The Trier Gospels is a

Gospel 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 ...

book that contains the works and illustration of:

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

, and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. The Trier Gospels was written by two scribes between the years 720 and 740 A.D. in

Echternach Abbey The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The Abbey was founded in the 7th century by St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg. For three hundred years, it benefited from the pat ...

The gospel is currently located at

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

Evangéliaire de Trèves fol10r - incipit avec deux anges

Scribes

There were two primary authors of the Trier Gospels''.'' Thomas seemed to be the leader and the more accomplished Insular

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, very similar to that of the Lindisfarne scriptorium. He also practiced some art inspired by the Mediterranean style. The other Author was an unknown

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

person appeared to be a disciple which used Merovingian

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

for the ornamental initial. Most of the major initials, drawings, and writings at the beginning of the book were written by Thomas. We know his name for he did sign a couple of his pictures "Thomas scribsit" This shows his importance and that he was head scribe for the book. The last section and assembling of the book was done by the unknown Frank. His writing eventually became a combination of Merovingian and Insular styles.

Content

There were three main styles that were found in the Trier Gospels. They were respectively: Insular, Merovingian, and Mediterranean styles. This makes the Trier Gospels an important part of history for it is combining three separate art styles in a single Gospel. Insular came from England and was brought down to Echternach by

Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His fathe ...

who helped found Echternach Abbey. Merovingian was the style that was used by the people of northern mainland Europe. This is why the unknown Frank author wrote in Merovingian for he was of northern Europe. Mediterranean was the last style used and it was from Italy. Being from Italy, this style helped put the Frankish church in a better relationship with Rome. Some of the artwork in the gospels seem to be inspired or directly taken from other gospels. One example is a portrait of

that follows extremely closely with previous Roman manuscripts that were produced with the same Mediterranean style. Another example is the

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 ...

in the Trier Gospels, for they resemble the Augsburg Gospels with a few exceptions.

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Scribes

Content

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