When they were written, the Lindisfarne Gospels were a statement of a new Englishness.
With their lavishly illuminated manuscript of Latin and Anglo-Saxon letters, they celebrated England's Celtic influence and its newly-found self-awareness as a land that was more than just a provincial outpost of 8th century Rome; that it had a rich cultural identity of its own, fused with the history of Iona as much as with that of the Mediterranean.
Earlier this month, the British Library in London sent this magnificent "visible cult" of English Christianity back to the north-east of England, where it was written by followers of St Cuthbert.
The Gospels are still a powerful symbol of cultural identity in the north-east, particularly at a time when the English regions are re-asserting their separateness and asking where they fit in with a sense of national character.
In about AD 635, King Oswald sent for Irish priests from the monastery at Iona to re-establish Christianity in the north of England, following a resurgence of paganism. While the Irish saint from Iona, Saint Aidan, and his companions travelled throughout Northumbria preaching to the local people, Saint Cuthbert was born. He was ordained a priest and preached in the north of England before settling near Lindisfarne where his followers established a priestly community in honour of his holiness and miraculous powers.
After his death in AD 687, Cuthbert's remains were buried and his bones were to be dug up shortly afterwards and placed in a casket where pilgrims could visit them. It was in the second decade of the 8th Century, according to new research, that Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne, began the Latin transcript of the four Gospels dedicated to Saint Cuthbert, which would become known as the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Viking raids in Northumbria in AD 793 forced Cuthbert's followers to flee Lindisfarne and the Gospels eventually found a home in Durham Cathedral. In the middle of the 10th Century, one of Cuthbert's followers, a priest called Aldred, added the earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon translation of the Gospels, between the lines of the Latin text.
Dr Michelle Brown, keeper of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library, which is the custodian of the Gospels, explains that Eadfrith was making a cultural statement of Englishness when he wrote and illustrated the manuscript. Eadfrith, writing at a time of great upheaval in English Christianity, or as Dr Brown says, working on "the spiritual front line", was sending a message to Rome that the Apostolic age had reached its fruition; that English Christians were capable of carrying the faith into a new age. "It is not cultural supremacy," she says, "but it is a way of saying that the British Isles, as it stands now, is an amalgam of a lot of different people, a melting pot with a lot of very different, rich cultural backgrounds. He was fully recognising a really big Irish and Celtic contribution as part of that mix, but actually expressing it as something new, something of now."
During the Reformation, Henry VIII's commissioners seized the Gospels and brought them to London where they have remained, apart from a few exhibitions, ever since. Their flight to London established the Gospels as a national treasure and they cannot be disposed of, or permanently transferred by the British Library, except by an Act of Parliament.
The story picks up again in 1998, a year after Tony Blair became prime minister. Using Mr Blair's representation of a north-east constituency (Sedgefield) as a lever, north-east MPs and church leaders demanded the return of the Gospels to Northumbria. The debate about where the Gospels should reside continued for another two years and eventually, in May this year, Mr Blair announced the Gospels would be put on display at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle for three months.
Fraser Kemp, a Labour MP who wants the Gospels permanently returned to the region insists the move is a step in the right direction: "Returning the Gospels would not strip London of its treasures. It would be good for the north-east economy and the majority of people would like to see them return. They are very symbolic for the north-east."
The Lindisfarne Gospels are a national treasure whose message works on many different levels. As Dr Brown suggests, for Eadfrith the Gospels were a message about rich, mixed identities joining together to create a new culture.
For some in the north-east of England, the Gospels are about reclaiming regional identity.
The Lindisfarne Gospels on display at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until January 7th
British Library: www.bl.uk