Augustine Gospels MS 286 photos

For high-resolution versions of these images please contact Fiona Gilsenan.

Helpful edits. Amendments to the original text were inserted during the 7th and 10th centuries. These are visibly darker and include corrections to the spelling of certain words and edits to bring the text more in line with the Vulgate Latin. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Teaching aid. Folio 125r presents twelve framed vignettes depicting the Passion of Christ, although not exclusively. The style and content of the scenes suggest that they had a primarily didactic purpose as suited to a volume carried by a Christian missionary. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Page preparation. ‘Prickings’ (small punctures) and rules allowed scribes to create an orderly template for each page before they started to write. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Illuminating. The original book contained illustrations at the beginning of each of the Gospels; only Luke, shown here, remains. This is the oldest known illustrated Latin Gospels in the world. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Legal matters. Inserted into the book at several points are 12th-century documents related to St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury, demonstrating that the book was in constant use and considered a secure repository for legal agreements. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Decoding the details. Professors Andy Beeby (front) and Richard Gameson (rear) of Durham University, using Raman spectroscopy to identify the inks and pigments in MS 286. (Photo: Team Pigment)

Marginalia. Doodles and notations were occasionally drawn on the pages, such as this small figure holding a book. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Colour palette. On the whole, the manuscript is inked in muted tones, with good quality but not lavish pigments including red, yellow and brown ochres, red and white lead, carbon black, indigo, vermilion, and organic purple made from lichen. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Enthronement of Archbishops. The Most Reverend Justin Welby kisses the Augustine Gospels in March 2013 during his enthronement service to become Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. (Photo: PA Images/Alamy)

All caps. The main text is written in Uncial, a majuscule script with rounded, unjoined letters from which modern capital letters are derived. There are no spaces between words, an innovation that arrived only later in the 7^th century by Irish scribes. A change in the shape of the lettering from the Gospel of Mark to that of Luke indicates that there was more than one scribe who contributed to the work. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

Evangelist symbolism. Folio 129v shows Luke enthroned in an architectural setting below his symbol, a winged calf. (Photo: Fiona Gilsenan for Corpus Christi College)

The Wilkins Room in the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College Cambridge.