The Faddan More Psalter

At the end of a long hallway of artifacts including Bronze Age Metalworking and Music, Iron Age Celtic Art, Viking Art Styles and various other gold hordes is a dark cavern of the National Museum of Ireland. After witnessing the mesmerizing creativity and detail of the previous displays, I was curious what the darkness ahead would contain. Normally, when wandering through museums, the dark rooms hold the most fascinating of historical antiquities. Just beyond the dark entrance is a lighted wall naming the precious artifact within as Saltair an Fheadáin Mhóir, The Faddan More Psalter.

        

Psalter Cover

         The Psalter, a biblical book of psalms, was found by Mr. Eddie Fogarty in the bog at Faddan More near Birr on the 20^th of July 2006. The book fell open upon discovery to show the words ‘ualle lacrimarum,’ Latin for ‘in the valley of tears,’ proclaiming it as a psalter. Examinations of the style of lettering used and yellow border in the psalter date the book back to the eighth century. Ireland, during the eighth century, was enjoying the Golden Age until the first Viking invasion in 795 AD. During the Golden Age, Ireland was termed the “Island of Saints and Scholars’ whose wandering missionaries and teachers were a beacon for the rest of Europe. In this time Irish scribes began reading and copying the great classics of the western civilization, including the Bible. Copies of these manuscripts became known as illuminated manuscripts due to the Irish invention of the page decoration, paragraph, decorated capital letters, and punctuation never before seen in Europe, not even in Rome. It is this detail that makes the books rare and priceless in showing the importance of Ireland in European history. Additionally, its papyrus-lined cover is evidence of contact between Ireland the Mediterranean region making it of international importance. The Faddan More Psalter is one of the few manuscripts along with the Book of Kells to have been preserved from this time period

            The reasons of the deposition are unclear and due to its fragile condition conservationists are working to preserve as much as possible for future examination. Large areas, including 60% or more have been completely lost, however, making it difficult to produce further findings on the first Irish manuscript book to be discovered for over 200 years. But because of its assessed importance, a complex conservation project has been set in order to extract as much information as possible about it as treatment progresses.

Psalter Fragment

            Out of all the beautiful and intriguing artifacts that the National Museum of Ireland has to offer, this manuscript immediately plucked at my heartstrings. As part of the recent discovery of my desire to become a book publisher, upon first glance at the fragments of the psalter exhibition, I became obsessed with learning the story behind the finding and preservation of such a magnificent creation.