The Medieval Bible in Scotland

2011 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the King James Bible. Exhibitions, conferences and lectures world-wide trace the production and use of Bibles in Scotland, revealing how this country has truly become a nation of the Book. The connection between Scotland and the Bible, however, predates the Reformation. Even before print and vernacular translations put Bibles in the ploughboy’s hand, the Bible was read and studied, painted on church walls and preached from pulpits across Scotland. Medieval manuscripts demonstrate time and again the extent to which Scotland was ‘biblically-saturated’ well before the sixteenth century. From biblical allusions in the Declaration of Arbroath to Bibles owned by monarchs, laymen and monks, evidence abounds for the production and use of Scottish Bibles. Such wealth of customs and manuscripts has not yet been subject to scholarly analysis. To date there is no work on the Bible in medieval Scotland, and biblical manuscripts in collections throughout Scotland are little known. This project, generously supported by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, relies on a collaboration between universities across Scotland to shed new light on this neglected aspect of Scottish culture and religion; it re-assesses the manuscript evidence in Scottish libraries and engages both the scholarly community and the general public through articles and seminars, an innovative database technology and a public exhibition.