eighth century. It is not until increased connection and interplay with the rest of Europe that the Hiberno-Saxon cultural style begins to morph into a more blended style, as mentioned above. With the Insular tradition in mind, I support my case for this blended style by underlining several key points in a number of manuscripts that were created in Britain and Europe from the seventh to the ninth century. The manuscripts analyzed are categorized as Hiberno-Saxon, Continental, or the blended Insular Tradition. My goal in this thesis is that by highlighting stylistic points in the manuscripts and by providing essential historical background, the knowledge of the borrowed tradition of Insular manuscripts is better understood. I propose to provide a working framework to better understand the borrowed tradition of Insular art. Meyer Schapiro expertly summarizes the Insular tradition by placing the subject into a workable perspective. Schapiro wrote: … the polarity of the Celtic and Roman within Insular art, like that of Lindisfarne and Jarrow – the difference corresponding to the larger opposition of Celtic and Roman Christianity in the islands – does not exclude the rich interplay of the opposed traditions in the same works, as in the church itself – although one or other may dominate in the most individual achievements. Chapter Two: Literature Review In my thesis I view the complicated definition Insular in a new light. In my opinion, the definition of “Insular” encompasses the cultural aspects and history of the British Isles and its subsequent effect on the rest of Western Europe during seventh through ninth
Insular to the material culture of the Insular tradition. I disagree, because I think that Insularity includes aspects of culture, religion, and politics; however, I do think her narrower vision of the Insular tradition focusing on the material culture provides an appropriate frame of reference for better understanding the complicated term. Due to Cramp’s narrow definition — held as well by other historians who have struggled with the term Insular, I maintain that approaching the definition through the lens of illuminated manuscripts, and noting the important history associated with the selected works, places the Insular tradition within a broader historical discourse. The Manuscripts My method to explore the broader understanding of the Insular tradition is to analyze stylistically six manuscripts. The Insular tradition exhibits a blended nature because of many influences involved in the artists’ interpretation of the material. Due to this blending, I have divided the manuscripts into three artistic traditions: the tradition, the Mediterranean tradition, and the Insular tradition. The manuscripts I have chosen in the Insular tradition contain ninth-century works that draw on the other two distinct styles. The six core manuscripts are: The Echternach Gospels, The Durham Gospels, British Library M.S. 40618, The Codex Amiatinus, The Homilies of St. Gregory from the Vercelli Capitulary Library, and the Book of Cerne. Echternach Gospels A few important scholars — Michelle Brown, François Henry, George Henderson, Carl Nordenfalk, and Robert Stevick — have extensively researched the
origin to all Hiberno-Saxon style manuscripts. The Trier Gospels, as well as many other Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts, offers an example of how the borrowed tradition in Britain and abroad widens the scope of the “Insular orbit.” a.b. Figure 4.5a: Two archangels with title tablet, Trier Gospels, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 8851, f. 10, eighth century; Figure 4.5b: Canon table, Trier Gospels, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 8851, f. 12, eighth century. Nancy Netzer has attributed the blended nature of the Trier Gospels to collaboration between two scribes, one Merovingian and one Insular. She states that upon closer analysis of the script, the two hands found are an Insular half-uncial that evolved in the sixth and seventh centuries in Britain and an eighth–century Merovingian uncial that is derived from a Late Antique miniscule. According to Carl Nordenfalk, the illuminations share elements of both the Hiberno-Saxon and Merovingian styles, as well as some Greek and Byzantine influences. The many influences that are blended in the Trier Gospels reflect the complicated problem of defining the Insular style. Benedict Biscop Besides infusing the Continental style of art into the Insular framework through mission work, Benedict Biscop (d. 690 C.E.) directly brought Continental works and the Continental style to Northumbria. Born a nobleman in Northumbria, Biscop left military life at age twenty-five to pursue a religious vocation. Instead of following a standard monastic education, Biscop left Britain to learn on the Continent, first traveling to Rome in 653 C.E. According to Neuman de Vegvar, he returned to Britain with images and
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