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Arbuthnott Missal
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The Arbuthnott Missal, together with the Prayer Book and Psalter, comprise the Arbuthnott Manuscripts which were purchased from the Arbuthnott family in 1897 by Mr Archibald Coats of Paisley, and presented to Paisley Library.
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 important collection of beautiful and rare 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.
The Missal won a prestigious top award in the British Library's "Hidden Treasures" competition and, as a result, thirty pages of the Missal have been digitised.
View the digitised Missal here.
(Also included is an English translation of the text, provided by the Keeper of Archives at Paisley Museum.)
You will require a software plug-in to view the pages and more details about this are available on the Microsoft Silverlight website.
The Missal won a prestigious top award in the British Library's "Hidden Treasures" competition and, as a result, thirty pages of the Missal have been digitised.
View the digitised Missal here.
(Also included is an English translation of the text, provided by the Keeper of Archives at Paisley Museum.)
You will require a software plug-in to view the pages and more details about this are available on the Microsoft Silverlight website.
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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