Codex Wittekindeus
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Codex Wittekindeus
The Codex Wittekindeus is a 128-folio illuminated manuscript, illuminated Gospel Book, produced in Fulda Abbey in Germany around 970–980. Alongside the Gero Codex, the Codex Wittekindeus is considered one of the two "greatest works in the initial Ottonian revival of book-illumination". The treasure binding includes four of the recycled Magdeburg Ivories, Ottonian plaques from another object that was probably destroyed in a fire. The book was long held at the church in Enger and owes its name to Widukind, Duke of Saxony, who was said to have received the manuscript from Charlemagne. It was, however, not made until long after their time; its illuminations likely derived from a lost work of the Carolingian_art#Centres_of_illumination, Ada School of Carolingian art. Fulda was founded by a missionary from England, St Boniface, and besides following the Carolingian tradition, the book shares features with Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscripts of the time, such as "fluttering, restless ...
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Codex Wittekindus, Fol
The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages Bookbinding, bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now reserved for older manuscript books, which mostly used sheets of vellum, parchment, or papyrus, rather than paper. By convention, the term is also used for any Aztec codex (although the earlier examples do not actually use the codex format), Maya codices and other Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian manuscripts. Library practices have led to many European manuscripts having "codex" as part of their usual name, as with the Codex Gigas, while most do not. Modern books are divided into paperback (or softback) and those bound with stiff boards, called hardbacks. Elaborate historical bindings are called treasure bindings. At least in the Western world, the main alternative to the paged codex format for a long document was the continuo ...
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Illuminated Manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers and liturgical books such as psalters and courtly literature, the practice continued into secular texts from the 13th century onward and typically include proclamations, enrolled bills, laws, charters, inventories, and deeds. The earliest surviving illuminated manuscripts are a small number from late antiquity, and date from between 400 and 600 CE. Examples include the Vergilius Romanus, Vergilius Vaticanus, and the Rossano Gospels. The majority of extant manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance. While Islamic manuscripts can also be called illuminated and use essentially the same techniques, comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as ''painted''. Most manuscripts, ...
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Gospel Book
A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ) is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the roots of the Christian faith. The term is also used for a liturgical book, also called the Evangeliary, from which are read the portions of the Gospels used in the Mass and other services, arranged according to the order of the liturgical calendar. Liturgical use in churches of a distinct Gospel book remains normal, often compulsory, in Eastern Christianity, and very common in Roman Catholicism and some parts of Anglicanism and Lutheranism. History In the Middle Ages, the production of copies of the Bible in its entirety was rare because of the huge expense of the parchment required. Individual books or collections of books were produced for specific purposes. From the 4th century Gospel Books were produced for liturgical use, as well a ...
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Fulda Abbey
The Abbey of Fulda (; ), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda () and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (), was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality centered on Fulda, in the present-day German state of Hesse. The monastery was founded in 744 by Saint Sturm, a disciple of Saint Boniface. After Boniface was buried at Fulda, it became a prominent center of learning and culture in Germany, and a site of religious significance and pilgrimage through the 8th and 9th centuries. The ''Annals of Fulda'', one of the most important sources for the history of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, were written there. In 1221 the abbey was granted an imperial estate to rule and the abbots were thereafter princes of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1356, Emperor Charles IV bestowed the title "Archchancellor of the Empress" () on the prince-abbot. The growth in population around Fulda resulted in its elevation to a prince-bishopric in the second half of the 18th century. Alt ...
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Gero Codex
The Gero Codex or Gero-Codex is an Ottonian art, Ottonian illuminated manuscript probably produced at Reichenau Abbey in Germany between 950 and 970. It is one of the first and most splendid of the Eburnant group of early Ottonian manuscripts. It contains miniatures of the four evangelists, the monk-scribe Anno handing it to Gero (archbishop of Cologne), Gero (probably of Cologne) and Gero handing it to Saint Peter. The manuscripts illuminations bear similarities with those of the ninth-century Lorsch Gospels, particularly the Christ in Majesty which is copied from a Carolingian art, Carolingian model. It is closely related to the contemporaneous Petershausen Sacramentary, which borrows from the Gero Codex's Christ in Majesty and Ecclesia (personification of the church), and the Hornbach Sacramentary, which was probably produced at the same scriptorium.Dodwell, p. 134 It is held at University and State Library Darmstadt (Cod. 1948). Gallery File:Gero-Kodex01.jpg, Dedicatory mini ...
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Treasure Binding
A treasure binding or jewelled bookbinding is a luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory, perhaps in addition to more usual bookbinding material for book covers such as leather, velvet, or other cloth. The actual bookbinding technique is the same as for other medieval books, with the folios, normally of vellum, stitched together and bound to wooden cover boards. The metal furnishings of the treasure binding are then fixed, normally by tacks, onto these boards. Treasure bindings appear to have existed from at least Late Antiquity, though there are no surviving examples from so early, and Early Medieval examples are very rare. They were less used by the end of the Middle Ages, but a few continued to be produced in the West even up to the present day, and many more in areas where Eastern Orthodoxy predominated. The bindings were mainly used on grand illuminated manuscripts, especially gospel books designed for the altar and use in church service ...
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Magdeburg Ivories
The Magdeburg Ivories are a set of 16 surviving ivory panels illustrating episodes of Christ's life. They were commissioned by Emperor Otto I, probably to mark the dedication of Magdeburg Cathedral, and the raising of the Magdeburg see to an archbishopric in 968. The panels were initially part of an unknown object in the cathedral that has been variously conjectured to be an antependium or altar front, a throne, door, pulpit, or an ambon; traditionally this conjectural object, and therefore the ivories as a group, has been called the Magdeburg Antependium. This object is believed to have been dismantled or destroyed in the 1000s, perhaps after a fire in 1049. They are often assumed to have been made in Milan, then an important political and artistic center of the Holy Roman Empire; art historian Peter Lasko, however, has argued on stylistic grounds for artists trained in the Lorraine area, possibly in Metz. The group of plaques is widely considered a key example of Ottonian ar ...
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Enger
Enger () is a town in the Herford district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Enger is situated between the Teutoburg Forest and the Wiehen Hills, approx. 6 km west of the town of Herford, the capital of the district. Neighbouring places * Spenge * Bünde * Hiddenhausen * Herford * Bielefeld Town divisions Enger consists of the following districts (population as of December 31, 2005): * Belke-Steinbeck (2,471 inhabitants) * Besenkamp (1,849 inhabitants) * Dreyen (1,404 inhabitants) * Enger (7,809 inhabitants) * Herringhausen (West) (430 inhabitants) * Oldinghausen (773 inhabitants) * Pödinghausen (2,181 inhabitants) * Siele (122 inhabitants) * Westerenger (3,797 inhabitants) History The town, first mentioned in 948, calls itself "Widukind's town." The Saxon leader Widukind died about 808. However, there is no evidence that Enger existed in his lifetime. A legend tells that Widukind founded a church in Enger after his baptism, and that he lived ...
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Widukind
Widukind, also known as Wittekind and Wittikund, was a leader of the Saxons and the chief opponent of the Frankish king Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 777 to 785. Charlemagne ultimately prevailed, organized Saxony as a Frankish province, massacred thousands of Saxon nobles, and ordered conversions of the pagan Saxons to Christianity. In later times, Widukind became a symbol of Saxon independence and a figure of legend. He is also venerated as a blessed in the Catholic Church. Life Very little is known about Widukind's life. His name literally translates as "child of the forest". In the chronicles he is accompanied by Abbi who may have been a close relative. However, it is uncertain how they were related because all sources about him stem from his enemies, the Franks, who painted a negative picture representing him as an "insurgent" and a "traitor". While Widukind was considered the leader of the Saxon resistance by the Franks, his exact role in the military campaigns ...
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Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814. He united most of Western Europe, Western and Central Europe, and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages. A member of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. With his brother, Carloman I, he became king of the Franks in 768 following Pepin's death and became the sole ruler three years later. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of protecting the papacy and became its chief defender, remo ...
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Carolingian Art
Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for the court circle and a group of important monasteries under Imperial patronage; survivals from outside this charmed circle show a considerable drop in quality of workmanship and sophistication of design. The art was produced in several centres in what are now France, Germany, Austria, northern Italy and the Low Countries, and received considerable influence, via continental mission centres, from the Insular art of the British Isles, as well as a number of Byzantine artists who appear to have been resident in Carolingian centres. There was for the first time a thoroughgoing attempt in Northern Europe to revive and emulate classical Mediterranean art forms and styles, that resulted in a blending of classical and Northern elements in a sumptuou ...
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St Boniface
Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church in Germany and was made Archbishop of Mainz by Pope Gregory III. He was martyred in Frisia in 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned to Fulda, where they rest in a sarcophagus which remains a site of Christian pilgrimage. Boniface's life and death as well as his work became widely known, there being a wealth of material available — a number of , especially the near-contemporary , legal documents, possibly some sermons, and above all his correspondence. He is venerated as a saint in the Christian church and became the patron saint of Germania, known as the "Apostle to the Germans". Norman Cantor notes the three roles Boniface played that made him "one of the truly outstanding creators of the first Europe, as the apos ...
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