> From: Christopher Crockett [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>
> Quite a bit out of my baliwick, but i understand that the connection
> between
> "Byzantine" (or perhaps more properly "Early Christian") painting
> (manuscript
> and otherwise--the "otherwise" monuments being almost
> entirely lost) and the (comparatively) few surviving illuminated Irish
> mss is entirely iconographic in nature, rather than "stylistic" (even
> using
> that quite elastic term in its most generous sense).
>
> As such, one need not posit the existence of Byzantine *monks* in Ireland
> to
> explain the connection, only some much more likely vectors such as
> Byz. mss (since lost, i assume); or simply the existence of some
> particularly
> itchy-footed clerics among the notoriously peripetetic Irish who might
> have
> visited the East and brought back the memory (and/or some "model books")
> of
> what they had seen in those exotic places regions
> nearer the Center of the world.
>
Exactly. I particularly wondered about the reference to the
statement having been made in a book about the Book of Kells. That
manuscript is generally believed to have been completed at Iona before the
community evacuated to Kells. The various writings produced by the Iona
scriptorium in the seventh and eighth centuries indicate a thorough
familiarity with a wide range of medieval writings, including most if not
all of the works of Jerome. Adamna/n's essay on the holy places of Palestine
was based on the stories and recollections told by a Gaulish bishop whose
boat shipwrecked on the west coast of Britain; the bishop took refuge in
Iona (after a bit of tooling around). However, Adamna/n checked most of
Arculf's statements against works by Jerome and others. To me this is
another indication of how much exchange of information and ideas was taking
place all over Europe.
BTW, regarding the Irish-Moses connection, the Iona scriptorium
seems to have had a particular interest in Mosaic law and customs and other
materials. For example, Adamna/n, in his life of Colum cille, specifically
compared Colum cille--Iona's founder--to Moses and Samuel. Canons attributed
to Adamna/n (but probably dating to a generation or two later) set up
dietary restrictions based on rules from Mosaic Law. Also, one of the works
produced by the Iona scriptorium in the generation after Adamna/n was Liber
ex lege Moysi, laws based on the books of the Torah. That book was edited by
P. Fournier, "Le Liber ex lege Moysi ae les tendances bibliques du droit
canonique irlandais": Revue Celtique 30 (1909) 221-234.
All this is discussed on pp. 12-13 of _Iona, Tara, and Soissons_,
Michael Enright's study of the biblical roots of the medieval king-making
rituals used in western Europe.
Francine Nicholson
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