The Sacramentary of St Henry II

Here are pictures of a particularly beautiful sacramentary made at the behest of St Henry II (973-1024) for the cathedral of Bamberg in Bavaria, a see which he founded in the year 1007. (At the time, he was Duke of Bavaria, and held the titles of King of Germany and Italy, but not been elected Holy Roman Emperor.) It was produced in the city of Ratisbon; some of the images are modelled on those of a Gospel book of the Carolingian era, known as the Golden Codex of the monastery of St Emmeram. The decorations are all found within the first 20 or folios, which include a calendar and the Canon of the Mass; the liturgical texts have a good many decorated initials, but no illustrations of any kind.

The ivory plaque in the front cover depicts the Crucifixion, with figures representing the sun and moon to either side of the Cross, and at the solders' feet, the dead rising from the graves; a serpent, representing the devil in his defeat, is wrapped around the base. In the lower part are shown the woman coming to the tomb. The gold sheet around is not original, but part of a restoration done in the 18th century.

The title page of the calendar.

The calendar page for June; the other eleven months are very similar to it. Even though there is an entry for every day, many of the Saints noted here were celebrated liturgical, and have no corresponding Mass among the liturgical texts.

An image which represents the coronation of St Henry; as Christ places the crown on his head, he receives a lance (topped with a cross) and a sword from the angels at the upper left and right. To either side of Henry stand Ss Ulrich of Augsburg and Emmeram of Regensburg, two important Bavarian Saints, both wearing pontifical vestments.

A representation of St Henry enthroned, with crown, orb and scepter. To either side stand his squires, holding his sword and shield, and around them, female figures holding cornucopias, representing the prosperity of his reign. Within the canopy above the king’s head, the hand of God is directly above his crown, blessing him.

A portrait of Pope St Gregory I; by this point, the attribution to him of the Roman Sacramentary in its commonly used form was a well-established tradition.

The title page of the sacramentary; the whole page is dedicated to the single word “incipit - here begins”...

and another page to the word “sacramentary.”

The preface dialog. 

The preface itself...

which continues onto the next page, which also has the Sanctus.

Before the Canon begins, there is this image of Christ on the Cross, with the Virgin Mary and St Joh, and the sun and the moon. The Greek letters to either side of it, Η ΣΤΑΥ♰ΦΡΩΣΙΣ, mean “the Crucixifion”; the superfluous letter Φ results from a shift in pronunciation from the ancient to the modern language.

On the next page, the woman approaching the tomb and meeting the angel. Note how the perfumes which the women have brought for the anointing of the Lord’s body are represented by having one of them hold a thurible.

The beginning of the Canon.

The rest of it is written out on pages with decorative borders like this one.

“Pax Domini...”, with the hand of God in the middle.

and the Agnus Dei.

The rest of the manuscript, the actual liturgical texts, looks like this.

On the back cover is another representation of St Gregory as the editor of the sacramentary. This side is made of silver, with a technique called opus interrasile, in which the image is created in part by scraped material out of an originally solid plaque.