Meaning - to society

Christianity helped to transform Anglo-Saxon society, but also preserved its traditions.

The Lindisfarne Gospels displays a vision of Christianity that was inclusive, welcoming to all. It wanted to emphasise a new culture that stretched from Britain and Ireland to the farthest shores of the Mediterranean and which was related to other faith traditions.

You could tell a Pict, a Copt, a Frank, an Angle or a Saxon by their appearance. Dress and jewellery could signal identity, belief and status in well-recognised ways. We do the same today.

Visual references in the Lindisfarne Gospels would have been widely understood. Bringing them together in one book brought a sense of cohesion and identity to a new Christian nation. It was also a reflection of what was happening socially and politically as many cultures contributed to an emergent 'England'.