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Arbuthnott Manuscripts
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A volume of the Arbuthnott Manuscripts which belong to Renfrewshire Council won a prestigious top award in the British Library's Hidden Treasures competition. The winner was announced at a ceremony in London where Jenifer McFarlane, Information, Lifelong Learning and ICT manager for Renfrewshire Libraries, was presented with the award by Margaret Hodge MBE, Minister of State for Industry and the Regions.
'Hidden Treasures Brought to Life': A National Competition for UK public libraries
The manuscript was the property of the Arbuthnott family until 1897 when it was purchased and presented to Paisley library and museum by Mr Archibald Coats of Paisley.
Written for use in the parish church of Arbuthnott, Kincardineshire in the late 15th century, the Arbuthnott Missal, Prayer Book and Psalter are three of Scotland's rare collection of beautiful and important medieval manuscripts.
The Missal is the only complete service book of its kind known to have survived the Reformation in Scotland. It provides a unique and irreplaceable insight into the forms of worship practised in Scottish churches not only at the time it was made, but for a period of around four hundred years before and after.
Apart from its unique significance in Scottish religion, the Missal is a rare and important example of Scottish medieval art and letters - a large, beautifully preserved volume of 246 pages, lavishly decorated with twenty three-quarter page border illuminations and illustrations, as well as finely painted miniature initials spaced throughout the text. A striking full-page miniature painting of St Ternan, patron saint of the church of Arbuthnott, is modelled on William Chevez, Archbishop of St Andrews, and can claim to be one of the earliest Scottish portraits.
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