Coronation Gospels

{{Unreferenced, date=January 2014 Kodex vyšehradský1

A number of medieval illuminated manuscript

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 ...

s are called the Coronation Gospels, meaning they have, at least by tradition, had a

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

sworn upon them at some point. The plain term is mainly used of the 8th century

Vienna Coronation Gospels The Vienna Coronation Gospels, also known simply as the Coronation Gospels (), is a late 8th century illuminated Gospel Book produced at the court of Charlemagne in Aachen.Kunsthistorisches 1991, p. 166. It was used by the future emperor at his c ...

, traditionally used for crowning the Holy Roman Emperors and their

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

successors, but also the Coronation Gospels (British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A.ii), in England since the 10th century. There is also the 11th century Czech

Codex Vyssegradensis The Vyšehrad Codex (Latin ''Codex Vyssegradensis''), also known as the ''Coronation Gospels of King Vratislaus'', is a late 11th-century illuminated Romanesque Gospel Book, which is considered the most important and most valuable manuscript kept ...

, also called the "Coronation Gospels of Vratislav II", commissioned after the event to commemorate the coronation of the first

King of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman E ...

. Gospel Books

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 a ...