Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise is situated south of Athlone. This painting shows Clonmacnoise in 1825, however, it is much the same at present. A great irish monastery, founded by St. Ciaran, A.D. 548, where was also one of the most important of the monastic colleges.
Courtesy of 'A social history of ancient Ireland'.Clonmacnoise
Courtesy of 'A social history of ancient Ireland'.
Courtesy of 'A social history of ancient Ireland'.
Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise is situated south of Athlone. This painting shows Clonmacnoise in 1825, however, it is much the same at present. A great irish monastery, founded by St. Ciaran, A.D. 548, where was also one of the most important of the monastic colleges.
Courtesy of 'A social history of ancient Ireland'.Larger monasteries in Ireland like Clonmacnoise
had special places where young monks could study the scriptures in an area known as the scriptorium
.
The graves at Clonmacnoise.
The exact time this ground was used for burial is unknown. However, it was being used as burial ground before the tower to the right of the picture was built by the Normans in the 12th Century.
Image courtesy of 'Yesterday's Ireland'.
A gathering of scribes
Where young monks could study the scriptures in an area known as the scriptorium, the writers of such were known as scribes as pictured above.
Monks would copy the psalms and the gospels often using beautiful illuminations and decorations. There were no printed books then so everything was had written. Most writing was done with a quill
made from a feather or from a reed.
Quill
An illustration of a quill in which most writing was done with to create beautiful illuminations and decorations.
Courtesy of www.whitemagic.com
The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells was produced around A.D. 800. We can tell what the mons studied by examining this book and ancient manuscripts. Not all manuscripts were written on vellum. Some were written on parchment which was the skin of sheep or goats. Parchment was useful as it could be stitched together to make a book. The book is called after the monastic school in Kells where most of it was written.
Book of Kells
An illustration of the Book of Kells that contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin.
Courtesy of John Walsh http://www.catholicbook.comBook of Kells
Courtesy of John Walsh http://www.catholicbook.com
Courtesy of John Walsh http://www.catholicbook.com
Book of Kells
An illustration of the Book of Kells that contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin.
Courtesy of John Walsh http://www.catholicbook.comThe Book of Kells
is beautifully illustrated and contains the gospels of the Bible in Latin. Those who attended monastic schools learned to read and write languages like Latin and Irish. They would also have learned to illustrate scenes from the Bible and would have had to know how to make ink in different colours.
Letter 'L' in Book of Kells.
This shows the complexity and artistic writing that was used those days. The detail is amazing when you look closely.
Courtesy of 'A social history of ancient Ireland'.
Attacks on monastic schools!
From about 795 A.D. many monasteries were attacked by the Vikings. Chalices as well as decorated and valuable manuscript covers were stolen. Many monks were killed or taken prisoner.
If you had been a young scribe then you might have been captured too or worse you might have been killed!
We know about the Viking raids thanks to what the monks wrote. Here is one example that was found on a manuscript. (From M. Jenner, Ireland Through the Ages).
Example found in manuscript