About the event

Speaker: Dr Victoria Whitworth

Chair: Prof. Heather Pulliam

Abstract

A truism about the Book of Kells is that its artwork is intellectually complex and its script beautiful, but its Latin text is riddled with 'schoolboy' errors. This talk contends that the word choice and layout are intentional, defamiliarising the gospels and making reading into an adventurous spiritual exercise.

Biography

Dr Victoria Whitworth is the author of The Book of Kells: Unlocking the Enigma (Bloomsbury, 2025). Her other specialisms include Pictish and Anglo-Saxon sculpture, and dying and death in the early middle ages. Her current project is a monograph on English, Scottish and Manx sculpture, 800–1100.

Access

Please let us know if you require any support accessing this event by emailing eca.events@ed.ac.uk.

Please see ECA's privacy notice for more information on how your personal details provided will be used and stored.

This lecture will be hybrid. Please book your ticket for attendance in person or online.