thumb|The Eagle, symbol of St John from the Echternach Gospels
thumb|The Man, symbol of St Matthew
thumb|The lion symbol of [[St Mark from the Echternach Gospels.]]
The Echternach Gospels (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 9389) were produced, presumably, at Lindisfarne Abbey in Northumbria around the year 690. This location was very significant for the production of Insular manuscripts, such as the Durham Gospels (ms. A.II.17) and the Lindisfarne Gospels (ms. Cotton Nero D. IV). The scribe of the Durham Gospels is believed to have created the Echternach Gospels as well. The Echternach Gospels are now in the collection of France's Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
This manuscript, and other such Hiberno-Saxon codices, were highly important instructional devices used in the Early Middle Ages primarily for conversion. The Echternach Gospels were probably taken by Willibrord, a Northumbrian missionary, to his newly founded Abbey of Echternach, now in Luxembourg, from which they are named.
Production
Early medieval manuscripts were produced in monastic scriptoria by scribes and artists. These manuscripts were made of parchment or vellum, stretched calfskin, that was then cut to size at the monastery. Next, a scribe would copy the words of the text before an artist would illuminate, or paint, them. The folios, or pages, would be bound after all the art was completed. Multiple scribes and artists would work on a single manuscript. The primary artist that worked on the Echternach Gospels is believed to be the same master who created the Durham Gospels at Lindisfarne.
Function
The Echternach Gospels were probably taken by Willibrord when he founded the Abbey of Echternach in the year 698. Willibrord, like many early medieval missionaries, travelled through Europe and used manuscripts to convert locals to Christianity. Because these converts were illiterate the images were hugely significant for their understanding of what was taught. Bede, the eighth-century Northumbrian monk, writes that religious imagery was for the “intent that all who entered the church, even if ignorant of letters, might be able to contemplate … the ever-gracious countenance of Christ and his saints". The decoration of the text itself portrayed for the illiterate converts the mysticism and glory of the literal “Word of God.”
The importance of such manuscripts for medieval missionary work is evident in the work of the early British monks. For example, in the sixth century Columbanus founded many monasteries in Europe with an emphasis on manuscript production. Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597, travelled to England as a missionary for King Æthelberht of Kent, bringing many of his manuscripts with him as necessary conversion tools. Though this conclusion rejected Insular doctrine, the Hiberno-Saxon style script of manuscripts, however, was maintained and preferred throughout Europe. The result of this conflation of Eastern and Western Christianity is evident in the growing inclusion of Roman Style author portraits and Insular carpet pages while the text began to favour Roman capitals in Germanic runic-style script.