Charles the Bald's prayer book

Donor picture, fol. 38v – 39r

The prayer book of Charlemagne is an illuminated manuscript of Carolingian book illumination that was created between 846 and 869 at the so-called court school of Charlemagne , which was in the private possession of the King of West Franconia and later Emperor Charlemagne , the grandson of Charlemagne . The manuscript kept in the treasury of the Munich Residence (inventory number ResMü. Schk0004-WL ) is the oldest prayer book intended for private use .

description

The small-format prayer book measures 14.2 × 11.5 × 3.7 cm, the size of the 46 parchment leaves is 13.5 × 11 cm. The binding was probably made after 1635 and replaced the now-lost original book cover, which, according to historical descriptions, had two ivory reliefs with depictions of the Annunciation and the Visitation of Mary and the birth of Christ .

The codex contains Latin prayers of penance and the hours , psalms and various prayers modified for the use of Charles. The title page (1 ^r ) bears the heading Enchiridion Precationum Caroli Calvi Regis (Prayer Book of King Charles the Bald).

41 of the sheets are written on or painted. The text is completely written in gold ink, partly on a purple background , almost all pages are framed with ornamental borders, the beginning of the prayer is decorated with gold initials on purple. There is a full-page decorative initial on sheet 7 ^r .

Before a prayer for the veneration of the Holy Cross, the double page fol. 38 ^v –39 ^r illustrated with the only two figurative representations of the manuscript. These depict the kneeling ruler in adoration of the crucified Christ on the left sheet , whose depiction occupies the right sheet. The crowned Karl wears a precious purple cloak with beaded hems and a golden fibula and has raised his right hand. He kneels on the ground in front of a tripartite purple, green and blue background. His face appears lifelike, his hair is blond. On the purple field in the upper part of the picture there are four lines of text in gold letters, with which Karl turns to Christ and asks for assistance: In cruce qui mundi / solvsisti crimina XPE ' [Christe] / orando mihimet. tu vul / nera cuncta resolve (You, Christ on the cross, have blotted out the sins of the world, open again, I ask, all your wounds for me). The crucified one on the right looks at the king. The broad black cross divides the ground into a blue upper and a purple lower half. At the foot of the cross, the snake winds in front of a small mound as a symbol of the power of evil that has been overcome by sacrificing death . The hand of God appears over the head of Christ between the sun and the moon , holding a wreath as a sign of victory. The two sides of the picture are distinguished by wide golden frames, which are decorated with pearls and precious stones.

History of origin

A dedication inscription on fol. 6 ^v ( Incipit liber orationum quem Karolus piissimus rex Hludouuici caesaris filius omonimus colligere atque sibi manualem scribere iussit ) gives information on the origin of the manuscript. Accordingly, Karl is referred to as the client and user of the manuscript. In addition, the prayer texts and the intercessions are modified for the personal use of Charles and refer to himself, his wife Irmentrud and his descendants ( Libera me… cum coniunge nostra Irmindrudi ac liberis nostris , fol. 21v). This means that the book can be clearly assigned to Karl the Bald. Since Ludwig , the eldest son of Charles, was born in 846 ( terminus post quem ) and Irmentrud died in 869 ( terminus ante quem ), it must have originated between 846 and 869 at the court school of Charles the Bald . It is unclear where the studio was at that time.

The manuscript is the oldest known prayer book from Carolingian times, which was not used for representative purposes but for the private use of the ruler. From pre-Romanesque times is with Otto III's prayer book. only one other private royal prayer book is known.

Provenance

The codex was located in Zurich's Grossmünster from the 14th to the 16th century and is mentioned in its inventories in 1333 and 1525. After the collegiate monastery was dissolved in the course of the Reformation , it can be traced back to the Rheinau monastery . The apostolic nuncio for Upper Germany and governor of Pope Gregory XIII. , Felizian Ninguarda , arranged for an edition printed in Ingolstadt in 1583, which was provided with engravings on the two opening pages as well as the images of the kneeling king and Christ crucified. The introduction to this edition describes the two ivory tablets on the cover that have been lost today. He dedicated the print to the Bavarian Hereditary Prince Maximilian I , the son of Wilhelm V of Bavaria .

In 1583, Duke Wilhelm V was able to acquire the codex and bring it to his court library in Munich. In 1611, Philipp Hainhofer from Augsburg mentions the manuscript in a travel report. Around 1618 a library directory still mentions the ivory book cover, after which the codex was given a new cover.

Maximilian I took it over to his personal library and art collection, the so-called chamber gallery, founded in 1607, right next to his apartment in the residence. Around 1635/1638 an inventory of the chamber gallery records the book that is described in the inventory of 1641/42 for the first time. The chamber gallery was closed by 1730 at the latest. Since then, the prayer book has been in the treasury of the residence , where it is today under the inventory number ResMü. Schk0004-WL is recorded. After being relocated during the Second World War, it was initially missing, but could be presented again in the treasury, which was newly established in 1958 in the Königsbau of the Munich Residence.

literature

Treasury of the Residence , edited by Herbert Brunner, 3rd edition Munich, Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes 1970, Catalog 4, pp. 34–35.
Percy Ernst Schramm , Florentine Mütherich : Monuments of the German kings and emperors . Vol. 1: A contribution to the history of rulers from Charlemagne to Frederick II. 768–1250. 2nd supplemented edition Prestel, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-7913-0124-1 , pp. 130-131.
Wilhelm Koehler , Florentine Mütherich: The Carolingian miniatures. Vol. 5, Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin 1982, pp. 75–87, plates 1–3.

Web links