|
Written in Latin, the Cathach is the oldest extant Irish manuscript of the Psalter and the earliest example of Irish writing. It contains a Vulgate version of Psalms XXX (10) to CV (13) with an interpretative rubric or heading before each psalm. There are only 58 from the original 110 leaves.
The term 'Cathach' (battler) reflects the fact that it was carried as a magic talisman into battle. The manuscript now is incomplete and damaged around its edges, but shows the characteristic Irish feature of successive letters at the start of each Psalm diminishing in size from the large decorated opening initial down to the small scale of the script itself.
The Irish - isolated, holy, ascetic, independent of Rome - produced no uncial manuscripts at all, and wrote entirely in they eccentric Irish majuscule and minuscule scripts.
The picture shows folio 48 recto.
| 