Medieval monks in Easter Ross – and not the Hebridean island of Iona – may have created the intricately decorated 1,200-year-old Book of Kells, according to researchers. A new project will explore the possibility it was created at a monastery in Portmahomack where there was a workshop turning animal hides into vellum.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8r4jxj0e3jo

#Scottish #literature #medieval #earlymedieval #history #BookHistory #BookofKells #arthistory #CelticArt

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

and

Happy Doots Day!

#AllCatsAreBeautiful #Dootsday #DootsToots #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfFediverse #CatsOfPixelfed #Cats #Cat #LynxPointSiamese #StPatricksDay #BookOfKells

The Book of Kells: Was it made in Easter Ross?
25 March, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye & online: free

The Book of Kells is often called the world’s most famous manuscript, but its origins are shrouded in mystery. Dr Victoria Whitworth challenges the consensus that the Book was made in the island of Iona, making a case instead for the Pictish monastery of Portmahomack.

https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/seiminear-rannsachaidh-dr-victoria-whitworth/?lang=en

#Scottish #Irish #literature #earlymedieval #arthistory #bookhistory #BookofKells #CelticStudies

#history #BookOfKells #Picts #Iona
#Scotland

The Picts were great artists, producing highly sophisticated Christian sculpture, but it has generally been accepted that not a single Pictish manuscript survives. If the Book of Kells was made in Pictland, this rewrites our understanding of early medieval Scotland.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/26/new-research-may-rewrite-origins-of-the-book-of-kells-says-academic

‘Her research has led her to conclude that a monastery in Portmahomack, Easter Ross, north-east of Inverness, is “the most likely place for it to have been made”.’

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/26/new-research-may-rewrite-origins-of-the-book-of-kells-says-academic

#BookOfKells #Portmahomack #Manuscripts #Art #Christianity