HiddenMysteries: Modern techniques seek some secrets from ancient Irish manuscript

By Eamon Quinn

DUBLIN: For a manuscript written 1,200 years ago and revered as a wonder of the Western world practically ever since, little is known about the Book of Kells and its splendidly illustrated Gospels in Latin. But the book may be about to surrender a few of its many secrets.

Experts at Trinity College in Dublin, where the Book of Kells has resided for the past 346 years, are allowing a two-year laser analysis of the treasure, which is one of Ireland's great tourist draws.

The 21st-century laser technology being used, Raman spectroscopy, encourages hopes among those with a romantic view for an ecclesiastical intrigue like "The Da Vinci Code" or "The Name of the Rose."

But the precise subjects are more mundane. The laser will study the chemicals and composition of the book, its pigments, inks and pages of fine vellum. Experts estimate that 185 calves would have been needed to create the vellum on which the art and scriptures were reproduced.

Pending the laser analysis, experts assume that expensive materials for some of the blue pigments came from the gemstone lapis lazuli, mined in northeast Afghanistan. Yellow pigments are believed to have made from arsenic sulfide and, bizarrely, reddish Kermes pigments from the dried pregnant bodies of a genus of Mediterranean insect, suggesting extraordinary trade routes for the ninth century.

Other techniques will help to analyze the pigments made from vegetable matter; others will be used to examine the inks.

"A lot of what we have done before has been based on anecdotal reports of the materials that were used," said Robin Adams, the librarian of Trinity College, who hopes the exacting dot-by-dot analysis by laser will unlock secrets and help his staff preserve the book. "Essentially the laser bounces back, and you get a spectrum.

"That spectrum tells you whether this pigment is lead, copper or whatever. We haven't got the reports yet, but we very much expect it to tell us new information about what the monks used."

Adams hopes that Trinity's manuscript research will answer some of his own questions about the book.

"I would like to find out whether this work can tell us its relationship with other manuscripts.

"Is the material used in Kells the same as might be used in England or France? It could tell us a bit about the movement of materials around the monastic houses. We would love to find out how these monastic houses worked as communities, and whether the techniques were the same. Or whether they developed techniques because of the raw materials they had at hand. That would tell us new information about the times."

For a religious work, the book has a rather exciting history, but its hazier aspects are unlikely to be discovered by a laser. It was created around the year 800 to honor the achievements two centuries before of Columb, also known as Colm Cille. He was an Irish nobleman who in Ireland and Scotland founded one of the world's earliest Christian monastic traditions dedicated to learning and devotion.

Irish legend relates that Colm Cille, after losing a bitter legal ruling over his right to make copies of books, went into exile on Iona, the Scottish isle where the Book of Kells is thought to have been written.

But Dutch or Norse Viking raiders landed in 806, and Irish monks evidently removed the book for safekeeping. Eventually it made its way to the Kells in County Meath, a monastery outside Dublin.

There it survived new waves of raids, including one by bandits who made off with the book in 1007, according to contemporary chronicles.

It was recovered two months later, under dirt, stripped of its gold covering.

The book stayed in Kells until Cromwell's wars in the 17th century.

A senior Protestant clergyman, Henry Jones, who had served as a quartermaster general for the invading army, is said to have "donated" the book to Trinity College sometime after 1661.

With the original binding lost, the book was split over the years into four volumes. Two are now on display in "Turning Darkness Into Light," an exhibit at Trinity College, while the others are being analyzed.

Unfortunately, the enduring mystery about whether the book was written on Iona, Kells or at another Colm Cille monastic site will likely endure. Maybe only a testing of the DNA of the vellum would reveal the age and source of the calfskins used at that time and reveal the place of the book's manufacture.

Adams would like to know if such an analysis could unlock that secret.

"I have always wondered whether a technique could tell us where the cattle were and where they came from," he said. "Did the skins move around - was there a trade in the skins or were they produced locally? That would add to our knowledge. But that is what we are doing in applying these new techniques."

There is no doubt about the book's appeal in the present day: it attracts more than 550,000 visitors annually, vying with the Guinness Brewery tour up the road in central Dublin as Ireland's most popular site.

Its popularity leads to crowds during the summer, and there are plans to expand its display area in the college library building, which dates from 1732. It has yet to be decided whether the book will need to be removed during any building work.

Other academics vouch for the book's world importance.

"It is one of the most precious books on the planet," said Terry Dolan, professor of English at University College Dublin. But Dolan said the book had another secret that technology would not reveal.

"Little is documented about how the book came to be removed from Kells in the first place and how it ended up in Trinity," he said.

"There is yet another fascinating mystery story there."

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Modern techniques seek some secrets from ancient Irish manuscript

Saturday, June 02 2007 @ 02:08 AM CDT