The article is devoted to the symbolism of zoomorphic images in the Book of Kells – the most important medieval Gospels book which dates back to 8th century and stands in a row of insular illuminated Latin codes. The authors divide the images of animals from this manuscript into three groups: symbols of Evangelists, the figures of beasts interwinded into falk ornament (which also could be found in initials), and the images of animals that fill the empty spaces in lines. The last ones, with rare exceptions, are just ornamental decorations and as a rule are not connected with the gospel text. Although they form a kind of visual row, intermittent and without united structure, they provide information and form text within the text, not only an ornament. The article analyses pictures treating one and the same subject: a cat is hunting a mouse with a stolen wafer in its mouth. The authors demonstrate that such pictures, on the one hand, refer to the real monastic everyday life, yet on the other hand, they may have profound symbolic meaning.
Book of Kells; illuminated manuscripts; Ireland; Insular manuscript traditions; bestiaries; Germanic animal style; Gospel symbolism