One of Scotland’s oldest surviving books looted by the English set to return home

The Book of Deer (Leabhar Dhèir in Gaelic) is set to return home to Scotland after hundreds of years. It was produced by Pictish-era monks and contains the earliest examples of written Gaelic. The book was written in Latin on vellum sometime between the 8th and 10th Century and later had Scottish Gaelic notes on local land transactions added into its margins. It is also adorned with Gaelic designs and once belonged to a monastery at Old Deer, Aberdeenshire (Scottish Gaelic: Dèir, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain). 

Columba and his nephew Drostan founded a monastery here in the 6th century, of which no trace remains. Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, Scots Gaelic: Calum Cille,  7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish monk credited with spreading Christianity in Scotland. The Book of Deer is said to have been stolen during the Wars of Scottish Independence by English troops and taken by Edward I down to England. The Book of Deer has been in the ownership of the Cambridge University Library since 1715, when the library of John Moore, Bishop of Ely was presented to the University of Cambridge.

The Book of Deer Project has successfully negotiated a loan of the book from Cambridge University after many years of talks. Preparations are being made to return the book to the North East of Scotland to go on show in 2022 on a temporary basis. However, it seems appropriate to many that this loan should be made permanent. There are many treasures and artefacts from the Celtic lands that remain in collections in England. Amongst them are The Red Lady of Paviland found in Wales but now kept at Oxford University Natural History Museum. Also the Chronicles of the Kings of Mann and the Isles or Manx Chronicle, now held in the British Library in London, a medieval Latin manuscript relating the early history of the Isle of Man. These should rightfully be in Wales and the Isle of Man respectively. There are many such examples of what could be described as looted treasure.

Image above: Book of Deer courtesy of The Book of Deer Project Facebook page.

Image below: Chronicles of the Kings of Mann and the Isles.