v, and for a long
time the manuscript was regarded as a relic of the
founder. In the seventeenth century, the custodian of
the manuscript was reported as dipping it into water,
and giving the water to sick cattle as a cure. The book
is first located with certainty in Durrow in the period
between 877 and 916, when Flann Sinna son of Máel
Sechnaill I, king of Ireland, placed it in a cumdach
(shrine). The shrine has been lost since 1689. Damage
at the beginning and end of the book and at its edges
resulted from the ill-fitting nature of the shrine.
Claims have been made that the manuscript origi-
nated on Iona, under the sponsorship of the scholarly
abbot Adomnán in the period from 682 to 686, or in
Northumbria.
After the dissolution of the monastery of Durrow
in the mid-sixteenth century, the custody of the book
passed to Henry Jones, who presented it, and the Book
of Kells, to Trinity College Dublin while he was bishop
of Meath between 1661 and 1682.
BERNARD MEEHANReferences and Further Reading
Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Durmachensis, a facsimile of the
Book of Durrow in 2 Volumes. Lausanne: Olten, 1960. With
introductory matter, “Editor’s Introduction,” by A A Luce;
“The Paleography of the Book of Durrow,” by L. Bieler; “The
Art of the Book of Durrow,” by P. Meyer; “The Text of
Codex Durmachensis Collated With the Text of Codex
Amiatinus, Together With an Inventory or Summary
Description of the Contents of Each Page of the Manuscript,”
by G. O. Simms.
Meehan, Bernard. The Book of Durrow. A Medieval Masterpiece
at Trinity College Dublin. Dublin: Town House, 1996.
Werner, Martin. “The Cross-Carpet Page in the Book of Dur-
row: The Cult of the True Cross, Adomnan, and Iona.” The
Art Bulletin72 (1990): 174–223.
Werner, Martin. “The Book of Durrow and the Question of
Programme.” Anglo-Saxon England 26 (Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1997): 23–39.See alsoColum Cille; Early Christian Art; High
Crosses; Iconography; Kells, Book of; Máel
Sechnaill I; Manuscript Illumination; Metalwork;
Scriptoria; Southern Uí NéillFolio 125v from the Book of Durrow. © The Board of Trinity
College Dublin.