British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

British Academy/Royal Irish Academy Joint Symposium

Anglo-Saxon/Irish Relations before the Vikings

Images of orthodoxy

Jennifer O'Reilly (UCC)

This paper has been prompted by two separate recent historical discussions on aspects of the Insular reception and transformation of influences from the Mediterranean world in the pre-Viking period. Some scholars have re-affirmed traditional views of the Irish and Anglo-Saxon connections of the two main categories in Insular art (defined respectively as the ornamental and the symbolic and as the more realistic and representational) and have sought to identify the ecclesiological and theological bases underlying these perceived national differences. They have also remarked on the continuing presence of ideas they associate with 'the common Celtic Church' in the peculiarly Insular themes and iconography which emerged in the period of spreading influences of the Romanising movement, notably in the depiction of the Crucifixion. Other scholars have acknowledged the rhetorical and polemical purposes which Romanising forms in Insular art and script could serve, but have questioned modern readings of a simple polarisation of attitudes and beliefs at the time of the Insular Easter controversy and, in particular, have drawn attention to the diversity of attitudes amongst the Romani. The present paper compares examples of visual exegesis in two Insular biblical manuscripts of contrasting form, style and script and considers their possible relationship with contemporary issues and theological debate.