Lichfield Gospels

• Illustration — Script, Mark 2:23, p. 151 The extant manuscript contains the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and the early part of the Gospel of Luke. The Latin text is written in a single column and is based on the Vulgate. The manuscript has almost 2000 variances from the Vulgate, almost a third of which it shares with the Hereford Gospels. There are fewer variations in the text that agree with the MacRegol Gospels and the Book of Armagh; 370 agree with the Book of Kells and 62 with the Lindisfarne Gospels. The script is predominantly Insular majuscule but has some uncial characteristics and is thus called semi-uncial. The regularity of script suggests a single scribe; however, some evidence suggests that possibly four scribes copied the manuscript. The script forms strong links between the Lichfield manuscript and Northumbrian, Iona, and Irish manuscripts.

The pages measure 30.8 cm by 23.5 cm. The manuscript is also important because it includes, as marginalia, some of the earliest known examples of written Old Welsh, dating to the early part of the 8th century. The art historian Peter Lord dates the book at 730, placing it chronologically before the Book of Kells but after the Lindisfarne Gospels. • Illustration — Evangelist portrait of Saint Luke • Illustration — Evangelist portrait of Saint Mark Marginal entries indicate that the manuscript was in the possession of the church of St Teilo in Wales at some point in the 9th century and eventually came into the possession of Lichfield Cathedral during the 10th century. Notably however, Lichfield had been native Welsh territory until its conquest by Mercia in ca. Placing the writing of the document in a land that had in living memory, been Welsh in culture and tradition in terms of influences. (Morris, J. p.355 The Age of Arthur: a history of the British Isles from 350 to 650). The manuscript was rebound in 1962 by Roger Powell; it was then discovered that the pages had been trimmed during the rebinding of 1707, and the manuscript had been cut into single leaves in the rebinding of 1862. In 2010, Bill Endres, then at the University of Kentucky, led efforts to digitise the manuscript. In 2014, Endres returned to Lichfield Cathedral and used Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to capture the drypoint writing in the Lichfield Gospels. One drypoint entry on p. 226 shows the contributions of women during the early medieval period: its listing of three Anglo-Saxon female names suggests that women worked in the scriptorium at Lichfield.

Scholars view four places as possible sites for the making of the Lichfield Gospels: Ireland, Northumbria, Wales, and Lichfield. Paleographic and stylistic similarities link it to Northumbria and Iona: the painting techniques resemble those of the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. Some scholars interpret the Welsh marginalia as indicating that this great gospel book was likely written in Wales, perhaps at Llandeilo Fawr or other site in South Wales. However, in 1980, Wendy Stein made an extensive argument for Lichfield, viewing Wales as unlikely but Ireland and Northumbria as still possible. In 1996, by studying the type of paper, pigmentation, and style of text, researcher Pamela James concluded that the most likely place of origin for the manuscript was Lichfield itself. In 2003, the discovery of the Lichfield Angel, an Anglo-Saxon stone carving of an angel that had been buried in Lichfield Cathedral, provided further evidence for that conclusion. Sharp (2016) has drawn similarities to motifs in the Gospels with goldwork in the Staffordshire Hoard. But without definitive evidence, this debate is likely to continue. Based upon style, the actual making of the book may be placed between 698 and 800. Patterns of interlaced birds on the cross-carpet page (p. 216) strikingly resemble the ornament on a cross shaft from Aberlady, Lothian, a Northumbrian site of the mid-8th century: the author/artist of the book and the sculptor of the cross-shaft ornament may have had a similar source for their designs. Although it is unknown how the book came to be in Lichfield, it was certainly there by the end of the 10th century. The opening folio contains a faded signature reading Wynsige presul, which probably refers to the Wynsige who was Bishop of Lichfield from about 963 to 972–5. Folio 4 contains a reference to Leofric, who was bishop from 1020 to 1026. Wherever the book originated and however it came to Lichfield, it has been there since the 10th century. In 1646, during the English Civil War, Lichfield Cathedral was sacked and its library looted. The books and manuscripts were given to Frances, Duchess of Somerset, who returned them in 1672 or 1673. This is probably when the second volume of the Gospels was lost. Precentor William Higgins is credited with saving the remaining volume. The book was put on public display in 1982. The bishops of Lichfield still swear allegiance to the Crown on the Lichfield Gospels. Other Insular illuminated manuscripts of possible Welsh origin include the Ricemarch Psalter and the Hereford Gospels.