Roger of Helmarshausen ( fl. 12th century) was a well-known

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...

and metalwork artist, and also a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk.

Artistic career

Roger is first heard of in connection with

Stavelot Abbey The Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy, also Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy, sometimes known with its German name Stablo, was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Princely power was exercised by the Benedictine abbot of th ...

in the

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

valley, a centre of

Mosan art Mosan art is a regional style of art from the valley of the Meuse in present-day Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Although in a broader sense the term applies to art from this region from all periods, it generally refers to Romanesque ar ...

, and especially goldsmith's work. He worked between 1100 and 1107 in

St. Pantaleon St. Pantaleon, also Sankt Pantaleon (Central Bavarian: ''Pontigo'') is a municipality in the Braunau am Inn (district), district Braunau am Inn in Upper Austria, Austria. A monument was erected by the riverlet Moosach in memory of the slave worker ...

's church in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. At least two portable

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

s made by him are in the treasury of

Paderborn Cathedral Paderborn Cathedral (german: Paderborner Dom) is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn. It is located in the city centre of Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Mary, Saint Kilian and ...

. In 1107 he moved to

Helmarshausen Abbey Helmarshausen Abbey (german: Kloster Helmarshausen) was a Benedictine monastery situated in the small town of Helmarshausen, now part of Bad Karlshafen in Hesse, Germany. History The abbey was founded here near the River Diemel in 997 by the n ...

, where he established a goldsmith's workshop. In conjunction with the well-known

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes and ...

, where the

Gospels of Henry the Lion The Gospels of Henry the Lion were intended by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, for the altar of the Virgin Mary in the church of St. Blaise's Abbey, Brunswick, better known as Brunswick Cathedral. The volume is considered a masterpiece of Roma ...

were produced later in the 12th century, he created several important works in the Romanesque style, including various illuminated codices, as well as many pieces of jewellery.

''De diversis artibus''

Roger has been proposed by a number of academics (for example, Albert Ilg (1874) and C. R. Dodwell (1961)) as the real author of the important medieval treatise ''De diversis artibus'' (also ''Schedula diversarum artium''), which is ascribed to the pseudonymous

Theophilus Presbyter Theophilus Presbyter ( fl. c. 1070–1125) is the pseudonymous author or compiler of a Latin text containing detailed descriptions of various medieval arts, a text commonly known as the ''Schedula diversarum artium'' ("List of various arts") or ''D ...

. This suggestion is not universally accepted, but has been supported by other academics, including Cyril Stanley Smith (1963 and 1974), Lynn White Jr. (1964) and Eckhard Freise (1981).

References

* Freise, E. "''Roger von Helmarshausen in seiner monastischen Umwelt''". In ''Frühmittelalterliche Studien'', 15, 1981. German Benedictines German goldsmiths 11th-century births 12th-century deaths Romanesque artists {{Germany-artist-stub