This lecture considers the extraordinary artistic ability of Bishop Eadfrith who is thought to have made the Gospels single-handedly around the year 700. It also discusses why the Lindisfarne Gospels were made. The book is much more than a copy of the sacred text and a thing of beauty: it was made for distinctly political reasons that were closely connected to the fall-out from the Synod of Whitby and the struggle for survival by the once powerful community at Lindisfarne. The lecture includes discussion of the gloss added by Aldred (‘most miserable and unworthy priest’) nearly 300 years later.