University of Virginia Library

5. § V

Two features of book-economy, although not peculiar to Ireland, are rarely met with outside that country. The religious used satchels or wallets to carry their books about with them. We are told Patrick once met a party of clerics and gillies with books in their girdles; and he gave them the hide he had sat and slept on for twenty years to

make a wallet.[1.45] Columba is said to have made satchels, and to have blessed them. When these satchels were not carried they were hung upon pegs set in the wall of the cell or the church or the tower where they were preserved. [1.46] We have already noted the legend which tells how all the satchels in Ireland slipped off their pegs when Longarad died. A modern writer visiting the Abyssinian convent of Souriani has seen a room which, when we remember the connection between Egyptian and Celtic monachism, we cannot help thinking must closely resemble an ancient Irish cell.[1.47] In the room the disposition of the manuscripts was very original. "A wooden shelf was carried in the Egyptian style round the walls, at the height of the top of the door.... Underneath the shelf various long wooden pegs projected from the wall; they were each about a foot and a half long, and on them hung the Abyssinian manuscripts, of which this curious library was entirely composed. The books of Abyssinia are . . . enclosed in a case tied up with leathern thongs; to this case is attached a strap for the convenience of carrying the volume over the shoulders, and by these straps the books were hung to the wooden pegs, three or four on a peg, or more if the books were small; their usual size was that of a small, very thick quarto. The appearance of the room, fitted up in this style, together with the presence of long staves, such as the monks of all the Oriental churches lean upon at the time of prayer, resembled less a library than a barrack or guardroom, where the soldiers had hung their knapsacks and cartridge boxes against the wall." The few old Irish satchels remaining are black with age, and the characteristic decoration of diagonal lines and interlaced markings is nearly worn away. Two of them are preserved in England and Ireland: those of the Book of Armagh, in Trinity College, Dublin, and of the Irish Missal in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The wallet at Oxford looks much like a modern schoolboy's satchel; leather straps are fixed to it, by which it was slung round the neck. The Armagh wallet is made of one piece of leather, folded to form a case a foot long, a little more than a foot broad, and two and a half inches thick. The Book of Armagh does not fit it properly. Interlaced work and zoömorphs decorate the leather. Remains of rough straps are still attached to the sides.

The second special feature of Irish book-economy was the preservation of manuscripts in cumdachs or rectangular boxes, made just large enough for the books they were intended to enshrine. As in the case of the wallet, the cumdach was not peculiar to Ireland, although the finest examples which have come down to us were made in that country.[1.48] They are referred to several times in

early Irish annals. Bishop Assicus is said to have made quadrangular book-covers in honour of Patrick.[1.49] In the Annals of the Four Masters is recorded, under the year 937, a reference to the cumdach of the Book of Armagh, or the Canon of Patrick. "Canoin Phadraig was covered by Donchadh, son of Flann, king of Ireland." In 1006 the Annals note that the Book of Kells—"the Great Gospel of Columb Cille was stolen at night from the western erdomh of the Great Church of Ceannanus. This was the principal relic of the western world, on account of its singular cover; and it was found after twenty nights and two months, its gold having been stolen off it, and a sod over it."[1.50] These cumdachs are now lost; so also is the jewelled case of the Gospels of St. Arnoul at Metz, and that belonging to the Book of Durrow.

By good hap, several cumdachs of the greatest interest are still preserved for our inspection. One of them, the Silver Shrine of the so-called St. Patrick's Gospels, is a very peculiar case. It consists of three covers. The first or inner, is of yew, and was perhaps made in the sixth or seventh century. The second, of copper, silver-plated, is of later make. The third, or outermost, is of silver, and was probably made in the fourteenth century. The cumdach of the Stowe Missal (1023) is a much more beautiful example. It is of oak, covered with plates of silver. The lower or more ancient side bears a cross within a rectangular frame. In the centre of the cross is a crystal set in an oval mount. The decoration of the four panels consists of metal plates, the ornament being a chequer-work of squares and triangles. The lid has a similar cross and frame, but the cross is set with pearls and

metal bosses, a crystal in the centre, and a large jewel at the end of each arm. The panels consist of silver-gilt plates embellished with figures of saints. The sides, which are decorated with enamelled bosses and open-work designs, are imperfect. On the box are inscriptions in Irish, such as the following: "Pray for Dunchad, descendant of Taccan, of the family of Cluain, who made this"; "A blessing of God on every soul according to its merit"; "Pray for Donchadh, son of Brian, for the king of Ireland"; "And for Macc Raith, descendant of Donnchad, for the king of Cashel."[1.51] Other cumdachs are those in the Royal Irish Academy for Molaise's Gospels (c. 1001-25), for Columba's Psalter (1084), and those in Trinity College, Dublin, for Dimma's book (1150) and for the Book of St. Moling. There are also the cumdachs for Cairnech's Calendar and that of Caillen; both of late date. The library of St. Gall possesses still another silver cumdach, which is probably Irish.

These are the earliest relics we have of what was undoubtedly an old and established method of enshrining books, going back as far as Patrick's time, if it be correct that Bishop Assicus made them, or if the first case of the Silver Shrine is as old as it is believed to be. The beautiful lower cover of the Gospels of Lindau, now in Mr. Pierpont Morgan's treasure-house, proves that at least as early as the seventh century the Irish lavished as much art on the outside of their manuscripts as upon the inside.[1.52] It is natural to make a beautiful covering for a book which is both beautiful and sacred. All the volumes upon which the Irish artist exercised his talent were invested with sacred attributes. Chroniclers would have us believe they were sometimes miraculously produced. In the life of Cronan[1.53] is a story telling how an expert scribe named

Dimma copied the four Gospels. Dimma could only devote a day to the task, whereupon Cronan bade him begin at once and continue until sunset. But the sun did not set for forty days, and by that time the copy was finished. The manuscript written for Cronan is possibly the book of Dimma, which bears the inscription: "It is finished. A prayer for Dimma, who wrote it for God, and a blessing." [1.54]

It was believed such books could not be injured. St. Ciaran's copy of the Gospels fell into a lake, but was uninjured. St. Cronan's copy fell into Loch Cre, and remained under water forty days without injury. Even fire could not harm St. Cainnech's case of books. [1.55] Nor is it surprising they should be looked upon as sacred. The scribes and illuminators who took such loving care to make their work perfect, and the craftsmen who wrought beautiful shrines for the books so made, were animated with the feeling and spirit which impels men to erect beautiful churches to testify to the glory of their Creator. As Dimma says, they "wrote them for God."