Editing Book of Kells (section)

===Medieval period===
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Kells Abbey was pillaged by Vikings many times at the beginning of the 9th century,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lyons|first=Martyn|title=Books: A Living History|publisher=J. Paul Getty Museum|year=2011|isbn=978-1-60606-083-4|location=Los Angeles|page=43}}</ref> and how the book survived is not known.<ref>Sir Edward Sullivan, p.4. Book of Kells 1920</ref> The earliest historical reference to the book, and indeed to the book's presence at Kells, can be found in a 1007 entry in the ''[[Annals of Ulster]]''. This entry records that "the great Gospel of Columkille [Columba],<ref>Columkille is the name by which St. Columba is best known in Ireland. {{cite web|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/Wonders/St-Columkille-1.php|title=St. Columkille|publisher=Library Ireland|access-date=8 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202122848/http://www.libraryireland.com/Wonders/St-Columkille-1.php|archive-date=2 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> the chief relic of the Western World, was wickedly stolen during the night from the western sacristy of the great stone church at Cenannas on account of its [[Cumdach|wrought shrine]]".<ref name="Henry74"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A/ |title= The Annals of Ulster|publisher= CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts|access-date=8 March 2008}}</ref> The manuscript was recovered a few months later—minus its golden and bejewelled cover—"under a [[sod]]".<ref name="Henry74"/><ref>{{cite web |last=O'Donovan |first=John |url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G102003.html |title=The Irish Charters in the Book of Kells |website=[[University College Cork]] |access-date=29 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626073037/http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G102003.html |archive-date=26 June 2009}}</ref> It is generally assumed that the "great Gospel of Columkille" is the Book of Kells.<ref name=ft>{{cite news|last=Banville|first=John|title=Let there be light: The enduring fascination of Ireland's monastic masterpiece, the Book of Kells|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/efba61be-3265-11e2-916a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Dms8wCJS|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210221250/https://www.ft.com/content/efba61be-3265-11e2-916a-00144feabdc0#axzz2Dms8wCJS|archive-date=10 December 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|access-date=1 December 2012|newspaper=Financial Times|location=London|date=23 November 2012}}</ref> If this is correct, then the book was in Kells by 1007 and had been there long enough for thieves to learn of its presence. The force of ripping the manuscript free from its cover may account for the [[Bookbinding|folios]] missing from the beginning and end of the Book of Kells. The description in the Annals of the book as "of Columkille"—that is, having belonged to, and perhaps being made by Columba—suggests that the book was believed at that time to have been made on Iona.<ref>Dodwell, p. 84. As mentioned above, Columba in fact lived before any plausible date for the manuscript.</ref>

Regardless, the book was certainly at Kells in the 12th century, when land charters pertaining to the Abbey of Kells were copied onto some of its blank pages. The practice of copying charters into important books was widespread in the medieval period, and such inscriptions in the Book of Kells provide concrete evidence about its location at the time.<ref name="Henry74"/>

The Abbey of Kells was dissolved because of the ecclesiastical reforms of the 12th century. The abbey church was converted to a parish church in which the Book of Kells remained.

[[File:KellsFol027v4Evang.jpg|thumb|Folio 27v contains the symbols of the [[Four Evangelists]] (clockwise from top left): an angel ([[Matthew the Evangelist|Matthew]]), a lion ([[Mark the Evangelist|Mark]]), an eagle ([[John the Evangelist|John]]) and an ox ([[Luke the Evangelist|Luke]])]]

====Book of Kildare====
The 12th-century writer [[Gerald of Wales]], in his ''Topographia Hibernica'', described seeing a great Gospel Book in [[Kildare]] which many have since assumed was the Book of Kells. The description certainly matches Kells:

{{blockquote|This book contains the harmony of the [[Four Evangelists]] according to [[Jerome]], where for almost every page there are different designs... and other forms almost infinite... Fine craftsmanship is all about you, but you might not notice it. Look more keenly at it and you will penetrate to the very shrine of art. You will make out intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and compact, so full of knots and links, with colours so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this was the work of an angel, and not of a man.}}

Since Gerald claims to have seen this book in Kildare, he may have seen another, now lost, book equal in quality to the Book of Kells, or he may have misstated his location.<ref>Henry 1974, 165.</ref><ref>Brown 1980, 83.</ref><ref>Sullivan, The Book of Kells 1920, Page 5.</ref>