The Lindisfarne Gospels: the story of how a medieval masterpiece was made

A detail of the _incipit_ page with the first words of the Gospel of John: _In principio erat Verbum_, "in the beginning was the Word". The British Library

Sometime around the turn of the 8th century, on Lindisfarne, a windswept island off the English coast in Northumbria, a monk by the name of Eadfrith sits down and sharpens his quill. He dips it into the black ink pot before him and, guided by the light of flickering candle, traces the first words of the Gospel of John on to blank parchment.

In principio erat Verbum.