The Book of Kells, around 800, p8r: 'The Beginning of the Breves causae of Matthew'
 

The Book of Kells
around 800
page 8 recto [front, or right]: "The Beginning of the Breves causae of Matthew"

Dublin, Ireland: Library of Trinity College
illuminated vellum [calfskin] manuscript
the four New Testament Gospels, Vulgate [Latin translation]
created by  Columban monks who lived in a monastery on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland
monastery founded late in the sixth century by an Irish monk, St Colm Cille

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This page was last updated May 22, 2006.

The beginning of the Breves Causae of Matthew starts with "Nativitas Christi in Bethlem" [the birth of Christ in Bethlehem]. The first page of the text of the Breves Causae is decorated and contained within an elaborate frame. The two page spread of the icon on page 7 verso and this text make a vivid introductory statement for the prefatory material. The opening line of each of the sections of the preliminary matter is enlarged and decorated (see the Breves causae of Luke), but no other section of the preliminaries is given the same level of treatment as the beginning of the Breves Causae of Matthew.

Source:
    "Book of Kells." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells.