Folchart Psalter

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Q initial, Q (uid gloriaris ...) , Folchart Psalter, p. 135.

The Folchart Psalter or Folchard Psalter (St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek , Cod. Sang. 23) is a Carolingian illuminated manuscript that was created between 872 and 883 in the St. Gallen monastery and is now kept in the St. Gallen monastery library .

The Psalter , which was newly bound around 1545, comprises 368 parchment leaves , the original collection begins on page 7, although the first pages, or at least the frontispiece, are probably missing. The codex was cut in the course of history and its current format is 38 x 29 cm. The running text is written in black Carolingian minuscule , the tituli in Uncialis , alternating line by line with gold and now heavily oxidized silver ink. The beginnings of the verse are highlighted by alternating golden and silver capitals . The initials at the beginning of each psalm are magnificently designed; in addition to the dominant colors purple, gold and silver, green, blue and minium are also used.

The eight-page litany of All Saints (pp. 7-14) and, above all, the four double decorative pages (pp. 26/27, 30/31, 134/135 and 236/237) were given a special artistic design . For this purpose, the late antique purple codes were used, above all the Codex purpureus Rossanensis . Since the expensive purple mussels were not available, the leaves were not soaked in purple and thus colored, but instead the sides were painted with a vegetable paint. For the color symmetry that determines the color scheme, late antique models, which were presumably conveyed via the Reichenau , are also assumed. In the structure of the individual decorative pages and in the ornament, solutions from insular book illumination and the court school of Karl des Kahlen were included .

The Psalter got its name from its author Folchardus, a monk in St. Gallen, temporarily provost in Zurich and Thurgau , and later deputy to the abbot. It is said on pages 26 and 27 that he completed the Codex on behalf of Abbot Hartmut . This also results in the dating to the years 872 to 883. On page 12 there is also a picture of the two in the spandrels of the framing round arches.

literature

  • Franz Landsberger : The St. Gallen Folchart Psalter. An initial study. Fehr, St. Gallen 1912.
  • Peter Ochsenbein , Beat Matthias von Scarpatetti (ed.): The Folchart Psalter from the St. Gallen Abbey Library. Herder, Freiburg / Br. 1987.
  • Christoph Eggenberger: Psalterium Folchardi (Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen, Cod. 23). Lengenfelder, Munich 1989 (= Codices illuminati medii aevi. Vol. 11).
  • Christoph Eggenberger: The St. Gallen book art. In: Werner Vogler (Ed.): The culture of the Abbey of Sankt Gallen. Stiftsarchiv, St. Gallen 1998, pp. 100-106.
  • Anton von Euw : St. Gallen book art from the 8th to the end of the 11th century. Volume 1: Text volume. Verlag am Klosterhof, St. Gallen 2008 (= Monasterium Sancti Galli. Vol. 3), pp. 394–399. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton von Euw: The St. Gallen book art from the 8th to the end of the 11th century. Volume 1: Text volume. St. Gallen 2008 (= Monasterium Sancti Gallii. Vol. 3), p. 394.
  2. ↑ Christoph Eggenberger: Psalterium Folchardi (St. Gallen Abbey Library, Cod. 23). Munich 1989 (= Codices illuminati medii aevi. Vol. 11), p. 13.
  3. ↑ Christoph Eggenberger: Psalterium Folchardi (St. Gallen Abbey Library, Cod. 23). Munich 1989 (= Codices illuminati medii aevi. Vol. 11), pp. 28-34.
  4. ↑ Christoph Eggenberger: Folchardus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .