View source for Breton Gospel Book (British Library, MS Egerton 609)

{{Redirect|Egerton Gospels|the 2nd-century papyrus fragments of an unknown gospel|Egerton Gospel}}{{Infobox medieval text|name=Egerton MS 609|alternative title(s)=Breton Gospel Book|image=File:MS Egerton 609 F. 1.jpg|language=Latin|date=9th century|provenance=|genre=Gospel Book|Illustration(s)=}}
'''British Library, Egerton MS 609''' is a [[Brittany|Breton]] [[Gospel Book]] from the late or third quarter of the ninth century. It was created in France, though the exact location is unknown. The large decorative letters which form the beginning of each Gospel are similar to the letters found in Carolingian manuscripts, but the decoration of these letters is closer to that found in [[Insular art|insular]] manuscripts, such as the [[Book of Kells]] and the [[Lindisfarne Gospels]]. However, the decoration in the Breton Gospel Book is simpler and more geometric in form than that found in the Insular manuscripts. The manuscript contains the [[Latin language|Latin]] text of St Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus, St. Jerome's commentary on Matthew, and the four [[Gospels]], along with prefatory material (an introduction) and canon tables (an index for a medieval manuscript). This manuscript is part of the [[Egerton Collection]] in the [[British Library]].

== Provenance ==
The Breton Gospel Book was produced in [[France]], most likely in [[Brittany]] or [[Tours]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8618|title=Details of an item from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts|website=www.bl.uk|access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> In the fifteenth century, the Benedictine Abbey of St Martin at Tours owned the manuscript; it has the inscription "Iste Liber est de Ecclesia beatissimi Martini Turonensis" on [[folio]] 102v (the last page).<ref name=":0" /> The Breton Gospel Book was then acquired by the [[Congregation of Saint Maur|Maurist]] [[Marmoutier Abbey, Tours|Abbey of Marmoutiers]], also in Tours, during the eighteenth century, as evidenced by the inscription "Majoris monasterii Congregationis S Mauri" on folio 1r (the first page).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=egerton_ms_609_fs001r|title=The British Library MS Viewer|website=www.bl.uk|access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> It was bought in 1836 by the [[British Museum]], using money that was left to them from [[Francis Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater|Francis Henry Egerton]].<ref name=":0" /> Francis Henry Egerton was the 8th Earl of Bridgewater.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|title=The open-ended collections|url=https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourCollOpen.asp#Egerton|website=British Library}}</ref> When he died in 1829, he donated £12,000 and 67 manuscripts to the British Museum creating the [[Egerton Collection]].<ref name=":11" /> The money created the Bridgewater Fund, which was used to buy more manuscripts.<ref name=":11" /> Before 1973 the [[British Library]] had been part of the British Museum, but the British Library Act 1972 separated the library from the museum. Since then, it currently resides at the British Library, and is now part of the Egerton Collection.

== Description ==
The manuscript is believed to be part of the 'Irish-Northumbrian' group.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Marsden|first=Richard|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/845267362|title=St Augustine and the Conversion of England|date=1999|publisher=Sutton|isbn=0-7509-2087-4|editor-last=Gameson|editor-first=Richard|pages=285-312|chapter=The Gospels of St. Augustine|oclc=845267362}}</ref> Other manuscripts considered 'Irish-Northumbrian' are the [[Book of Armagh]], the [[Lichfield Gospels]], the [[Book of Kells]] and the MacRegol Gospels.<ref name=":1" /> There have long been cross-cultural artistic connections between the British Isles and Brittany, which is  especially evident in medieval manuscripts, due to their locations across the channel from each other.<ref name=":3" />  Breton manuscripts resemble British and Irish decoration with their animal ornamentation, [[Interlace (art)|interlace]] and other designs; while also using the script developed at Tours and earlier Continental decoration.<ref name=":3" />

=== Contents ===
The Breton Gospels Book contains [[Jerome|St. Jerome's]] letter to [[Pope Damasus I|Pope Damasus]], The Prologue of St Jerome's commentary on St Matthew, and the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.<ref name=":10" /> It also includes prefatory material and canon tables, an index for a medieval manuscript.<ref name=":0" /> It consists of 102 folios, plus two unfoliated paper flyleaves.<ref name=":0" /> The book's dimensions are 310 by 210 mm, or about 12.2 by 8.3 inches.<ref name=":0" /> The text space for the script is 230 by 145 mm, or about 9.1 by 5.7 inches, with varying of lines of text per page.<ref name=":0" /> The Breton Gospels Book is written in Latin, with [[Carolingian minuscule|Caroline minuscule]] script.<ref name=":0" /> It is thought that the book was copied by an [[Insular art|Insular]] scribe.<ref name=":0" /> It is a parchment [[codex]], with ink and pigments on vellum, and was bound after 1600 with red gilt leather, gold tooled paper, and [[Paper marbling|marbled end papers]].<ref name=":0" /> 

Carolingian minuscule began in the eighth century under Charlemagne, but became popular in the ninth century and was created from [[Half uncial|half-uncial]] script. [[Insular script]] developed in Ireland before spreading to the British Isles and other parts of Europe. Insular script, also known as Insular minuscule, was based on half-uncial. Majuscule in script is for when the letters are capitalized, not lower-cased.      

This manuscript has countless items in the margins. Most of it is script, but some of them are small designs.  

=== Decoration ===
St. Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus was usually placed before the texts of the gospels in a manuscript, and is called 'Novum Opus' because of its first words.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/j/011ege000000609u00001000.html|title=Jerome's Letter to Pope Damasus, in a Gospels from Brittany|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> In the O of 'Beato' there is a face which was a common decoration in early medieval manuscripts.<ref name=":9" /> The face is this manuscript is simple; it has lines forming a basic outline of a human face.
[[File:MS Egerton 609 F. 4.jpg|left|thumb|Folio 4r. Canon table in a micro-architectural frame and beak heads.]]
The canon tables are [[Eusebian Canons|Eusebian Canon]] tables.<ref name=":0" /> Canon tables were used to divide up the gospels in a manuscript and are similar to a table of contents. The canon tables from folio 3v to 7r are in frames with brown and yellow. The canon tables' design changes between the open folio leaves. Some have animal heads at the ends, while others have organic designs. The canon tables on folio 3v to 4r have animal heads on both the top ends of each outer column.<ref name=":10" /> On folio 3v, both animal heads are the same and look like birds; whereas on folio 4r, they are different.<ref name=":10" /> The animal head on the left looks like a bird, where on the right it is another animal.<ref name=":10" /> Folio 4r on the second to the right column has a design at the top where it forms the arches, which the other side does not have.<ref name=":10" /> The canon tables are also inside a decorative micro-architecture frame.<ref name=":0" /> The canon tables on 4v and 5r only have a single animal head on each page.<ref name=":10" /> They are each on the column facing the index of the manuscript (on 4v it is the far-right column, and on 5r the far-left column).<ref name=":10" /> These frames also have less decoration, and are more simplistic. On folios 5v and 6r, they become simply lined frames.<ref name=":10" /> Folios 6v and 7r are almost the same except for small ornamentation at the cornered ends of the columns.<ref name=":10" /> Folio 6v has small curved ends at each of the bottom outer ends of the columns.<ref name=":10" /> The one on the right looks similar to an animal head. Where on folio 7r it has different swirling designs at the ends of the frames.<ref name=":10" />

There are four large initials that are decorated within the manuscript.<ref name=":0" /> They are mostly in brown, orange, yellow and some blue.<ref name=":0" /> They all show elements of [[Interlace (art)|interlace]] and [[zoomorphism]].<ref name=":0" /> These letters occur on folios 1r (Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus), 8r (the Gospel of Matthew), 46r (the Gospel of Mark) and 79r (the Gospel of John). Luke's was the only Gospel that did not have a large decorative initial. There are other initials on folio 1r, 2v (The Prologue of St Jerome's commentary on St Matthew), 7v (the preface to Matthew), 44v (the preface to Mark) and 77v (the preface to John) that are also decorated but not to the size and extent as the other ones. It was common in the Middle Ages to have a preface for each gospel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/p/011ege000000609u00077v00.html|title=Preface for the Gospel of John, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> The prefaces in the Egerton manuscript are the so-called [[Monarchian Prologues]].<ref>{{cite book |author-link=John Chapman (priest) |first=John |last=Chapman |title=Notes on the Early History of the Vulgate Gospels |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XYpAAAAAIAAJ |page=280}}</ref> Luke is again the only saint not to have a preface or a decorated beginning. They also used the same colors, along with interlace and zoomorphism.<ref name=":0" /> Many of the beginning initials are highlighted or filled in with orange, brown and yellow, some of them having more than one color.<ref name=":0" /> It is thought that the monastery was not wealthy because the manuscript was modestly produced, along with a limited variety of colors.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/p/011ege000000609u00044v00.html|title=Preface of the Gospel of Mark, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref>

There are similarities from the colophon of Luke from the Bibliothèque Nationale MS nouv. acq. lat. 1587 to that in Egerton 609.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=J.J.G.|title=Insular Manuscripts: 6th to the 9th Century, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles|publisher=London: Harvey Miller|year=1978|pages=78-79}}</ref> The Bibliothèque Nationale MS nouv. acq. lat. 1587 was produced in the 8th to 9th century in Brittany.<ref name=":2" />

==== Matthew ====
The beginning to the gospel of Matthew is similar to that of the beginning of the Gospel of Mark.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/b/011ege000000609u00008000.html|title=Beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> The animal heads and interlace which appear on the 'LI' are related to styles that have been transformed and simplified from early medieval Northern and Western France.<ref name=":5" /> These designs are more geometric than that of extravagantly curving letters found in Anglo-Saxon and Irish manuscripts, they have more in common with the classicising letters found in Charlemagne's court.<ref name=":5" />

==== Mark ====
In the preface of the Gospel of Mark, the design in the first letter in 'Marcus' is a unique variation in Anglo-Saxon England and Ireland gospel books made from the eighth and ninth centuries.<ref name=":4" /> For this letter the shape and interlace have been modified into linked geometric patterns, where traditionally they use spirals and curves.<ref name=":4" />

The beginning of the Gospel of Mark is similar to the decorations in gospel books from Britain and Ireland in the eighth and ninth centuries.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/b/011ege000000609u00046000.html|title=Beginning of the Gospel of Mark, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> The title is written at the top of the folio (f. 8r) in capital letters with color added to the script.<ref name=":3" /> The beginning letters of the gospel are almost the size of the page and slowly shrink until it becomes standard script.<ref name=":3" /> The larger letters also have color added to them, while the regular script does not. The first two letters 'IN' at the start of the gospel are decorated with animal heads and interlace.<ref name=":3" /> These two letters are also unified, which first appears in the late 7th century in Irish manuscripts.<ref name=":3" /> The decoration with the animal heads and the interlace shows the Breton tradition of imitating Irish and similar art in manuscripts.<ref name=":3" />
[[File:MS Egerton 609 F. 79.jpg|thumb|Folio 79r. The beginning of John has a zoomorphic word with the initials 'IN' with bird heads and interlace.]]

==== John ====
The beginning gospel of John is the same as the beginning gospels to that of Mark and Matthew.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/b/011ege000000609u00079000.html|title=Beginning of the Gospel of John, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> The first two letters are 'IN', just like Mark's, but both have varied artist style and are not exact replicas of each other.<ref name=":6" /> The simplified designs of interlace show the change from the intricate designs in manuscripts like in the Lichfield Gospels.<ref name=":6" />The manuscript has two full-page miniature portraits of Mark (f. 45v) and John (f. 78v). Another way of portraying the evangelists were to use their symbols, which appeared in the vision [[Ezekiel]] had, and also in the [[Book of Revelation]], and early Christian writers interpreted the four creatures as signs of the gospels.<ref name=":7" /> By the ninth century, hybrid depictions of the evangelists' symbols were rarely being produced anymore.<ref name=":7" /> Areas that were remote, like Brittany, and not major centers were often resistant to the Carolingian standardization so the older traditions could flourish better.<ref name=":7" /> In the Symbol of John, there are serpents in the bottom panels of the frame which show the Breton-style of animal interlace.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/s/011ege000000609u00078v00.html|title=Symbol of St John, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> There were many different types of depictions of them developed early on with the combination of the animal head with a human body, just like the ones in this manuscript.<ref name=":7" /> According to Jerome, and the most common belief, is that [[St Matthew|Matthew]] is the man, [[St Mark|Mark]] is the lion, [[St Luke|Luke]] is the ox, and [[John the Evangelist|John]] the eagle, as depicted in the miniature portrait.<ref name=":7" /> Even though these interpretations were most accepted, some writers still made different pairings of animals with the saints.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/egermanucoll/s/011ege000000609u00045v00.html|title=Symbol of St Mark, in a Breton Gospels|date=26 March 2009|website=British Library}}</ref> In the miniature portrait of Mark, the manuscript depicts him as the eagle (both Mark and John are shown as eagles), while others believed instead of him being the lion.<ref name=":8" />
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Folio
!Section
|-
|1r-1v
|St. Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus
|-
|2r-3r
|The Prologue of St Jerome's commentary on St Matthew
|-
|3v-7r
|Eusebian Canon Tables
|-
|7v
|Preface of St. Matthew
|-
|7v-44v
|Gospel of St. Matthew
|-
|24
|Missing Page
|-
|44v-45r
|Preface of St. Mark
|-
|45v
|Portrait of St. Mark
|-
|46r-53v
|Gospel of St. Mark 
|-
|54r-77r
|Gospel of St. Luke
|-
|77v-78r
|Preface of St. John
|-
|78v
|Portrait of St. John
|-
|79r-101v
|Gospel of St. John
|-
|102r-102v
|Extracts from the Gospel of St. John
|}<br />
== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 1.jpg|Folio 1. The beginning of Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus, along with decorated initials 'B' and 'N' and interlace.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 2v.jpg|Folio 2v. Decorated initial 'P' with an animal head and a stylized tail.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 3v.jpg|Folio 3v. Canon table with micro-architectural frame and beak heads.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 4.jpg|Folio 4r. Canon table in a micro-architectural frame and beak heads.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 8.jpg|Folio 8r. Zoomorphic initial 'L' at the beginning of Matthew, which includes animal heads and interlace.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 44v.jpg|Folio 44v. At the beginning of the preface of Mark, the word 'Marcus'  is decorated with geometric interlace.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 45v.jpg|Folio 45v. A miniature portrait at the beginning of Mark of a stylised man with an eagle head in an interlace border.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 46.jpg|Folio 46r. A decorated initial 'I' at the beginning of Mark with animal heads and interlace.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 77v.jpg|Folio 77v. The beginning of the preface to John, with a decorated initial 'H' and with colored letters.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 78v.jpg|Folio 78v. A miniature portrait before the beginning of John of a standing winged figure with a bird head in an interlace border.
File:MS Egerton 609 F. 79.jpg|Folio 79r. The beginning of John has a zoomorphic word with the initials 'IN' with bird heads and interlace.
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[List of Hiberno-Saxon illuminated manuscripts]]
*[[List of illuminated later Anglo-Saxon manuscripts]]

== Further reading ==

* ''List of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1836-1840'' (London: British Museum, 1843), 1836, p. 42.
* [E. Maunde Thompson and G. F. Warner], ''Catalogue of Ancient Manuscripts in the British Museum'', 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1881-84), Part II ''Latin'', p. 30.
* Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener, ''A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament'', 4th edn, ed. by Edward Miller, 2 vols (London: George Bell & Sons, 1894), II, 76.
* John Chapman, ''Notes on the Early History of the Vulgate Gospels'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908), pp. 49, n. 1, 280 (as 'E').
* P. McGurk, 'The Gospel Book in Celtic Lands before AD 850: Contents and Arrangement', in ''Ireland and Christendom: The Bible and the Missions'', ed. By Proinseas Ni Chathain and Michael Richter, (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1987) pp.165-89. (pp. 176, 189)
* ''A Guide to the Exhibition of Some Part of the Egerton Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum'' (London: British Museum, 1929), no. 50.
* Edward Kennard Rand, ''A Survey of the Manuscripts of Tours'', Studies in the Script of Tours, 1, 2 vols (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mediaeval Academy of America, 1929), I, no. 140, II, pl. 15 [with additional bibliography].

* C. R. Morey, ‘The Gospel-Book of Landevennec: The Illumination of the Landevennec Gospels’, ''Art Studies: Medieval Renaissance and Modern'' (1931), 258-62 (p. 260 n. 3).
* H. H. Glunz, ''History of the Vulgate in England from Alcuin to Roger Bacon'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933), no. 31.
* Wilhelm Koehler, ‘The Fragments of an Eighth-Century Gospel Book in the Morgan Library (M. 564)', in ''Studies in Art and Literature for Belle da Costa Greene'', ed. by Dorothy Miner (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954), pp. 238-65 (p. 256, as ‘E’).
* Francis Wormald, ''An Early Breton Gospel Book'', ed. by Jonathan Alexander (Cambridge: Roxburghe Club, 1977), pp. 14 n. 6, 19 n. 3.
* Patrick McGurk, ‘The Disposition of Numbers in Latin Eusebian Canon Tables’, in ''Philologia Sacra: Biblische und patristische Studien für Hermann J. Frede und Walter Thele zu ihrem siebzigsten Geburtstag'', ed. by Roger Gryson (Freiburg: Herder, 1993), pp. 242-58 (p, 252 n. 26, 255 n. 37).
* Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, ''Bible Manuscripts'' (London: British Library, 2007), p. 39, fig. 26.
* Martin McNamara, ''The Bible and the Apocrypha in the Early Irish Church (A.D. 600-1200)'', Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia, Research on the Inheritance of the Early and Medieval Christianity, 66 (Turnhout, Brepols, 2015), pp. 279-80, 321-24, 530.
* Kenney, James F., “Chapter VII: Religious literature and ecclesiastical culture”, in: Kenney, James F., ''The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical'', Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies 11, Revised ed. (1929), New York: Octagon, 1966. 622–744.
* Lindsay, W., & Bains, D. (1963). ''Notae latinae: An account of abbreviation in Latin MSS. of the early minuscule period (c. 700-850)''. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
* O'Reilly, Jennifer, Carol A. Farr, and Elizabeth Mullins. ''Early Medieval Text and Image II. The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon art.'', 2019. Print.
* Smith, Julia M. H. ''Province and Empire: Brittany and the Carolingians''. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print.
* Fernández, Cuesta J, and Sara M. Pons-Sanz. ''The Old English Gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels: Language, Author and Context''. , 2016. Print.

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts]]
[[Category:Gospel Books]]
[[Category:9th-century biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:Egerton Collection]]
[[Category:9th-century illuminated manuscripts]]