York Gospels

York Gospels

The York Gospels is a cherished Anglo-Saxon manuscript predating the Norman Conquest that is prized not only for its historical worth but also its artistic beauty. It was once protected by a silver-gilt binding, which was removed in 1547 during the confiscations of the English Reformation that filled royal coffers and has a simple leather binding today. The manuscript was apparently seized during the English Civil War or the Commonwealth that followed because it was returned to York in 1678. Its text is adorned by decorative interlace initials including an elaborate historiated initial at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew and 3 classically styled Evangelist portraits (St. John is missing) and the manuscript is considered to be one of the finest surviving examples of Anglo-Saxon illumination.

A Groundbreaking New Technique

Researchers long desired to take a sampling of DNA from the book’s pages but doing so would normally require destroying a small piece of it, which was unthinkable. A new so technique was thus developed for the recovery of DNA from the parchment sheets that was ingeniously simple: a white plastic eraser like those used in drawing classes is rubbed on the page creating static electricity that allowed tiny amounts of parchment and whatever else might be stuck to the page to come off on the eraser. These particles are then collected and treated with chemicals to recover DNA and proteins. The technique can be applied to bone, ivory, or any other protein-based material.

The Hidden Stories of the Manuscript

The researchers were able to learn from this that calfskin was primarily used from five calves. What is strange is that four of them were female and not male as is typical for people raising dairy cattle. This has led to the conclusion that the calves died in an outbreak of a disease that devasted cattle herds across the British Isles at the end of the 10th century, which had the upside of providing an abundance of parchment. A document consisting of property records added in the 14th century is made of sheepskin, which was preferred for legal documents because it was less robust than calfskin and thus tore if someone trade to erase or modify it, making alterations easy to detect. Traces of human DNA indicates which pages were used most frequently – not surprisingly it was those containing clerical oaths. Finally, the analysis detected bacteria that can create spots on the pages, but thanks to the early warning, the corrosive bacteria was dealt with before it could cause damage to this precious tome.