The Joshua Rotulus in the Vatican Library (Codex Vat. Palat. Gr. 431) is a very important MS. It is thought by some to be a copy of an original MS. possibly as old as the fifth century. Opinions, however, differ, other authorities ascribing it to the fifth or sixth century.
Another well-known MS. is the famous Gospel Book in the Laurentian Library of Florence, known as the Rabula MS. This MS. is dated 586.
The first phase of the Byzantine School is Hellenesque, and, no doubt, it was part of the Alexandrian School, which was at its height in the sixth century. The later style, which reached its maturity about the end of the ninth century and began to decline after the twelfth century, represents what is generally understood as Byzantine. A Simeon Metaphrastes of the eleventh-twelfth century (Add. MS. 1180) and a twelfth-century Gospels (Harley MS. 1810), both in the British Museum, represent the peculiarly dignified ecclesiastical style of this school.
The Byzantine School influenced the development of illumination very strongly. Especially is this noticeable in Italy.
CELTIC AND ANGLO-CELTIC ILLUMINATION
In the development of illumination the Celtic School played a most important part. There is a very strong contrast between this and the Byzantine School. The Byzantine MSS. were illustrated by more or less naturalistic representations, while in the Celtic MSS. everything seems to be treated as pure ornament. Even when the human figure is introduced it seems to be treated in this way. Gold is also absent in purely Irish MSS. The artists do not appear to represent the figure with any degree of realism.
The chief characteristics of Celtic work are intricate spirals and interlaced pattern, also patterns composed of dots, and curious elongated creatures entwined together in a most complicated fashion.
Possibly the earliest date mentioned in connection with Celtic illumination is that given by Giraldus Cambrensis, who went to Ireland at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. He was chaplain to John, the son of Henry II. He wrote concerning a famous MS. called the Book of Kildare, a book which at present is not known to be extant. He describes it as having been written at the “dictation of an angel in St. Bridget’s own time.” St. Bridget, of Kildare, lived in the latter part of the fifth and the early sixth centuries, so that, if this account may be relied upon, it must have been written at least a century before the celebrated Book of Kells. From the details that Giraldus Cambrensis gives of the Book of Kildare, he might easily be describing the Book of Kells. It was evidently very similar.
The Book of Kells is now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. Some authorities think this to be as old as the seventh century, while others assign it to the eighth or ninth century. This is an extremely beautiful MS.; it has been described so many times that there is no need to give a detailed description here.