The Book of Kells with Dr Donncha MacGabhann

In today's episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley and Dr Donncha MacGabhann explore The Book of Kells, one of Ireland's most famous medieval manuscripts. This Irish treasure now exhibited at Trinity College Dublin, displays a carefully crafted script and astonishing miniatures, which showcase the expertise of medieval Irish artistic expression.

Where was it made? When? How? By whom? Why? Those are some of the questions that lead today's episode into an in-depth examination of one of the most important objects of medieval Ireland, an object that to this day makes up part of Irish identity itself.

Suggested reading:

Donncha MacGabhann, The Book of Kells A Masterwork Revealed: Creators, Collaboration, and Campaigns (Sidestone, 2022)

Bernard Meehan, The Book of Kells (London, 2012)

Jennifer OʼReilly, Early medieval text and image II: the Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon art, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 1080 (New York, 2019).

Richard Sharpe (ed. & trans.) Adomnán of Iona: Life of St Columba (London: Penguin, 1995)

Máire Herbert, Iona, Kells, and Derry: the history and hagiography of the monastic familia of Columba (Oxford, 1988) Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday). Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.com Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own. Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva. Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa Music: Lexin_Music