Saint Cuthbert & The Lindisfarne Gospels: In Focus 

The books don't mirror Islam as they predate it.

They did claim a territory, it was Kent. They settled in isle of wight also, but were eventually assimilated by the saxons there. The kingdom of Kent was often under the sway of other more powerful kingdoms. Guess thats why they're not mentioned as much.

Will Raine thanks so much for your response.

Excellent response :D

V P Chester-Le-Street is a place, the church where the Lindisfarne Community and Cuthbert himself rested for a while before he ended up at Durham. “when driven out of Lindisfarne by Viking raids in 875 the monks took St Cuthbert's coffin along with other valuable items. They wandered for seven years before eventually settling at Chester-le-Street (then called Cunecaster or Conceastre), at the site of the old Roman fort of Concangis, in 883, on land granted to them by Guthred.”

All knowledge is subject to change :)

Alex Moody Cow or calf skin.

Also while I've got you, do you believe the angles, Saxons and Jutes to be foederatus

Alex Moody I cannot be certain but I do not think so. In the sense that I cannot find evidence that they had that formal status in their homeland. They were certainly working for and with the Roman Army and Cavalry in Britain though. Perhaps they had a less formal status?

Thank you for your time and thoughts :)

"I want ma baby skin!" "Tha there looks like a bab-eh!" "I want my babyskin babyskin babyskin babyskin babyskin babyskin baby back skin! I want my babyskin babyskin..."

The Irish contribution via Iona, Saint Columba and Saint Aiden is crucial to the story of Northumbrian Christianity and insular art. It just wasn't the focus of this piece.

@@Archaeos0up I appreciate your reply

No Free Will Indeed, Calf skin was better, in fact aborted calves were most highly prized as they hadn't been touch by the weather or had a chance to gain scars or other blemishes. Re: The folio - indeed! I was doing a generous upper estimate. 'Up to'. Though, still a great many animals :) Re: gloomy - Indeed what a cheater! ;p

Still, I wonder if there were any books out there that had to make do with cowskin rather than calf fetuses? God knows, you'd choose to avoid aborting an animal every now and then. o.0 It seems like they went to great lengths to make it as disgusting as possible, what with the tanning process and way they got stains out of their clothes, the way they fullered wool to get it tighter, etc. But, it could be that nature simply doesn't like us humans. :/

No Free Will Oh certainly! I cannot quite remember where but I have seen Medieval texts written on 'lower quality' vellum where the shadow of a cow's brown or black 'n'white markings can be seen as two distinct shades! While I'm not convinced monks would condone induced abortions, as opposed to natural miscarriages - yes, it does sometimes seem that they were aiming for gross-ness! That said, many refined products do seem to rely on noxious or dangerous chemicals and materials. Today, we have the luxury of such chemicals being made and bottled either artificially or commercially. In the past, powerful chemical agents such as, for example, ammonia for bleaching had to be found more 'locally'. In Medieval cloth-producing towns tradesmen would have their shops near to (or even above) pubs! Punters who were a few pints down could conveniently relieve themselves to the benefit of the town's industry via a steady... stream, of urine supply ;p

Not every calf skin or part of calf skin was considered usable. There are many surviving manuscripts that utilized lesser grade vellum which are rougher, have holes after the stretching of the skin from insect bites while the cow was alive, discoloration, etc. Only the best skins would be used for something as grand as the Lindisfarne Gospels. This why you would need to provide a higher estimation of the usage of animals to obtain the skins necessary for a project of that scale.