Book of Cerne

The Book of Cerne
Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Ll.1.10
Medieval manuscript leaf bearing a full-page miniature in brown ink with dark red, blue, green washes. At top, the Evangelist Mark, from waist up. He raises a hand in benediction, pointing with 2 fingers at the Gospel book held in his left hand. Below this, between 2 columns: a fabulously-maned, winged lion in full-figure, ¾ profile. Staring directly out at us, the beast rears up on his hind legs, grasping another book in his front paws.
Book of Cerne, f. 12v: Gospel of St Mark miniature, showing the winged Lion of St Mark
TypePrayer book
Datec.820–840[1]
Place of originMercia, Dorset, Cerne Abbey
Language(s)Latin, with Old English
MaterialParchment, ink
Size285 × 225 (230 × 195) mm or (9.05 x 7.6) In
ScriptInsular minuscule
ContentsGospel extracts; prayers and hymns; Lorica of Laidcenn; Breviate Psalter; Harrowing of Hell
Illumination(s)4 full-page miniatures of the Evangelists in colours. Initials in gold, some zoomorphic; interlace initials
AdditionsGlosses in Old English
OtherMember of the Southumbrian 'Tiberius Group'

The Book of Cerne (Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Ll. 1. 10) is an early ninth-century Insular or Anglo-Saxon Latin personal prayer book with Old English components. It belongs to a group of four such early prayer books, the others being the Royal Prayerbook, the Harleian prayerbook, and the Book of Nunnaminster. It is now commonly believed to have been produced sometime between ca. 820 and 840 AD in the Southumbrian/Mercian region of England. The original book contains a collection of several different texts, including New Testament Gospel excerpts, a selection of prayers and hymns with a version of the Lorica of Laidcenn, an abbreviated or Breviate Psalter, and a text of the Harrowing of Hell liturgical drama, which were combined to provide a source used for private devotion and contemplation. Based on stylistic and palaeographical features, the Book of Cerne has been included within the Canterbury or Tiberius group of manuscripts that were manufactured in southern England in the 8th and 9th centuries AD associated with the Mercian hegemony in Anglo-Saxon England.[2] This Anglo-Saxon manuscript is considered to be the most sophisticated and elaborate of this group.[3] The Book of Cerne exhibits various Irish/Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Continental, and Mediterranean influences in its texts, ornamentation, and embellishment.

Recent research of this manuscript by Michelle P. Brown suggests that the various Anglo-Saxon component sections of this book are conceptually inter-related and primarily associated with the doctrine of the Communion of Saints ("communio sanctorum").[4] This doctrine is found in the Ninth Article of the Apostles' Creed ("Symbolum Apostolorum") and is based on the spiritual union between each Christian, living and dead, and Christ, and between each other Christian, which ultimately derives its origins in the "vita apostolica" and the inter-relationships or fellowship of the Early Christian congregations. This doctrine is found in the Anglo-Saxon Creed dating to the 9th century. However, in addition to the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, other themes are embedded in the texts and images that include a penitential and Paschal element that emphasizes baptism and communion (Eucharist), as well as notions of forgiveness and salvation.[5]

  1. ^ University of Cambridge. "MS Ll.1.10". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  2. ^ Brown 1991, pp. 211-212; Brown 1996, pp.15, 171-178; Brown 2001, pp. 278-291; Brown 2007, pp. 52-84.
  3. ^ Walker 2000, p. 193; Brown 1991, p. 211; Brown 2007, p. 53.
  4. ^ Brown 1991, p. 211; Brown 1996, pp.147-151; Walker 2000, p. 193.
  5. ^ Brown 1996, p. 151.