Editing Book of Armagh

{{Short description|9th-century Irish New Testament copy}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=December 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox medieval text
<!----------Name---------->
| name                  = Book of Armagh
| alternative title(s)  = Codex Ardmachanus
<!----------Image---------->
| image                 = Book of Armagh.jpg
| width                 = 
| caption               = A page of text from the Book of Armagh.
<!----------Information---------->
| full title            = 
| also known as         = ''Liber Ar(d)machanus'' (Book of Armagh), ''Canoin Phatraic'' (Canon of Patrick)
| author(s)             = 
| ascribed to           = [[Ferdomnach of Armagh]], [[St Patrick]], [[Sulpicius Severus]] and others
| compiled by           = 
| illustrated by        = 
| patron                = 
| dedicated to          = 
| audience              = 
| language              = [[Latin]], [[Old Irish language|Old Irish]]
| date                  = 9th century
| date of issue         =  
| provenance            = 
| state of existence    = Incomplete
| authenticity          = 
| series                = 
| manuscript(s)         = TCD MS 52
| principal manuscript(s)= 
| first printed edition = 
<!----------Form and content---------->
| verse form            = 
| length                = 222 folios (folios 1 and 41-44 are missing)
| illustration(s)       = 
| genre                 = 
| subject               = 
| setting               = 
| period covered        = 
| personages            = 
| personages (long list)= 
| sources               = 
| below                 = 
}}
The '''''Book of Armagh''''' or '''Codex Ardmachanus''' ('''ar''' or '''61''') ({{langx|ga|Leabhar Ard Mhacha}}), also known as the ''Canon of Patrick'' and the ''Liber Ar(d)machanus'', is a 9th-century [[Irish art|Irish]] [[illuminated manuscript]] written mainly in Latin. It is held by the Library of [[Trinity College Dublin]] (MS 52). The document is valuable for containing early texts relating to [[St Patrick]], the 7th century Irish bishop [[Tírechán]], the Irish monk [[Muirchú moccu Machtheni|Muirchú]].<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |pages=35–36 |isbn=}}</ref> The book contains some of the oldest surviving specimens of [[Old Irish language|Old Irish]] and for being one of the earliest manuscripts produced by an insular church to contain a near complete copy of the [[New Testament]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Welch |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Anthony Welch |year=2000 |title=[[The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature|The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=33 |isbn=9780192800800}}</ref>

==History==
The manuscript was once reputed to have belonged to [[St. Patrick]] and, at least in part, to be a product of his hand. Research has determined, however, that the earliest part of the manuscript was the work of a scribe named [[Ferdomnach of Armagh]] (died 845 or 846). Ferdomnach wrote the first part of the book in 807 or 808, for Patrick's heir (''comarba'') Torbach, abbot of [[Armagh]].<ref name="TCDBookArmagh">{{cite web|title=Beyond the Book of Kells: The Book of Armagh|url=https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/event.php?eventid=124745618|website=www.tcd.ie|access-date=4 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> Two other scribes are known to have assisted him.

The people of medieval Ireland placed a great value on this manuscript. Along with the [[Bachal Isu]], or Staff of Jesus, it was one of the two symbols of the office for the [[Archbishop of Armagh (Roman Catholic)|Archbishop of Armagh]]. The custodianship of the book was an important office that eventually became hereditary in the MacMoyre family. It remained in the hands of the MacMoyre family in the townland of [[Ballymoyer]] near [[Whitecross, County Armagh]] until the late 17th century. Its last [[hereditary]] keeper was [[Florence MacMoyer]]. By 1707 it was in the possession of the [[Brownlow (disambiguation)|Brownlow]] family of [[Lurgan]]. It remained in the Brownlow family until 1853 when it was sold to the Irish antiquary, [[William Reeves (bishop)|Dr William Reeves]]. In 1853, Reeves sold the Book to [[John George de la Poer Beresford]], [[Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)|Archbishop of Armagh]], who presented it to [[Trinity College, Dublin]],<ref>Atkinson, E. D., [[Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland|R.S.A.I.]] (1911). [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/DromoreUlsterDiocese.pdf ''Dromore, An Ulster Diocese''], p. 19.</ref> where it can be read online from the Digital Collections portal of the Trinity College library.<ref name="DigitalCollections">{{cite web |title=Book of Armagh, TCD Digital Collections |url=https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/3j333696h?locale=en |access-date=25 September 2024 |website=digitalcollections.tcd.ie |language=en}}</ref>

==Manuscript==
[[File:Book of Armagh - Trinity College MS52 f32v (Symbols of evangelists).jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Folio 32v with symbols of the Evangelists]]

The book measures {{convert|195|by|145|by|75|mm|in}}.<ref name="Sharpe" /> The book originally consisted of 222 folios of [[vellum]], of which 5 are missing.<ref name="Duffy">{{cite book|last1=Duffy|first1=Sean|title=Routledge Revivals: Medieval Ireland (2005): An Encyclopedia|date=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781351666176|page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WkQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30|language=en}}</ref> The text is written in two columns in a fine pointed [[insular minuscule]]. The manuscript contains four [[miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]]s, one each of the four [[Four Evangelists|Evangelist]]s' symbols. Some of the letters have been colored red, yellow, green, or black. The manuscript is associated with a tooled-leather satchel, believed to date from the fifteenth century.<ref name="Duffy" />

It contains text of Vulgate, but there are many ''[[Vetus Latina]]'' readings in the Acts and Pauline epistles.<ref name = Metzger>[[Bruce M. Metzger]], ''The Early Versions of the New Testament'', Oxford University Press, 1977, pp. 305, 341.</ref>

==Illumination==
The manuscript has three full-page drawings, and a number of decorated initials in typical [[Insular style]]. Folio 32v shows the [[four Evangelists]]' symbols in compartments in ink, the eagle of John resembling that of the [[Book of Dimma]]. Elsewhere yellow, red, blue and green are used.<ref>Mitchell, George Frank, ''Treasures of Irish art, 1500 B.C.-1500 A.D.: from the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College, Dublin (etc)'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977, {{ISBN|0394428072}}, 9780394428079, No. 43, p. 143, with f.43v illustrated on a full page shortly before. [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/113771/rec/1020 Fully online (PDF) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art]</ref>

== Dating==
The dating of the manuscript goes back to Rev. Charles Graves, who deciphered in 1846 from partially erased colophons the name of the scribe Ferdomnach and the bishop Torbach who ordered the Book. According to the [[Annals of the Four Masters]] Torbach died in 808 and [[Ferdomnach]] in 847. As Torbach became bishop in 807 and died in 808 the manuscript must have been written around this time. Unfortunately to make the writing better visible Graves used a chemical solution and this had the effect that the writing related to the scribe and bishop is not readable any more.<ref name="Sharpe">{{Cite journal
| volume = 36
| pages = 3–28
| last = Sharpe
| first = Richard
| title = Palaeographical Considerations in the Study of the Patrician Documents in the Book of Armagh
| journal = Scriptorium: International Review of Manuscript Studies
| year = 1982
| doi=10.3406/scrip.1982.1240
}}</ref><ref name="Esposito">{{cite journal|last1=Esposito|first1=Mario|title=St Patrick's ' Confessio ' and the ' Book of Armagh '|journal=Irish Historical Studies|date=1954|volume=9|issue=33|pages=1–12|doi=10.1017/s0021121400028509|jstor=30006384|s2cid=163281610 }}</ref>

==Contents==
The manuscript can be divided into three parts:

===Texts relating to St Patrick===
The first part contains important early texts relating to St. Patrick.<ref name="TCDBookArmagh" /> These include two ''Lives'' of St. Patrick, one by [[Muirchu Maccu Machteni]] and one by [[Tírechán]]. Both texts were originally written in the 7th century. The manuscript also includes other miscellaneous works about St. Patrick, including the ''Liber Angueli'' (or the ''Book of the Angel''), in which St. Patrick is given the [[primate (bishop)|primatial]] rights and prerogatives of [[Armagh]] by an [[angel]].<ref name="ArmaghArchdiocese">{{cite web|title=St Patrick|url=http://www.armagharchdiocese.org/stpatrick/|website=Archdiocese of Armagh|access-date=4 October 2017|date=8 November 2007}}</ref> Some of these texts are in Old Irish and are the earliest surviving continuous prose narratives in that language. The only old Irish texts of greater age are fragmentary [[gloss (annotation)|glosses]] found in manuscripts on the continent.

*[[Muirchu moccu Machtheni|Muirchu]], ''Vita sancti Patricii''
*[[Tírechán]], ''Collectanea''
*''notulae'' in Latin and Irish on St. Patrick's acts, and ''additamenta'', charter-like documents later inserted into the manuscript
*''Liber Angeli'' ('The Book of the Angel') (640 x 670), written in Ferdomnach's hand
*[[St. Patrick]], ''Confessio'' in abbreviated form

===New Testament material===
The manuscript also includes significant portions of the [[New Testament]], based on the ''[[Vulgate]]'', but with variations characteristic of insular texts. In addition, prefatory matter including prefaces to Paul's Epistles (most of which are by [[Pelagius]]), the ''[[Canon Tables]]'' of [[Eusebius]], and the [[Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus]] are included.

===''Life'' of St Martin===
The manuscript closes with the ''Life of St. [[Martin of Tours]]'' by [[Sulpicius Severus]].<ref name="Duffy" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* O'Neill, Timothy. ''The Irish Hand: Scribes and Their Manuscripts From the Earliest Times''. Cork: Cork University Press, 2014. {{isbn|978-1-7820-5092-6}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Sharpe | first1 = Richard | year = 1982 | title = Palaeographical Considerations in the Study of the Patrician Documents in the Book of Armagh | journal = Scriptorium | volume = 36 | pages = 3–28 | doi = 10.3406/scrip.1982.1240 }}

==External links==
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=The Book of Armagh}}
* {{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/cu31924091179337 |title= Liber Ardmachanus: the book of Armagh |editor-last= Gwynn |editor-first= John |date= 1913 |publisher=  Dublin, Hodges, Figgis & co., ltd. |quote= In the following pages the entire text of the Book of Armagh, as now extant, is reproduced, paginatim lineatim verbatim literatim }}
* {{cite book |url= http://www.confessio.ie/manuscripts/dublin#1 |title= Book of Armagh |publisher= Royal Irish Academy |series= Digital facsimiles }}
* {{cite book|url=https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/3j333696h?locale=en|id=MS 52|title=Book of Armagh|publisher=Trinity College Digital Collections}}
* {{cite book |url= http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/113771/rec/1 |title= Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. |oclc= 893699154 |date= 1977 |publisher= The Metropolitan Museum of Art |format= pdf |location= Thomas J. Watson Library |quote= Contains material on the Book of Armagh (cat. no. 43 & 67) }}
* {{Cite journal|url= https://elmss.nuigalway.ie/catalogue/589 |title= Book of Armagh |publisher= Earlier Latin Manuscripts |id= CLA 270 |volume= 2 |journal= Codices Latini Antiquiores  |date= November 2016 }}
* [https://www.tcd.ie/library/exhibitions/directors-choice/armagh-satchel/ The Armagh Satchel] held at [[Trinity College Dublin]]

{{Insular art}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:9th-century Christian texts]]
[[Category:9th century in Ireland]]
[[Category:9th-century books in Latin]]
[[Category:9th-century manuscripts]]
[[Category:Armagh (city)]]
[[Category:Christian manuscripts]]
[[Category:Gospel Books]]
[[Category:Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts]]
[[Category:Irish-language manuscripts]]
[[Category:Saint Patrick]]
[[Category:Library of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:Vulgate manuscripts]]