Stonyhurst Gospel
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The St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, also known as the Stonyhurst Gospel, is a small 7th century Anglo-Saxon pocket gospel book which belonged to Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, who died in 687. The book was discovered in 1104 when Cuthbert's tomb was opened so that his relics could be translated to a new shrine behind the altar of Durham Cathedral, and was kept with other relics until the Reformation, when it passed to collectors. The third Lord Litchfield gave it to the Jesuits.
At only three and a half by five inches the Stonyhurst Gospel is one of the smallest surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The text is the Gospel of John. It was written at the monastery of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey during the abbacy of Ceolfrith. The original tooled goatskin binding is the earliest surviving western binding in Europe, and the virtually unique survivor of Insular leatherwork. It includes colour, and the panels of geometrical decoration with interlace closely relates to Insular illuminated manuscripts, and can be compared to the carpet pages found in these.
The manuscript has been owned since 1769 by the Society of Jesus (British Province) and was formerly in the library of Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. It has been on loan to the British Library since the 1970s where it has been (almost) permanently on display in its exhibition gallery (first in the British Museum building, and now at the new St Pancras site of the Library).
