18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Grumbles about Vikings and hangovers: the scribbles on Columbanus manuscripts being exhibited in Dublin
The National Museum of Ireland has launched its new exhibition Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe, showing off 17 manuscripts from the Abbey Library of St Gall in Switzerland along with artefacts from the museum's own collection.
Research from UCC and Trinity has confirmed that they were written in Ireland before being transported to Switzerland.
The manuscripts include the four gospel books of the New Testament and other religious texts along with scholastic writings for teaching Latin.
UCC Professor of Irish at University College Cork Pádraig Ó'Macháin has been working in this area since 1985 and set up the digitisation of Irish manuscripts in the19 90s through Irish Script on Screen. He has described the exhibition as 'mind-blowing'.
He said: 'To see the manuscripts all together, and surrounded by the archaeological context, is very unique.'
One of the manuscripts, Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae, which is a Latin grammar book has thousands of scribbles in the margins written by monks in the Old Irish language.
Visitors can get a glimpse into the everyday thoughts of these monks through their doodles, witty banter, and grumbles about the Vikings, hangovers, and the quality of the ink in the margins of the manuscript.
Professor Ó'Macháin said: 'This was 850 AD and you can see the signatures of two guys from Cavan on the manuscript. It has lots of notes and the prayers to St Bridget and all sorts of marks that show it was well studied in the monastic school in Ireland before it left for the continent.
'But when it comes to the continent, you can see continental students were distracted because they started drawing doodles. And some of these doodles could even be considered offensive. The manuscript has lived a long and interesting life.'
The exhibition aims to break down what some might see as an inaccessible period in history, bringing to life these works through visual graphics and videos, the artefacts in the display and the manuscripts themselves.
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Matt Seaver, assistant Keeper in the Irish Antiquities Division of the museum encourages all to attend the exhibition, no matter how much or how little they know about this time in Irish history.
He said: 'You're going to go on a journey from Ireland, both in sight and sound, all the way from Ireland to St Gallen, over by the Alps. You're going to look at the different motivations for Irish people, why did they travel at the time, and then what they were writing about and what their very human experiences were. So it's not all highbrow, intellectual stuff, it's real-life experiences.'
Other manuscripts on display are: Isidore's Etymologiae, Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae, Irish Gospels of St Gall ( 51) and Vellum Reliquary label.
Also on display are the only surviving copies of Columbanus' letters to several popes in the 7th century.
Mr Seary said: 'We know exactly what their conversation was about and you can even pick up on where his personality comes out. It's remarkable.'
