The Lindisfarne scriptorium: for and against

This paper addresses difficult and much-disputed questions concerning the provenance, dating, and inter-relationships of the great Insular gospels—Lindisfarne, Durham, Echternach, Durrow, Kells and others. It rejects Brown’s hypothesis about the Lindisfarne scriptorium, viz. that the Lindisfarne, Durham and Echternach Gospels were written there, the latter two by the scribe-artist called the ‘Durham-Echternach calligrapher’. The similarities of Echternach and Durham are best explained by their common roots in Ireland, and the development of Insular majuscule took place in Ireland, not Northumbria. The critical importance of Rath Melsigi, its daughter house Echternach, and the Echternach group of manuscripts is duly stressed.