Codex Eyckensis

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The Codex Eyckensis (8th century) is a compiled gospel book on the basis of two manuscripts, which probably formed a bundle from the 12th century to 1988 . The Codex Eyckensis is the oldest book in Belgium. It has been kept within the boundaries of today's Maaseik municipality since the eighth century . In all likelihood, the book was made in Echternach Abbey .

Description of manuscripts A and B

Full sheet mirror illustration of an Evangelist and canon tables, Codex A.

The Codex Eyckensis comprises 2 gospels, which consist of a total of 133 sheets of parchment in a format of 24.4 × 18.3 cm.

The first manuscript is incomplete (Codex A). It consists of only five foils, with an illustration of an evangelist (presumably Matthew ) on a complete sheet of paper and an incomplete row of eight canon tables . The depiction of the evangelist is in the Italian-Byzantine style and shows a clear relationship with the Barberini Gospel in the Vatican Library (Barberini Lat. 570). The border of the figure consists of Anglo-Saxon wickerwork ornaments, similar to that in the Lindisfarne Gospels .

The canon tables provide an overview of corresponding passages in the four Gospels. They serve as a table of contents and registers and make the texts accessible. The canon tables of manuscript A are decorated with columns and arches, the symbols of the four evangelists and with images of saints.

The second manuscript (Codex B) contains a complete series of twelve canon tables and the texts of all four Gospels. The canon tables are decorated with columns and arches, images of apostles and the symbols of the evangelists. The texts of the Gospels were written in the round insular minuscule , a typeface that is typical of the English and Irish manuscripts from the seventh and eighth centuries, but was also used on the mainland. Each paragraph begins with an initial surrounded by red and yellow dots. The text was copied by a single scribe.

The Gospel texts are a version of the Vulgate of St. Hieronymus von Stridon (347-420), with some additions and displacements. Comparable variants can be found in the Book of Kells (Dublin, Trinity College, ms 58), the Book of Armagh (Dublin, Trinity College, ms 52) and the Echternach Gospels (Paris, Bnf, ms Lat. 9389).

History (origin up to the 20th century)

Codex Eyckensis exhibited in the Sankt-Katharinenkirche in Maaseik

The codex was written in the 8th century and comes from the former Benedictine abbey of Aldeneik, which was consecrated in 728. The Merovingian nobles Adalhard, Herr von Denain, and his wife Grinuara founded this abbey for their daughters Harlinde and Relinde in “a small and useless forest” by the Meuse. The abbey was named Eike after the trees there. Only later, when the neighboring community Neu-Eike (now: Maaseik) gained in importance, the place got the current name Aldeneik. St. Willibrord consecrated Harlinde as the first abbess of the religious community, and after her death St. Boniface consecrated Relinde as her successor.

The Codex Eyckensis was used to study and spread the word of Christ. It is assumed that St. Willibrord brought both Gospels of the Codex Eyckensis from the Abbey of Echternach to Aldeneik.

The two books were probably bound together in the 12th century.

In 1571 the Abbey of Aldeneik was abandoned because of the confessional wars of that time. Since the middle of the 10th century there was no longer a religious community of women, but a chapter of canons. The canons sought protection behind the city walls of Maaseik. The church treasures from Aldeneik, which also included the Codex Eyckensis, were kept in the St. Catherine's Church (Sint Catharinakerk).

Authorship

Text folio in Codex B

It has long been believed that the Codex Eyckensis was written by Harlinde and Relinde, the first abbesses of Aldeneik Abbey, who were later both canonized. Her hagiography was recorded by a local clergyman in the 9th century. In it we read that Harlinde and Relinde wrote a gospel book among other things. In the 9th century the cult of the relics of the two holy women arose and the Codex Eyckensis was venerated in this context as if it were the independent work of Harlinde and Relinde themselves.

The last lines of the second manuscript contradict this point of view, however, with the text: Finito volumine deposco ut quicumque ista legerint pro laboratore huius operis depraecentur (At the end of this book I ask everyone who is reading this to pray for the author of this work), whereby the masculine form laborator makes it clear that the scribe must have been a man.

Comparative studies carried out in 1994 by Albert Derolez (Ghent University) and Nancy Netzer (Boston College) have shown that manuscript A and manuscript B date from the same period and were most likely made in the scriptorium of Echternach Abbey, possibly even from the same Person.

Restoration in 1957

In 1957 the Codex Eyckensis was restored in the most unfortunate way by Karl Sievers, a restorer from Düsseldorf. He removed the velvet red cover from the 18th century, destroying it. Mipofoil was then stuck onto all foils of the manuscript. This is a film made of polyvinyl chloride that is externally plasticized with dioctyl phthalate. Over time, the foil formed hydrochloric acid, which touched the parchment. In addition, the film itself also yellowed over time. The transparency and color of the parchment thus changed, which also meant that the polymers dissolved in the film could migrate into the parchment and make it brittle. Finally Sievers re-incorporated the Codex. To do this, he cut the edges of the foils, whereby fragments of the illumination were lost.

Between 1987 and 1993 the mipofoil was removed and the codex restored by a team from the Royal Institute for Art Heritage (Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium, KIK) under the leadership of the chemist Jan Wouters. For this purpose, a technique of chamfering with parchment cardboard was developed. In this restoration, the manuscripts A and B were each integrated separately.

Detail from Codex B

Documentation and digitization

The oldest photographic documentation of the Codex Eyckensis dates from around 1916. On the occasion of the restoration, the manuscript was photographed in 1990 at the KIK-IRPA. A facsimile print was published in 1994.

The Codex Eyckensis was digitized in 2015 in the Maaseiker Sint-Catharinakerk by a team from the Imaging Lab of the Catholic University of Leuven and Illuminare Leuven, the study center for medieval art at the KU Leuven, under the direction of Prof. Lieve Watteeuw. Due to the collaboration with LIBIS (KU Leuven), the high-resolution images are now also available online.

The Codex Eyckensis was classified as intangible genetic material in 1986 and has been protected as such ever since. In 2003 the Codex Eyckensis was recognized as the top exhibit of the Flemish Community.

Current research projects

In 2016–2017, a team from the KU Leuven, Illuminare, Study Center for Medieval Art (lead: Lieve Watteeuw) and the Royal Institute for Art Heritage (lead by Marina Van Bos) re-examined the Codex Eyckensis.

Web links

Commons : Codex Eyckensis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Coenen, J. (1921) Het oudste boek van België, Het Boek 10 , pp. 189-194.
  • Coppens, C., A. Derolez en H. Heymans (1994) Codex Eyckensis: an insular gospel book from the abbey of Aldeneik, Antwerpen / Maaseik, facsimile.
  • De Bruyne, D. (1908) L'évangéliaire du 8e siècle, conservé à Maeseyck, Bulletin de la Société d'Art et d'Histoire du Diocèse de Liège 17 , pp. 385-392.
  • Dierkens, A. (1979) Evangéliaires et tissus de l'abbaye d'Aldeneik. Aspect historiographique, Miscellanea codicologica F. Masai Dicata (Les publications de Scriptorium 8), Gent, pp. 31-40.
  • Falmagne, T. (2009) The Echternach manuscripts up to 1628 in the holdings of the Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg as well as Archives diocésaines de Luxembourg, the Archives nationale, the Section historique de l 'Institut grand-ducal and the Grand Séminaire de Luxembourg, Wiesbaden , Harrassowitz Verlag, 2 volumes: p. 311f. + [64] ill., Pp. 792f.
  • Gielen J. (1880) Le plus vieux manuscrit Belge, Journal des Beaux-Arts et de la Littérature 22 , no. 15, pp. 114-115.
  • Gielen, J. (1891) Evangélaire d'Eyck du VIIIe siècle, Bulletin Koninklijke Commissie voor Kunst en Oudheden 30 , pp. 19–28.
  • Hendrickx, M. en W. Sangers (1963) De kerkschat der Sint-Catharinakerk te Maaseik. Beschrijvende inventory, Limburgs Kunstpatrimonium I , Averbode, pp. 33–35.
  • Mersch, B. (1982) Het evangeliarium van Aldeneik, Maaslandse Sprokkelingen 6 , pp. 55-79.
  • Netzer, N. (1994) Cultural Interplay in the 8th century and the making of a scriptorium, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 258ff.
  • Nordenfalk, C. (1932) On the age of the earliest Echternach manuscripts, Acta Archeologica , vol. 3, fasc. 1, Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, pp. 57-62.
  • Schumacher, R. (1958) L'enluminure d'Echternach: art européen, Les Cahiers luxembourgeois , vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 181-195.
  • Spang, P. (1958) La bibliothèque de l'abbaye d'Echternach, Les Cahiers luxembourgeois, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 139-163.
  • Talbot, CH (1954) The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany. Being the Lives of SS. Willibrord, Boniface, Sturm, Leoba and Lebuin, together with the Hodoeporicon of St. Willibald and a selection of the Correspondence of Boniface , [vertaald en geannoteerd], Londen-New York, 1954, pp. 234ff.
  • Verlinden, C. (1928) Het evangelieboek van Maaseik , Limburg , vol. 11 , p. 34.
  • Vriens, H. (2016) De Codex Eyckensis, een kerkschat. De waardestelling van een 8th eeuws Evangeliarium in Maaseik, onuitgegeven master scriptie Kunstwetenschappen, KU Leuven.
  • Wouters, J., G. Gancedo, A. Peckstadt, en L. Watteeuw, L. (1990) The Codex Eyckensis: an illuminated manuscript on parchment from the 8th century: Laboratory investigation and removal of a 30 year old PVC lamination, ICOM triennial meeting . ICOM triennial meeting. Dresden, 26–31. August 1990, Preprints: pp. 495-499.
  • Wouters, J., G. Gancedo, A. Peckstadt en L. Watteeuw (1992) The conservation of the Codex Eyckensis: the evolution of the project and the assessment of materials and adhesives for the repair of parchment, The Paper Conservator 16 , p 67-77.
  • Wouters, J., A. Peckstadt en L. Watteeuw (1995) Leafcasting with dermal tissue preparations: a new method for repairing fragile parchment and its application to the Codex Eyckensis, The Paper Conservator 19 , pp. 5-22.
  • Wouters, J., Watteeuw, L., Peckstadt, A. (1996) The conservation of parchment manuscripts: two case studies, ICOM triennial meeting, ICOM triennial meeting. Edinburgh, September 1-6, 1996, London, James & James, pp. 529-544.
  • Wouters, J., B. Rigoli, A. Peckstadt en L. Watteeuw, L. (1997) Un matériel nouveau pour le traitement de parchemins fragiles, Techné: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, 5 , pp. 89-96 .
  • Zimmerman, EH (1916) Pre-Carolingian Miniatures. German Association for Art History, III. Section, Painting, I. Department, Berlin, pp. 66–67; 128; 142-143, 303-304.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Coenen, J., Het oudste boek van België, Het Boek 10 , 1921, pp. 189-194.
  2. ↑ a b Acta Sanctorum , Martii , under the direction of J. Carnandet, Part 3, Paris-Rom, 1865, pp. 383-390, para. 7.
  3. ↑ Abbaye d'Aldeneik, à Maaseik , in Monasticon belge, 6, Province de Limbourg , Lüttich, 1976, p. 87.
  4. ^ Netzer, N. (1994) Cultural Interplay in the Eighth Century. The Trier Gospels and the Making of a Scriptorium at Echternach , Cambridge-New York.
  5. ↑ Wouters, J., Gancedo, G., Peckstadt, A., Watteeuw, L. (1992). The conservation of the Codex Eyckensis: the evolution of the project and the assessment of materials and adhesives for the repair of parchment. In: The Paper Conservator 16, pp. 67-77. doi: 10.1080 / 03094227.1992.9638578
  6. ↑ Codex Eyckensis - Kanontafel - Europeana Collections In: europeana.eu , accessed on October 11, 2017.
  7. ↑ Coppens, C., A. Derolez and H. Heymans (1994) Codex Eyckensis: an insular gospel book from the abbey of Aldeneik. Maaseik: Museactron.
  8. ↑ The 8th-century Codex Eyckensis made available online - Faculty of Arts In: arts.kuleuven.be , accessed on October 11, 2017.
  9. ↑ Topstukken | Kunsten en Erfgoed In: kunstenenerfgoed.b , accessed on October 11, 2017.
  10. ↑ Codex Eyckensis In: codexeyckensis.be , accessed on October 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ kickoff Codex Eyckensis Research Project | Book Heritage Lab - KU Leuven In: kuleuven.be , September 22, 2016, accessed on October 11, 2017.