Researchers have found a possible link between the Lindisfarne gospels and another celebrated early British text, proving they may have been written at the same time in the same region.
The gospels are now thought to have been written at the same time as Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English people, according to the British Library.
The complex and lavishly decorated gospels are widely recognised as the pinnacle of Anglo Saxon cultural achievement.
They were thought to have been written by Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne, in 698 AD, as a tribute to St Cuthbert.
But the date has now been revised to around the year 720 AD.
Here is some other information on the Lindisfarne gospels:
In the 10th. century the Latin text of the gospels was translated into a form of old English in a literal manner, word by word, and with the translation inserted as a gloss between the lines of the original. It thus represents the earliest known translation of the Gospels into any form of the English language. The translator was Aldred, Provost of Chester le Street.
Interesting, 500 years before the Kings James version we have an old English translation. This page has some links to graphics displaying some of the pages from this beautiful gospel.
