Westwood adhered to the theory of its being
purely indigenous. Fleury, on the other hand, in his Catalogue of the
MSS. in the Library at Laon, asserts that we owe the knots and
interlacements to the influence of the painters, sculptors, and
mosaicists of Rome. "These interlacings, cables, etc., there is no
Gallo-Roman monument which does not exhibit them, and, only to cite
local instances, the cord of four or five strands is seen in the
beautiful mosaics discovered in profusion within the last five years
(1857-62) at Blanzy, at Bazoches, at Vailly, and at Reims. It was from
them that the Franks borrowed their knots and twists and ribbons for
their belts and buckles, their rings and bracelets" (pt. i., p. 8).
The elements, therefore, of book ornament, as used by the Celtic penmen,
are such as were employed by the prehistoric and sporadic nations in the
textile art in plaiting and handweaving, and afterwards transferred to
that of metal-work. Terminals of animal, bird, or serpent form
afterwards combine with the linear designs. The dog and dragon are
common, as may be seen in the archaic vases produced by the Greeks
before they came under the influence of ideas from Western Asia.
Among Celtic artists, as among those of later times, the practice of
working in various materials was common to the same individual, and
Dag?us (d.
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