Papyrus Fragments in Early Medieval Bog Manuscript

seandalaiocht

RTE are showing a documentary on the Faddon More Psalter; the manuscript found in a bog in Co. Tipperary six years ago. Apparently fragments of papyrus have been discovered in its binding, potentially connecting it with the Coptic church in Egypt.

Photos and press release here

seandalaiocht

The doc is now up on the RTE Player

Wibbs

Great discovery alright. Serious bit of reconstruction and conservation too. Amazing the two brothers cutting turf spotted it and then knew it was better to rebury it, where most would figure take it out and dry it. Kudos to them.

As for the coptic connection, has that not been mooted for decades? IIRC in some of the texts back then it is mentioned more than once of a connection. One in particular talks of monks from egypt. The monks had knowledge of Latin, which is understandable, but they also had knowledge of Greek(John Scottus flummoxed a papal expert in Greek with his knowledge). They also had some knowledge of Hebrew. The latter two would have been more likely to have come from the eastern mediterranean, rather than through ex roman lands, or at least that could be an argument. This kinda seals it though. At least one book of Irish origin took styling cues from that part of the world.

Pontificatus

Layperson**

I thought it was really interesting to watch the painstaking deconstruction of the psalter and the genuine excitement as each new page was revealed.

Did they give a definite date for the manuscript? I know it was papyrus fragments were significant for the Coptic connection, but what were they doing there? Was it part of the cover which was reused from an older manuscript?

I'll definitely go take a look when it goes on public view next year.

shipwreck

Oh I'd be careful with making a direct connection to the coptic church and the early medieval church in Ireland. Of course we had links with Europe at this tine through trade and certainly monasteries were established in Europe but I doubt there is any real relevance in a coptic/Irish church connection. This should not be the focus of this artefact.
The use of papyrus may have been common during this period in making books! Remember there were no books in Ireland outside the church!
I hate when documentary makers try to focus on what they think is glamorous and exotic. The same treatment was given to druid related finds recently in a documentary and it really annoyed me!

The psalter is beautiful, Ive been in its presence a few times. The conservation process amazing but it is highly likely that this was an everyday piece of church ware.
They have lots of interesting little details. Its well worth a look next year when it goes on display!

Wibbs

shipwreck wrote: »

Oh I'd be careful with making a direct connection to the coptic church and the early medieval church in Ireland. Of course we had links with Europe at this tine through trade and certainly monasteries were established in Europe but I doubt there is any real relevance in a coptic/Irish church connection.

Well the book of leinster in the 12th century mentions seven monks from egypt buried at Disert Uldith. There is evidence of an understanding of Hebrew in the early Irish church. http://www.ucc.ie/peritia/abstract11.html http://britishorthodox.org/glastonbury-review-archive/misc/on-the-trail-of-seven-coptic-monks-in-ireland/ While I doubt it was anything like a sole influence that some claim, it seems that there was some influence alright, or more than the opposing side claims. Whether by second hand trade in books, or by direct contact. Direct contact is not that crazy a notion either. It would be easier and safer to travel by sea from north africa to these islands, than overland through the fractured remnants of what had been the Roman world.

This should not be the focus of this artefact.

Well certainly not the sole focus, but it's defo worth some focus as it appears to be unusual.

The use of papyrus may have been common during this period in making books!

True and good point. AFAIK its on the back of the cover? And we have few enough of them from the period, so that may well be something that was actually quite common as a technique. Also from what I recall, papyrus was traded quite a lot in europe from the ME. One theory why paper took over in europe was because after the Muslim empire grew and started to tax papyrus exports(or reduce it's output), there was a large impetus behind paper.

Remember there were no books in Ireland outside the church!

That we know of is the important part there. You could argue similar for most of Europe. Private libraries were pretty scarce on the ground in the first few centuries after Rome went belly up. I think there was one in France of some note. Given the vast majority of texts from all over europe surviving to the present are religious in origin(if not always in content), it stands to reason that the vast majority produced in the first place were also religious in origin. It doesnt mean however that no private books or libraries existed. The manuscripts of the old Roman world that the church got its hands on, no doubt passed through many hands. They clearly survived the intervening centuries. The church had the money and the moral power, so the books would end up with the money. That said there were local rulers knocking about who had both the cash and the inclination to collate and pay for the production of books. Charlemagne in the 8th century is the best example. And he had Irish monks on his payroll as advisers and teachers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_Schools. His successor, Louis the pious added even more. For good reason as they were well known throughout Europe for their scholarship of Latin, Greek and even Hebrew(the latter is interesting in of itself) There was a lot of cross pollination of knowledge going on. I suspect more than we imagine. Personally I don't buy into the romantic notion of this island being so isolated.

I hate when documentary makers try to focus on what they think is glamorous and exotic. The same treatment was given to druid related finds recently in a documentary and it really annoyed me!

Oh I agree, but handled well it can spark interest in an otherwise uninterested public. I mean objectively speaking to the general public, the psalter is fairly ropey looking, very fragmentary. Like old leather with the odd bit of illumination and letters shining through. The papyrus and the "romance" behind it moves it up a notch.

The psalter is beautiful, Ive been in its presence a few times. The conservation process amazing but it is highly likely that this was an everyday piece of church ware.

Which is amazing considering the quality of the work

They have lots of interesting little details. Its well worth a look next year when it goes on display!

I'll be in the queue alright

Doozie

It was great that they even made a documentary about it if you ask me. I didn't think it was unbalanced at all and did'nt over play the payrus identification, but you could see by the conservator that it really was something else and deserved to be highlighted like they did.

The impression I got was that the papyrus discovery highlighted a hitherto unsupported theory, as in there was no tangible evidence, about the connection with that part of the world. It was careful not to make too many suggestions but really stated that it had changed and supported opinions which otherwise had no proof.

The conservation was indeed painstaking and John Gilles has done an amazing job which I'm sure was extremely difficult considering the amount of heads looking over his shoulder and potential criticism he could have come under by using new techniques. Originally he described it as 'lasagne' when it came out of the bog! Amazing.