The Schuttern Gospels (British Library, Add MS 47673) is an early 9th century

illuminated Illuminated may refer to: * "Illuminated" (song), by Hurts * Illuminated Film Company, a British animation house * ''Illuminated'', alternative title of Black Sheep (Nat & Alex Wolff album) * Illuminated manuscript See also * Illuminate (disambi ...

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') 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 Nazar ...

that was produced at Schuttern Abbey in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

. According to a colophon on folio 206v, the manuscript was written by the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

Liutharius, at the order of his abbot, Bertricus.

Codicology

The

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

has 211 folios that measure 300 by 215 mm. The text is written is a space measuring 232 by 155 mm. The folios are gathered into quires, most of which have eight leaves each; the first and the next to last quires have only six leaves; and the eleventh quire has seven leaves excised. The majority of the folios were ruled using a hard point. They were ruled two bifolios at a time, before the bifolios were folded. The manuscript has a mid-19th century binding of purple leather.

Text and script

The manuscript contains the text of the four

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

along with the Eusebian

canon tables Eusebian canons, Eusebian sections or Eusebian apparatus, also known as Ammonian sections, are the system of dividing the four Gospels used between late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The divisions into chapters and verses used in modern texts ...

, prefaces, summaries and capitulary. The text is written in two columns of twenty-five lines each in a

Carolingian minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one reg ...

that has some

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

characteristics. The texts of the canon table, the chapter tables and the colophon are in the same hand.

Decoration

The manuscript has arcaded canon tables and chapter tables. There are large initials which are decorated interlace, and beast and bird motifs, similar to those found in Insular manuscripts. Folio 19v has a large decorated

Chi Rho The Chi Rho (☧, English pronunciation ; also known as ''chrismon'') is one of the earliest forms of Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters— chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word ( Christos) in such a way t ...

monogram to mark the text of . The manuscript does not have miniatures of

evangelist portrait Evangelist portraits are a specific type of miniature included in ancient and mediaeval illuminated manuscript Gospel Books, and later in Bibles and other books, as well as other media. Each Gospel of the Four Evangelists, the books of Matthew, ...

s or evangelist symbols. In their place, there are purple and indigo rectangular panels with borders on which are quotations from the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

written in uncials with white ink. The panel for the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...

has Psalm 67, verses 27 and 29 and Psalm 31 verses 1 and 2. The panel for the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

has Psalm 33 verses 12–15. Luke's panel has Psalm 33, verses 9 and 10. The panel for the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

is missing.

Provenance

The colophon on folio 202v reads: ''Ego Liutharius diaconus hunc biblum scripsi ob iussu bertrici abbatis, ad salutem querentibus anime vel legentibus…''. The names Liutharius and Abbot Bertricus can be found on a list of monks of Schuttern Abbey from the early 9th century which is preserved at the monastery of Reichenau. The manuscript was still at Schuttern Abbey in the 13th century when a charter dated 1269 for the abbey and the Abbot Hermannus, was recorded on folio 211. It was acquired by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (died 1759) and included in his library at

Holkham Hall Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century English country house, country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for the Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation), 1st Earl of Leicester ...

. Folio ii bears the bookplate of Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham. The manuscript was acquired by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, along with 11 other manuscripts from

References

British Library catalogue entry

London, British Library, Additional 47673, Evangeliar
online

Codicology

Text and script

Decoration

Provenance

References

Further reading