The Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14000) is a 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 Nazareth ...

. It is named after

Emmeram of Regensburg Saint Emmeram of Regensburg (also ''Emeram(m)us'', ''Emmeran'', ''Emmerano'', ''Emeran'', ''Heimrammi'', ''Haimeran'', or ''Heimeran'') was a Christian bishop and a martyr born in Poitiers, Aquitaine. Having heard of idolatry in Bavaria, Emmera ...

and is lavishly illuminated. The cover of the codex is decorated with gems and

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

figures in gold, and can be precisely dated to 870, and is an important example of

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 th ...

, as well of one of very few surviving

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 act ...

s of this date. The upper cover of the

Lindau Gospels The Lindau Gospels is an illuminated manuscript in the Morgan Library in New York, which is important for its illuminated text, but still more so for its treasure binding, or metalwork covers, which are of different periods. The oldest ele ...

is probably a product of the same workshop, though there are differences of style. This workshop is associated with the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Charles II (the Bald), and often called his "Palace School". Its location (if it had a fixed one) remains uncertain and much discussed, but

Saint-Denis Abbey The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

outside Paris is one leading possibility. The Arnulf Ciborium (a miniature architectural ciborium rather than the vessel for hosts), now in the

Munich Residenz The Residenz (, ''Residence'') in central Munich is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture, room decorations, and disp ...

, is the third major work in the group, along with the frame of an antique serpentine dish in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

. Recent scholars tend to group the Lindau Gospels and the Arnulf Ciborium in closer relation to each other than the Codex Aureus to either.

History

It was produced for the

Charles II (the Bald) in 870 at his

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

Palace School. It is not known for certain where the Palace School was then based (after its previous base at St Martin's Abbey in Tours was destroyed in 853), but it had probably moved to the

Basilica of St Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

outside Paris by the time of the Codex Aureus's production. Charles gave it to

Arnulf of Carinthia Arnulf of Carinthia ( 850 – 8 December 899) was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed king of Italy from 894 and the disputed emperor from ...

. 11th century sources state it was produced in 893 and given to emperor

, who in turn donated it to

St. Emmeram Abbey Saint Emmeram's Abbey (german: Kloster Sankt Emmeram or ''Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram''), now known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, Schloss St. Emmeram or St. Emmeram's Basilica, was a Benedictine monastery founded in about 739 at Regensburg in Bavari ...

, then under abbot Tuto. On secularisation in 1811 it was given to the

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the big ...

in Munich (catalogue reference Clm 14000).

Content

It was written out by the monks Liuthard and Beringer. Seven full-page miniatures show the four evangelists, Charles the Bald enthroned, the

Adoration of the Lamb The ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'', also called the ''Ghent Altarpiece'' ( nl, De aanbidding van het Lam Gods), is a large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s ...

and a

Christ in Majesty Christ in Majesty or Christ in Glory ( la, Maiestas Domini) is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whos ...

. It also includes twelve

canon table 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 d ...

s, ten illuminated initials and

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it b ...

s. The text is written in golden

uncial Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, p. 494. script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to ...

letters, with each page framed. It measures 420 mm by 330 mm and has 126

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 anim ...

folios. The cover is handmade of gold, and decorated with precious gemstones, sapphires, emeralds, and pearls. At the centre of the cover appears

, in repoussé

, seated on the globe of the world and holding on his knee a book inscribed with the words: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me." The inclusion of this inscription again identifies the Gospel Book with Christ. The verse makes equal sense if we read the speaker as Christ or as the Gospel Book. Surrounding Christ outside a frame are four seated

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, Ma ...

s, above or below each of which is a scene from their Gospel. Reading from top left, clockwise, these are: Christ and the Adulterous Woman, the Expulsion of the Money-lenders from the Temple, Healing of the Blind Man, Healing of the Leper. During the Carolingian era, King

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

believed in the spiritual powers of gemstones and minerals, and their magical connection to heaven. He believed sapphires symbolized an image of heaven, heavenly virtues, and eternal life. Charlemagne passed down his interest in the spiritual qualities of gemstones to his grandson, Charles the Bald, who ordered the Codex Aureus and Lindau Gospels to be written in 870. The artisans created the covers with emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, agate, and pearls. The standard of the work is extremely refined, with each of the gems in a setting that rises up from the plane of the cover and is decorated with fine detail. The "claws" holding the gems in place are minutely formed as acanthus leaves; earlier jewelled metalwork usually used plain "claw"-type settings. According to the

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...

in the Bible, God was in heaven standing on a street paved with sapphires, “And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.” (Exodus 24: 9-10) The elaborate and costly decoration of the cover is meant to glorify the Word of God.

German legal decision

A German legal decision dated 5 November 1930 at the I. Zivilsenat des Reichsgericht on

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

law, used a photographic copy in a textbook of the picture of Charles enthroned in the book as an example,RGZ 130, 196: :commons:File:De RGZ 130 1.jpg referring to "The connection between the written work and a picture in it, the presentation and teaching purpose being to support the text". The admissibility of the removal was denied because it does not adequately serve to illustrate the content. Today, the ruling doctrine of the true premise of the decision that the basic reproduction photography was protected, but no longer.

Notes

References

* Lasko, Peter, ''Ars Sacra, 800-1200'', Penguin History of Art (now Yale), 1972 (nb, 1st edn.)

External links