The Golden Codex of Echternach - A Gospel Book of the 11th Century (Part 2)

Following up on the first part of this article about the Golden Codex of Echternach (Codex Aureus Epternacensis), here are the images related to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark; Luke and John will be in the third and final part. This manuscript, which was made at the abbey of Echternach circa 1030-50, has many things in common with other illuminated gospel books of the period, but also one rather unusual characteristic. The pictures of stories from the Gospel are not spread through the book, placed with the corresponding text, but grouped together in four sets of four pages each, one set before each Gospel, and arranged in bands. These images run in the chronological order of Our Lord’s life (roughly), and are taken from all four Gospels simultaneously, and are one of its most interesting features. The manuscript is now kept at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, and may be viewed in full at the following link: https://dlib.gnm.de/item/Hs156142.

The beginning of a prologue to the Gospel of Matthew.

The beginning of the list of its chapters, according to the system of the Eusebian canons (described in the previous article of this series.)

Each Gospel is also preceded by a pair of pages decorated with a reproduction of an extremely high quality textile of some sort.

The four pages of events of the life of Christ, before the text of the Gospel of Matthew itself. From top to bottom: the Annunciation and Visitation; the birth of Christ and the adoration of the shepherds; the Magi before King Herod.

Second page: the adoration of the Magi; the Magi are warned in a dream to return to their own country, and do so; the Presentation. Note that in the latter, the prophetess Anna is absent, and Simeon is not shown as an old man.

Third page: the dream of Joseph and the flight into Egypt; the Massacre of the Innocents; Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4, 14  sqq.) and His baptism.

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The Golden Codex of Echternach - A Gospel Book of the 11th Century (Part 1)

The Golden Codex of Echternach (Codex Aureus Epternacensis) is an illuminated gospel book made at the abbey of Echternach circa 1030-50. (The abbey is now located at the extreme east of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, barely a third of a mile from the German border; for a sense of historical perspective, it was founded in 700, more than two-and-a-half centuries before the fort that eventually became the duchy.) The word “golden” in its name refers not just to the extremely high quality of the decorations and images, but also, and indeed primarily, to the fact that the text is written out in gold ink. It is now kept at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, and may be viewed at the following link in full: https://dlib.gnm.de/item/Hs156142

Usually, when I write about manuscripts of this sort, I give a selection of the images, but this one is so rich and beautiful that I am going to be much more comprehensive, and consequently, divide it into three posts; the first will cover all the prefatory materials, the second, the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and the third, Luke and John. The cover was made about 50 years before the codex for a different manuscript, and has an ivory image of the Crucifixion mounted into the center of it, of uncertain age and origin. It is now displayed separate from the manuscript.

The first image in the manuscript is of Christ in majesty, surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists, and the four major prophets. The style here is very characteristic of the Ottonian period, which turned away to a large degree from the Carolingian interest in naturalistic art; the figures are stylized and essentially weightless.

A dedicatory inscription held up on a plaque by two angels, with representations of the four cardinal virtues in the middle of each side of the border.

The title page for St Jerome’s first preface to the Gospels...

and the opening words, “Beato Papae Damaso Hieronymus” (Jerome to the blessed Pope Damasus).

A second preface commonly included in Gospel manuscripts, and falsely attributed to Jerome.

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The Gospel Book of St Henry II (Part 2)

This is the second set of images from a Gospel book commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor St Henry II and his wife St Cunegond at the beginning of the 11th century. It was made at the abbey of Reichenau for the cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Bamberg, Germany, a see which they founded. See the first part for some explanation of the artistic style:

By the time this was made, the common portrayal of Christ which we use today, with long hair, a full beard, and high cheek bones, was already standard, although not the universal standard. Here, He is shown throughout as beardless and younger, which suggests that the artists at Reichenau may have deliberately copied these images from an older prototype, possibly much older, possibly Byzantine. Also note the lack of depth and naturalism so typical of Ottonian art in the figure of Christ sitting at the table of the Last Supper, with legs that have no anatomical relationship whatsoever to His torso. The lower part shows the washing of the disciples’ feet, the Gospel of Holy Thursday in the Roman Rite (John 13, 1-15.) In the corner, one of the Apostles is shown putting his shoes back on, a gesture of realism which also suggests that the artist, who does very little of this kind of thing elsewhere, worked from a prototype of an older artistic school closer to the naturalism of the ancient Roman tradition.

The first image accompanying the Passion of St John on Good Friday (chapters 18 and 19). In the lower part, Christ is brought before the high priest Caiaphas. Having no notion of what a Jewish priest might look like, the artist has shown him more or less as any magistrate sitting on a throne; were it not for the rending of his garments, (which is recounted in the passions of Matthew and Mark, but not in John’s), we might well think he was Pilate. In the upper part, the Crucifixion: as was commonly done in the early Middle Ages, Christ the King is seen on the Cross fully awake and in triumph, rather than suffering. Note that neither His head nor arms nor torso slumps down, to indicate that even in the midst of His Passion, He is still the creator and sustainer of the universe.

On the second page, the deposition from the Cross and the burial, with the sun and the moon shown covering their mouths and looking away, to convey their astonishment and horror.

The Gospel of Easter, with the myrrh-bearing woman...

and the Angel.

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The Gospel Book of St Henry II (Part 1)

St Henry II, the Holy Roman Emperor whose feast is kept in mid-July (973-1024), together with his wife St Cunegond of Luxembourg (975-1040), founded the Bavarian see of Bamberg in 1007. (Prior to his imperial coronation in 1014, he was the Duke of Bavaria.) For the consecration of the cathedral, he commissioned a Gospel book from the monastery of Reichenau, one of the most important Benedictine abbeys in the empire, and the center of an important contemporary school of painting and manuscript illumination. The manuscript (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 4452) has 28 full-page illustrations, and a great many decorated letters, although these latter are all quite similar to each other. This first article will show the illustrations up to Palm Sunday, and some other pages that exemplify the various kinds of decorations. The second part will include the illustrations from Holy Thursday to the end.

Henry was the last of the imperial dynasty which is called “Ottonian” from the name “Otto” shared by its first three emperors, a dynasty which ran from 919 to his death in 1024. The art of the Ottonian period moves strongly away from the naturalism of the classical world which the Carolingian era that preceded it sought to imitate. The human figures are stylized, mostly without expression or depth, and captured as they gesture without moving. The backgrounds are no more than bands of color, very often gold, since this is decidedly a luxury production. The contrast is immediately noticeable when one compares the late Carolingian ivory (ca. 870) on the front cover, looking at the highly naturalistic figure of Christ on the Cross, with the flatness of the figures in the image of Henry and Cunegonde being crowned by Christ.

The ivory plaque shows (from top to bottom; click to enlarge) the hand of God the Father coming down from heaven, with the sun and moon to either side, symbolically represented as figures driving chariots; three angels above the Cross; the Crucifixion, with the mourners and the soldiers, and Joseph of Arimathea speaking to Pilate (Joseph is shown as a nobleman of the early 11th century, carrying a war banner); the women at the tomb (a three-storied structure); the dead rising from their tombs, and symbolic figures of the sea, earth and underworld giving up the dead. At the corners of the gold frame are the symbols of the Four Evangelists in enamel medallions, and between them, slightly smaller enamels of Christ and the Twelve Apostles. Around the edge of the ivory runs an inscription written by someone anxious to show off his knowledge of Greek vocabulary.

“Grammata qui sophie querit cognoscere vere
Hoc mathesis plene quadratum plaudet habere.
En qui veraces sophie fulsere sequaces,
Ornat perfectam Rex Heinrih stemmate sectam.

He who seeks to know the letters of true wisdom / will rejoice in possessing this square (object) of the fullness of learning. / Behold those who shone forth as true followers of wisdom; King Henry adorns this perfect school with a crown.”

The dedicatory inscription, by which St Henry offers the Gospel book to the Apostles Peter and Paul, the titular Saints of Bamberg Cathedral.

“Rex Heinricus ovans, fidei splendore coruscans,
Maximus imperio fruitur quo prosper avito,
Inter opum varias prono de pectore gazas
Obtulit hunc librum, divina lege refertum,
Plenus amore Dei, pius in donaria templi;
Ut sit perpetuum decus illic omne per aevum.
Princeps aeclesiae, caelestis claviger aulae,
Petre, cum Paulo gentis doctore benigno
Hunc tibi devotum prece fac super astra beatum
Cum Cunigunda, sibi conregnante serena.
Hoc Pater, hoc Natus, nec non et Spiritus almus
Annuat, aeternus semper Deus omnibus unus.

King Henry, rejoicing, shining with the splendor of the Faith, / very great in the rule of his grandfather which he successfully holds, / among the varied treasures of his riches, from his heart inclined / offers this book, filled with the divine law, / being full of the love of God, dutiful in giving to the temple, / that it may be an everlasting glory there through every age. / Prince of the Church, key-bearer of the heavenly court, / Peter, with Paul, kindly teacher of the nations, / by your prayer, make this man devoted to you blessed above the stars, / with Cunigonde, his serene co-ruler. / May the Father, and the Son, and also the kindly Spirit / approve this, the one eternal God, ever above all.”

Christ crowning Ss Henry and Cunegonde, who are attended by Ss Peter and Paul. (The lack of depth characteristic of Ottonian art is particularly noticeable in the misplacement of St Paul’s arms.) Below are personifications of the provinces of the Empire; the three larger are probably meant to be Gaul, Italy and Germany, and the smaller, lower ones the German duchies of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Saxony, Lower and Upper Lorraine. Over the upper scene is written,

“Tractando justum, discernite semper honestum.
Utile conveniat, consultum legis ut optat.

Doing what is just, always discern what is honorable; / may that which is useful fit with what the law requires.”

Below, “Solvimus ecce tibi, Rex, censum jure perenni.
Clemens esto tuis; nos reddimus ista quotannis.

Behold, we pay thee, o king, tribute by perennial law. / Be merciful to thine own; we render these things every year.”

The Four Evangelists, each accompanied by his traditional symbol and a poetic inscription. For St Matthew, “Res notat hic hominis Mathaeus, scriptor herilis. - This Matthew, the Master’s writer, notes the deeds of the man.”

St Mark: “Ut leo voce fremit, Marcus dum talia scribit. - As Mark writes such things, he roars like a lion.”

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A 12th-Century Coptic Gospel Book (Part 3)

This is the third and final part of a series of images from a Coptic Gospel book of the later twelfth century, which I stumbled across on the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. (Département des Manuscrits. Copte 13) In the first post, we saw the majority of the images, concentrated in the Gospel of St Matthew, and in the second, those from Mark and Luke, so here is John. I have cropped the pages to highlight just the illustrations.

Each Gospel is preceded by one of these elaborately decorated crosses.

The beginning of the Gospel itself. The Coptic alphabet is the same as the Greek alphabet, with seven letters based on late demotic Egyptian script to represent sounds for which Greek has no letter. The language also borrows a huge number of words from Greek, as for example in the very first line, “ⲁⲣⲭⲏ – beginning.”

St John the Baptist sends his disciples to follow the Lord.

The Wedding at Cana

The Samaritan Woman

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A 12th-Century Coptic Gospel Book (Part 2)

Last month, I posted pictures of a twelfth-century Coptic Gospel book which I happened to stumble across on the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. (Département des Manuscrits. Copte 13) Even though the see of Alexandria was founded by St Mark the Evangelist, there is a much higher concentration of illustrations in the Gospel of St Matthew than in the other three, so here are the images from Mark and Luke. This is just a selection, and I have cropped the pages to highlight just the illustrations.

Each Gospel is preceded by one of these elaborated decorated crosses; the Coptic letters around it (with abbreviation marks over them at top) mean “Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.” The Coptic alphabet is the same as the Greek alphabet, with seven letters based on late demotic Egyptian script to represent sounds for which Greek has no letter. The language also borrows a huge number of words from Greek, as for example “souter - savior”, from the Greek “soter.”

The beginning of the Gospel; that of Luke as both of these elements as well, but they are almost perfectly identical to these from Mark, and are not included below.

The first illustration does not occur until chapter 6, the beheading of John the Baptist; St Mark gives the most complete account of this, and is consequently read on the feast on August 29th in most liturgical traditions, even those like the Roman Rite which otherwise make fairly little use of him.

The healing of the blind man at Bethsaida in chapter 7.

At the very end of the Gospel, Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate to ask for the body of Christ.

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A 12th-Century Coptic Gospel Book (Part 1)

Here is another beautiful manuscript which I stumbled across on one of my favorite websites for liturgical books, that of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France: a Coptic Gospel book dated (I presume on internal evidence) to the years 1178-80. (Département des Manuscrits. Copte 13) Unfortunately, the site doesn’t give any historical details about it, apart from the fact that it contains a portrait of the Coptic Pope Mark III, who reigned from 1166-89. There is a much higher concentration of illustrations in the Gospel of St Matthew, which I will cover in this post, than in the other three, which will be in a separate post. This is kind of surprising when one considers the tradition that the Evangelist St Mark founded the See of Alexandria. here I give only a selection, and have cropped the pages to highlight just the illustrations.

An image of Christ with writing in the border in Arabic; many of the smaller images have what appear to be Arabic captions added to them as well.

The portrait of the Coptic Pope Mark III

The beginning of the Gospel of St Matthew

The angel appears to St Joseph

The Magi are sent by King Herod to find “the new-born king of the Jews”; notice how the artist conveys the agitation of Herod and all of Jerusalem that was troubled with him by the position of their hands.

The Magi bring their gifts to Christ.

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A 15th Century Illustrated Gospel Book

The illustration for this past Sunday’s post on the feast of the Holy Trinity was taken from a Gospel lectionary for major feasts produced in the area of Konstanz in southern Germany ca. 1470/80. In 1658, it was given as a gift to the abbot of San Gallen in Switzerland, and is still kept to this day in the abbey’s famous library, which is also home to many of the most important surviving chant manuscripts. There are a total of 17 illustrations placed before the Gospels of the various feasts, the work of at least two different artists, plus images of the symbols of the four Evangelists. These are very finely detailed, but the illuminated letters at the beginnings of the Gospel readings are mostly very simple, and there are marginal decorations on only a few pages. The complete manuscripts can be seen at the following link: https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/thumbs/csg/0368/ (Codex Sangallensis 368; all images CC BY-NC 4.0).

The angel representing St Matthew.

The beginning of his Gospel.

The lion of St Mark

The bull of St Luke

The eagle of St John

Christmas; the star and the angels are very cleverly placed breaking into the frame from outside, to represent the irruption of the heavenly into the earth.

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An 18th-Century Gospel Book from Notre-Dame de Paris

Here’s another great find from the website of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a Gospel book for the major feasts of the year, produced in 1753 for the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. (Département des Manuscrits, Latin 9461) Almost every one of its 110 pages has an illustration, illuminated letter, or decorative element of some kind, so this is just a selection of some of the nicer one; the complete book can be seen in high resolution scans, and downloaded as a pdf, at the link above. Last year, I shared pictures of an Epistle book and Gospel book, both in a similar style, made for the Royal Chapel at Versailles.

The day Mass of Christmas

Epiphany

The Presentation

The Annunciation

Maundy Thursday

Easter

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