The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated manuscript gospel book produced around the year 700 CE in a monastery on Lindisfarne Island; off the coast of Northumberland. It is now on display in the British Library in London. The manuscript is one of the finest works in the unique style of Hiberno-Saxon or Insular art; combining Mediterranean; Anglo-Saxon and Celtic elements.

The Lindisfarne Gospels are presumed to be the work of a monk named Eadfrith; who became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 698 and died in 721. Current scholarship indicates a date around 715; and it is believed they were produced in honour of St. Cuthbert. However; it is also possible that Eadfrith produced them prior to 698; in order to commemorate the elevation of Cuthbert's relics in that year; which is also thought to have been the occasion for which the St Cuthbert Gospel was produced.

The Gospels are richly illustrated in the insular style; and were originally encased in a fine leather binding covered with jewels and metals made by Billfrith the Anchorite in the 8th century. During the Viking raids on Lindisfarne; however; this cover was lost; and a replacement was made in 1852. The text is written in insular script.

In the 10th century an Old English translation of the Gospels was made: a word-for-word gloss inserted between the lines of the Latin text by Aldred; Provost of Chester-le-Street. This is the oldest extant translation of the Gospels into the English language. The Gospels may have been taken from Durham Cathedral during the Dissolution of the Monasteries; ordered by Henry VIII; and were acquired in the early 17th century by Sir Robert Cotton from Thomas Walker; Clerk of the Parliaments. Cotton's library came to the British Museum in the 18th century; and from there to the British Library in London when this was separated from the British Museum.

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