England, Northumbria, early 8th century. Corpus Christie College, Cambridge, MS 197B, fols. 1v–2 (cat no 1). Image courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christie College, Cambridge.
These pages come from one of the few surviving Gospel books made by missionary monks in England and Ireland between the 7th and 9th centuries. The opening words of the Gospel of St John, ’In principio erat verbum’ (In the beginning was the Word), are transformed into a decorative design with motifs that were developed in ancient stone and metal work before their application to the Christian sacred book. Twisting animal forms of Scandinavian origin and Celtic scrolls and whorls mingle with Mediterranean interlace in a sophisticated art that relates this manuscript to the Lindisfarne Gospels in the British Library, London, and anticipates the marvels of the Book of Kells.