Elisabeth psalter

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Calendar sheet for May

The so-called Elisabeth psalter is a picture manuscript that was probably created at the beginning of the 13th century . It consists of 173 sheets of parchment and includes psalms as well as prayers, a calendar of saints , a cantica and a litany . The Psalter is now kept in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Cividale .

It is a private psalter that was owned by the Thuringian Landgrave Sophie von Thuringia, the wife of Landgrave Hermann von Thuringia , for whom he was probably also worked. She later gave the precious book to her daughter-in-law Elisabeth of Thuringia . Together with the landgrave psalter , it is one of the everyday objects that have survived from the life of Elisabeth of Thuringia. It came to Cividale as a gift from Elisabeth through her uncle Berthold von Andechs, who as Patriarch of Aquileia also presided over the cathedral chapter of Cividale. The manuscript was probably created in the Reinhardsbrunn monastery in Thuringia, which is illustrated and named in the codex; the period can be narrowed down to 1201–1207 according to von dem Knesebeck. Terminus post quem is the canonization of Empress Kunigunde in 1200, since the new saint in the All Saints litany on fol. 170r between Katherina and Scholastica is mentioned.

The psalter is extremely elaborate and valuable. This is evident on the one hand in the miniatures , some of which are full-page. The front of the binding shows the crucifixion with evangelist symbols , angels , as well as the Ekklesia and synagogue as an openwork wooden relief on a silver-gilt background . The paintings are compared stylistically with works in Lower Saxony and are among the earliest examples of the Zackenstil .

The Psalter thematizes, among other things, caring for the poor and the sick as a Christian duty and is therefore also to be seen against the background of the broad religious poverty movement that had established itself in Europe towards the end of the 12th century and was reflected, among other things, in the beginning . According to the apostolic ideal, lay women lived in poverty and chastity without submitting to the rules of an order, and earned their living from charitable work. Maria von Oignies, who died in 1213, was one of its most prominent representatives . The Psalter shows this particularly vividly on its final page with the depiction of the active life facing fellow human beings.

For the first two owners of the Psalter this became a matter of life. Sophie von Thuringia retired to a Cistercian monastery after the death of her husband . After the death of her husband, Elisabeth von Thuringia turned her back on life at the Thuringian court in order to look after the needy as a simple and materially poor hospital nurse. To this day, she is revered as a symbol of active charity.

literature

  • Giuseppe Bergomini (ed.): Miniatura in Friuli. Catalogo della Mostra . Introduzione di Gian Carlo Menis. Udine: Istituto per l'Enciclopedia del Friuli - Venezia Giulia, 1985, pp. 35–53 with numerous illustrations in b / w and a color table.
  • Philipps University of Marburg (ed.): Sankt Elisabeth: Fürstin - Dienerin - Heilige , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1981, ISBN 3-7995-4035-0 , catalog number 18.
  • Harald Wolter-von dem Knesebeck: The Elisabethpsalter (cat. No. 21), in: Elisabeth von Thüringen - A European saint. Exhibition catalog Wartburg (Eisenach). Petersberg 2007, pp. 67-71.
  • Harald Wolter-von dem Knesebeck: The Elisabethpsalter in Cividale del Friuli: Illumination for the Thuringian Landgrafenhof at the beginning of the 13th century. Dissertation Göttingen 1998. Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin, 2001. ISBN 3-87157-184-9
  • Salterio di Santa Elisabetta. Facsimile, ed. v. Claudio Barberi, Trieste 2002.

Web links

Commons : Elisabethpsalter  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files