Bamberg, State Library, Msc. Bibl. 22
Under the signature Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc. Lib. 22 which secures Bamberg State Library also Bamberger Daniel commentary called manuscript of Reichenau painting , which since 2003 the World Soundtrack Awards in Germany belongs. It contains the Song of Solomon with Commentary, the Book of Daniel with Commentary, and fragments of other prophetic books of the Old Testament. The manuscript, which was written around the year 1000, was part of the furnishings of the Bamberg Cathedral donated by Heinrich II .
description
The Codex
The codex measures 25 × 18.5 cm and consists of 88 sheets of parchment in 13 layers, the layering scheme is 2 × I, 2 × IV, I, 7 × IV, V. There is an uncounted sheet of paper at the front and back. From fol. 4v to 19v and from 32v to 88r the text area is laid out in three columns: in the center the Bible text in 19 lines in larger font, on the right and left predominantly Latin marginal glosses in 37 lines. Occasionally there are Latin glosses from the same hand as the main text and the commentary text, in three places Old High German glosses are entered at the same time as the text (fol.40v, 57r, 60r). From fol. 19v to 21v the pages are described in one column with up to 47 lines, from 23v to 31v in one column with 19 lines. Fol. 2r to 3r and 22r to 23r are empty, on 23v there are only two incipit lines in gold letters. The book decoration consists of four full-page miniatures , of which two full-page initial decorative sides are. The script consists of Carolingian minuscules . Headings and Explicit are written in golden Capitalis rustica , the chapter marks in the Book of Daniel are golden Roman numerals. At the beginning of chapters and highlighted sections there are gold majuscules . The initials for the Proverbs and the Daniel commentary are in Capitalis rustica.
The manuscript was rebound in 1611. The two brass clasps provided cover consists of light brown pigskin . In gold these are imprinted on the front cover coat of arms of the Bamberg cathedral chapter , on the back cover, the arms of the provost called Johann Christoph Neustetter striker and the dean Hector of Kotzau , to the year 1611. About the original cover is not known. The Bamberg commentary on Daniel may have been part of a more extensive manuscript. Due to numerous similarities in format, layout, font and book decoration with the manuscript Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc. Bibl. 76 , a book of Isaiah with commentary, the art historian Gude Suckale-Redlefsen does not rule out that both commentaries were originally combined in one volume.
content
In addition to the Book of Daniel and the Song of Solomon with commentaries, the codex on fol. 21r and v a letter from Cuthbert , which was inserted in Bamberg in the second third of the 11th century, as well as copies of documents on the originally blank front pages, which were entered between 1102 and 1108 under Bishop Otto von Bamberg .
- 1r – 1v: Document from 1122 about an exchange of two ministerials of the bishops Otto von Bamberg and Ulrich von Eichstätt (copy)
- 3v – 4r: Document from 1108: Bishop Otto von Bamberg certifies the donation of a property by Wolfram von Abenberg to the Bamberg Cathedral Chapter
- 5v – 17v: Song of Songs with Commentary ( Alkuin Compendium in Cantica Cantorum )
- 18r – 19v: Excerpt from a commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon ( EU )
- 19v – 21r: Commentary on Proverbs and Daniel by Beda Venerabilis
- 21r – 21v: Cuthbert's letter about Beda's death with an Old English song of the dead attributed to Bede
- 23v – 31r: Jerome's prologue to the Book of Daniel, table of contents
- 32v – 88r: Book of Daniel with commentary
The position of the texts is not the original. The gloss plenius habebis in fini fol. 69r refers to fol. 20v – 21r. The glosses on Daniel come from Hieronymus' commentary, and those on the Song of Songs by a Beda Alcuin editorial staff, which in 2008 had not yet been explored. The Song of Songs was considered a prophetic book in the 10th century.
Miniatures
In front of the Song of Songs and the Book of Daniel there are two opposing and related miniatures, on the left a full-page miniature, on the right an incipit page with a scenic representation. The image fields are 20 × 15.5 cm. The leaf edges of the miniatures for the Song of Songs are colored purple. On fol. 5r, the incipit of the Song of Songs, the Christ medallion is painted on a gold background.
Train of the Chosen (fol.4v)
In the center of the picture, the apostle Peter baptizes a naked youth with a nimbus in a baptismal font. To the left is a group of three half-naked men. On the right begins a spiral-shaped procession of the chosen ones around the baptismal font to the cross in the upper right corner. Four kings with step crowns lead three younger and two older men. In front of these are three younger clergymen, in front of them a young man with a long tunic and a pallium and five older clergymen who are identified as archbishops or popes by their pallia . A group of three women, the two in the back hugging, indicate the destination of the train. Another female figure, set off slightly in front of them, receives a richly decorated golden goblet from the Ecclesia approaching her . She wears a jewel collar, holds a cross staff with a pennant in the other hand and points in a blessing to Christ with a bleeding wound on the side of the golden cross.
Initial decorative page O (fol.5r)
In the center, Christ is enthroned on a golden disc carried by two angels in a halo , which is also the O initial and is held at the top by two crowned angels. He gives the blessing with his right hand, in his left he carries a golden globe. It is flanked by three cherubs . Three groups of three half-figure angel choirs are arranged to the left and right of the halo, with another group above it. The text “SCULETUR ME OSCULO O” written in Capitalis rustica follows the O initial on a purple-colored strip. Above it, the elect ascend to Christ from both sides on a thin brown strip of ground. A group of three women with three children approaches from the right. The procession ends on the left with three women, in front of whom two pairs of young men are walking. Two archbishops with pallia, two priests, two deacons and two sub-deacons walk in front of these. In front of it is a group of eight younger laypeople with bluish complexions. Above this group is a half-figure of the Ecclesia, who leads the elect to Christ via an angel.
Dream of Nebuchadnezzar (fol.31v)
The miniature refers to Dn 2.31-35. On the left, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is sleeping on a bed decorated with a wreath of balls. Four soldiers guard him. The half-figure of an angel with a staff scepter hovers above the deposit, pointing to the idol on a column behind the deposit. The idol's head is made of gold, chest and arms are made of silver, stomach and thighs are made of copper, knees and lower legs are made of iron, and the feet are made of clay. It wears an antique helmet and has raised its arms imploringly. The right leg of the statue is broken, a chunk from the rock mountain to the right has hit it. Christ appears on the mountain with a blessing with a cross and a crown, two angels as half-figures turn to him adoringly.
Initial decoration page A (fol.32r)
A round arched arcade, supported by speckled red columns, possibly made of porphyry , arches above the A initial in gold on an uncoloured parchment ground . The prophet Daniel sits above the letter as a scribe with an ink horn, a roll of parchment and a quill in a bush of leafy golden tendrils with leaves that end like an arrow. Daniel looks to the side opposite, next to his head hovers an angel who opens and explains the vision of Nebuchadnezzar depicted there. Four writing blocks within the arcade field bear the book title and the text “INCIPIT LIBER” (next to Daniel's head), “DA (NIE) L (I) S” (left), “PR (OPHE) TA” (right) and “(A ) NNO “(below).
Art historical findings
paleography
Apart from the later added transcripts of documents by scribes trained in Bamberg, the codex comes from a scribe whose script is relatively wide and a little oblique and shows typical features of the Reichenau writing school. The scribe also worked on other manuscripts from Reichenau, in particular he is the main scribe of the parallel manuscript at the Bamberg State Library Msc. Bibl. 76 (prophet Isaiah with commentary). He also wrote parts of the Liuthar Gospel (Aachen Cathedral Treasury, Inv.No. 25) and a commentary on the Song of Songs by Justus von Urgell (Zurich, Central Library, Ms. Rh. 50).
iconography
Iconographically, the miniatures in the Bamberg Commentary on Daniel have not yet been adequately researched. However, they can be classified in the apocalyptic thoughts of the time around the turn of the first millennium. A connecting point is Dn 8, 17: “Pay attention, Son of Man! Because the face goes to the time of the end. ”According to David Ganz , the pictures fulfill three functions of commentary. First, they form a selective focus on the subject matter of a chapter in the annotated book of the Bible. Second, they force reflection on the mode of prophetic revelation. At the moment when God selects the recipient of the visions, this is already part of the text that comes from God. Thirdly, elements that extend the Old Testament descriptions christologically , such as Christ on the mountain in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, equate the prophet's vision with the inspiration of the Christian commentator.
Train of the Chosen
The motif is iconographically unique, which makes it difficult to interpret. Mayr-Harting sees an influence of the Vivian Bible in the color composition and the circular arrangement of figures (Paris, BN, Ms. Lat. 1). The Song of Songs was viewed in the Middle Ages as an allegory of the marriage of Christ to the Church, interpreting the ecclesia as the bride. The elect are the members of the earthly church who travel the path through time until they are sanctified into heaven. The spiral of the train is an imperfect image of the perfect circle of the heavenly sphere that surrounds Christ. The viewer is integrated into the earthly church through the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist; the promise of salvation also affects him.
O initial decorative side
This motif is iconographically unique and not clearly explained. Suckale-Redlefsen thinks it possible that it refers to a verse of the Song of Songs (Ct 1,3): Excultabimus et laetamimur in te ("We rejoice in you"). The marginal glosses of the text comment on this passage with gaudia caelestis patriae (“joys of the heavenly fatherland”). Winterer points out that Christ does not sit in a normal mandorla , but in the first letter of the Song of Songs. Christ is thus emphasized as the logos , for which the church and the souls of believers long for Origen, the doctor of the church. Nine angel choirs gather around Christ, the tenth angel choir, which was cast out with Lucifer, is formed anew with the accepted believers of the earthly church. This representation also points to the end of times.
Nebuchadnezzar's dream
The representation relates directly to the book of Daniel and the interpretation of the dream by the prophet given there. The idol on feet of clay, made up of four materials, stands for four past world empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome) that were not built on the strength of the Christian faith. The fall of the idol by the falling stone heralds the kingdom of God. The mountain growing out of this stone in the text is, according to Beda's glosses, Christ, which is visualized by the crowned Christ standing on the mountain. The motif of Nebuchadnezzar's dream occurs more frequently in manuscripts, often in connection with end-time ideas, for example in various manuscripts of the Beatus Commentary on the Apocalypse, but also in Byzantine manuscripts.
A-initial decorative side
Daniel, who is writing down his interpretation of the dream, belongs to the opposite side in terms of motif, the lesser importance of which is made clear by the simpler design such as the parchment-colored background. At the same time, Daniel is elevated above the events on the opposite side by his elevated seat, only Christ has a higher rank. Daniel's gaze turns to the opposite side. There is actually not Nebuchadnezzar's dream, but Daniel's vision of the dream, which Daniel immediately writes down. The tendrils of the letter A seem to be intertwined with the writing, vision and book form a unit, whereby the book lags behind the vision in meaning, since it is only a translation of the vision into another medium. In the initial, the illuminator translates the text into visuals, while at the same time depicting the process of text creation. The picture thus becomes the prologue of the text.
history
The manuscript does not contain any information on the year of origin, location or client. Due to the palaeographic classification, the manuscript was created around 1000 in the Reichenau scriptorium. The content and the book decoration, which is rich for a commentary volume, speak for a high-ranking client with high theological demands. This applies to both Emperor Otto III. († 1002) as well as for his successor Heinrich II († 1024), both are considered as clients. In addition, there are a few voices who, due to the prominent position of women in the miniatures and the excerpt from the sayings, accept a women's convention as the client.
While the question of the original client is controversial, there is agreement that Heinrich II donated the volume to the Bamberg Cathedral monastery. The two copies of the documents that were added later also show that the Daniel commentary was part of the furnishings in Bamberg Cathedral at the beginning of the 12th century. In 1611 the manuscript was newly bound, as was the parchment manuscript holdings in the Bamberg Cathedral Library between 1611 and 1614. In the course of the secularization of 1802/1803 they came to today's Bamberg State Library.
On January 26, 2004, the Bamberg Daniel Commentary was added to the UNESCO list of world heritage documents along with nine other manuscripts from the Reichenau School of Illumination .
literature
- Rolf Bergmann , Stefanie Stricker, Yvonne Goldammer, Claudia Wich-Reif ( arrangement ): Catalog of Old High German and Old Saxon gloss manuscripts . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018272-6 , Vol. 1: Part A, list of manuscripts. Part B, introduction. Part C, Catalog No. 1–200 , pp. 159 f., No. 19.
- David Ganz : Media of Revelation. Visions in the Middle Ages. Reimer, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-496-01376-1
- Josef Kirmeier, Bernd Schneidmüller , Stefan Weinfurter , Evamaria Brockhoff (eds.): Heinrich II. 1002-1024. Catalog for the Bavarian State Exhibition 2002. Augsburg 2002, ISBN 3-927233-82-X . ( Review )
- Henry Mayr-Harting : Ottonian book illumination. Liturgical art in the realm of emperors, bishops and abbots. Belser, Stuttgart a. a. 1991, ISBN 3-7630-1216-8 .
- Gude Suckale-Redlefsen: The manuscripts of the 8th to 11th centuries of the Bamberg State Library (= catalog of the illuminated manuscripts of the Bamberg State Library, vol. 1, 1). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-447-05117-5 , pp. 85-88 ( digitized version ).
- Christoph Winterer : Monastic meditation versus princely representation. Thoughts on two profiles of Ottonian book illumination. In: Klaus Gereon Beuckers , Johannes Cramer, Michael Imhof (eds.): Die Ottonen. Art - architecture - history. Imhof, Petersberg 2002, ISBN 3-932526-91-0 , pp. 103-128.
Web links
- Digital copy of the manuscript Msc. Bibl. 22 in the Kaiser Heinrich Library of the Bamberg State Library
Remarks
- ↑ The codicological description follows, unless otherwise stated, Gude Suckale-Redlefsen, Die Handschriften des 8th to 11th Century der Staatsbibliothek Bamberg , T. 1: Texts , p. 85ff.
- ↑ Rolf Bergmann, Stefanie Stricker, Yvonne Goldammer, Claudia Wich-Reif ( arr .): Catalog of Old High German and Old Saxon Glossary Manuscripts , Vol. 1, p. 159 f., No. 19.
- ↑ Gude Suckale-Redlefsen, Das Hohe Lied and the Book of Daniel with commentary , catalog Heinrich II., No. 138.
- ↑ Hartmut Hoffmann, Book Art and Kings in the Ottonian and Early Salian Empire, Stuttgart 1986, p. 306.
- ^ Gude Suckale-Redlefsen, The Manuscripts of the 8th to 11th Centuries of the Bamberg State Library , T. 1: Texts , p. 86.
- ↑ David Ganz: Media of Revelation. Visions in the Middle Ages , Berlin 2008, p. 43
- ^ Gude Suckale-Redlefsen, The Manuscripts of the 8th to 11th Century of the Bamberg State Library , T. 1: Texts , p. 87.
- ↑ Christoph Winterer: Monastic Meditatio versus Princely Representation. Thoughts on two usage profiles of Ottonian book illumination , in: Klaus Gereon Beuckers, Johannes Cramer, Michael Imhof (eds.), Die Ottonen. Art - Architecture - History , Petersberg 2002, pp. 103–128, here: p. 125.
- ↑ Christoph Winterer: Monastic Meditatio versus Princely Representation. Considerations on two profiles of Ottonian illumination in use in: Klaus Gereon Beuckers, Johannes Cramer, Michael Imhof (eds.), Die Ottonen. Art - Architecture - History, Petersberg 2002, pp. 103–128, here: p. 125.
- ^ Gude Suckale-Redlefsen, The Manuscripts of the 8th to 11th Century of the Bamberg State Library , T. 1: Texts , p. 87.
- ↑ Christoph Winterer: Monastic Meditatio versus Princely Representation. Thoughts on two usage profiles of Ottonian book illumination , in: Klaus Gereon Beuckers, Johannes Cramer, Michael Imhof (eds.), Die Ottonen. Art - Architecture - History , Petersberg 2002, pp. 103–128, here: p. 125.
- ^ Gude Suckale-Redlefsen, The Manuscripts of the 8th to 11th Century of the Bamberg State Library , T. 1: Texts , p. 88.
- ↑ Website of the UNESCO Commission with a list of the individual manuscripts, pp. 2–4 (PDF; 103 kB)
