Publisher's Synopsis
The first in a series of illustrated monographs on all aspects of medieval culture, this text considers the only surviving illuminated manuscript which can be firmly attributed to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. "The Book of Cerne" is a prayerbook meditating upon the themes of salvation and the communion of saints, made for a patron whose cultural tastes embraced Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Carolingian, Roman and Byzantine materials. This study places the prayerbook within the broader context of the book production and prayer of the Insular world. It was produced at a time of religious and political conflict, in approximately 820-840, and thus it offers an insight into Insular culture. This text represents the first comprehensive study of the manuscript.
