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The Faddan More Psalter ((アイルランド語:Saltair an Fheadáin Mhóir)) (also Irish Bog Psalter or "Faddan Mor Psalter") is an early medieval Christian psalter or text of the book of Psalms, discovered in a peat bog in July 2006, in the townland of Faddan More ((アイルランド語:Feadán Mór)) in north County Tipperary, Ireland.〔(Location of 'Ireland's Dead Sea Scrolls' revealed )- IOL news 05/08/2006 – 09:50:08〕 The manuscript was probably written in about 800 in one of a number of monasteries in the area. A unique feature is that the inside of the leather cover is lined with papyrus, probably as a stiffening, an indication of the links between the Irish and Coptic churches at the time. After several years of conservation work, the psalter went on display at the National Museum of Ireland in Kildare St, Dublin in June 2011.〔NMI〕 This discovery was hailed by the National Museum of Ireland as one of the most significant Irish archaeological finds in decades.〔(Ancient manuscript discovered in the Midlands ) – RTÉ News〕 Bernard Meehan of the Trinity College Library, who was called in to advise on the discovery, said that he believed the psalter was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval manuscript in two centuries.〔Bernard Meehan cited in the (Sydney Morning Herald )〕 During the conservation process, in the period 2006–2010, the lining of the binding was found to have elements of papyrus, adding further evidence to the known links between Irish Celtic Christianity and the Egyptian Coptic Church.〔(''Manuscript dug from bog rates among our top 10 biggest finds'' )〕 The psalter joins the very small number of very early Western books that have survived fully intact with their original bookbindings. These mostly have their origins in the monastic Insular art of Britain and Ireland, and the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon missions to Europe. The earliest is the St Cuthbert Gospel of about 700 (British Library), and other examples probably of the mid-8th century are at Fulda on the continent. However the wallet-like style of the Faddan More binding, and the fact that it does not seem to have been physically attached to the sewn-together pages, make it unique among surviving covers. ==Description== The psalter contains the Latin text of the Psalms, complete on 60 sheets of vellum in five gatherings or quires. The text is a Gallican version of the Vulgate, written in Insular majuscule letters in a single column. The first letter of each psalm has a capital and, as is often the case, the opening words of psalms 1, 51 and 101 are decorated, using black, red, and yellow.〔NMI〕 The original leather binding has a fold-over flap with three horn buttons that were probably used to secure a thong or straps, now missing, that tied the cover up; it does not seem to have been physically attached to the gathered and sewn-together pages inside, forming what we might call today a folder or wallet. Similar covers seem to be shown in some images in manuscripts, but no comparable covers have survived. The outside of the cover was "painted with black carbon-based pigment".〔NMI PDF〕 The leather seems to have been used as a trial piece or sketchpad for composing patterns of interlace for other objects. On the inside there is a sheet of papyrus, presumably used as a liner to stiffen the cover somewhat.〔NMI, and NMI PDF〕 Low oxygen levels in the bog provide unusual preservation conditions, and bogs were often used by Irish monks as hiding places for valuables in the face of Viking raids. In addition to low oxygen levels, sphagnum moss, of which the peat bog is composed, produces an antibiotic substance called sphagnan that binds with proteins on the surface of microorganisms, immobilising them. Its highly reactive carbonyl groups can alter chemicals and nutrients that would otherwise decompose organic matter. And above all the sphagnum moss causes organic material to undergo chemical changes itself that make it impervious to rot.〔(How do bogs keep things fresh? ) by Daniel Engber, Slate, 2006〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Faddan More Psalter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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