Gospels of the Sainte Chapelle
The Gospel Book of the Sainte-Chapelle is an Ottonian manuscript that is counted among the main works of Ottonian book illumination . The manuscript is under the signature Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 8851 in the French National Library today .
The handwriting
The Sainte-Chapelle Gospels contain 156 sheets of parchment. With a format of 38.5 × 28 cm, the manuscript is larger than most Ottonian manuscripts. This large format, as well as the continuous gold script, already distinguished the Gospels as a splendid manuscript when it was created. The book decoration of the Gospel, in which the canon tables , the Majestas Domini and the four Evangelist pictures are remarkable, comes entirely from the so-called Master of the Registrum Gregorii , the outstanding artist of Ottonian book illumination.
Dating and provenance
The dating of the Gospel is controversial. The manuscript does not contain a dedication poem or picture of the donor, so that it is unknown for which presumably high-ranking recipient it was originally written. The dating approaches are therefore based on fol. 16 r , the title page of the Gospel of Matthew. This shows four coin-like medallions on the frame, which are labeled as belonging to the Ottonian family:
- above: OTTO IMPERATOR AVG (ustus) ROMANOR (um),
- below: OTTO IUNIOR IMPERATOR AVGVST (u) S,
- left: HEINRICVS REX FRANCORV (m),
- right: HENRICVS REX FRANCORVM.
Due to the fact that Otto and Heinrich were key names for the Ottonians, the medallions cannot be clearly assigned. It is certain that the two Otto's are an older and a younger emperor, i.e. either Otto I and Otto II or Otto II and Otto III. In the case of the two Heinrich medallions, it is not certain whether they show two or only one Heinrich, i.e. either Heinrich I or Heinrich II. Or possibly both. If Heinrich II were represented, the date would be after 1002 and before 1014, which, however, poses problems: The Gregor Master can only be traced in the vicinity of Bishop Egbert of Trier , who died in 993. Because of this, the identity of both Heinriche and the identification with Heinrich I was considered, which would result in a date before 983, when Otto III came to power. Another dating approach came from Carl Nordenfalk, who suggested identifying the two Ottos with Otto I and Otto II, and the two Heinrichs with Heinrich I and Heinrich the quarrel , who tried to seize power after Otto II's death take over and with the support of Bishop Egbert had been elected king in 984. The manuscript might then have been intended as a present for Heinrich, but it remained unfinished because Egbert submitted to Empress Theophanu after a short time . The gospel book of the Sainte-Chapelle has the same format as the cover of the Codex aureus Epternacensis , which was created shortly after 985 as a bookcase in the Egbert goldsmith's workshop. Due to the reception of the majesty in Echternach, it is considered possible that Egbert handed over the gospel gospel originally intended for Heinrich the Quarrel, together with the bookcase, to Empress Theophanu as a gesture of reconciliation, who passed both on to Echternach. In 1379 the gospel book, with a new cover, came into the possession of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris as a gift from King Charles V of France . From their holdings, it came to the national library after the French Revolution .
Art historical classification
The gospel book of the Sainte-Chapelle occupies a kind of key position within Ottonian book art, as it took up older models and conveyed them to various scriptories. The concept of furnishing the manuscript with Majestas Domini and images of the evangelists followed a type of book that had been shaped in the Touronic book illumination of the 9th century. A splendid Carolingian Bible from Tours, which existed in Trier at the time, served as a template for the majesty. In the case of the evangelist pictures, the Gregor Master orientated himself on late antique models, but also directly on works of the court school of Charlemagne, the Ada gospel book of this school of illumination was then owned by the Trier Abbey of St. Maximin . The majesty picture was adopted in the illumination of the Echternach Abbey , while the evangelist pictures were received in various painting schools, such as Reichenau. Two evangelists from the Pericope Book of Henry II (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 4452) go back to his original.
By comparing the writing on the scroll of the Evangelist Luke in the Evangelist picture, which shows the beginning of the Luke Gospel, with the writing in the text of the Luke Gospel, Hartmut Hoffmann was able to identify the minuscule handwriting of the Gregory master. The Sainte Chapelle Gospel Book is one of the rare Ottonian manuscripts - the other two most important are the golden book of the Gospels of Henry III. (Codex Aureus Escorialensis, around 1043/46. Biblioteca del Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Cod. Vitr. 17) and the Golden Gospels of Echternach ( Codex aureus Epternacensis , around 1030/50, Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs. 2 ° 156142), in which the Greek language and script were used to express special solemnity and holiness. The Maiestas on fol. 1v shows a transcription in Greek and capital letters: "Your kingdom is a kingdom for ever and ever, and your rule from generation to generation" (Psalm 114:13).
literature
- Walter Berschin : Three Greek Majestas tituli in the Trier-Echternach illumination . In: Wilhelm Nyssen (Ed.): Encounter between Rome and Byzantium around the year 1000. On the thousandth anniversary of the death of Empress Theophanu. Cologne 1991, pp. 37-52.
- Hartmut Hoffmann: Book art and royalty in the Ottonian and early Salian empires . Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-7772-8640-0 (Writings of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Vol. 30)
- Franz J. Ronig (Ed.): Egbert. Archbishop of Trier 877–993. Commemorative writing of the Diocese of Trier on the 1000th anniversary of death . Self-published by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Trier 1993, ISBN 3-923319-27-4 ( Trier magazine for the history and art of the Trier region and its neighboring areas. Supplement 18).